Laptops with Xeon processor.

Forums › Laptops and mobile computers › Laptops with Xeon processor.

yinian

34 posts

Geek

#196250 24-May-2016 17:07

There are some laptops now on the market with Xeon processors, I am very keen to get one, not sure how good they are, I want to run lots of VMs on it. any one has used one before? any recommendations?

nathan

5695 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1630
Inactive user

#1558823 24-May-2016 17:09

How many is lots?

VMs normally constrained by memory and I/O

yinian

34 posts

Geek

#1558824 24-May-2016 17:10

I guess my question is beside RAM, and SSD, will Xeon provide any benefits on running lots of VMs?

nathan

5695 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1630
Inactive user

#1558827 24-May-2016 17:16

If your VMs use lots of CPU then yes, potentially

Your question is hard to answer. Just like how long a piece of string is.

timmmay

20858 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 5349

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1558832 24-May-2016 17:26

My reading suggests that i7 and Xeon will give you similar performance if you buy similar models, but i7 are significantly cheaper. Xeon are for servers, they support ECC memory. I wouldn't waste your money on Xeon for a laptop and development type VMs, spend it on more RAM and faster / larger SSD.

Dynamic

4015 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1850

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1558833 24-May-2016 17:26

Xeon server processors tend to have a lot more cache for performance, but more importantly run ECC memory for reliability. Can't say I've ever seen one in a laptop other than the HP ZBook series which are very nice CAD laptops.

Running VM's on a laptop sounds likely to be a testing or development environment where the extra reliability of a Xeon with ECC may not be so important, as long as everything is properly backed up.

“Don't believe anything you read on the net. Except this. Well, including this, I suppose.” Douglas Adams

gzt

18672 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 7809

Lifetime subscriber

#1558844 24-May-2016 18:02

yinian:
I guess my question is beside RAM, and SSD, will Xeon provide any benefits on running lots of VMs?

The main benefit of these high end machines for vm work is disk throughput. The Xeon brand and eec are just icing on the cake. Look at the lenovo p series. Up to four pcie ssd, and if that is not enough speed you can raid them :. )

You need to know if your current mobile vm issues are caused by processor or disk bottlenecks. What kind of problems are you having?

AliExpress

Shop now on AliExpress (affiliate link).

JWR

821 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 272

#1558906 24-May-2016 19:46

yinian:

I guess my question is beside RAM, and SSD, will Xeon provide any benefits on running lots of VMs?

Depends what Xeons you mean.

Xeons range from embedded CPUs, modifed desktop CPUs to high end server CPUs.

The high-end CPUs are VM monsters... e.g. 18/36 cores/threads, 40+MB Level 3 cache, 1500GB max. RAM etc..

But, they aren't suitable for a laptop. They generate way too much heat (150W TDP) and use far too much power.

Your laptop would probably only run for a few minutes on the battery, if it didn't melt first.

It would be possible to use a Xeon that is similar to an underclocked Core i7. But, it will still use a lot of power.

If you really needed something with that much power in a semi-portable form, then you could build system in HTPC/Media PC case.

ASRock make a mini-ITX motherboard (X99 Chipset) that can take recent Xeons. i.e. ASRock's X99E-ITX/ac

yinian

34 posts

Geek

#1558970 24-May-2016 21:36

gzt:
yinian:

I guess my question is beside RAM, and SSD, will Xeon provide any benefits on running lots of VMs?

The main benefit of these high end machines for vm work is disk throughput. The Xeon brand and eec are just icing on the cake. Look at the lenovo p series. Up to four pcie ssd, and if that is not enough speed you can raid them :. )

You need to know if your current mobile vm issues are caused by processor or disk bottlenecks. What kind of problems are you having?

no really having problem, just looking at upgrade options from my old Elibook 8770w, HP Zbook 17/15 G3 and Thinkpad p50/70 that can have Xeon processor option, sounds pretty powerful. I don't do CAD stuff, i run lots of VMs at times to do testing and what not, I will definitely get 64G RAM option, but not sure if Xeon processor is worth the extra $ in my case. or it is only for CAD stuff?

yinian

34 posts

Geek

#1558973 24-May-2016 21:38

JWR:

yinian:

I guess my question is beside RAM, and SSD, will Xeon provide any benefits on running lots of VMs?

Depends what Xeons you mean.

Xeons range from embedded CPUs, modifed desktop CPUs to high end server CPUs.

The high-end CPUs are VM monsters... e.g. 18/36 cores/threads, 40+MB Level 3 cache, 1500GB max. RAM etc..

But, they aren't suitable for a laptop. They generate way too much heat (150W TDP) and use far too much power.

Your laptop would probably only run for a few minutes on the battery, if it didn't melt first.

It would be possible to use a Xeon that is similar to an underclocked Core i7. But, it will still use a lot of power.

If you really needed something with that much power in a semi-portable form, then you could build system in HTPC/Media PC case.

ASRock make a mini-ITX motherboard (X99 Chipset) that can take recent Xeons. i.e. ASRock's X99E-ITX/ac

definitely the desktop/server Xeon, they will cook the laptop in no time, it will be one of those Xeon® E3-1575M v5 or XEON® E3-1535M v5 or Xeon E3-1505Mv5.

gzt

18672 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 7809

Lifetime subscriber

#1558987 24-May-2016 22:15

The mobile xeons are only 4 core.

How much extra are they asking for Xeon and ecc compared to i7 and standard ram?

Btw Xeon can exceed 64gb if there are ram sockets avail.

gzt

18672 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 7809

Lifetime subscriber

#1559005 24-May-2016 22:31

Edit: the 1575 will be insane but the others will be ok.

Mighty Ape

Shop now at Mighty Ape (affiliate link).

yinian

34 posts

Geek

#1559010 24-May-2016 22:40

gzt: The mobile xeons are only 4 core.

How much extra are they asking for Xeon and ecc compared to i7 and standard ram?

Btw Xeon can exceed 64gb if there are ram sockets avail.

i think the laptop support max 16*4 RAM.

it is not that expensive, like extra $100-$200.

JWR

821 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 272

#1559040 25-May-2016 00:00

yinian:

JWR:

yinian:

I guess my question is beside RAM, and SSD, will Xeon provide any benefits on running lots of VMs?

Depends what Xeons you mean.

Xeons range from embedded CPUs, modifed desktop CPUs to high end server CPUs.

The high-end CPUs are VM monsters... e.g. 18/36 cores/threads, 40+MB Level 3 cache, 1500GB max. RAM etc..

But, they aren't suitable for a laptop. They generate way too much heat (150W TDP) and use far too much power.

Your laptop would probably only run for a few minutes on the battery, if it didn't melt first.

It would be possible to use a Xeon that is similar to an underclocked Core i7. But, it will still use a lot of power.

If you really needed something with that much power in a semi-portable form, then you could build system in HTPC/Media PC case.

ASRock make a mini-ITX motherboard (X99 Chipset) that can take recent Xeons. i.e. ASRock's X99E-ITX/ac

definitely the desktop/server Xeon, they will cook the laptop in no time, it will be one of those Xeon® E3-1575M v5 or XEON® E3-1535M v5 or Xeon E3-1505Mv5.

Ahh found the data sheet on those ... http://ark.intel.com/products/93354 vs http://ark.intel.com/products/88967

They look very similar to the Skylake 4 core i7's.

Same TDP, Level 3 cache, max. RAM etc...

I would think the performance would be the same at equal clock speeds.