What Are the Reasonable Specs for Running Visual Studio?
The rise in popularity of the .NET framework has seen a corresponding increase in the adoption of Visual Studio as the preferred integrated development environment (IDE) to develop computer programs, websites, web services, and apps, and mobile apps even among non-Microsoft users. It is one of the most robust platforms for building cross-platform applications and supports all major web languages that are used by backend and full-stack web developers, including HTML, CSS, Python, and PHP, among others. In this article, we will elaborate on the important features of Visual Studio, and the specs required for running the application.
What Are the Important Features of Visual Studio?
Visual Studio has several features that differentiate it from other IDEs with similar capabilities. Here are some of the best-in-class tools available in Visual Studio 2019.
- Visual Studio IntelliCode, a feature that uses artificial intelligence (AI), helps improve productivity with context-aware code completions, identifies difficult-to-catch code issues, guides developers to adhere to established coding patterns and styles applicable within their teams, and improves code reviews processes.
- Developers can use single click actions to identify and fix warnings and suggestions.
- The Per-monitor aware (PMA) rendering feature ensures that the application is responsive on monitors with any display scale factor. This is particularly useful for developers using the hosted Visual Studio application.
- It is optimized to work with Git and simplify the process of committing and pushing changes to codes, managing branches, resolving merge conflicts, and staying updated with remote repositories.
- Developers can edit and collaborate with their peers in real-time, share debugging sessions, terminal instances, localhost web apps, voice calls, and other aspects of their project.
What Are the Ideal System Specs for Visual Studio?
The system requirements for Visual Studio vary with the version and edition. Here are the ideal system requirements for Visual Studio 2019.
Operating System
Microsoft recommends running Visual Studio 2019 on a 64-bit system. It is ideal to use Windows 10 version 1703 or higher on a personal computer, and Windows Server 2019: Standard and Datacenter when deploying the software on servers. However, earlier operating systems up to Windows 7 SP1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 (with Update 2919355) are supported.
Hardware Requirements
Microsoft recommends using a Quad-core processor (or better) with a clock speed of at least 1.8 GHz. Although an 8 GB RAM is recommended, the application can run on a machine with a minimum of 2 GB RAM (2.5 GB on a virtual machine). Depending on the features, installations may require 20-50 GB of free space in the hard disk. However, it is better to install the software on a Windows machine with a solid-state drive (SSD).
Additional Requirements
Visual Studio 2019 requires .NET Framework 4.7.2 for running, which will be installed automatically during the setup. There are certain prerequisites for running the application on older Windows operating systems. Also, features such as Server Core and Minimal Server Interface options are not available on Windows Server.
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| Grid-powered RAM and vCPU | 2 GB RAM and 2 vCPUs | 4 GB RAM and 2 vCPUs | 8 GB RAM and 4 vCPUs |
| 1 user only | 1 user only | Ideal for 2-5 users | Ideal for 6 or more users |
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Apps4Rent Can Help with Visual Studio Hosting
Although any Windows machine with reasonable specs for running Visual Studio can support the full-featured IDE, developers are exploring cloud-native solutions for application development. The only solution to run Visual Studio in a virtualized environment is to use a virtual machine with a full Windows operating system as the application is not supported on Windows containers or app virtualization technologies such as Microsoft App-V for Windows.
As a Tier 1 Microsoft CSP, Apps4Rent can host Visual Studio on dedicated virtual machines with a full Windows operating system with SSD drives in our servers in our top tier SSAE 16 level datacenters. We can also host it on Azure Windows Virtual Desktops (WVD) and provide managed Azure services to facilitate your organization’s transition to the cloud. Contact our Microsoft certified virtualization experts, available 24/7 via phone, chat, and email for Visual Studio hosting assistance.
