Desktop or laptop....

I've been thinking about getting another laptop or desktop lately. My goal would be another machine to run virtuals machines on.

Currently I have a macbook pro with a core 2 duo and 4gb and an imac with a core duo and 2gb of ram. Since the imac tops out at 2gb and is 32-bit only it has limited usefulness for what I want to do. I want to be able to run windows 2008 server or solaris 10 to practice and learn with. I can do some of it with my MBP but a 2nd machine to network and cluster with would be ideal.

So this brings me to my choices. I could buy another laptop with 4gb of ram. It has the advantage of coming with a built in monitor, keyboard and mouse. I can stick it in drawer when I'm not using it. I don't have a lot of space so that's a big plus. Its relatively quiet too. It does have less performance and ability though and isn't upgradeable and tops out at 4gb. I think I can work within those limitations. I see geeks.com has a few 17" dual core laptops for around $499. (they go in and out of stock every few weeks) Add about $75 to the price to max out RAM and add an external drive to run the virtual machines on and you're all set.

I could buy a desktop and monitor for about the same price. It would top out at 8gb (or more). It could probably run vmware esx or Sun xVM, which I really want to play with. It could also have more cpu-cores for the same money. Lots of advantages, but I already have the iMac desktop. I'd have to get another monitor and keyboard (not a big deal, but it takes up space). And it'd likely be pretty noisy relative to a laptop. For example, CyberPowerPC has an intel i7 (quad core plus hyperthreading for 8 cores for HT aware OS's) for $789 (as of February 26, these things tend to change a lot). Now I have CPU power, lots of RAM headroom, faster drives. But it's harder to put this thing away and take back out when I want to work with it.

It's a tough choice. I think in the end I'm going to go with the desktop. Although it takes up more space, I can do a lot more with it. It also has a lot more long term life and can be upgraded as technology advances so some of the costs down the road can be avoided. With the laptop, the only step is to buy a new one, but that space savings and the conveniences of being able to take it with me is pretty tempting. I guess the 'left field' choice would be to replace the iMac with a Mac Pro (or a Mac Mini if the upgrade rumors are true and the specs are right). I hate it when choices are never cut and dry like this.