So what's the benefit of VMs? I mean, I understand the underlying benefits of isolation and such, but for things that easily fit on small servers (i.e. single/double core small procs with <4GB RAM), why is it better to virtualize instead of having a physical server for that task? Assuming said task isn't vital enough to have several redundant systems?

I've gone both ways before, but I seem to be on the other end of the spectrum and prefer small cheap hardware over VMs when possible.

Not trying to argue or anything, just curious for someone else's point of view.