Hello @emilyawalker123,
I can only comment on API testing on i7-9850H... In general it performs fine. I do not do virtualization however. ReadyAPI, like any other software application runs as well as it can on the hardware you have... I think you are placing too much emphasis on the cpu instead of considering the other components of a computer. I think the available RAM has as much to do with how ReadyAPI acts as CPU. The i7 laptop supplied by my company has 32 GB installed and I have never had an issue. It works and I don't wait. :)
For API testing, I am going to speculate that is not very cpu intensive to begin with... You formulate a request with ReadyAPI and send it off your computer to be processed. The time it takes to process the api has nothing to do with your computer.
At no point have I ever thought ReadyAPI was sluggish or in need of tweaking for better performance. An api test run on a 14 year old AMD Phenom processor yields the same results as a 2 year old Intel i7.
Just buy what you can afford and don't worry about it. If you are so concerned with top performance why stop at an i7 when there are better i9's or Ryzen Threadripper?
Regards,
Todd
