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Question

Laptop/ Desktop recommendations for chemistry grad student

Aug 9, 2016 9:49PM PDT

1. So currently I have an old Toshibia with 6 gigs of RAM, i5-2410M, and I added a 160 gig SDD and 320 gig HDD and have been getting by ok.

I want to upgrade for graduate school, I need a computer that can handle program requirements of 2.6 Ghz, while running ~7 other programs on several monitors. I would most likely use my old laptop as the "travel/school" one, I just primarily work at home.

I do music production & editing, molecular modeling and prediction, and play old games (half life), but I would really like to be able to casually play battle field one.

I thought a desktop would make the most sense as it would stay at home, But would be more ($1500) to include a keyboard and monitor. I would want something somewhat long lasting at that price point, with an i7-6700 & 980/ 1070 at least


but Dell inspiron's with GTX960 have been found for sub 700, I just dont know how fast that will be oudated within even 2 years.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Outdated
Aug 10, 2016 5:50AM PDT

All machines become outdated.
A desktop provides a greater upgrade path.
It's up to you to set your budget and then go shopping.

If you want to run 7 programs at the same time I suspect your looking for a high end I7 with some serious ram.

Factor in the cost of several monitors.

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Answer
At home we have a few of the 960m based laptops.
Aug 10, 2016 8:42AM PDT

And they will be outdated by about next year. That doesn't mean they are junk then. The technology just keeps on moving forward.

The desktop wins at long lasting as you can change out the GPU and more over time.