Virtual PC 7 for Mac

Nice to see but details are very, very vague. You'd think they'd push it harder or something? They tried to wow us with the new features in Office 2004 (I wasn't impressed, as I have no use for those features.), but with VPC being part of Office you'd think they'd cover something.

Great news!! I'll be first in line...er online!:)

I'm curious to see what Microsoft have done. 'key enhancements' they say. hmm. Microsoft Apps for Macs have never seemed very speedy to me, so I'm really skeptical that MS can do anything to further improve VPC speed-wise.

I'm getting a G5 so I will NEED VPC7 (assuming I want to use Virtual PC, which I do). This is good news! I won't have a use for the Office bundle, at least not as far as I know... (I might get it if I can find a good reason to have Office)

TMA, you just got me curious... Will VPC7 be fast enough to be more usable than bad for those that are impatient? If not, I probably will NOT buy VPC.

i'd really like to know more - i have a friend who knows very little about computers (60+years old, took the dive a few years ago), and while he uses a mac, he also uses virtual pc cause one of his investing sites requires the use of ie 6.0, as well as a few of his programs for investing. that said, he came to me about a week ago and asked what it would take to max out and upgrade his g4 350 (agp). that put me in a real hard place - he'd spend about 1100 upgrading that thing to what he's looking for (he wants much better performance in vpc), about 12 or 1300 for a new g4 (using my edu discount, possilby). a g5 would cost just a little more than that, have better performance and upgradeability (for ram, about the only thing he'd ever upgrade on the machine), but right now, they can't do what he needs, and there's no idea of how fast vpc will go when it *eventually* gets here.

bummer of a place to be. can't really give him any recomendation right now other than to wait...

matt

Needs the right tool for the job. In this case a PC. I would spend that money on a PC, rather than a Mac. Shoot me, but I am not that biased.

A question I have is if VPC7 would run slower on the same hardware as VPC6 if ran on a G4? I have no immediate plans to purchase a G5, as much as I would love to, however I also don't want to purchase an upgrade to VPC7 if there are features I like about it just to find that it slowed down because of the need to make it work on a G5 that does not support little endian.

Has anyone a clue about this?

Originally posted by mkaake
i'd really like to know more - i have a friend who knows very little about computers (60+years old, took the dive a few years ago), and while he uses a mac, he also uses virtual pc cause one of his investing sites requires the use of ie 6.0, as well as a few of his programs for investing. that said, he came to me about a week ago and asked what it would take to max out and upgrade his g4 350 (agp). that put me in a real hard place - he'd spend about 1100 upgrading that thing to what he's looking for (he wants much better performance in vpc), about 12 or 1300 for a new g4 (using my edu discount, possilby). a g5 would cost just a little more than that, have better performance and upgradeability (for ram, about the only thing he'd ever upgrade on the machine), but right now, they can't do what he needs, and there's no idea of how fast vpc will go when it *eventually* gets here.

bummer of a place to be. can't really give him any recomendation right now other than to wait...

matt

I wonder if Microsoft will do for VPC what they are doing for Office, by allowing you to upgrade to the newer version for free when it comes out if you buy the current version now. I have a B&W G3 that can run VPC 6.1 and really need it right now, but will be getting a (rumored) G5 iMac when they come out and would love to run VPC 7. Any rumors of this? :confused:

VPC 6.1 on a G4 is pretty much a dog, so I honestly hope that VPC 7 on a G4 (and certainly on a G5) will be a far better experience. It had better be anyway if M$ expects many people to pay the $129+ they'll be certain to charge for it.

Originally posted by RIP
Needs the right tool for the job. In this case a PC. I would spend that money on a PC, rather than a Mac. Shoot me, but I am not that biased.

I agree (as much as I hate to say it), but if he absolutely needs more speed for his Windows apps, build him a cheap PC. I just did for my dad who uses a lot of business software for around $250 (no monitor included). Check out NewEgg.com. They always have great deals and free shipping on most products.

Originally posted by mkaake
i'd really like to know more - i have a friend who knows very little about computers (60+years old, took the dive a few years ago), and while he uses a mac, he also uses virtual pc cause one of his investing sites requires the use of ie 6.0, as well as a few of his programs for investing. that said, he came to me about a week ago and asked what it would take to max out and upgrade his g4 350 (agp). that put me in a real hard place - he'd spend about 1100 upgrading that thing to what he's looking for (he wants much better performance in vpc), about 12 or 1300 for a new g4 (using my edu discount, possilby). a g5 would cost just a little more than that, have better performance and upgradeability (for ram, about the only thing he'd ever upgrade on the machine), but right now, they can't do what he needs, and there's no idea of how fast vpc will go when it *eventually* gets here.

bummer of a place to be. can't really give him any recomendation right now other than to wait...

matt

This is dumb, why doesn't he just get a PC? Why spend 1100 on upgrading performance when it wouldn't ever reach the performance of even a cheap PC?