Virtual PC had no compatibility problems with the networking software we tested, although it requires a second IP address in addition to the one already assigned to the Mac and can’t use an extant Mac PPP connection.īoth emulators use large Mac files as their virtual hard disks both also have a quick-launch feature that lets you put the Windows environment to sleep and reawaken it without having to go through the full boot process, though Virtual PC’s implementation of this feature is more than twice as fast as SoftWindows 98’s. The downside is that SoftWindows 98 is incompatible with some networking software. More important, if your Mac is already connected to the Internet via PPP, SoftWindows 98 uses that connection instead of requiring you to create one from within Windowsa feature you’ll appreciate when you’re on the road. For example, SoftWindows 98 takes advantage of the Mac’s built-in TCP/IP networking, so you don’t need to configure a separate IP address for Windows. And their performance is remarkably similar: our overall benchmark scores show a difference of just 5 percent between the two.īut running the emulators with applications that make heavier use of networks points up some compatibility differences.
Virtual PC and SoftWindows 98 are philosophically identical: they re-create a PCincluding its CPU (an MMX-equipped Pentium)in software and then run Windows and Windows software in this simulated environment. That said, both emulators are fast enough and compatible enough for quick forays into the Windows world.
On a Power Macintosh G3/300, Connectix’s Virtual PC 2.1.1 and Insignia Solutions’ SoftWindows 98 5.0.4 delivered less than one-fifth the performance of our baseline system, a 300MHz Intel Celeron-based PC. Unfortunately, our lab testing made one thing abundantly clear: if you need to run resource-intensive Windows software, emulators aren’t for you (see ” But depending on the application, you may be able to use a software emulator running on your Mac rather than having to use an actual PC. Like it or not, because much of the software that’s available for the PC lacks a Mac counterpart, you occasionally need to turn to Windows applications to get your work done.
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