Need High Performance Laptop

shasun

Estimable
Sep 5, 2015
3
0
4,510
Hi,

I'm planning to buy a new high performance laptop with a latest Skylake Quad core processor. Primarily I would be using this for installing and running few software applications for learning and upgrading my knowledge. I would be using trials of below Databases and tools :

1)Database:
a)Oracle (12c),
b)PostgreSQL,
c)SQL server
Would be using for OLTP as well Data Warehouse databases (Though not going to have lot of data)

2) ETL Tools
a)Oracle Warehouse Builder (OWB)
b) any other ETL like Informatica

3)Reporting Tool
a) Oracle Discoverer
b) Cognos

3)Designer tools
a) CA Erwin data modeler
b) ER studio
3) Oracle SQL Developer Data Modeler

4) Other Dev tools
a) PL/SQL developer
b) Toad
c) SQL developer

5) Hadoop(in VM) - not planning to load any "Big" bigdata, just for learning only

I could be running few of these at a given time. For instance I might be running all three databases(Oracle, SQL server, Postgres) along with OWB, Discoverer and Toad. I'm thinking about getting a laptop with RAM sizes of 16 GB, 32 GB or 64 GB. I guess 16 GB is OK, 32 will be better and 64 could be either great or overkill. These are not production system, just would be using to upgrade my skills and knowledge. Could you guys suggest me a optimal RAM size?

I prefer Toshiba, but they are yet to refresh the models with Quadcore Skylake. Current Toshiba Satellite laptops have a max of 16 GB DDR3L memory. They do have a Tecra business laptop with 32 GB DDR3L RAM and Haswell Quadcore processor, which I'm not preferring much.

However I've seen that Lenovo is coming up with P50 & P70 thinkpads withthe new Mobile Xeon processor from Intel with 64 GB DDR4 RAM. Though pricing is not known now, these should be coming next month.

The answers to the FAQ are as below :

1. What is your budget?
1200 to 1500 USD, but can stretch out more for a good system like the lenovo P50

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
15.5 inch preferred

3. What screen resolution do you want?
4K UHD or 1080P FHD, if possible with touch screen

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Portable (to some extent)

5. How much battery life do you need?
Atleast 4 to 5 hours

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?
Nope, no games

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Productivity tools as detailed above, browsing

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
Prefer 256 GB SSD + 2 TB HDD 5400 RPM

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
N/A

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
Atleast 5 years (My existing Toshiba is 9 years old!)

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
Preferably, Blu-ray RE or Blu-ray ROM

12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
Brand Preference:
1) Toshiba
2) Lenovo

Brands to avoid :
1) HP (know many HP laptops broken in short time)
2) Acer (Not liking much, I had an Acer laptop earlier)

13. What country do you live in?
USA

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
If available would like to get a laptop with Intel Realsense camera (like Lenovo P50, P70) and dedicated Cortana key (like in Toshiba models). Also convertibles like Lenovo Yoga, Toshiba Radius seems good , but they have only low power U chips with dual core. I guess i7 HQ, Xeon mobile processors suite my requirements.

Appreciating your time and effort to reply my query, thanks

shasun
 
Solution
Note that devices equipped with Skylake mobile quad-core CPUs are currently not available on the market, and may take up to an additional month to arrive and be released to retailers. What you can purchase are laptops with Broadwell CPUs.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152816&cm_re=ssd_hdd_i7-_-34-152-816-_-Product

This MSI GS60 laptop is a gaming laptop, which is outside your specifications. However, most powerful laptops are gaming laptops anyway, and this is among the best you can get with a Broadwell CPU and an SSD+HDD combo, within your price range.

Because you are only training yourself and learning these applications, you will not need server-grade hardware. In fact, the specifications you have put...

metalicgeek

Estimable
Note that devices equipped with Skylake mobile quad-core CPUs are currently not available on the market, and may take up to an additional month to arrive and be released to retailers. What you can purchase are laptops with Broadwell CPUs.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152816&cm_re=ssd_hdd_i7-_-34-152-816-_-Product

This MSI GS60 laptop is a gaming laptop, which is outside your specifications. However, most powerful laptops are gaming laptops anyway, and this is among the best you can get with a Broadwell CPU and an SSD+HDD combo, within your price range.

Because you are only training yourself and learning these applications, you will not need server-grade hardware. In fact, the specifications you have put out already approach workstation-class, and this laptop recommendation should handle anything you throw at it.
 
Solution

shasun

Estimable
Sep 5, 2015
3
0
4,510
Hi thanks. Ive looked at few MSI laptops specs already and seems to be of good RAM and Skylake Quad core plus SSD +HDD combination. I'm not sure of the display quality of MSI though. Few reviews say that the audio / speakers are not that good in MSI laptops.

I guess I will wait till end of October or early November which might see some skylake Quadcore laptop releases.
 


That seems odd. Most reviews of MSI gaming laptops claim the sound is pretty good compared to other brands. Not sure about their less expensive offerings, though.

FWIW, it's "Xeon". :)