RE: Semi-OT: Recommendation for laptop/workstation replacment to run VMs ?
Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2013 10:17:07 -0600
Message-ID: <F05D8DF1FB25F44085DB74CB916678E8856A270A24_at_NADCWPMSGCMS10.hca.corpad.net>
Thanks Jared - on the SSD as the OS/App drive, I've seen only a little bit about this. Do you use a different drive for the "Libraries" section? (My Documents, Pictures, Downloads, etc?) Or does all that go on the SSD as well?
Chris
From: Jared Still [mailto:jkstill_at_gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 01, 2013 11:42 AM
To: Taylor Christopher - Nashville
Cc: Oracle-L Freelists
Subject: Re: Semi-OT: Recommendation for laptop/workstation replacment to run VMs ?
On Fri, Dec 28, 2012 at 12:30 PM, <Christopher.Taylor2_at_parallon.net<mailto:Christopher.Taylor2_at_parallon.net>> wrote: I was looking at the Dell Precision m6700 but I'm not sure I want to pull the pin on that badboy right now so I was curious if any of you guys have a good workstation replacement you use to run test VMs (think: RAC upgrade testing (CRS, ASM etc) - basic database upgrades to flush out issues). I had a desktop at one point that I had setup a DNS server on and a vlan for the VMs which worked pretty well at the time but I'd like to have something portable. Definitely needs 16GB ram if not 32gb I think.
Anyone have any favorites or recommendations (or tips on how to write off a m6700 on my taxes! LOL )
Sorry, no tax advice.
But I did just get a new dell laptop for the purposes you are stating.
Dell XPS 15, 128G mSata SSD, 1 TB disk, 16G of RAM
4 Core i7-3632QM CPU
Windows 8
Virtualization works just fine on this machine, and I am overall quite pleased with it so far.
The only thing is it lacking is a VGA port. I purchased and HDMI to VGA adapter, but have not yet tried it, so we'll see if I am still completely happy when I get around to that.
There are a number of reviews on the XPS 15, and those that appear at the top of the google review search are all pretty accurate as far as I can tell.
Some pluses for this machine:
* gorgeous display - I think it was the CNET reviewer that claimed this was the nicest display
he had ever seen on a PC laptop - I would agree.
* wonderful keyboard - so much better than the usual fare I've experienced on quite a few Dell laptops
So far I've had 3 linux VM's running at once with no issues 2 Oracle 6.1 running oracle 11.2 with 6G of RAM between them 1 Debian 6 with 2G of RAM
Caveat: the default setting is for the 128G SSD to be used as a caching device. I reinstalled windows and used the SSD as the OS/App drive - boot times are quite livable. :)
I was considering the Dell 4700, but the XPS was several hundred $$ less for about the same capability. Really the only thing I am missing is VGA port The M4700/6700 can be upgraded to 32G, and the XPS is maxed out at 16G. 32G would be nice, but I can live with 16G.
I would have very seriously considered a MacBook Pro had not the new line topped out at 8G of RAM. They can be unofficially upgraded to 16G, but Apple doesn't support it.
HTH,
Jared
-- http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-lReceived on Wed Jan 02 2013 - 17:17:07 CET