Customer Reviews

Microsoft Virtual PC for Mac 7.0 with Windows XP Professional [Old Version]

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

Keep in mind that VPC 7 is an emulator not a replacement for a real PC. You're not going to be able to play Doom 3 with VPC. Forget about it. And don't complain when you buy it and find out it doesn't play your favorite PC games.

VPC is for those (like me) who primarily use a mac but find they have to step in the world of Windows from time to time because of work or whatever.

VPC runs most productivity software with no problems. I use it to open various files so I can convert them for use on my mac, to stream video online using the Windows viewers (which often don't work in OSX).

But most importantly I use VPC to run all the kewl GPS/Mapping software available for the PC that isn't available on OSX yet. This includes connecting my PDA, my Garmin GPS 60Cs, etc.

Works so well that sometimes I forget I'm using an emulator. VPC prints to my mac USB printer with no problems. Links up to my DSL connection. Consdering it's a software driven emulator it's really an amazing accomplishment.

Which is why I hate seeing a bunch of one-star ratings from kids who mistakenly thought VPC was going to transform their mac into a PC game machine. Thats' NOT the purpose of this software as stated in the product description.

BTW I'm posting this via Explorer THROUGH VPC7 emuilating a Windows 2000 machine. 'Nuff said.

BTW I noticed a lot of the reviewers here are woefully short when it comes to memory. VPC thrives on memory. The more you have the better it runs. I have 1.5 gig of RAM as opposed to the 512 meg one reviewer has. I wouldn't recommend runningn VPC with less than a gig.

Virtual PC 7 was loaded on two computers in my home. One is a G5 single 1.8 with 1GB RAM and the other is an 800Mhz iBook with 384MB RAM. I then loaded Peachtree Complete Accounting on both and MS Office 2000. This is my first time using any Virtual PC. So after reading various reveiws at Amazon and in various magazines, expectations were not high. However, I was pleased with the response time and quickness of the product. In fact Peachtree runs "Virtually" better than it does on the Windows system at work. Interestingly enough, Virtual PC 7 runs much better on the iBook than it does on the G5. With the horsepower of the G5 I thought it would blow the iBook out of the water. Not true. It may be that VPC7 is "new" to the G5 processor yet and there are still bugs to work out. (After all, it is a Microsoft product).

Startup and shutdown of VPC7 on the G5 is horridly slow (almost 2 minutes each). Pack a lunch. The iBook startup and shutdown of VPC7 takes about 30 seconds each. Again, amazing!

Other than the minor G5 issues mentioned, Virtual PC 7 works fine. Would I buy it again, yes!

You can increase performance to P3 / P4 levels by disabling services.
Disable 90% of the services XP runs in the background (Does a desktop really need wireless zero config enabled by default?!?!?) and speed should be as good as Home.

I still wouldn't try playing games, I'm just using it to run some Windows only programs for school.

Updated Rating : 4 stars.


Disable the services that you don't need to run XP:

-Fast User switching
-Messenger (ALWAYS DISABLE THIS!)
-Portable Media Serial Number
-Remote Registry (ALWAYS DISABLE THIS!)
-Secondary Login
-SSDS Discovery Service
-Terminal Services
-Upload Manager
-Server (If this is just going to be a standalone version of Windows no need for the service.)
-System Restore Service (VPC takes care of this.)
-Computer Browser
-Webclient
-Network Location Awareness (MS's network integration to VPC may depend on this so its a tossup if you need to disable it.)
-Theme (Since most Mac users aren't impressed with XP's Fisher Price theme anyways disabling the theme engine can free up some RAM and some speed.) You'll just be forced to use an Windows 2000-ish theme.


So do I think that my Mac/Windows experience is still ruined? Not any more. But still keep your expectations in check.


-- original review --
I'm running this on a brand new 12' powerbook with 756M RAM (512M allocated to the Virtual PC). The OS launches in a reasonable amount of time and performance I observed is at the level of a Pentium 2 (maybe a 3). Sound card performance is slightly choppy as well. Granted I've not thoroughly tested it out yet and perhaps some tuning will improve performance. Perhaps this product may be an acquired taste. I would suggest this product does have usefulness -- for cross platform testing and for apps that are not too resource intensive. But for me for now it ruins the Mac experience and the Windows experience in one fell swoop. My recommendation, buy a second Windows laptop or desktop to fully enjoy Windows and keep your Mac pure.

I got a dual G5 from my job, and they sent Virtual PC 6 along with it. It was only then that I realized that Virtual PC 6 did not support the G5 processor. I tried VPC6 on my 550 PowerBook and was not impressed AT ALL. It was absolutely miserable. Microsoft promised Virtual PC 7 in October and said it would support the G5. Well, a few days ago I realized it was out and it was purchased for me, and I got it today.

I was a little nervous when starting it, trying to remind myself that emulation is never very fast and that what I was hoping for was "usable". Well, to my surprise, I got much more than usable. Much, much more. It runs very well indeed.

The other reviews that I've seen here for this product might refer to the previous version, or they might refer to this version on different hardware. I cannot vouch for this product on lesser hardware, as my PowerBook is temporarily out of commission. But on a dual G5 1.5 Ghz machine with a GB of memory, it runs just as well as you might think it should.

The only consistent problem that I've had with it is that audio is choppy, to the point of unusability in the audio department. It does make sounds and it's fine for that. But watching video or listening to music would be a drag with this choppiness. Minor detail, since most people use VPC because they have to use Windows applications for work or something like that. For that, it's great.

I do freelance bookkeeping and payroll for a number of clients, and the old PC I was using for work finally gave up the ghost. So I decided to get VPC instead of a new PC, as I really prefer my Mac, and financially it made sense. The program I'm using VPC for is Quickbooks Pro 2004.

My computer: Rev. A Flat-Panel iMac, 800 Mhz G4, 768 MB RAM, OS 10.2.8

The installation was incredibly smooth and fast, which pleasantly surprised me. By default, VPC wants to install Windows in your Documents folder, which seemed bizarre to me, but I installed it in the Applications folder with no complications.

Things started to slow down after that point. Setting up Windows took *forever* (as at that point I was on the "virtual" machine, which for me runs at 233 Mhz). The good news is that when you finish a session in VPC, the program saves Windows' state (as if it were hibernating), so the next time you don't have to go through the interminably long process of waiting for the virtual machine to boot.

I encountered trouble when I tried to print to my HP 920c, which is a USB printer. After doing some googling, I realized there is an update patch to VPC (7.01) and after installing it, printing works fine.

As for using Quickbooks, it's really quite responsive and I have no complaints. It's easily as fast and stable as it was on the 5-year-old PC I was using, if not moreso. I think the key to VPC is being realistic about what it is and what it's intended to do. For my purposes, it's perfect!

People ranting about how painfully SLOW Virtual PC is are probably missing the point of the product, really. This isn't supposed to let a Mac user run Windows XP or 2000 comfortably on his/her Mac! It really begs the question of why you spent the $'s on a newer Mac in the first place, if that's what you're trying to accomplish?

As one example where VPC *is* indispensable, I do on-site computer service and support for a living. My only laptop is an Aluminum 17" Powerbook. I have clients who use Novell Netware and Groupwise in a Windows environment, and I have yet to see a native Mac "console" for adding/deleting/editing Netware user accounts and Groupwise mailboxes. With VPC (even version 6), I can run Novell's "ConsoleOne" and do this work for them from my Powerbook. That's not only "a good trick", but saves me from having to own a Windows notebook just to make occasional edits to clients' systems.

We bought Virtual PC 7 because our sons freshman college computer class required
Windows XP. We run an iMac 1.25 G4 with 768 MB DDR SDRAM on Panther. I had tossed around the thought of buying this emulator earlier, because we had acquired a significant amount of software from our years as Windows users. Some of these software types, like Creative Writer 2, Movie Maker 3D are programs that have no like replacements. Our kids, who are now quite a bit older still enjoy them from time to time.
It is slow, especially at start up, but not that you'd notice running Office or a greeting card program.
AVG's antiviral program runs excellently and the SP2 installed quickly and with no glitches. I had to run the compatibility program for some software and everything loaded without a hitch. It runs fine on the web as well.
There have been some hiccups, the task bar didn't load once, I got it back after I restarted the program a couple of times, weird.
Overall, it was worth the cost for when we need to use Windows

Hey, Virtual PC isn't going to allow you to find a cure for the common cold, or cancer, or provide world peace. It is a tool, and I believe people may have set their expectations too high for anything but a real PC to satisfy. Time for a little trip back to reality, k?

First stop at Reality Junction is ... system requirements. Here is the reality of the situation - what ever you have, it isn't enough. Ever. There is no such thing as too much RAM or too fast of a processor for VPC. OK, I take that back - as I write this there is an issue where you CAN have too much RAM for VPC. It seems if you have more than 2 GB of RAM, VPC won't run on an Power Mac G5. You have to have less than 2 GB of RAM for VPC to play nicey-nice with your Power Mac G5. If the past is any experience, expect a patch for this from Microsoft in February. Of 2008.

If you need real horsepower and speed - go buy a real PC.

Next stop in Reality Junction is ease of use. Gotta calls 'em likes I sees 'em and Microsoft has continued the Connectix traditional easy install. Just follow the directions and you will be fine. Any Mac owner should be able to install and configure their Virtual Machine (read: PC) quickly and with a minimum of fuss. Working with Windows XP is another story entirely. What? Was this a result of an internal contest at Microsoft to foist upon the American consumer the most user-abusive software imaginable? If you want ease of use, what are you even thinking of buying VPC 7? You have a Mac, so build a bridge and get over it!

Last stop in Reality Junction is value. This is where anyone honest has to call the baby ugly. Well, anyone that has been using VPC since version 1.0, like I have. There just isn't any there, well... THERE. Within spitting distance of the price of this software are a plethora of cheap, basic PC's. Why go with a pale imitation when you can be used and abused by the real thing? Go whole hog and dive into the world of hackers, spyware and virii that will lock your computer up tighter than Fort Knox.

Seriously, there is not that big of a price spread between Virtual PC and a real PC. To me, it would be worth the extra speed to just have the real thing, warts and all. VPC at $100 makes a lot more sense than $200+. I think this is what Microsoft had in mind all along, but that is for another time, another review. The reality is VPC is never going to be "like" a real PC, but always will be a pale imitation of a PC. Hey, what do you think "Virtual" means, anyway? Ok, granted that Win98 on VPC 7 on a G5 just screams, but I could throw away less than the cost of VPC on used iron and do the same thing. So, where is the value?

Bottom line - for everything but e-mail and web surfing you are better off buying a cheap, throw-away PC rather than VPC. And if that is all you are going to do anyway, why aren't you just using your Mac for that? VPC is for desperate Mac people that don't want to deal with the icky downside of a real PC, plain and simple. Everyone else would be better served biting the bullet and getting a $300 PC to kick around.

After logging in as administrator on my mac, going through the installation program & rebooting, the installation program says to log in as administrator & re-install. It even does this when logged in as the root user. Following the instructions for on-line help, one finds that the 'requested web page is not available', and any help by email or telephone from Microsoft starts at $35.

I had but one reason for purchasing VPC for Mac and that reason is simply to have the immediate ability to check my design work in a Windows environment. Period.

My platform is a G5 dual processor with 8gb of RAM.

1 - Installation was simple and fast.
2 - I have NOT experienced a speed issue on start up - VPC starts almost immediately.
3 - Loading web pages is somewhat slow, DSL speed.
4 - Navigating the Windows interface is also button click fast.

This program does exactly what I need it to do.

Not to mention, for the first time since I received The Complete National Geographic CDrom collection 7 years ago, I was able to use it... on a Mac.