Buying a small computer for my studies

I am looking at buying an Acer Aspire Revo R3700 Desktop for my MCSA/MSCE studies but it has a maximum memory support for 4gig Ram. I need to know whether it will be able to run Windows 2003 Server, Exchange Server 2003 and maybe 5 VM machines at the same time. These are just for my studies so the setup will just be for me to complete the exercises in the books.

The reason I am going for the computer is because of my limit in budget and also space because I have no room to fit in a normal desktop and I will be plugging this onto my TV.

Does anyone have an ideas if this will be able to do the job or if there is any alternatives I can use?

Here are the specs below;

Processor
Intel Atom D525B Dual Core 1.8GHz

Intel NM10 chipset
Memory
2GB RAM
2 x soDIMM slot
Hard Drive
500GB SATA

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Comments

bigmantenor

I'm not an expert with such things, but from the specs it looks like that setup is going to be a bit dicey if you try to run 5 VMs concurrently.

DigitalZeroOne

IMHO you need more RAM, running that many VMs, even if you had the 4GB that it goes up to would be horrible. Keep in mind that your host OS is going to take up RAM, and then each subsequent VM. If it runs, it will probably take longer to do everything.

exampasser

You need a better processor and more RAM (at least 8 GB) as others have said. What is your budget?

tbgree00

Those are good computers for email, web, and as a part of an Home Theater. Those are bad for anything else. The CPU isn't really robust enough to give a perfect windows 7 experience, let alone running VMs. The price for that on newegg is 339 USD. You can get an okay basic laptop or used desktop for that on craigslist.

What computer do you have now? Have you tried running VMware Player or Virtualbox on there? Having done the MCSE recently you can get by with 2 VMs. Exchange is a different beast unless you're taking it as an elective. Even then only build what you need as you need it.

mishy

My budget is £250 max but I am also limited on space too hence I had opted for that small pc choice.

I am buying a laptop too which is most likely going to be 64 Bit so I might run the VM machines there and then install Server 2003 + Exchange on the smaller PC if you say that I will to do that.

mishy

tbgree00 wrote: »

What computer do you have now? Have you tried running VMware Player or Virtualbox on there? Having done the MCSE recently you can get by with 2 VMs. Exchange is a different beast unless you're taking it as an elective. Even then only build what you need as you need it.

I need Exchange experience for work that is why I m going to do it. I also do Website designing so I wanted to keep my website designing on my laptop for my Databases etc. I always need a spare computer just incase I am having problem with one thats also another reason why I have decided to spend the small amount on a spare PC and if I can use it for my studies then I will be happy.

bigmantenor

If I did the math right, you have about $400 U.S. to spend on a computer. That's a stiff budget for what you are asking the machine to do. If it were me, I would probably try to build something. Maybe do an Athlon X3 and 8GB of RAM, make sure the power supply isn't some $25 piece of junk that's going to blow up on you. My $.02.

exampasser

This might be another alternative if you want to experiment:
Microsoft Virtual Labs

I'm playing around with it right now.

UPDATE: Rats, they removed the "OK" button for adding a server role.

mctwist

I've just looked into the specs of the processor, and it doesn't even support VT, so you're really limiting yourself there at running a multitude of VMs.

I'd really be looking at something else if I were you.

mishy

I think I might have to buy a laptop but I know that all the stuff I will be using will be Virtual hence I wanted a separate PC. If I buy a good laptop then Windows Server, Exchange and VMs will all be virtual because I will not take off the Windows 7 OS to install trial softwares. So is a laptop going to be good enough for me to use for my studies as I am limited for space?

exampasser

mishy wrote: »

I think I might have to buy a laptop but I know that all the stuff I will be using will be Virtual hence I wanted a separate PC. If I buy a good laptop then Windows Server, Exchange and VMs will all be virtual because I will not take off the Windows 7 OS to install trial softwares. So is a laptop going to be good enough for me to use for my studies as I am limited for space?

If you decided to go just with a good laptop and forget about the desktop idea how much would you be willing to spend on the laptop?

mishy

on the laptop I am going for max £400.

I had targeted this one earlier but I guess I will have to look for a bit higher spec;

Processor
Intel® Core™ i3-370M Processor*
Speed: 2.40GHz,
Level 3 cache 3 MB
Intel HM55 chipset
Memory
3GB DDR3
Configuration: 1 x 1GB + 1 x 2GB
Supports up to 4 GB DDR3 memory
2 user accessible memory slots SODIMM

exampasser

mishy wrote: »

on the laptop I am going for max £400.

I had targeted this one earlier but I guess I will have to look for a bit higher spec;

Processor
Intel® Core™ i3-370M Processor*
Speed: 2.40GHz,
Level 3 cache 3 MB
Intel HM55 chipset
Memory
3GB DDR3
Configuration: 1 x 1GB + 1 x 2GB
Supports up to 4 GB DDR3 memory
2 user accessible memory slots SODIMM

That's better but I would try to get at least 4 GB of RAM if you can (you really need more if you do plan to run 5 VM's at the same time or you may have issues with VM's performing sluggishly with little RAM) and a core i5 (second generation preferably).

Fugazi1000

For the server - consider one of these....

HP ProLiant Microserver | Servers Plus

With the £100 cashback, you can get an 8GB machine that will run Windows Server (Hyper-V) and can also run VMware for about £210.

You will need to buy the 2 x 4GB DIMMS DDR3 separately - you don't need ECC.

it_consultant

I run exchange labs on a PC with an overclocked i5 (first gen) and 8 GB of RAM with a 1TB hard drive. I can tell you that with all the correct VMs going (including a virtual router for true network segmentation) I am operating at the very maximum of my computer's performance.

mishy

Thanks for the HP server. I will definitely look at investing something like that.

SteveLord

I am sure others will instantly label me a dick for this, I am a little shocked at how someone can assume an Atom CPU (laptop/netbook/nettop class processor) and 2GB of ram (bare minimum I'd run a single desktop off of) can somehow run several virtual machines, including Server and Exchange? . Everyone else here gave great suggestions and advice. Maybe some research or a refresher on the latest (by latest...like the last 2 years even) hardware is also good advice.

nhan.ng

SteveLord wrote: »

I am sure others will instantly label me a dick for this, I am a little shocked at how someone can assume an Atom CPU (laptop/netbook/nettop class processor) and 2GB of ram (bare minimum I'd run a single desktop off of) can somehow run several virtual machines, including Server and Exchange? . Everyone else here gave great suggestions and advice. Maybe some research or a refresher on the latest (by latest...like the last 2 years even) hardware is also good advice.

repped.

If you study for everything correctly

, you'll know exactly what are the hardware requirements for each system when configuring it for a specific role

mishy

SteveLord wrote: »

I am sure others will instantly label me a dick for this, I am a little shocked at how someone can assume an Atom CPU (laptop/netbook/nettop class processor) and 2GB of ram (bare minimum I'd run a single desktop off of) can somehow run several virtual machines.

I was under the impression that these Atom Processors are dual core and that they are well capable of running Win 7, so I was assuming if I remove the Win7 and put Win2003 plus upgrade the ram to 4gig I could run maybe 5 Xp VMs at 256 Ram each and the rest is used by Win2003 and Exchange. Also its a testing enviroment for the exercises so performance was never going to be very critical but was just expected to be reasonable and perhaps I might never run the VMs at the same time during my studies. Anyways with the help of the other people on the forum I am going for the HP Micro Server and with the same budget of £200 I will be able to upgrade it to 8Gig ram and maybe add on a used extra SATA drive.

SteveLord

The Atoms are low power/low end CPUs. Often found in netbooks or HTPCs. I never supply my VMs here with anything less than 1GB. I run 16GB in my system. Memory is dirt cheap.