Help choosing laptop for heavy computing

ibjoh

Honorable
Nov 20, 2013
3
0
10,510
Hi! I am looking for a laptop that would fulfill the following requirements:

1. High performance. I run heavy simulations in Matlab (on my current MacBook Pro from 2010, 4gb ram 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, NVIDIA GeForce 320M 256 MB they sometimes take more than 1 week).


2. Not too heavy (max 5-6 lbs). I understand that this limits the possible performance but I rather have a lighter laptop and run heavier stuff on a different computer than have a laptop I won't want to carry around.

3. SSD

4. Preferably an exchangeable graphics card to be able to upgrade in the future.

5. I do care about the design, I don't want it to be bulky, look like a typical gaming laptop etc.

6. Runs well with Linux (I will get rid of Windows and install Ubuntu)

Some of the options I have looked at are Sony Vaio Fit 15, Razerblade 14, HP Envy 15

Since Matlab runs on the graphics card, as far as I understand that's one of the most important components I should look at.

Should I definitely get a computer that fits 16gb RAM?

I am willing to pay up to ca. $2000.

I will be very thankful for any advice!
 
Solution
If you want a laptop to run simulation software, you're honestly probably better off building a desktop with an i7-4930K and 32GB of RAM. That's just my two cents. If you want a laptop for that purpose, you won't find one under $2K, you're looking more toward $3K - $4K and with laptops the more expensive you get, the more likely your system is to depreciate in value faster.

g-unit1111

Distinguished
Moderator
If you want a laptop to run simulation software, you're honestly probably better off building a desktop with an i7-4930K and 32GB of RAM. That's just my two cents. If you want a laptop for that purpose, you won't find one under $2K, you're looking more toward $3K - $4K and with laptops the more expensive you get, the more likely your system is to depreciate in value faster.
 
Solution

ibjoh

Honorable
Nov 20, 2013
3
0
10,510


Thank you. An what are your recommendations in terms of a graphics card?

My problem with a desktop is that I travel a lot so I need something portable with computing power. I understand that I won't be able to get a laptop as powerful as a desktop but given my limited student budget I rather go with the most powerful laptop I can get for $2000 and run the stuff that my laptop won't handle using my university's computing center.

 

g-unit1111

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Moderator


Well mobile graphics cards are not the same as their desktop counterparts, same as the GPUs, especially since they are made for low power consumption. That's why I recommend building a desktop because you don't have that to worry about. You could always go mITX and build around a i7-4770K. But for mobile graphics cards you are probably looking at minimum a GTX 770M or a Radeon 87XXM.