Minimum hardware requirement to run "Windows 10,32GB eMMC,2GB RAM" mini PC as virtual

[virtuality]

The market is full of 'Windows 10, 2 GB RAM, 32GB eMMC' 'strong' mini PCs. I wonder, what's the minimum hardware requirements if I want to run this strong machine as a virtual machine only, on an otherwise light weight Linux or Unix system.

 

[grimpr]

A haswell/skylake celeron will suffice, if you want the extra power to transcode etc, a core i3 is the best, plenty of ram and an ssd are the essentials.

 

[virtuality]

A haswell/skylake celeron will suffice

So far so good.

the extra power to transcode etc, a core i3 is the best

I'm not sure if people transcode (btw. do you mean, real time, or, if it's a server, I have the time for my server to transcode a film for the whole night, even if it only has the power of a percolator) on 'Windows 10, 2 GB RAM, 32GB eMMC' machines. I only need to accomplish what 'Windows 10, 2 GB RAM, 32GB eMMC' machines generally do, nothing more, nothing less: but in a virtualized setting, that's all.

plenty of ram and an ssd are the essentials.

I'm not sure how 'plenty of RAM' would help us define a minimum configuration (this is what my question is about). All in all, we are about 50% there, any more input is appreciated.

Here's another aspect: Let's say I could get a decent 'Windows 10, 2 GB RAM, 32GB eMMC' machine for just $99 (they don't sell those for more than $99 anyways): the InFocus Kangaroo. If it can be decent at all with the Atom.

I guess I couldn't put together a machine for less than $200 (double the $99 price) where the same 'Windows 10, 2 GB RAM, 32GB eMMC' setup runs decently, virtualized. With an SSD, of course, but it can be smallish. Maybe I could live with an eMMC system drive as well, but they don't sell it separately for custom system builds.

Should I buy two, separate InFocus Kangaroos for $99 each (are the Kangaroos decent machines in the first place?), or perhaps, can I have the really decent, probably Celeron box for less than $200 to run one system virtualized in the other?

This may be one of the questions where waiting for the next gen. processors would be truly interesting (or not! I don't know), whether on the Celeron part, or the Atom part.

 

[TeknoBug]

There's also the Kangaroo Plus which has 4GB ram and 64GB storage, but you'll need your own copy of Windows (Windows is free on 2GB ram/32GB eMMC systems). The Kangaroos has been getting a lot of positive reception, been considering one myself for an HTPC.