Myths about Project 2010 Beta virtual Image HW requirements

  • Article

Just heard from number of you the confusion on the HW requirements, let attempt to clear some of it by this post.

We advice the following two components that extremely enhance the performance:

  • 8GB of RAM is optimal on the host machine so you CAN allocate 6GB to the image
    • Please NOTE SharePoint 2010 – (platform for Project Server 2010) does NOT support less than 4GB of RAM - SharePoint Server 2010 system requirements – so 4GB on your host machine will not work as it will not allow you to assign 4GBs to the image.
    • Attempts to assign less than 4GBs to the virtual machine will cause number of processes not starting – this is not supported

 

  • Fast Hard drive – preferably SSD (Solid State Drive)
    • What is SSD?
    • How big you recommend? We recommend 80GB+ as the base image size is approx. 40GB
    • Recommendations on maker? We had a great experience with Intel, Kingston with Intel Controller (M-Series or E-Series).

Q&A

Does 2 versus 4 core make a big difference? No in our testing – the biggest speed improvement is the SSD.

What configuration are you using for most of your demos?

  • We mostly use DELL E6400 (3GHz, duo Core, 8GB RAM, fast SSD) – this offers optimal size/portability and performance. The Project Conference KeyNote and demos ran from it and all Project 2010 Ignite demos I do, run from it as well! Some partners use the DELL Precision M4400.
  • We also use HP EliteBook 8530w (Quad core, 8GB RAM, fast SSD) – this one is slightly bigger and heavier – Christophe uses this one for his Project 2010 Ignite demos.
  • We are sure that similar specs from other manufacturers will rock as well!