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General discussion

enough memory for Virtual PC on iBook?

Mar 20, 2007 5:11PM PDT

hi,

i'm currently trying to decide which memory upgrade to get...I have an iBook G4 1.42Ghz 512MB ram and I wanna run Win XP on Virtual PC. Right now it only works very slow...Running windows on my mac is basically the only reason why I need to upgrade. will another 512 MB be enough so it runs ok without having to wait ages until applications start? or should i go right for the 1GB?
since there's quite a large price different on this it would be great to hear some opinions on this. thanks a lot in advance

dan

Discussion is locked

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Just what I saw.
Mar 20, 2007 9:47PM PDT

I saw a nicely equipped Virtual PC host and even with 2GB RAM the launch times were sluggish in the tens of seconds to full minutes (depends on app.) There's a lot of emulation going on and not much speed.

Bob

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I can's resist commenting.
Mar 20, 2007 10:18PM PDT

You gotta see PARALLELS and it's COHERENCE feature. While it does require an Intel based Mac it's rather speedy and quite the better solution. Get a demo. You'll be impressed.

Watch the video on this link -> http://www.parallels.com/products/coherence/

Bob

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VPC
Mar 20, 2007 9:51PM PDT

While adding another 512MB will aid the running of applications, there is not a lot you can do about the abysmal speed of VPC running XP.
Despite the hype, provided my MS, that VPC is now a great product, the fact remains that it is emulation.
But wait, it gets worse.
The VPC program is emulating a Pentium II processor running up to 650Mhz! So, it does not matter how fast your processor is running, you will still end up with a S L O W version of XP. (Imagine XP running on a P2 box at 650Mhz or less!)

Extra RAM may help but do not expect the speed just you were hoping for.

As an aside, go for the 1GB stick if it is in your budget to do so.

P

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tough decision
Mar 21, 2007 8:05PM PDT

thanks for your opinions guys - I see it was good that I was suspicious that a simple memory upgrade won't fix it. I'm still a bit hesitant because the 1GB still here costs a little less than 1/4 of the price of the original iBook (250 euros). But then again it seems better to just stack it up all the way than regretting getting only 512mb sometime in the future.

i heard about PARALLELS, it looks awesome. hopefully it'll be standard for mac OS next time i get a new laptop Silly

cheers
dan

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Just asking.
Mar 22, 2007 12:32AM PDT

So 50 to 80 bucks for Parallels is not a great deal? Your words seem to indicate it's not a feature worth paying for.

Bob

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Currently it is not worth playing with
Mar 22, 2007 2:01AM PDT

this poster has a G4 Mac which will not run Parallels.

He did indicate that when he gets a new machine, he would be interested

P

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Here's the sentence.
Mar 22, 2007 2:12AM PDT

"i heard about PARALLELS, it looks awesome. hopefully it'll be standard for mac OS next time i get a new laptop"

When I hit that word "standard" I read that they hoped it would be part of the OS and 'free'. So my question is still open.

Bob

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sorry about the confusion...
Mar 22, 2007 7:06PM PDT

my iBook is only about a year old so I'm not planning to a get a new laptop in the near future. but yea my last post was hinting that when i do get a new one in a couple of years, hopefully PARALLELS would come free with the OS (which is probably wishful thinking). if it doesn't i think 50-80 bucks is a fairly good price to get it (after all, it's a whole operating system)

dan

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My mistake, but
Mar 22, 2007 10:42PM PDT

I have to point out that Parallels is NOT a whole Operating System. It is merely the means by which you can run another Operating System on your Mac. You still have to purchase the other OS (XP, Vista, whatever) to be able to use it.

P

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A PPC iBook only a year old?
Mar 22, 2007 10:55PM PDT

I thought they stop making those years ago?

Maybe someone can refresh my memory when the last PowerPC chip powered iBook was made. Remember made as in production date. I had one person claiming theirs was just 2 months old but then they revealed it was from Ebay.

Bob

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iBook G4 1.42Ghz
Mar 23, 2007 1:33AM PDT

went into production "Mid 2005" and was in production up until the introduction of the MacBook in May 2006. It was the last iBook in production.
Given that there were a number of retail outlets with G4 iBooks in stock, after the release of the Intel Macbook, it is not beyond belief that this machine is just now coming up to its 1 year anniversary.

Source: Apple Spec Database

P

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bad timing
Mar 23, 2007 3:36AM PDT

yea my old Acer laptop died sometime in feb 2006. I did know the Macbook was coming out pretty soon, but I doubt I could have handled 3 months without a computer Silly

dan

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BootCamp is free!
Mar 23, 2007 10:23PM PDT

While Parallels will never be free because it is by a different company, Apple offers BootCamp as a free download and will incorporate it into Leopard, due real soon now.

While Parallels is great already and will still improve, BootCamp actually makes the Mac into a real Windows machine rather than a virtual one.

As far as needing Windows in addition, I think Dan is quite aware of that fact although depending on what program(s) are going to be run, Parallels and Windows may not really be necessary.

CodeWeavers has released CrossOver Mac. The software will allow Intel Mac users to run many Windows applications ? including some games ? without having to buy or install Windows itself.

I haven't tried it since the Beta version was first released, but it is certainly worth taking a peek:

http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxmac/

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iEmulator is a cheaper (& better) alternative to Virtual PC
Mar 23, 2007 9:13AM PDT

I use iEmulator, which is around $30 and works just fine on a G4 or G5. (I've run it on my G4 iBook with 768 MB of RAM and currently run it on my iMac G5. It ran fine with 512 MB of RAM, but since upgrading the iMac to 1.5 GB of RAM, it's even better.

Full disclosure: I use Windows ME. (Yes, I know it's lousy, but when run in emulation, which is a closed environment even when you're connecting to the internet--because the net only sees the Mac, not a Windows machine--it has NEVER crashed.) Unlike when I ran Windows ME on a real PC. In fact, under iEmulator, Windows ME runs FASTER than it did on my old PC. (Granted it was a Pentium II, but it's still cool.)

Hope this helps.

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The problem with Virtual PC.....
Mar 23, 2007 11:32AM PDT

is that it only allows you to allocate 512 MB of RAM total to the virtual machine (allocating more memory won't help that much due to the virtual machine running from 550 to 650 MHz max). I am on a 2.0 GHz Dual Core G5, with 1.5 GB of RAM - Virtual PC running Windows XP Pro is still slow. Unless you absolutely need Windows XP, I would recommend installing a second virtual machine with Windows 2000. It runs WAY faster then XP does (XP has always been a memory hog. Microsoft claims you can run it with 128 MB, with 256 recommended, but every machine I sell with XP on it has a minimum of 512 MB of RAM). I am getting ready to install Windows 2000 on mine & it will be much nicer. Good luck!

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Not such a great idea
Apr 2, 2007 9:38AM PDT

Adding and more ram with help, but their are other issues. How big of a hard drive. Windows XP can be a hog, And clock speed of your computer is just not that fast. This situation is really just throwing good money after bad. Your better of getting a dual processer MacBook. Check out Apple's site for refurbished. got one fully loaded (1 gig ram, dual layers superdrive, airport, bluetooth, etc etc etc.) This will allow you to run Boot Camp or Parallels which are built for the Intel processor.

Good look