Laptop recommendations

[oldhouse]

Hi all,

Been reading threads for a while and just decided to join - so forgive me if this should be in a different section.

Anyway, I'm looking to buy a new laptop. I primarily need it for word processing and not processing intensive programs. I do not know much about computers, so I will list my needs and hopefully you can give me some recommendations.

Uses:
Word processing
Sequence alignment programs - geneious MEGA etc
Command line terminal - i use terminal on macs exclusively on the lab so if something similar would be helpful

Questions:
I have access to large servers and any large scale next gen data analysis will be done by ssh-ing to the servers. So what is a good RAM size if ill just be doing that.

Im a pc person typically, but use macs exclusively in my lab. Can a windows laptop work well for me?

Basically I want to be able to use microsoft word, align sequences and use terminal to login to remote places. Ive looked at asus linux laptops with the ubuntu OS but I really dont know what works. A macbook makes sense, but on my limited budget Id prefer something cheaper.

THank you!!!

[kbradnam]

Remember that Macs can run Windows (either as a dual-boot system using 'Boot Camp' or via virtualization). You can usually get a good deal on a slightly older Mac from Apple's refurbished store. E.g.

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/macbook_air

But if price is your main consideration, then there will always be cheaper options than a Mac.

[Jeremy]

If you just ssh into a high performance cluster running linux then you can get away with pretty much any laptop and any operating system. But, the more RAM you have the more you can do on the laptop if the cluster is busy or down or whatever.
I use a windows laptop and ssh into a linux cluster with no problems.

[Khen]

For what its worth, I love my mac. I spent $1000 dollars on it almost 3 years ago and I wouldn't ditch it for anything but another apple product. IMHO, as far as laptops go, apple does a really good job with hardware and I could easily survive with my macbook for a few more years.

[sisch]

I'd say, be aware of your budget (I would not spent more than 400 Euro) and try to find within the budget
a) the largest harddisk you can get (data accumulates very fast)
b) the largest RAM you can get (probably 8GB)
c) quad better than dual better than single core (speeds things up a bit, but is optional)
d) ignore all the rest (except for battery life maybe)

In general windows is fine. If you need unix liek structure you can either install cygwin on windows or a linux distro in a virtualbox.

This is how I find my in-budget laptops

[Wallysb01]

Without price range and portability desires its kinda hard to make a recommendation.

If you have the money, I'd definitely go apple thanks to UNIX plus being about to install more software, ie Office.

If you don't, go Windows and use Ubuntu in a VM. Personally, I hate those windows SSH clients and find dual booting a pain.

[sklages]

I am running Ubuntu on a Dell XPS 15z (standard 8G RAM) and I don't wanna miss my SSD (the system behaves considerably faster) and full HD display.

Use whatever OS you like, depending on the software you'd like to use.

[-yl-]

it seems impossible to run metagenomics data using laptop even it is quad core with 16GB RAM?

[Richard Finney]

http://zareason.com/shop/Verix-530.html Linux, i7, 8GB ram. 1TB hd.

$2.6 K , loaded

I can't afford it.

[sdriscoll]

Linux is fine but its not totally ready for prime time. I propose that you need to be a tinkerer to get away with using Linux full time as a primary OS. I have a Mac Air and a MacBook Pro but mostly I ssh into the lab and use my systems there for running analysis. The Air is totally sufficient as a development computer. I run light analysis on it as I develop analysis programs but I wouldn't use it to align a typical RNA seq sample to a genome. The Pro could do that just fine but I'd rather use the systems at the lab for that stuff.

If I can get away with an Air for most everything I do I suspect you can get away with something that's similarly powered. It has 4 GB of Ram and only a 1.3 Ghz core i5. The SSD makes it seem much faster than it is, however.

If you go with windows you can install Cygwin which gives you a *nix terminal with all of the commands you're used to using at a Mac command line. That's what I use on my windows systems to keep me from losing my mind.

My last bit of advice is to consider the number of years you hope to use this computer for. They aren't all created equally. Some will beg to be replaced in a year while others will still be going strong after 5 years. If it costs double up front to gain more than double the life span then it may be worth it. If you plan to replace this computer in only a couple years then you can spend less.

[JackieBadger]

I would never go back to PC laptop after having a MacBook

[rhinoceros]

Linux is fine but its not totally ready for prime time. I propose that you need to be a tinkerer to get away with using Linux full time as a primary OS.

I disagree. I would say that most things bioninfo are far easier to do on Linux than any other platform..

[JackieBadger]

I disagree. I would say that most things bioninfo are far easier to do on Linux than any other platform..

Agreed. When i first got into this kind of analyses I was always looking for packaged PC programs with a GUI. The more you get into it you realise how limited and difficult they are to use in comparison to powerful Linux and R approaches.

I now have done a u-turn and generally try to avoid clunky PC windows interfaces. A lot of Java programs (which for some reason seem to be good a lot of the time and are an exception in my view) work on any operating system.

[Richard Finney]

Linux is fine but its not totally ready for prime time

Really? I think it's the only sane thing out there. Apple, Microsoft and Google products have turned into expensive, un-configureable, bloated, spy dens. If you're okay with a sandbox attached to the panopticon, then by all means, go with the big 3.

If you're doing real work, log on to a linux box and get familiar with the tools.

[sdriscoll]

i wouldn't exactly call what we're doing "prime time". within the lab of PhD toating biologists I work with I don't think any of them would be comfortable using Linux. If you're a programmer/scripter/IT anything person then yes. But our "prime time" is like 2% of user base. The other 98% will have a hard time especially when weird problems come up.