Best Laptops for Data Scientists (including AI & ML)

Video ID: Tow21xoMhL0

YouTube URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tow21xoMhL0

Added At: 13-06-25 21:17:21

Processed: No

Sentiment: Neutral

Categories: Science, Tech

Tags: data science, laptops, machine learning, AI, Excel, Tableau, PowerBI, Python, Matlab, Rust

Summary

The video discusses the best laptops for data scientists, including those doing machine learning and AI. The host shares their experience as a data scientist and interviews other professionals to determine what features are most important in a laptop. Key takeaways include the importance of display size, brightness, and resolution; comfortable keyboard; accurate trackpad; and sufficient storage and memory.

Transcript

today I'm going to cover the best
laptops for data scientists including
those doing machine learning and AI I'm
so excited folks I've been wanted to do
this video for some time and today I'll
be debooting something special to make
this guide as comprehensive as possible
I interviewed several data scientists
working in the field I'll be combining
their feedback with my own personal
experience as I did a lot of data
science myself over the years anyway
this guide is going to be applicable for
students as well as professionals now to
make this as easy to understand as I can
I've come up with three representative
data scientists let me introduce you to
Lilia she is an investment banking
analyst who spends her day going through
company's financial statements to
determine whether they are overvalued or
undervalued to do this she primarily
uses Excel for which she is a black belt
ninja rat but for analytics that are too
large for Excel she leverages business
intelligence tools like Tableau and
powerbi next up is Bob he is a
quantitative data scientist and he works
in the same bank as Lilia
he spends his time building models that
forecast interest rates and the price of
Commodities that may impact the
companies in lilia's portfolio he spends
his Day writing code in Python mat lab
andr that executes on remote servers and
then we have Agnes she works on a large
language model for the interior design
company decorilla her model is used by
their chatbot which listens to client's
design needs and then responds with
ideas she tests and refines her models
locally on her laptop before putting
them into production on the company's
Cloud servers she works in Python and
rust while leveraging libraries like
pytorch now taking a look at these three
personas from a laptop buying
perspective Bob and lilia's needs are
actually somewhat similar Lilia is only
doing basic analytics on a laptop Bob
although a quantitative does not execute
his models on his laptop instead they
execute on a remote server so similar to
Lilia his actual performance and data
storage needs on his laptop itself are
basic therefore I'm going to first cover
what kind of laptop data scientist like
Lilia and Bob need and then I'm going to
build on that with some additional needs
for a data scientist like Agnes who has
much higher Computing needs if you want
to just jump to that section feel free I
won't be offended for data scientists
you'll be working with a lot of data and
graphs or even code you want to see
enough of them as possible on screen to
really know what's going on therefore
unless you're always using your laptop
plugged into an external monitor you
want a display that is 15 in or larger
but it's not just the display size that
determines how much you can see on it
it's also its brightness and resolution
I'd recommend a screen with a minimum of
400 nits of brightness but preferably
500 this will enable you to see the
display clearly in a variety of
environments without needing to squint
brighter environment such as rooms with
direct sunlight will require your laptop
screen to be brighter and that display
certainly helps with this as it is
non-reflective but it won't completely
solve this issue and when it comes to
the display's resolution I recommend
around 220 pixels per inch or higher
this will make small text and numbers
just easier to make out as they will
appear crisper a fast refresh rate
display is also a nice bonus as it will
make scrolling through lots of data just
look silky smooth when it comes to the
laptop's chassis itself many data
scientists don't work alone they
frequently demonstrate their work to
business partners and other team members
having a laptop that is light enough to
easily pick up and take with you is
ideal I'd try to get one that is under
£5 but preferably under four this this
will also make working in environments
like coffee stores or co-working spaces
just more pleasant now for the keyboard
you'll want one with a comfortable
satisfying click and a standard layout
there is nothing worse than typing on a
keyboard that feels uncomfortable and
hurts your wrist or reaching for a key
and pressing the wrong one on this note
if you're going to use a lot of excel
like Lilia you'll want a Windows laptop
the hot keys for Excel are different
than on Mac OSS and you just won't be as
efficient also something to watch out
for is whether the keyboard has a number
pad some data scientists really like
them and others don't it's a personal
preference but just be aware that
getting a number pad isn't free it
forces the laptop's keyboard to be off
center which you may not like for the
trackpad you want one that is nice and
accurate so you can quickly do things
like click to a data cell look for one
with a haptic trackpad those are the
most accurate now for the processor
inside the laptop it's become quite
complex of late with a ton of new ones
announced for data scientists like Bob
their Computing needs on their laptop
itself are light as his processing as I
said it's all done in the cloud for
Lilia it depends on how large her data
set is and what operation she is
performing on it if you believe the
compute needs of your laptop are light
all modern laptop processors from Intel
AMD and Apple sold in new laptops $500
and up are good enough if you believe
your Computing needs maybe more look for
a laptop with an Intel Core Ultra 9
processor or an Intel hx1 you could also
get an AMD Zen 5 processor or one with
an apple Pro or Max chip quick note of
caution on a couple of specific
processors Qualcomm Snapdragon
processors use the arm version of
Windows several data science programs
like Tableau powerbi and matlb they do
not run natively on this Hardware I
tested them for this video Tableau and
powerbi they do run well under emulation
but matlb does not regardless you will
never get the full performance out of
the hardware that you are buying for
applications that run via emulation so
only get a Snapdragon powered laptop if
you are certain that the programs you
are running will work Excel is a good
example of this now on powerbi
specifically the desktop version doesn't
run on Mac OS so keep that in mind
finally do not buy a Chromebook for data
science you'll be even more limited on
what applications you can run now in
terms of the configuration of your
laptop I'd like to see you with a
minimum of 16 G of memory and 512 gig of
storage but I'd strongly recommend more
if you can afford it 32 gig of memory
and 1 terab of storage is a good safe
amount memory and storage are very
important in data science fundamentally
you're working with lots of data and
that takes up a lot of space and when
performing operations on it it needs to
be put into memory which will use up a
lot of memory obviously the amount
depends entirely on the data set you are
working on and what kinds of analysis
you are doing on your laptop itself so
these are General guides let's talk
battery life there have been huge
improvements in laptops with the latest
generation of processors this includes
the following ones any Apple laptop with
an M series processor intels lunar L
processors also known as core Ultra 2
AMD N5 processors and Qualcomm
Snapdragon X processors all of these
will give you fairly decent battery life
so there is more of a benefit to buying
a laptop with a newly released processor
than there has been in Prior years that
being said I personally carry this tiny
ug green nexo pro 65w charger with me no
matter what laptop I'm using it delivers
enough power to drive most laptops while
also charging your phone this video is
not sponsored by ug Green in fact even
for the sponsored spots that we've done
for them they don't seem to want me to
promote this charger I have no clue why
as it really is a Marvel of engineering
anyway I thought I'd mention it as I
don't think battery life should be make
or break when such a portable charger is
available in addition to the attributes
that I've already mentioned when you're
in the zone you want to minimize
distractions this means that you want a
laptop that doesn't feel overly warm to
the touch and if you're in a quiet
environment you won't want to be
distracted by fan noise in general we've
found laptops with an apple M series
Intel Luna Lake core Ultra 2 or
Snapdragon X processor are s tier for
minimal heat and fan noise laptops with
an amd's N5 processor are a tier and
they are followed by amd's older N4
processors in Intel's core Ultram media
Lake which are B tier Windows laptops
that are older than this will be
noticeably louder and feel warmer now
we're going to turn it up a notch when
it comes to training a model many
professionals and researchers like Agnes
do test their models on their laptops
there are numerous reasons for this one
such is that server time can be very
expensive especially on supercomputers
you don't want to waste their processing
Cycles by running a model that may not
work therefore it is valuable to have a
laptop that is powerful enough to at
least test your model on and by the way
I'm referring to testing the training of
a model that is more intensive than
model inference which is using an
already trained model all right when it
comes to that training of a model gpus
are more powerful than CPUs that's
because they are better at executing
Matrix operations which are the back
bone of machine learning and artificial
intelligence now when choosing which GPU
keep the following in mind nvidia's Cuda
API is the most developed instruction
set it of course only works on their
gpus now you can use amd's dedicated
laptop gpus as well as the integrated
gpus in MacBooks but they're just not
going to be as industry standard nor as
powerful as nvidia's and in addition to
which GPU to get memory is critical to
how well your models run there are up to
two types of of memory in your laptop
Graphics memory which runs fast and is
only available to your dedicated GPU and
then there is system memory which is
used by your CPU integrated GPU or mpu
it runs slower but you can get more of
it having enough memory to fit all the
data required to test your model is
vital dedicated gpus in laptops they
have limited memory available currently
between 6 gig and 16 gig so keep that in
mind when picking your laptop now if you
absolutely need more mem than what's
available in a laptop's GPU or at least
one you can afford you can indeed run
machine learning tasks off your laptop's
CPU but your model just won't run nearly
as fast one interesting exception to
this is Apple's MacBook Pros their
integrated gpus are extremely powerful
and since their memory is Unified you
get the benefits of faster speeds
similar to Graphics memory and you get
access to more memory up to 128 gigs
which is similar to the benefits of
system memory so it is totally viable to
choose an Apple laptop for machine
learning for that reason even if it
means missing out on Cuda by the way you
may have heard about powerful mpus in
the latest generation of laptops please
be careful here these are exciting for
sure but right now their Terror
operations per second are way behind
even the slowest dedicated gpus and
since they use system memory they're
slower again another heads up AMD is
coming out with a new set of laptop
processors called STS Halo these promise
to do something similar to Apple
combining a high powerered CPU with an
extremely powerful integrated GPU that
can share memory all right time to bring
all these learnings together into
recommendations for buyers like Agnes
I'd recommend getting a laptop with a
dedicated Nvidia GPU that has as much
Graphics memory as you can afford
however having enough system memory is
also important it's a nice backup if you
can't fit all your data in the gpus
memory and you want to execute via your
CPU when it comes to system memory I
would recommend a minimum of 32 gig but
ideally 64 the other path you could of
course take is to get a MacBook Pro for
the reasons that I've already talked
about with this all said it's now time
to recommend some specific laptops these
are laptops that come as close as
possible to achieving the
recommendations I just made none of them
are perfect links to the ones that I
talk about will be in the video's
description and on our website in fact
it is very important that you visit the
best laptops for data scientist lists on
our website just josh. Tech new laptops
they come out regularly and that list
will be kept up to date well after this
video goes live also this is a best
laptop video these ones are therefore
pretty pricey I will put a selection of
Cheaper laptops on our website as I do
want to keep this video actually short
enough to be watchable and on that note
I'm only going to hit on the highlights
of each one you'll find links to our
full reviews of each of the laptops I
mentioned on the website too we're going
to start with a yoga slim 7i or Edition
it is a very light laptop for for one
that has a large 15.3 in display it
screen is excellent for data science
work bright high resolution fast refresh
rate and the laptop has an extremely
comfortable keyboard it comes with
Intel's latest lunar Lake processor so
it gives you very long battery life no
hidden fan noise and as it's an Intel
processor the broadest application
compatibility also if you want to do
some gaming in your downtime this
processor has the most powerful
integrated Graphics that we've tested in
a thinner light Windows laptop now even
though this processor does have
excellent single core and integrated GPU
performance its downside is that it has
poor multi-core performance so it's not
the most powerful of laptops I recommend
it for data scientists with basic
performance needs of their laptop itself
like Lilia and Bob my next
recommendation is the MacBook air15 just
like the yoga slim 7i AA Edition this is
another lightweight laptop with a large
15.3 in display it's actually easier to
pick up and carry around than the slim
7i Aura as the air is thinner compared
to that laptop the MacBook Air giv you
comparable multi-core performance faster
single core performance and better
battery life that being said it's a
similar class of machine to the aura in
terms of its overall performance which
is basic so again suitable for data
scientists like Lilia and Bob the
biggest difference between the air and
the aura though is in Creature Comforts
The air15 it's a more all round premium
laptop so the little things on it like
the webcam and speakers they are
noticeably better than on the yoga on
the flip side though the yoga has a fast
refresh rate display and a more
comfortable keyboard many people
including me will prefer the aura
because of that the proot p16 is a great
option for data scientists who are
looking for performance yet they still
want a laptop that is somewhat portable
the proart uses amd's brand new Zen 5
stck point processor the laptop performs
very well and it is effectively cooled
so it doesn't get warm to the touch nor
have annoying fan noise it is very light
and portable for a 16inch performance
laptop and there are a variety of
different configurations available at
the bottom end you can get it with 32 G
of memory 1 tab of storage which is
pretty good and an Nvidia RTX 4060 but
you can spec it right up to 64 gig of
memory 2 terab of storage and an RTX
4070 with 8 gigs of Graphics Ram it also
has an incredibly crisp 4K plus display
it's main downside though is about that
display while stunning it doesn't get
that bright and it doesn't have a fast
refresh rate if this annoys you a great
alternative is the yoga Pro 9i 16 in
it's mini LED panel is high resolution
bright and has a fast refresh rate its
main downsides are that it is heavier
and it looks more dated than the pro art
also for some reason in the USA it can
only be had with up to an RTX 4060 and
32 gig of memory elsewhere in the world
you can configure it with an RTX 4070
and 64 gig of memory all right now we're
going to step it up to the final Notch
and talk about very powerful laptops
that are going to be the best out there
for doing ML and AI on your laptop
itself just be prepared these big boys
are expensive
I'm going to start with the MacBook Pro
16 I'm not referring to the Basse models
I'm referring to an upgraded
configuration with a Max chip and plenty
of memory the max chips have
significantly more powerful gpus and
higher memory bandwidth as mentioned
earlier in this video this is a rare
laptop that can combine a powerful GPU
with up to 128 gig of very fast memory
exactly what ML and AI model training
needs other than this the MacBook Pro 16
is just a fantastic around machine I
personally have chosen to use it as my
high performance laptop it has it all
it's well built it weighs less than most
other high-powered laptops it has great
battery life a good keyboard the best
trackpad fantastic speakers you guys get
the point that being said it's a Mac so
it is super expensive and you don't have
Nvidia Graphics so you don't get Cuda
and most AAA games aren't available for
it now if you want something super
powerful that runs windows or Linux and
has an Nvidia Graphics the legion Pro 7i
it's a great pick this laptop has a very
powerful Intel 14900 HX processor that
is fed a ton of power so it performs
very well it can be hand with up to an
Nvidia RTX 490 with 16 G memory and the
laptop itself is very well cooled which
again it helps it perform extremely well
it has two upgradeable memory slots so
you can spec it right up to 64 gig of
system memory it also has a great screen
and a comfortable keyboard its main
downsides though are that its displays
pixel density isn't quite as high as I'd
like and it is quite a thick laptop but
given the performance of the components
inside what can you expect now if you
want The Most Extreme Performance in a
16-in laptop the electronics hydrock
it's the way to go it gives you the same
components as the legion Pro 7i but it
adds the option of water cooling those
components for even more performance it
also uses rare 48 gig memory chips so
you can spec it up to a whopping 96 gig
of system memory if you're not in the
USA this laptop is sold by other
companies under different names check
out xmg if you're in Europe or
Aftershock if you are in Australia
finally you could go the 18-in laptop
route with the MSI Titan 18 that laptop
actually has four slots for system
memory so you can spec it up with 128
gigs but at this point given its
enormous weight and price what are you
doing you really should be buying a
desktop well that's all for today folks
as mentioned we'll have more options in
our best laptop for data scientist list
on our website including cheaper ones in
fact our website not only lists all the
laptops that we recommend for a variety
of different types of uses but it also
shows you where to go to get the
cheapest prices on them at least right
now in the USA but in the future we will
be expanding that feature to support
viewers in additional countries also if
you don't already know I do have a
second Channel That's all about how to
be successful in your career and in
business before I became a full-time
YouTuber I rose up the ranks of
corporate America to the highest titled
level you can get at a bank hopefully I
can help you achieve your goals even
faster than I did my business channel is
linked below so go check that out
YouTube is Dick time smash the like
button and get subscribed not only does
it help us grow which means that we can
make more videos for you but as I always
say it makes my dearest mother very
proud till next time go do something
awesome with your day and I will catch
you later