Apple Computer Inc’s PowerPC Mac may meet all of the pre-publicity promise, but with the recommended 16Mb of memory to run Windows applications, users may find the feature has a high price tag, Newsbytes reports: the newswire hears that independent testing of Windows applications under the SoftWindows emulator, some were running at speeds similar to or less than that of an 80286 processor; developer Insignia Solutions Ltd says It is important to realise that software running software is a very complicated process and unless extended memory is configured with 4Mb of RAM and Delta cache is set at 3Mb to 4Mb, the speed of the application may be in the range of an 80286 processor; we also want consumers to understand that the software is written to emulate an 80286 CPU, but will run at 80386 and 80486 speeds when properly configured with most applications; at this time 85% to 90% of Windows applications tested will run in our 80286 emulation; there are some applications that will not run on PowerPC and we will be doing further testing and providing affordable upgrades to run those programs.
