Virtual machines concurrency

MyAppleWorld · Oct 27, 2012

Hi

In a latest model i7 13" 8gb ram how many machines can run on the ssd comfortably with say 1gb ram each?

My current windows machine struggles after 3 with high disk activity being the bottle neck. My windows laptop is c2d with 5gb ram. 5400rpm drive.

WesCole · Oct 28, 2012

I have had a Windows 7 VM with 2GB of RAM allocated to it and a Unix VM with 512MB allocated to it running at the same time. On OS X, I had Safari, iTunes, Mail, and Calendar open. Even if the system has to page out, it is not nearly as noticeable since the SSD is so fast.

robvas · Oct 29, 2012

thatsmega.net said:
Hi

In a latest model i7 13" 8gb ram how many machines can run on the ssd comfortably with say 1gb ram each?

My current windows machine struggles after 3 with high disk activity being the bottle neck. My windows laptop is c2d with 5gb ram. 5400rpm drive.

Usually 2 VM's with disk activity will grind to a halt on a platter-based drive. I have ran 4 VM's at a time on my iMac with a 240GB SSD and they handled it fine. I was CPU-limited because I have an i3.

MyAppleWorld · Oct 29, 2012

My dilemma is whether to max out a new MBA and use it as sole machine, considering I will be running 4 Vms requently (normally at a desk with external monitor)

or get a base MBA for using on the sofa and save some extra cash to get a dedicated desktop machine, like an iMac.

Steve121178 · Oct 29, 2012

thatsmega.net said:
My dilemma is whether to max out a new MBA and use it as sole machine, considering I will be running 4 Vms requently (normally at a desk with external monitor)

or get a base MBA for using on the sofa and save some extra cash to get a dedicated desktop machine, like an iMac.

You could spec up a beast of a Windows machine for MBA money that will run multiple VM's with ease. I'm not sure using a MBA is the wisest choice of machine for what you want to do. Ok, so 1 or 2 VM's shouldn't be too much of an issue, but 4?!

MyAppleWorld · Oct 29, 2012

Steve121178 said:
You could spec up a beast of a Windows machine for MBA money that will run multiple VM's with ease. I'm not sure using a MBA is the wisest choice of machine for what you want to do. Ok, so 1 or 2 VM's shouldn't be too much of an issue, but 4?!

I know it doesn't sound sensible but i'm currently running that on a HP laptop, core 2 duo, 5gb ram, standard hdd. (I run a couple of machines on USB2 drive).

It's struggles but it's usable once machines have finished booting etc - I figured a macbook air 13" would still considerably improve this experience (although I had planned eliminating the USB 2 drive and run them all from SSD).

I have thought about a windows machine to run in the corner of my office and RDP to it from the macbook - this may be the best alternative. Wake on LAN would be required though to take the desktop up if I was away from home - is this possible with a time capsule?

MyAppleWorld · Oct 29, 2012

thatsmega.net said:
I have thought about a windows machine to run in the corner of my office and RDP to it from the macbook - this may be the best alternative. Wake on LAN would be required though to take the desktop up if I was away from home - is this possible with a time capsule?

Hmmm it seems the Mac RDP client no longer "supported" since Lion....

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=18140
Note Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac (version 2.1.1) is not intended for use with Mac OS X v10.7 (Lion) or later

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