MOSR: VirtualPC 7.0 performance good [updated]


Mac OS Rumors has received first-hand user reports on the usability of the upcoming release of VirtualPC 7.0 -- currently in alpha testing. Here's a quote from their write up:

"On a single 1.6GHz G5, performance of a broad spectrum of applications and operating systems was roughly comparable to that of a Dual 1GHz G4. On a Dual 1.8GHz model, performance was "astounding," well above and beyond that of a Dual 1.42GHz G4 system -- notably with resource-intensive multi-tasking where the G5's superior bandwidth comes into play. On any Quartz Extreme-class system (Radeon or GeForce accelerator on an AGP bus), applications were reported to take huge advantage of new VPC7 features which route some emulated PC graphics functions directly to the real graphics accelerator hardware -- notably games and professional 3D apps."

If indeed this level of performance makes it into the shipping version, VirtualPC will once again be usable. In the final years of Connectix' development of the emulator, performance was deplorable and compatibility spotty.

Looking forward to trying this app out for myself. How about you?

Coming to MWSF?

Meanwhile, Apple Insider reports that Microsoft will announce and/or release VirtualPC 7 and Office 11 for Mac at Macworld San Francisco. According to the report, which was posted on Monday, Office 11 will offer significant improvements, including a greatly improved collaboration functionality and broad unicode support.