Software questions from a would-be mac user

[Considering]

Hey guys,

I have a few questions about two software programs I would be sure to use on a mac. First, a tad bit of backstory here:

I just got an older iMac (G3-600). I really like the OS X interface, although it is only running version 10.0.whatever. So it's a bit behind the times, but I assume it is not THAT different from Jaguar.

Anyway, my experience so far has been good, and I am thinking strongly about buying the 17" or the 15.2" powerbook. Now for the questions:

How well and with what applications does Virtual PC work? I would like to be able to run my 3D games through it (Grand Theft Auto) but it would not be the end of the world if I couldn't. I just want to hear that it will handle a large majority of the newer software designed for 2000/XP.

2nd: I play Warcraft 3 almost exclusivly. Has anyone used this on a mac with the 64 mb video card? What res are you using? How well does it run overall?

Thanks guys!

 

[jxyama]

BTW, 10.0 is quite a bit different from Jaguar (10.2.x). If you can afford it, go get a copy. It will make your already good switching experience into excellent.

I've never played games on VPC before but it should work for most things as long as there's no direct external device access. That said, VPC is fairly slow so I am not sure if you want to run games...

I don't know about Warcraft. Sorry.

 

[alia]

So you know, VPC cannot handle 3d hardware rendering, so I'm pretty sure any games that require it would be pretty much unplayable using VPC. If I'm wrong about this, someone correct me.

Alia

 

[pEZ]

I've played Warcraft III on my Nvidia GeForce 2 video card on my 15" flat panel iMac - it runs very smoothly, even though that card is not that great at all. Better than I can say for Diablo II - ugh.

 

[cubist]

On the plus side, your WC3 CD includes a Mac version too, so you'll be all ready to go!

(Some folks say it plays better in Mac OS 9. You might try it out on your iMac...)

OK, pez beat me to it. What I meant was, you don't need VPC6, and I wouldn't even try playing games in it. But Warcraft III runs fine on the Mac, and your disk has the Mac version on it already.

 

[RHutch]

Not recommended for games

I am not into games, but I thought that I would be able to take advantage of the wealth of PC games when I bought VPC. I only tried one, but it didn't work, and I didn't bother with anything else.

I have a dual 1.25 GHz G4 with 1024 MB RAM. I have VPC 6.0 with XP Pro. I set up VPC with 512 MB of RAM and maxed the video memory. I tried playing the "Law & Order" game, but I could barely get through the opening scenes. The screen was jittery and skipped bits of scenes.

I've talked to other people about games on VPC, and they all recommended against it.

 

[Datazoid]

Wow...10.0.x....ouch. I remember that, and while I did use it pretty exclusively (while it was current), it had many flaws. You should at least get a 10.1 upgrade disk (used to be able to get them free, not sure about now, though you can still buy them ( first link google turned up: here ), it doesn't make any major changes but it makes it a LOT more usable. Jaguar is much improved, but there is no cheap upgrade (you can get a $65 upgrade here), but it only works with 10.1, for that much you can get the whole thing from Amazon after rebate)

I would really suggest you to upgrade (preferably to Jaguar, though 10.1 works), though...you'll find most applications don't even work with 10.0.x anymore.

 

[gotohamish]

Re: Software questions from a would-be mac user

Originally posted by Considering
Hey guys,

I have a few questions about two software programs I would be sure to use on a mac. First, a tad bit of backstory here:

I just got an older iMac (G3-600). I really like the OS X interface, although it is only running version 10.0.whatever. So it's a bit behind the times, but I assume it is not THAT different from Jaguar.

Anyway, my experience so far has been good, and I am thinking strongly about buying the 17" or the 15.2" powerbook. Now for the questions:

How well and with what applications does Virtual PC work? I would like to be able to run my 3D games through it (Grand Theft Auto) but it would not be the end of the world if I couldn't. I just want to hear that it will handle a large majority of the newer software designed for 2000/XP.

2nd: I play Warcraft 3 almost exclusivly. Has anyone used this on a mac with the 64 mb video card? What res are you using? How well does it run overall?

Thanks guys!

Jaguar will make a HUGE difference.

Massive. Unrecognisable difference.

Pardon the pun, but it's a whole different animal.

 

[Schiffi]

Better get a 15.2" pBook quickly, cause currently they are the last mac from Apple that still can boot into OS9. I have a 1Ghz 1024Mb Ram 15.2" pBook with OS 10.2.6 so Warcraft 3 runs sweetly. (though I must admit it was a demo and I don't like RTSes too much, it still filled up the whole screen which is quite a feat for a game) I still hear that the 17" is still pretty fragile so unless you're going to work with 1500x1500 Photoshop files constantly, go with the 15.2 (res of 1280x854).

 

[patrick0brien]

-Considering

10.0 to 10.2 is a order-of-magnitude difference without losing familiarity with the use of the GUI.

With 10.2 you get...

Quartz Extreme: Major Speed increase as the GUI is offloaded to the GPU thus better balancing the workload IMHO to better places. This also frees up the CPU to actually do the work that you wish it to do.

New Mach Kernel: Stability, stabilty, stability

And a bunch of other things.

With 10.2 you lose the happy mac on startup. Though if you really want to see it again you could hack it (please don't) or just watch the Classic startup.

 

[gotohamish]

Originally posted by patrick0brien
-Considering

10.0 to 10.2 is a order-of-magnitude difference without losing familiarity with the use of the GUI.

With 10.2 you get...

Quartz Extreme: Major Speed increase as the GUI is offloaded to the GPU thus better balancing the workload IMHO to better places. This also frees up the CPU to actually do the work that you wish it to do.

New Mach Kernel: Stability, stabilty, stability

And a bunch of other things.

With 10.2 you lose the happy mac on startup. Though if you really want to see it again you could hack it (please don't) or just watch the Classic startup.

The thread-started won't get QE - it's a 600 G3 iMac.

 

[patrick0brien]

Originally posted by gotohamish
The thread-started won't get QE - it's a 600 G3 iMac.

-Oh, oops

 

[Considering]

Thanks

Thanks for the input guys, lots of info fast

So basically VPC can't play 3D games period, and is kinda slow with everything else. Am I right in saying that?

Thx for the Warcraft 3 info as well. I was pretty sure the 1ghz G4 with a 64 meg vcard would do fine, just wanted to make sure.

I'm thinking the 17" (need a few days to talk myself into spending 3k...whew!) because I do a decent amount of photoshopping and such. Plus it would look really cool in the dorm room. (heh heh heh)

I'm going to take a look at another guy's mac, he has Jaguar loaded...so I'll get some impressions of that, as well.

Thanks again all!