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I am looking to buy a new Notebook specifically for product demonstration for an application. The Application Server is to be installed on a virtual machine server, that requires both Microsoft web server (Internet Information Service)(IIS) and MS SQL Server to be installed and operational on the virtual Machine server.

NET Framework version 3.5 sp1 to be installed on the Host machine and at least Windows XP Professional 32-bit with SP3 with MS Office Professional 2003 with SP3 (32 bit) (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio). The Application server installer is about 60MB and at least 4GB server memory for Windows 2003 Standard 32 bit.

I need the Application installed on the Notebook for mobility. Can this be feasible and with the Virtual Machine server will performance be compromised?

I am opened to a free or cheap virtual machine Server.

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Since you are installing windows server and sql server i suggest you get more RAM atleast 6 gb , so that you can dedicate 4 gb to your virtual machine , try virtual box ,its good and free – Shakehar Apr 3 '11 at 6:06
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2 Answers

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Personally, i'd recommend simply installing the server OS on the notebook straight up - if this is the primary role of the notebook, there's no need for virtualisation, and if it isn't - and you need XP, dualbooting is an option.

In this specific use case, you'll get better performance, and not waste resources. Virtualisation is nice for testing, but in this specific case, since you're demonstrating the product to the customer, you want all the speed you can get.

In addition, windows server has much better RDP support in many cases, in case you need to connect to, and administer the server.

Finally, new systems don't come with XP any more, any new laptop you'll get will likely run windows 7, and as such you'll need to find, and install XP yourself. Once again, this somewhat loses the advantage of a VM if you want a XP host, since you'll be reinstalling anyway.

In short, get a modern notebook, install windows server, and don't worry too much about virtualisation in this case.

If you DO insist on running a VM server, i'd suggest virtualbox or VMware server - both work fine, though virtualbox is a little easier to administer, IMO - both run fine atop windows XP, and slightly more ram than your VM needs.

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Thank you "Shark" and The Journeyman Geek" for your recommendations Will the processor AMD or Intel have any impact? – Chris Apr 3 '11 at 7:45
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no, not really. while shopping discussions are out of the scope of the sites, both AMD and Intel chips should handle whatever you throw at them for small scale use - i've run windows 2003 on a 1.6 ghz celeron, and it seemed snappier than XP - so modern processors should do alright - just get the best processor you can in your budget, and check if it has support for virtualsation extentions - i believe AMD calls it AMD-V. – Journeyman Geek Apr 3 '11 at 8:17
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If you need virtualization, ask for a full featured Intel Core processor with virtualization technology.

http://ark.intel.com/VTList.aspx

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