Switcher - Virtual PC - RAM -Horsepower

[jeffgtr]

I'm preparing to switch back to mac, at least partially.
I do web design and development and have a need to be able to run IIS & the .net framework from time to time. I can afford a 2ghz imac and still maintain the winxp box, but if I knew virtual pc would work for my requirement I might go with a power mac.

So I guess my question is two-fold.
1) Has anyone had experience running virtual pc to test asp.net web apps, or even better used dreamweaver mx 2004 on virtual pc with asp and asp.net server behaviors

2) Can one effectively run virtual pc on a 2ghz imac w/ 1 gig of RAM or is a powermac required?

 

[mad jew]

I don't think Virtual PC will really run all that much better on a PowerMac as opposed to the iMac. Either machine will struggle with XP, especially graphics-intensive programs.

As for the rest of your questions... Sorry, I've got no idea, although you should be able to find Mac equivalents of most programs, which would be a much better alternative to VPC.

 

[Nugget]

I run Virtual PC every day, all day long, on a 1GHz TiBook with 1GB of RAM. I need it for my office VPN and for Lotus Notes.

It's a bit sluggish, and a bit of a memory hog, but it's functional.

An alternate solution you might consider, though, is running XP Professional on your Windows box and turning it into a headless machine with no monitor or keyboard. Just run ethernet to it and stuff it in a closet. It's very painless to use the Microsoft Remote Desktop Client (for OSX) to connect to a headless XP Pro machine and use it from the mac. Same basic experience as virtual PC, but none of the local system resource drain. I use this technique as well to run Quicken and IE and the few other Windows apps I need to use from time to time.

 

[jeffgtr]

What a great idea! I don't know why I hadn't thought of this before! I run remote desktop from work to my home computer all the time. Yes I think this is the answer to my dilemna, AND I have an excellent crt and a 15" flat panel hooked up to the xp box so I could either sell those and get a larger flat screen or keep them, hmmm maybe I can afford a powermac after all! I have a closet in my home office to! I'm almost giddy at the thought of hiding the unsightly xp box off in the dark recesses of my closet.

Thanks for the great advice.
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An alternate solution you might consider, though, is running XP Professional on your Windows box and turning it into a headless machine with no monitor or keyboard. Just run ethernet to it and stuff it in a closet. It's very painless to use the Microsoft Remote Desktop Client (for OSX)

 

[Lacero]

For the price of the Virtual PC software, I can purchase a real barebones PC that'll run Win XP at least 10 times faster than under emulation.

 

[csubear]

I'm preparing to switch back to mac, at least partially.
I do web design and development and have a need to be able to run IIS & the .net framework from time to time. I can afford a 2ghz imac and still maintain the winxp box, but if I knew virtual pc would work for my requirement I might go with a power mac.

So I guess my question is two-fold.
1) Has anyone had experience running virtual pc to test asp.net web apps, or even better used dreamweaver mx 2004 on virtual pc with asp and asp.net server behaviors

2) Can one effectively run virtual pc on a 2ghz imac w/ 1 gig of RAM or is a powermac required?

I've been running VPC 7 on my powerbook for about 6 months doing ASP.NET, and while its not the fastest thing in the world when you are debugging, it runs just fine for writing code or putting together pages. I havn't tested it on the G5 yet, but I've been told that if you put your VPC diskimage on a second HD, that VPC runs like your are on a real, update to date PC.