Virtual PC slows down MAC?

[cubix]

hey guys! I hope you could help me with this. I'm new in Mac OS and just swithced from Windows environent. So most of my apps needs to run with Windows. I was advised to get Virtual PC for Mac to run my other apps. But the thing is, The reveiws from the people who bought Vitual PC for Windows Xp ( amazon.com ) says it dramatically slowed down their system. On the other hand, Virtual Pc for Windows 2000 got a better review, one user claiming he did not expeirince any problem with this version.

Anyone who uses Virtual PC can help me on this? Thanks

[extremyks]

Running emulation really can be unpredictable. Depending on your specs, plenty of RAM and enough hardisk space would greatly help.

Would your PC appz run on win98 se? If it does I personally would use this one instead of XP, since both 98se and win2k has been proven to be stable for a long time now. Also try to install a basic Windows during setup, install only the things you need.

[Adel]

While VPC is running, it might. Mike is right; it depends on your specs, particularly your processor, your RAM and your hard disk space. More of all three won't stress your system too much. Running busy Windows apps on VPC while running busy Mac apps at the same time is never a good idea. But the basic rule of thumb seems to be, the more advanced the Windows version (i.e. 2000 or XP), the slower it'll run. It still is an emulation, after all. The older versions of Windows are less demanding, and the sweet spot seems to be Win 98 SE.

But if it's just sitting there, dormant, all it'll do is take up valuable real estate on your drive, and it'll be as if Windows wasn't even there.

[penmanila]

virtual pc is a memory hog, and it is slooow. i use it (win XP) on my 867 mhz albook, 640 mb ram, and sure it gets things done, but it won't have any of the snappiness of the original. it won't slow your mac os down unless it's actually running (of course, because it's probably eating up most of your ram). i use it only for those rare instances when something demands a PC. go ahead and use it, but don't expect it to be a real substitute for a PC. for what you'll pay for it, you might be better off getting a real backup 2nd hand PC instead.

[Edited on 4-27-2004 by penmanila]

[cubix]

Thanks guys for the info. Anyways, I decided to get Virtual PC for Windows 2000. I'll keep the forum posted for any problems or (hopefully) no problems at all.

Btw I'm using iMac 20" G4 1.25 Ghz 750 Mb RAM and 80GB of empty hard drive (except for panther and few pics and tunes). Hoping this specs is enough and it won't slow it down.

[extremyks]

It seems your iMac can handle VPC, if you make it at least 1GB RAM it may function a little faster. Still try it and let us know.

BTW, you could turn of some administrative services in win2k to make it run faster hence reducing memory usage.

Check this videoguys Win2k tweaks, though it's a tweak for video editing the procedure is the same in turning off some services you might not need.

What appz do you intend to use under win2k?

[cubix]

It seems your iMac can handle VPC, if you make it at least 1GB RAM it may function a little faster. Still try it and let us know.

BTW, you could turn of some administrative services in win2k to make it run faster hence reducing memory usage.

Check this videoguys Win2k tweaks, though it's a tweak for video editing the procedure is the same in turning off some services you might not need.

What appz do you intend to use under win2k?


__________________________________________________ __

Lotus Suite.

[UberGeek]

there are some times when youre better off using even just a entry level/hand-me-down pc to run windows applications that you really really need... may i ask what apps you need to run?

[Macmon]

Has anyone experienced or rather verify if the latest OS X update causes the VirtualPC not to see the USB thumb drive?

It happened to me.

How does one uninstall the update?

[Maverick]

I just recently installed Virual PC on my mac and at first I tried XP which of course was slow so I switched to Win98. What I wanna know is, do I have to install patches, updates and the like ? or do I just run 98 out of the box without installing any of those things?