Needing better laptop to run VMs/GNC, and recommendations?

JockVSJock

Greetings.

My Hackintosh (Mac OS x/Win7) laptop isn't cutting it with Virtual Machine and GNC. So I've decided to get a new laptop.

I've done some research, look like the quad processors, more then 4 GB of ram and have a 64-bit OS seems to work well. At the local store on the military base, I found the following laptop.

Sony SVe-1511 CFXS
-Intel Core i5-3210M 2.50 Ghz
-6 GB
-Win 7 Home Premium 64bit

Let me know what your opinions are or if you have any recommendations.

thanks

pumbaa_g

You will need horsepower under the hood for multiple VM's. Something like i7, 12 GB RAM will be nearer to what you should be looking at for. Desktops in these matters rule but for portability you have to compromise.

You may get a good deal if you wait as Intel has already launched new i7 models hence expect some amazing discounts on those models as the year goes by

Tackle

That processor isn't too bad, it won't be the bottle neck.

JockVSJock, I don't have any expereince with that particular laptop. Depending on the price you can get it for, I'd say go for it.
I just purchased a Lenovo ideapad z580 with the Ivy bridge i7, 8gb ram for $804 after taxes/shipping. Nice laptop, I'd recommend it.

As with most laptops while running VM's, disk will be the limiting factor. if you find a laptop with space for 2 hard drives, that would be optimum. Otherwise look at getting an SSD for better performacne.

sting_224

I'm also facing the same problem, based on my budget I'm looking at

Hp Pavilion DM4-3055dx
Intel Core i5-2430M 2.4GHz
8GB
Win 7 Home Premium 64bit

What do u think?

Tackle

sting_224 wrote: »

I'm also facing the same problem, based on my budget I'm looking at

Hp Pavilion DM4-3055dx
Intel Core i5-2430M 2.4GHz
8GB
Win 7 Home Premium 64bit

What do u think?

Nothing wrong with that. If you plan to run VM's, I'd suggest a better hard drive. 5400rpm will be sluggish with more more than 1 or 2 vm's running ontop of the host.

jdancer

I suggest you ditch the hard drive and get a good size SSD. It's all about IOPS for VMs anyway.

jmritenour

jdancer is correct. The biggest challenge to running concurrent VMs on a desktop/laptop is going to be the I/O. Go SSD if at all possible, you'll save yourself a lot of frustration and headaches. I've had 5+ VMs going at once on a core i5 with 8GB of RAM, but a 7200RPM drive was my main bottleneck.

JockVSJock

I've been looking online and it looks alot like the Alienware laptops are going to be the winner.

Unless I can find something else, it is going to be pricy.

Thanks everyone for the feedback.

SteveLord

Skip Alienware. No need to pay the premium for that branding.

Take a look at Sager or iBuypower. But with anyone I would say consider opting for the lowest amount of memory and cheapest hard drive included. Then buy the memory and SSD yourself. Bet it saves you a few bucks.

ElvisG

I have a Asus G73W with 12 Gigs of ram and I love it. The only downside is that it has a HDD and not SSD. That and Asus put two of it's DIMM slots on the underside of the motherboard. My next one is going to be either another Asus or Sager with 24 Gigs of ram and a SSD with a 15" monitor. The 17" is just a little too bulky to carry around. You can get all that for under $2000. My last Sager was built like a tank. I have owned every laptop maker and Asus or Sager is by far the best built.

You get yourself a 15" Sager with 24 Gigs of ram, SSD, 16 USB Ethernet adapters, 2 USB hubs and you got yourself a MCSE and CCIE dream setup. You could run 16 routers with a full complete Windows / Solaris / Linux domain setup.

bdub

The single biggest performance increase would really be to run 2008/2012 as your OS and use hyperv instead of using vmware workstation or virtualbox.

JockVSJock

SteveLord wrote: »

Skip Alienware. No need to pay the premium for that branding.

Take a look at Sager or iBuypower. But with anyone I would say consider opting for the lowest amount of memory and cheapest hard drive included. Then buy the memory and SSD yourself. Bet it saves you a few bucks.

I agree. Alienware is too expensive and your paying for something that looks "cool."

Looks like Sager is going to be the winner. Man SSD is expensive, however probably worth it in the long run.

SteveLord

Crucial's M4 drives are known for their reliability and are some of the cheapest you can get. Samsung's 830 series would be my second choice, costing a little more, but rated faster.