What's the best Windows emulator for Mac?

Great to all the comments, don't have VPC as it seemed to expensive at the moment. Thought iEmulator would be fine however, trying to install win2k on our G4 took 6+ hours!! Why don't they post this info?! That's cause win98 didn't come with a boot cd but a boot floppy (old technology) so since we were in a time crunch we tried win2k! Reason for that, for any readers out there, MAC doesn't get support from MS, latest browser is 5.2.3 for IE and there are many websites supporting only IE6 or greater!! I know - I work with vendors of such products! So are there other alternatives? Thanks - nathannnever@yahoo.co.uk

The only reason I am interested in a Windows emulator for my iMac (10.3) is that I am keen on Flight Simulation. When Virtual Wings disappeared, there was nothing. Now there is Elite, but it is an IFR training environment, without scenery for the Mac. Has anyone any experience with running a flightsim under Virtual PC, or iEmulator?

Emulate? I do it the hardware way: video-out from my Athlon into a Canopus DV input box on the Mac, and a KVM switch. Full-speed (with full audio & 3D support) in a Mac window. Lovely.

Having run VPC 5.0 under OS 9 with minimal RAM and minimal Windows needs (Win98 is what I ran), it worked for the most part. Now I have a Mac mini and have upgraded to VPC 7 and running XP (switching from my WinTel box). It's ok, but could use more RAM (I have 512Mb on the mini, with 256Mb dedicated to VPC). The only things I use under XP these days are Microsoft Money and my Pocket PC (syncing with ActiveSync 3.8). USB 1.1 devices are not all that supported under VPC and it's quite the chore with a USB cradle for PocketPC devices. I've since found a work-around (sync via wireless ethernet) and after countless hours, it's now a viable solution. My advice would be to test any programs you need to make sure it's going to be a good solution for you. I'll echo the advice from others here if you are doing VPC: - as much RAM that you can install - limited USB device use - disk intensive apps may prove too much for VPC. One of the benfits of VPC that I like so far is being able to have multiple installs of Windows and the option of moving the entire thing in one file to another Mac. The oddest thing is running Windows Update with OSX in the background. Overall, I would recommend VPC for minimal Windows use.

Why not qemu? Sure, it's a bit more tricky to compile and set up a command line interface, but it's Open Source and pretty fast too (a whole lot faster than Bochs, at least).

Paul Uspensky (Sales & Marketing Manager for Guest PC) told me that "Guest PC 1.2 is currently slower then VPC 7.0.1. Basic functionality is the same with VPC. Virtual PC is slightly righter in features such as USB support, drug-and-drop and copy-paste. The features will be added to Guest PC in near future. The Guest PC performance depends on the performance of the computer you are having. The faster the computer is the faster the emulator runs. The best performance can be obtained on dual-headed G5s."

The Richard from iEmulator Support told me per email that "However, I'd be happy to provide some comparison information. VirtualPC does tend to run faster than iEmulator in most (but not all!) cases. It also is a more mature application, and provides better integration with the Mac environment than iEmulator does. Having said that, iEmulator runs quite well, is very inexpensive, and ALL updates will always be free of charge to all customers. We hope to be at least on parity with VirtualPC by the release of version 2.0; iEmulator is not a static application! In short, if cost is no object, we'd recommend looking very closely at VirtualPC. Right now it is a better product. If there is some cost sensitivity, please look closer at iEmulator. We think you'll be happy with it now, and it's only getting better!"

I run VPC on a 800mhz G3 iBook and on a 1.4ghz G4 PowerMac (it was upgraded). Using XP in VPC on the PowerMac feels pretty smooth, while the iBook is just usable. Running the occasional app in XP on a G5 should be fine. Out of all versions of Windows, the best for VPC I believe is NT4. NT4 simply flies in VPC, almost to the point where it feels native. Many apps can still run fine in NT4, so you should definitely check it out. You can obtain a copy of NT4 for nothing. Between XP and 98SE, they both feel equally sluggish to me on slower hardware in VPC. However, there are some steps you can take to improve performance: 1) Download TweakUI and disable all eye candy. 2) Switch back to the classic Windows theme 3) Use a fixed disk size, not an expanding image 4) If running XP, convert the disk image to NTFS (98 or lower you have no choice but to use FAT) 5) 128mb ram for 98, NT4; 384mb for XP 6) Give VPC as much ram for video ram use as possible (maxes out at 16mb) 7) Disable dock integration 8) If you don't need it, disable USB 9) If you don't need networking, disable it 10) Set background CPU priority to medium 11) Set Windows color depth to 16 bits 12) Run VPC in the smallest resolution possible, say 800X600 Following these tips I have an install of XP on my PowerMac I feel is quite usable; it actually surprises me sometimes.

Just as some guys who already commented above, I'm a "switcher" (almost year and a half now) and a web developer. I have all the necessary software in OS X, but sometimes I test how sites behave in Internet Explorer for Windows. I'm using Windows Millenium as a "guest OS". It's pretty slow on my 1 GHz iBook :). Patiently waiting for Intel-based Macs.

I HATE putting MS software on my Powerbook, so I am constantly testing stuff to find alternatives. For example, NeoOfficeJ is a great lternative to MS Office, and Keynote, of course, blows the socks off Powerpoint. That said, VPC is probably the only viable choice I recommend for realistic performance on a Mac today. Sadly, some apps just don't quite cut it, primarily Computer-based-training apps with animations and sound embedded. Remember, on a machine that runs a lean, hardware-specific operating system, you are trying to run an app which contains a hardware emulator, inside of which is running a "one-size-fits-all" operating system, and then having that OS run a Windows app. Not exactly a set-up for blinding speed. If you don't have or need a G5, I recommend VPC 6 running Windows 98SE or Windows ME. This is a lot leaner package than VPC7 with 2000 Pro or XP. An alternative might be QEMUX, but it's relatively slow, and I haven't been able to share folders or files between the host and guest OS's. I'm all for trying GuestPC, but I haven't gotten to it yet. Like the others, I've been using VNC and/or RDC for remote machines, but I've found my desktop setup to be really cool using "Synergy" to switch quickly between my Mac and PC workstations. I have a shared document folder on the PC which is on my Mac's desktop. SMOOOOTH!