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mrgaskell · Dec 19, 2004, 04:32 AM

How well will the new Virtual PC run on a 12" PB G4, 1.33Ghz, 768mb RAM, 64mb VRAM, 60GB drive? Would it run better from an external drive? Just curious. Starting n new PT job that requires some Windoze only sw and would like to not purchase a new PC laptop. Also, the application only requires a 300 mhz P3 and 128mb of RAM. Will it run okay and be "SNAPPY!"?

Thanks,

jg

audvidsvs · Dec 19, 2004, 05:03 AM

I run VPC on my 12" since I also have some PC software I need to run.
It won't run all PC software but seems to run most of it.

I would say "snappy" means different things to each of us though.
It is a lot more snappy thann getting out a windows laptop and waiting for it to boot up.

The odd thing is that I almost never see VPC lock up unlike the Windows experience where lock-ups were the norm for me.
Go figure.

I am using VPC 6 and have wondered how much better 7 is but I just can't talk myself into giving more money to Microsoft since switching has made me so happy.

wunderkind · Dec 19, 2004, 10:05 AM

VPC 7 is rather useable on PB 1GHz. With 512MB RAM allocated to it, Networking off and XP optimized for performance. System Control Panel reports emulation of a ~500MHz processor.

It should run even faster on your faster PB. But my usage is light - just one Windows-only application once a week.

wunderkind · Dec 19, 2004, 10:11 AM

...And I love the "Save State" feature. Allows you to save your workspace. Much faster to start it up than booting XP in VPC and logging in.

hldan · Dec 19, 2004, 12:34 PM

Originally posted by mrgaskell:
How well will the new Virtual PC run on a 12" PB G4, 1.33Ghz, 768mb RAM, 64mb VRAM, 60GB drive? Would it run better from an external drive? Just curious. Starting n new PT job that requires some Windoze only sw and would like to not purchase a new PC laptop. Also, the application only requires a 300 mhz P3 and 128mb of RAM. Will it run okay and be "SNAPPY!"?

Thanks,

jg

Your 12" PB will be just fine for VPC 7 however I cannot stress enough, DONOT USE WINDOWS XP SP2 or any version of XP for that matter. Your experience with XP is just gonna be irritating because of the lack of speed. It will be quite sluggish and not because your PB is not fast enough, it's because XP is just too bloated and you will have slow performance. Some posters mention to turn off the eye candy but that's just not enough.
Get the version that comes with Windows 2000 Professional. It will run better than you would expect based on some of the replies from other posters. You will need 512MB ram allocated to VPC and you will enjoy the experience of a physical PC of celeron class of course.

drprat · Dec 19, 2004, 01:13 PM

mrgaskell, i have the exact same config as you... first, id recommend vpc 7 and windows 2000 as the best combo in terms of speed and stability.. the stock 60gig spinnin at 4200rpm does slow down vpc quite a bit (although i usually run vpc with so many other applications open, so i guess it's just my fault) and if it is possible for you, id recommend using an external drive... otherwise it is pretty decent for programs like the Office suite, IE, and other typical productivity software... based on the specs you posted for the applications you will be using, u should be fine..

mrgaskell · Dec 19, 2004, 03:21 PM

So you could run your Virtual PC off of another external drive? Do you just put the drive image (I haven't used VPC since v.5) on the external drive and that's it? Or do you have to do some other configuration?

Thanks for all the great feedback!

drprat · Dec 20, 2004, 12:38 PM

i guess u'd just have to store the os image on the external drive... u may want to see how vpc runs on your computer first to see if its bearable... then decide whether or not u need an external drive... the greatest factors that seem to affect vpc are drive speed, ram, os, and processor (although I think 1.33+ is sufficient)... njoy..

mrgaskell · Dec 20, 2004, 12:59 PM

I have a 40GB Firelight drive and a big ol' LaCie 7200RPM 80GB drive that I could use when running VPC, with out affecting my
my portability.

Thanks for everything. I'll be picking up VPC soon after Christmas.

madmacgames · Dec 21, 2004, 06:44 PM

I have a 12" revB (1 GHz) with 1Gig RAM and 60GB internal drive. I run VPC 7 with 512 MB RAM allocated to VPC. OS is Windows XP Professional SP2. Everything is turned down in WinXP, and it only emulates as a 686 processor at 294 MHz. Ok for checking sites in IE 6, and a few lightweight apps, but not much more. I wouldn't even want to try to install office on it. I have a copy of Windows 2000 Pro from my PC days that I might try instead.

TheTraveller · Dec 26, 2004, 01:40 PM

I have a 1.25 Ghz PBG4 with 1.25 GB of RAM, Virtual PC 7 works very well for me, whereas 6.x worked very poorly. My PC is Windows XP, all candy ON still, and the PC is allocated 256 MB of RAM.

Altair · Dec 27, 2004, 01:49 AM

The fastest version of windows that I have used in version 6 is NT 4. It's the only one that is usable on my 12" but the 1.33 GHz is much faster than mine (867 MHz).

Randman · Dec 27, 2004, 01:58 AM

There's been some threads on optimizing vpc. Basically, if you don't need to use it much, turn off all the eye candy, disable sound and give it as much ram as you can. If you're just going to be using VPC by itself, the 768 should be ok. If you'll be going back and forth between OSX and Windows, consider getting more ram.