HOME
TOPICS
ABOUT ME
MAIL

 
Latest version lets Mac users have the best of both worlds.
 technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

T e c h n o f i l e
Microsoft 'Virtual PC' software runs Windows on a Mac


Oct. 10, 2004


By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2004, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2004, The Post-Standard

   I've been running a new Windows XP computer from Microsoft all week. It boots up quickly and runs smoothly. I'm very impressed.
   Did you do a double-take? A new PC from Microsoft? No, it's not what you think.
   The PC Microsoft makes isn't the standard kind. It's an emulated PC, which turns a real computer into a Windows PC through a lot of software magic. Microsoft calls it Virtual PC.
   Virtual PC installs on an Apple Macintosh computer and runs on the Mac's desktop, creating a Windows PC in a window inside another personal computer. To impress your friends, you can press a key and turn that PC-in-a-window into a full-screen IBM-compatible PC, hiding the Mac, at any time.
   No matter what the Windows part of this dynamic duo is doing, the Mac is still chugging along. Each computer is unaffected by the other. You can even install multiple PCs - one running Windows 98, one running Windows XP and a third, running Linux, for example - and run all of them simultaneously while your Mac does its own thing.
   Saying this is impressive is an understatement. When you see Virtual PC in action, you can't help but be amazed.
   Microsoft is introducing the latest version, Virtual PC 7, this month. Virtual PC 7 runs faster than previous versions and can take advantage of the newly designed central processor in Apple's G5 computers. I installed it on a dual-processor Apple G4 running OS X 10.3.5, the current version of the Macintosh operating system.
   It wasn't cheap - Virtual PC 7 with Windows XP Professional included lists for $249 - but it's half the price of the cheapest "real" PC with the same capabilities and, of course, takes up zero percent of the space a real PC occupies.
   You can save money by getting Virtual PC 7 without a built-in copy of Windows at a list price of $129. Microsoft's Virtual PC Web site has the pricing details on these and other options. Go to www.microsoft.com/mac/products/virtualpc/virtualpc.aspx. You need an OS X Mac - Virtual PC 7 won't install on the older Mac OS - with 20 to 30 gigabytes of free drive space and at least 512 megabytes of memory. More memory than that is highly recommended.
   Virtual PC provides a keyboard remapping utility, so you can assign unused keys on your Mac's keyboard to specific Windows functions.
   Mouse customization is also provided, but I recommend switching to a Windows-standard, two-button mouse if you are going to use Virtual PC often. The right mouse button will be automatically set up for Windows, and it will work in OS X as a right button, too.
   I was impressed with the easy installation, and I was glad to see that the copy of Windows XP included in my boxed set included the SP2 security patch.
   Unfortunately, my Windows XP installation became infected with spyware as soon as I booted up the computer and ran Internet Explorer to check the Windows Update site, so the first thing I did after making sure there were no updates was to install two spyware catchers and Firefox, the alternative Web browser.
   Nearly all my regular Windows software ran perfectly on my virtual XP computer. WhereIsIt, my file database software, crashed at startup, but I had no other problems with normal programs. Games are another matter. Simple ones worked fine, but sophisticated games don't run well on an emulated PC.
   Printing worked perfectly, and I got better printouts on my Lexmark Z53 from Windows XP than I was getting from my OS X Mac. (The Windows printer driver seems to be written better.) My Epson 2000P printer also worked well. Virtual PC picks up the USB connections and channels them to the emulated PC.
   The Mac's Unix-based OS X operating system handled the extra load with only a slight slowdown. Windows XP ran about as fast as it would on a 600 MHz physical PC. A faster Mac would boost the emulated PC's speed accordingly.