I have two computers and I want to put Visual Studio on one and Spotify/browser/OpenOffice on the other.  I am trying to decide which computer would be better for Visual Studio.  Here are the two specs:

1.  Acer Aspire  E 15 (laptop)

Windows 10 - Home, 64 bit

Processor: Intel (R) CORE(TM)i7-6500U CPU@2.50GHz 2.60 Ghz

Installed Ram:  8.00GB(7.88GB usable)

2.  HP Compaq 6000, 64 bit

Windows 10 Professional

Processor:  Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E 8400@ 3.00Ghz 3.00 Ghz

Ram :  4.00 GB(3.90 GB usable)

It looks like the HP desktop would be better, is there much of a difference?

Thank you,

Josheir

Edit:  Both computers might use multiple monitors.

Why not simply try out? That i7 (Acer) will be immensely faster than Core2 Duo, which is good for compilation. Also the RAM is bigger.

Pick the one you feel is most comfortable for longer sessions of text editing. Unless you are doing cutting edge work you don't really need a high-end computer for coding. Most of the time it will be idling with you staring at it anyway.

Well I could try it out, but I'm trying to keep everything lean, if you know what I mean.  What's interesting is the HP finished a scan in four hours and the acer took seven and a half hours(with less files.)  So, maybe I should try the HP?  Or, maybe this is different than time to compile?  I also do a lot of builds still.

Josh

I'll try it out than...

Just an FYI about the RAM... Visual Studio is a 32-bit program so it can only use 2 GB of RAM on a 32-bit system and 4 GB of RAM on a 64-bit system (since it's large address aware). I, unfortunately, know this the hard way since I use it daily. There for a while I would always get a message about it disabling certain features in low memory conditions (even though 12 GB RAM would be free) or it just completely crashes if something intensive is happening in the IDE (it's happening rarely now that I am past that heavy part of the project). With that being said, I would definitely install it on the Acer Aspire since it has the extra RAM. 

Just based on specs, the Compaq looks like a computer from 2009 (10 years ago), the Acer looks like one from 2015 (four years ago), so you can bet that assorted hardware will also be newer.

The Compaq looks like a computer from 2009 (10 years ago), the Acer looks like one from 2015 (four years ago), so you can bet that assorted hardware will also be newer.

The Acer's got a much better processor with double the cores plus much better i7 cache, and double the memory.  Couple that with being half the age, so likely having faster memory, faster bus, and faster drives.  Neither is a stellar machine, and the memory looks low even for the years they were released. Back in 2009 machines we were buying at 16GB or 8 if saving money, in 2015 we had transitioned to 32GB at work for just about everyone.

In general, when you have a similar specification of both desktop and notebook, the personal computer is better because the processor is more fast. But between your Acer Aspire laptop and HP Compaq, I would choose the notebook because it have a strong processor (i7) and 8GB of RAM. How Visual Studio is a slow software (I used this programm before) you will need the best computer to run it.