W8 Ultrabook that can run the WP8 emulator

[GraemeT]

I'm after a Windows 8 Ultrabook that can run the Windows Phone 8 emulator. Anyone got any recommendations? Thanks in advance.

 

[SOMEnameItried]

So I can't say for sure, but I know I was looking around at this. I think you're safe if you go intel with their processors i3 and up.

Their specs:
Intel? Virtualization Technology List

I know AMD has virtualization tech too, but I don't know their info.

 

[GraemeT]

I was hoping for model recommendations (lazy, I know), but I appreciate your near instant response none the less. Thanks. I know that to run the emulator you need W8 Pro 64-bit and a processor that supports Second Level Address Translation. It's the latter that I'm having trouble pinning down. Are you saying that any Intel micro i3 and above will support SLAT? What I want to avoid is spending a thousand quid on a flash W8 touchscreen ultrabook, then download the WP8 SDK, only to be told my hardware can't run the emulator.

 

[SOMEnameItried]

I do understand where you're coming from on this. From what I found out a while back was it came down to slat (like you stated).

You might try hitting up dev.windowsphone.com if you haven't already.

With that said, I was surprised Microsoft didn't publish specs too for windows phone 8 development.

Cheers,
Kelly

 

[GraemeT]

Thanks for the link, by the way. That list is the most comprehensive that I've seen on the subject, even if the heading paragraph was a bit beyond me. I'm going to ask Intel support that if a processor has "yes" in both coulmns is it a dead cert that it'll run the emulator. Incidentally, I've seen in a couple of places now that even if it can, SLAT may have to be enabled in the BIOS first, as it may be turned off by default.

 

[GraemeT]

Update. Well I've just contacted Intel. They gave me this link.

System requirements for Windows Phone Emulator

Glad that's cleared that up then!!!

 

[SOMEnameItried]

How did your quest for a good windows phone 8 machine go? I hope you walked away with an amazing ultrabook.

Cheers,
Kelly

 

[GraemeT]

Haven't purchased yet as I'm in no hurry and that lets more machines come onto the market for me to peruse. I think it's still early days for touchscreen laptops, so I don't want to purchase in haste. I could really do with an ultrabook review in PCPro or something.

That said, I do keep glancing at the Asus VivoBook. They look great, are reasonably priced and get good if not outstanding reviews. A sort of very good value for money machine. You have to be careful though as there are loads of variants (processor and OS version), looking all the same of course. I haven't worked out their part number system yet, which I need to do. To muddy things, vendors like Curry's are a bit vague about the specifications in their adverts, so you'd have to play with one in-store to be sure exactly what it is.

All that aside, thanks to your link earlier I'm happy now that any Intel Core processor will be able to run the emulator.

 

[Daniel Ratcliffe]

I don't know how much this helps you, but my late '11 MacBook Pro 13" (basic model) supports running the WP8 emulator. So hopefully it's not too big a deal to pin it down.

 

[ChMar]

Any Intel processor that is i3 or newer has virtualization and SLAT support for running the emulator. Actually you can run the emulator without SLAT on older devices too. Any ultra book you will buy(remember ultrabooks are not netbooks and don't have atom processors) will do. Buy one with Windows 8 PRO or you will have to buy another windows 8 license.
All macs that are on sale now can also be used(buy windows 8 license and install it)

 

[Microsoftjunkie]

Don't know if it will help but I ran the emulator on an HP G series with an AMD A6 apu running Pro. The computer is about 2yrs old.

 

[GraemeT]

Thanks everyone. Useful advice as ever. I'm off out later today to see what the stores have to offer.

 

[SOMEnameItried]

So I wound up getting an hp envy dv7 quad core, and runs the emulator quite well.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...ag=hawk-future-20&ascsubtag=UUwpUvbUpU2019992