http://www.sony.co.uk/product/vn-duo/svd1121z9e
I'm about to but the above laptop as a desktop replacement, but I want to know if it's a good enough processor to run VM's via hyper-v using windwos8.
not sure what Turbo Boost up to 3 GHz means,
Any input greatly received
It's a weird choice for desktop replacement, since it's not designed to be.
The first thing you want to know here, it's a U-series CPU, which means it uses considerably lower power. And that comes at a cost, the lower base CPU frequency. Yes, it can run up to 3.0 GHz, but again, better performance costs energy.
As it gives you a 6.5 hours battery life, the actual battery life when you Turbo Boost to 3.0 GHz will be considerably lower.
And for your another question, what is Turbo Boost? Turbo Boost is a technology to boost your CPU's performance when it's needed. Much like a smart power control that gives your CPU a push when it's needed.
Back to virtualization. It have two core, and I recommend using at least two cores for a virtual machine, so that leaves no spare core for your system, and that's a pretty bad idea. Also, 8 GB of memory may not be enough for a more memory-demand virtual machine.
For a desktop replacement, I will recommend a quad-core laptop, especially if you need to run a more performance-demand virtual machine.
Almost forgot one big thing, the screen size, 11" is really small, despite the high-resolution, your eyes might sour over time. I enjoyed programming on my much less powerful 21" desktop than my 15" laptop for the bigger screen. Unless you're going to pair it with an external display, I will suggest you consider AT LEAST a 13" model.