Put me out of my misery!

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Been a Mac user since 1987 and do not use them for DTP, video etc. I use them to run my business which is textile recycling. Anyway I have doggedly searched out all sorts of software to run my busines but always found it challenging to get a high level accounts/managemnet program for the Mac.

Found an incredible program in India (www.tallysolutions.com) but only written for the other platform. Anyway I installed an NT server and iMAc clients running VPC. Works great but slower than Win clients. However when I take data into my G3 Lombard (400mhx/192mb) & run Tally in VPC for Win98 I have speed problems when I'm doing data searches etc. I use my G3 at home for analysis of my Tally data and when I travel.

So my question and the advice I need is would Jaguar with VPC 6.0 on a G3 Lombard be slower than 9.2.2 with VPC 3.0 on a G3? In other words is it worth getting rid of my G3 and moving to a G4 to run Tally under emulation mode using VPC 6.0. If there will not be a marked improvement then it seems I will have lost my tenacity to the Mac platform and be forced to get a windows laptop.

Any guidance appreciated as I dearly wish to keep to the Mac platform but also need to be practical and realistic running a commercial enterprise.

Thanks.
 
Since VPC emulates a MMX processor it will not help you to get a new version of VPC. Instead get a used pc to run your business with and use the G3 for anything else you have.
I have a 400 mhz too but with more ram but i took off VPC because it was due to a lack of interest and speed.
 
The short answer is that, altivec aside, a new 1GHz+ G4 is going to blow the doors off your lombard. As long as your windows app isn't doing anything crazy like 3D graphics, it should run pretty well (not blazing, but decent), like maybe a 1-1.5GHz PIII machine (at least).

It sounds like it's running well (ie: not crashing) on your current setup, so ask yourself this: would it be worth it running 2-5x faster? That would be a minimum speed increase, based solely on MHz to MHz ignoring G3/G4 differences. (this also allows a fudge factor for 800MHz Single G4s through Dual 1.25GHz). Once you add in altivec and other architectural gains (faster bus, memory, etc...) you should see even better performance than that. Is that worth getting a new G4?

You're the one who knows how your current rig runs, the above should be a good framework for guessing what kind of speed you would see in your particular predicament.

The other option. as ApeintheShell says, is a cheap PC (and cheap need not == used, nowadays). But the monetary savings may be lost in time wasted massaging windows, especially if you run a mac-only shop and don't have a lot of windows experience.

Again, only you know your situation, hopefully this helps you answer your question.
 
Replies much appreciated from apeintheshell & alexrd. The short end of it is that I'm going to a local dealer in Budapest (where I live) and try out my program on a G4 Titanium running VPC 3.0 on OS 9.2.2 and see how it performs. I agree it should shift data considerably faster than my G3 Lombard 400mhz unit. ON the speed isuue I'm not convinced however that Jaguar running on a G4 Ti with VPC 6.0 is going to outpace a G4 Ti running 9.2.2 with VPC 3.0. So I believe that JAguar & VPC 6.0 undoes the advantage of the G4 ti by putting too greater demand on sys resources. Maybe later versions will be more successful; I cannot say.

As an aside regarding my NT server iMac clients setup running VPC 3.0/Win98 I can tell you as far as stability was concerned it never crashed. Solid as rock it was but not as fast as having Win clients. I wonder if I had put Win clients then speed would not have been an issue but stability? I have to say though with XP Pro now running one on my machines it is really quite good. Sorry for that!
 
If you have a business to run.
And you need ONE application that needs Windows to run.
A cheap Windows workstation is the way to go.
As long as you only use it for that one application, you shouldn't be able to break Windows.

A faster Mac may be fun, but VPC will always be slow compared to a 'real' PC. And those can be very, very cheap. You can take a model with onboard graphics (don't need fast 3D, right?) and onboard networking.
 
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