Building a new super notebook, Win2008 WS still worth it?

[dma550]

Hey all

I am moving from a pretty potent Dell 1710 as my development workstation to a Dell m 6400 Covet notebook, with 8GB ram, 2.53GHZ X9300 Quad code processor, 80GB intel SSD boot drive + 320GB 7200 RPM storage drive.

I am running Server 2008 X64 as a WS on the 1710 now and for the most part like it. I use VM’s, Visual Studio to develop, SQL server for database development, full office and adobe suite, and occasionally game.

Anyhow, as I understand it, the kernels between vista ultimate and server 2008 have merged and are now the same, is there still a reason to go out of my way to get server 08 working on the machine and put up with some of the minor compatibility challenges? It’s been somewhat challenging moving off the mainstream with Server X64 with drivers. Now that the Os’s are closer to eachother, does it still make sense given my usage?

Thanks
DMA

[Fuzzball]

Not to be nitpicky, however the kernels for Vista and Server 2008 were never merged; they were always the same NT 6.0 kernel. Server 2008 was even launched with SP1.

To get back on topic, the biggest headache with using Server 2008 as a workstation is the initial config to get some of the Vista functionality, stop some of the server security PITA, and change thread priority. For the most part this is resolved with running the Converter as an administrator.

I suspect most of the driver issues you’ve experienced were due to running the x64 version of 2008. Not all of the manufacturers have gotten off of their butts and written proper x64 drivers. Drivers that were written for Vista x64 will work in Server 2008 x64. I’m even running unsigned x64 drivers for Vista and one of them is still in beta. The driver issues you experienced in Server 2008 x64 would have been the same for Vista x64.

I haven’t had an issue with application compatibility with the exception of one that didn’t want to install on a server OS; a simple modification of the MSI resolves that.

IMHO, running Server 2008 is well worth it. My system runs much more faster with Server 2008 in comparison with Vista. I’ve gone one step further with using XP under VMWare to install infrequently used software and sandbox other untrusted software to keep a more clean host OS.

[frauhottelmann]

The kernels always have had the same code base. But in Vista you have all the crap like DRM tied to the kernel, which really slows it down!
WS 2008 is definitely worth it. It takes a while to set up, but then it’s quite faster.

[Author]

Posts