ESXi 4 on laptop - question

[Calabrache]

i'm currently using VM worksation under Win7ulitmate x64 on a laptop. Win7 being the host the VM performances through the player are not that particular. I was wondering if it would be possible to install ESXi and then have the several VM working and if that would make a difference in term of performance. I understand that ESXi is for server, but is it possible to install it on a Thinkpad, levnovo t61, T7500 2.2ghz, 8Go Ram ?

[DSTAVERT]

ESX(i) is a bare metal hypervisor and would replace the OS already on the laptop. You would loose console access to the virtual machines, i.e. you need another machine to view and manage the Vitual machines.

[idle-jam]

and if you still insist, here is a list of whitebox: http://ultimatewhitebox.com/forum/index/2

[J1mbo]

Storage might be a cause of the performance issues (all VMs running from a single laptop SATA drive?).  If that is the case, replacing the disk with a fast SSD and ensuring it's running in AHCI mode (for SATA NCQ, if the chipset supports it) could provide considerable improvement.