Okay so I'm a bit torn with the best compromise to get the most out of the hardware i have. I cant justify spending any more money on upgrades at the moment, so i have to make this work one way or another probably for 6-12 months.
The hardware:
-PC = I5 3570K, 128g SSD, 16 gig RAM, DVB-S card, Blu-Ray drive
-Laptop = Core 2 duo, 64gb SSD, 4gig RAM
-TV = Samsung "Smart" Tv
Functions I want:
Win 8 OS -
AutoCAD
Creative Cloud
? OS - (happy for this to be on any OS just want the good performance and mostly easy of use)
HTPC stuff with DVB-S recording, various playback, probably using media portal
I'm currently shuffling machines between locations in the house doing different duty in different places wasting time.
I really want to get away from using CAD and Creative cloud on my laptop as its just a bit sluggish.
I would rather keep the HTPC stuff and productivity stuff on separate OS' so I can wipe them out independently (i probably reformat most of my windows installs every 2-3 months)
So my current thinking is I could site the PC behind the TV install Windows 8.1 pro and install HTPC stuff on that then using client hyper V i could have another instance of 8.1 home or pro in a VM with the productivity software and remote desktop from the laptop to PC.
I'm hoping this will give me better performance than the laptop but obviously not as good as if it was the only thing on the PC
I do need to be able to use the productivity software without impacting DVB-S play and record.
I had previously thought about using Hyper V server and running both as VMs but this way i would need another computer to feed the TV screen i believe, or use one of the smart TV apps like plex but i haven't had many good experiences with this especially when i want to play Blu-rays.
Thoughts, Comments, Suggestions please.