Visual Studio Hardware Recommendations [closed]
I am currently arguing for better hardware for our development machines. We exclusively use the Microsoft stack, running Visual Studio 2015 Enterprise and TFS 2012 Update 4, with SQL 2008R2. Our machines (laptops) definitely meet the "requirements":
- 8GB RAM
- AMD Quad Core processor
- 7200 RPM Drive with plenty of space
- Integrated graphics with DirectX 11
However, we are all experiencing issues when loading not only our solutions, but Visual Studio itself. We are pretty sure this is a result of the hard drive and processor (it does not benchmark very well, but CPU Boss says it's fine). We are currently lobbying for a newer processor, and an SSD, but are getting some push back, specifically on the SSD.
A few years back, I found a blog post from Brian Harry about the ideal machine setup for Visual Studio 2010. However, being 5 years old it is only marginally useful today.
Have there been any such recommendations from Microsoft about Visual Studio 2015 (or 2013)?
Your system specs far exceed Microsoft's basic requirements:
https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/downloads/visual-studio-2015-system-requirements-vs.aspx#2
So using a publication, professional or otherwise, to justify increasing your specs above and beyond might not be the best approach. Given the recommended specs as compares to yours, I would be (as a manager) dubious about going up another notch.
You're going to need to find some way to identify the actual problem - is it a hardware issue or is there something about the way the solution is built that is causing it to take so long?
If I were your manager and you came to me with this request, I would want some clear evidence that the hardware is the problem and also that you had done thorough due diligence to exclude the project solution as the problem.