But, I would be running VPC on OSX G4 dual-processor desktop model, (in another room) to upgraded to a G5 soon... so I think the speed will be acceptable.
I have three physical PCs (Win XP, ME, and 95) and one copy of Virtual PC running on my G4 laptop. While running VPC is a great way to spot-check Windows design issues and to make Win installers (I use Wise Install), the speed is at the edge of tolerable.
Under Micro$oft the new product is well optimized for running Win XP, but even with these enhancements it's very slow compared to running on native hardware. And using any non-Micro$oft OS under VPC (it's a snap to set up a virtual Linux installation) runs much slower still. Sure, a dual-G5 will help, but the nature of the task means it will never match native hardware.
Beyond the sluggish performance inherent with emulation, a bigger issue is that from time to time I'll come across issues in VPC that aren't evident on a physical PC (mostly redraw issues). True, these get fewer and fewer with each new version of VPC, but something to keep in mind.
VPC is a great solution for ocassional Windows work while on the road (unless you don't mind lugging two laptops <g>), but if you're working at a desk you'll have a much more productive experience using a physical PC, and one which will more closely mirror the experience of your users. You can have even greater productivity if you use the software gadget Chipp is fond of which allows you to use one mouse and keyboard across both systems as though the monitors are physically connected (Chipp, what's that called again?).
Best of all, with PCs being so inexpensive the cost difference is trivial. Unless you play games the Celeron-based machines are quite suitable, and dirt-cheap (Mac users can only dream of the sort of competitive pricing that happens once you break out of a manufacturing monopoly). I got one from HP for under $500 that performs enviably well compared to my $2600 Mac (Quartz, while pretty, is a processor hog), and cheaper bargains are available if you shop around; even used ones can be a great value, and often $200 or less (roughly the same price as VPC).
And if you're only using the machine for tweaking/testing, you'll have plenty of hard drive space available if you choose to reformat to have a dual-boot so you can run Linux on that box too.
-- Richard Gaskin Fourth World Media Corporation ___________________________________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.FourthWorld.com _______________________________________________ use-revolution mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
