Recommended specs for Windows Development computer.

[Richard Gaskin]

Martin Koob wrote:
 > I have been developing the application  on on a Mac to this point but
 > need to have the PC for testing and debugging in a Windows
 > environment.
 >
 > Being a Mac guy I am not sure what I should look for in a PC—
 > processor, speed, RAM, etc.

Running Windows on metal is nice, but not very convenient compared to a 
VM and rarely actually needed.

I keep a couple machines here with Windows installed as boot (Win7 and 
Win10), and I can't recall the last time I needed to test with them, 
even for a project I've been working on writing an interface for a 
client's custom USB-driven hardware.

If you go metal, go cheap.  You won't be using it often anyway, and a 
machine at or below average consumer specs helps inspire lean code that 
delights your customers, while keeping a little extra money in your 
pocket for important things like a nice dinner out.  CPUs a generation 
or two behind will still give you plenty of useful lifespan, yet are 
often discounted as most folks clamor for the Latest and Greatest.

4GB RAM is a reasonable minimum for a testing machine.  Almost nothing 
worth using ships with less these days.

If you do use a separate physical machine, I can't say enough good 
things about the value of having your work files and LC Plugins folder 
synced via Nextcloud or other folder syncing system (Dropbox et al). 
This will automate transfers between machines, saving a lot of the 
annoyance of manual copies.  And for my Plugins folder it's been awesome 
- no matter where I'm working I always know I have my latest toolkit.


All that said, I've enjoyed the convenience of VMs for decades, and a 
few years ago Mark Wieder suggested I try VirtualBox - never used 
anything else since.  It's free and open source, and when I last used 
Parallels I found VirtualBox was able to restore sessions in a fraction 
of the time.

With a VM you can share the Clipboard across OSes, as well as folders, 
hardware, and more.  Being able to copy code from my dev OS into the 
test OS has been a godsend of a convenience more times than I can count.

Running a second OS within your main OS will eat some RAM;  Min. 8 GB, 
16 GB feels luxurious.

Whether virtual or physical, the OS choice is no choice: Windows 10 is 
the present and future of Windows.  What I personally prefer doesn't 
matter for testing.  I need what my customers use, and while it can be 
useful to spin up VMs with older Windows versions, Win10 is where the 
action is today, and tomorrow.

-- 
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World Systems
  Software Design and Development for the Desktop, Mobile, and the Web
  ____________________________________________________________________
  Ambassador at FourthWorld.com                http://www.FourthWorld.com