What computer should I buy?

I am possibly starting a Biomedical Engineering grad program, and I'm looking to upgrade my computer. Will MATLAB work well on an Intel Core i5 8th gen processor? I'm looking at maybe buying a SurfaceBook 2. Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

[Adam Danz]

I'm wrapping up a grad program and have spent most of my time analyzing data, developing models, visualizing data, etc, on Matlab with a laptop. However, 1) I use a dual monitor most of the time because I need to see sections of code, the command window, and figures without toggling back and forth and 2) I always need more RAM. My laptop has 8gig ram and it's often not enough to work smoothly with my data. Note that this is not a limitation of Matlab - it's because I'm working with lots of data. So get lots of RAM and a good processor if you're planning on working with lots of data frequently. If your grad program has dedicated analysis computers, you can just use your laptop to remote access those (more powerful) machines and not worry about hardware bottlenecks. I've yet to log onto my university's IBM Blue Gene yet, though. Good luck! And check if your university has a site license before you buy your own.

[Molly]

Thanks so much, I really appreciate it!

Answer 1

[John D'Errico]

READ THE SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS.

https://www.mathworks.com/support/requirements/matlab-system-requirements.html

They suggest that an Intel Core i5 will work, although my recent choice was a Core i9. Your choice will depend on how much heavy duty processing you expect to do.

Extra memory will be useful. 8 GB is usually sufficient now, but I would recommend more than that. Get an SSD drive.

[Molly]

Yes, I had read those and was looking for some anecdotes on it :) thanks so much, I'll certainly look into the SSD drive.

[John D'Errico]

One thing I did learn when I bought my recent Core i9, was I was worried about it overheating when running all 8 cores flat out, which then drops down the clock speed to compensate. Yes, I can kick my system fan on, though I'm usually not doing something that has all 8 cores running flat out for long. And 1 core can run flat out all day long and not cause a problem.

It is something you do need to consider, though a Core i5 is not really designed for heavy duty crunching. And since I don't know what types of problems you will be solving, it is hard to know.

A system with a decent fan in it can be important, at least if you will be doing heavy crunching. Of course, you can actually buy a fan unit that sits underneath a laptop, acting as an external fan, with a temperature sensor. We did that for a while with an older laptop.