Virtualization Technology
Hype by Intel?
VT ability is needed by Windows 7 to enable "XP Mode"
The views expressed here relate to the Consumer Market - Not the Enterprise
What Intel Say:
Intel® Virtualization Technology (Intel® VT) provides greater flexibility and maximum system utilization by consolidating multiple environments into a single server, workstation, or PC.
Mmmmmm..... sounds really usefull for the home user!
You would think for a business product (the Dell Vostro product line - some of which are fitted with a T5670 processor) this would be an area
where this would be (maybe) useful? Not something you would leave out of an OEM processor?
Perhaps it is because VT is not designed to work in a business environment
and Dell don't want you to run XP Mode? - Microsoft say that businesses should be running MED-V
and not relying on XP-Mode in any case!
The T5670 doesn't not support VT at the processor level (check the spec on the Intel Website) so it cannot be enabled in System BIOS
Some claim (incorrectly) that ALL Core™ 2 Duo processors support VT other say that some processors that released to OEMs only are faulty and have only half the cache that their original models feature. (See the Intel website - link above)
Like other Intel features such as "Execution Disable Bit" technology, the operation of VT depends on too much "sleeping with the enemy"!
On other words, if MS or the OEM (Sony, Lenovo and Dell to name a few) don't want you to use a feature they will collude such that you can't. "Business class" hardware will be supplied with processors with no VT to make you use MED-V and "Consumer class" hardware is similarly disabled as the OEM's don't want to field customer support promlems relating to VT.
Links:
- What Intel say "Virtualisation" is - .... maximum system utilization by consolidating multiple environments into a single server or PC
- What Microsoft say: (need a link here)
- MED-V - Microsoft. ® Enterprise Desktop Virtualization
