Review of Connectix's Virtual PC

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Copyright 1997 by Bill Fox

Last Updated: September 17, 1997

Virtual PC -- Hands-On Experience & Comments

For the past couple of weeks I have used Virtual PC (Windows 95 version) on several computers: a 8500/225 (PowerBoost Pro 225 card), a PowerBase 180 and a PowerBook 3400/180. I have principally used IBM's Lotus cc:Mail 6.1 (network and mobile versions) for Windows 95 and WordPerfect 6.1 for Windows. However, I have also briefly used CompuServe 3.01, Internet Explorer 3.01, Netscape Navigator 4.03 and PowerPoint--all for Windows 95.

Installation of VPC on all three computers was a snap. VPC was installed on an external hard drive by itself for the 8500, a partition of an external hard drive (shared with the BeOS in another partition) for the PowerBase 180 and on the main internal hard drive for the PB 3400. The hard drive footprint is about 250-260 MB without other applications. Setup involves entries to a simple preferences menu where one assigns the Mac devices to Windows 95 device names (e.g. modem to COM1). The 8500/225 is connected to a LAN and VPC was able to navigate the network after installation with no problem. The only issue was that the installation of software (e.g. cc:Mail and WordPerfect) had to be done using a CD and diskettes from the Mac's drives instead of from the network.

The average VPC launch times, measured from clicking on the VPC icon to being able to use Windows 95, are: 8500/225 = 60 sec., PB 180 = 100 sec., and PB 3400/180 = 80 sec. -- I don't know why the PowerBase took longer than the PowerBook, perhaps it was the external vs the internal drive. These launch times compare reasonably well with Mac OS 8 launch times.

The launch times for cc:Mail Mobile (measured from selecting the icon to gettting the password window) is 15 seconds for both the PowerBase and PowerBook. In comparison, the Mac version 2.03 takes about 5 seconds on both. WordPerfect 6.1 takes respectively 25 seconds and 30 seconds to launch on the PowerBook and PowerBase. The Mac version 3.5.4 takes only 5 and 10 seconds. On the 8500/225, it takes 10 seconds to open PowerPoint under VPC but only 5 seconds in the Mac environment. Opening a template took 8 seconds under VPC but only 5 seconds in the Mac version.

All three of these applications (cc:Mail Mobile, WordPerfect 6.1 and PowerPoint) performed slower than their respective counterparts in the Mac environment on all three computers but at an acceptable rate for occasional, not regular, use. Compuserve 3.01 and the internet software performed marginally well on the 8500/225 but were much too slow on the PowerBase and PowerBook--screen re-draws just took way too long.

If you have some specific questions, please e-mail me.

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Copyright © 1997 by Bill Fox.
All rights reserved--no commercial use permitted without my expressed permission.

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