I'm currently running a three-year old Acer Aspire V3-571 with an Intel Core i3-2730M, 4 GB RAM, and about 480(?) GB hard drive. This laptop was about $375 out the door in August 2012. It's served me well, but feel it is under-powered for what I need to do now.

Here is how I currently use this laptop:
25% - Internet (TexAgs, travel websites, general surfing, etc.)
50% - School/research - I run a statistical software package called SAS on it (www.sas.com).
24$ - Excel, Word, outlook, etc.
1% - Videos
0% - Gaming

My issue is that SAS takes forever to run code and pull-in databases. Because I spend about 40 hours a week writing/running code on this laptop, I want to upgrade to a more powerful and faster laptop. My only requirement is a 17" monitor (I often work only with the laptop, so I want a laptop screen).

What will give me the best bang for the buck? Intel i5 or i7? More RAM (16 GB)? My budget is under $1000 (prefer around $750)...I'm a student! I need something that will get me through the next 2 or 3 years of grad school. Suggestions? What should I look for and what should I stay away from?

I'll sell you mine for 1000.

In all seriousness though you will want a pretty large upgrade if you are wanting to run code at a fast pace. Get at least a 4th gen I7 and at least 8gb of ram. A video card might help also.

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You may think you want a 17 inch laptop but you will find out that they are all pretty horrible.

17inch laptops simply don't sell compared to the smaller versions so manufacturers don't invest the resources offering more than one or two options or making good versions of those (to get a good high quality lcd panel adds to the cost pretty significantly). I think you would be MUCH happier with a docking your laptop in the office/lab and at home to a large monitor and using the laptop as it was intended, on the go for when you are not at home or the lab.

I personally bought the Dell XPS 13 and its usb3 dock. I also bought 2 27inch monitors for office use. Would be over your budget with dock and monitors though.

I would also strongly suggest an SSD as your primary drive esp when something like SAS. An SSD will be much faster but you have smaller total capacity.

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I wouldn't say all 17" laptops are bad. Most gaming/music editing laptops are 17". If you go with an Alienware, MSI, ASUS 17" laptop then I don't see anyone being disappointed. It sounds like he wants desktop power in laptop form. Which he will only get with MacBooks and high end laptop. You are correct on the SSD though. I won't get another computer without it.

I'm not familiar with SSD. I'm fine with using an external hard drive for pics, word files, etc. and the SSD (assuming it is more directly connected to the processing area of the computer...and smaller in capacity).

Lenovo and Asus have some laptops in my price range. As for external monitors, I use a 22" external monitor and then the laptop screen as the 2nd monitor when I'm at my desk. When I'm on campus (or otherwise out and about), I rely only on the laptop screen of course. So, what I'm hearing, it may be worthwhile to look at 15.6" laptops and buy another 22" monitor to give me the side-by-side?

I"ve owned three 17" gaming laptops and I would never recommend one to anyone who doesn't want to game. They are heavy as heck and a pain to fly with, imho. Now, they're great for LAN parties and gaming while traveling, but those things don't come up for me very much these days.

Have owned Dell, Sager, and ASUS, FWIW.

I thought I wanted a 17 inch screen since my laptop is my only computer, but I ended up going with the 15.6 one, and I am glad I did. I like my Asus, bought it in January at your price point, no real complaints. Got more on the inside with the smaller laptop.

What about this for $750?

Dell Inspiron 17 5000 Series
4th Gen Intel Core i7-4510U (4m Cache, up to 3.1 ghz)
Windows 8.1 (64)
8 GB single DDR3 1600 mhz RAM
1 TB 5400 SATA hard drive
Intel HD Graphics 4400 video card
17.3" backlit LED display Truelife and HD+ resolution (1600 x 900)

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What about this for $750?

Dell Inspiron 17 5000 Series
4th Gen Intel Core i7-4510U (4m Cache, up to 3.1 ghz)
Windows 8.1 (64)
8 GB single DDR3 1600 mhz RAM
1 TB 5400 SATA hard drive
Intel HD Graphics 4400 video card
17.3" backlit LED display Truelife and HD+ resolution (1600 x 900)

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Nooo

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What about this for $750?

Dell Inspiron 17 5000 Series
4th Gen Intel Core i7-4510U (4m Cache, up to 3.1 ghz)
Windows 8.1 (64)
8 GB single DDR3 1600 mhz RAM
1 TB 5400 SATA hard drive
Intel HD Graphics 4400 video card
17.3" backlit LED display Truelife and HD+ resolution (1600 x 900)

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I would seriously consider a 15.6. If you carry your computer around d a lot, the weight savings will be worth it and your options for a 17" carrying case of will be very limited as well.

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What about this for $750?

Dell Inspiron 17 5000 Series
4th Gen Intel Core i7-4510U (4m Cache, up to 3.1 ghz)
Windows 8.1 (64)
8 GB single DDR3 1600 mhz RAM
1 TB 5400 SATA hard drive
Intel HD Graphics 4400 video card
17.3" backlit LED display Truelife and HD+ resolution (1600 x 900)

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Nooo

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Where did I go wrong? I feel so dumb! (Even through, during my time at A&M, I built a desktop...ahhh the days of Pentium II 233 mhz, 6.4 GB harddrive...sure was much simpler back then!)

TMoney, I'm pretty set on the larger screen. I carry the laptop back and forth to school about 3 days a week. However, 95% of my computing is done at home with the laptop set right next to the 22" monitor, so that's why I want the larger laptop screen. I may cave if I find an awesome deal on a 15.6" where I can just buy a 2nd external monitor to run (assuming I can do that...one HDMI and one VGA?)

What screen size is your current laptop?

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What screen size is your current laptop?

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15.6" I know the laptop will always dwarf compared to a regular monitor, but at least a 17 is closer than a 15.

Here's another question... I license SAS through the school (so it's dirt cheap), can I install/run it on an SSD and use this SSD on multiple computers? Amazon has a Samsung portable 250GB SSD for $98. Because I do the vast majority of my SAS work at home, I'd be happy to buy/build a home desktop but will need the portability of a laptop from time to time on campus.

No - a lot of the install files will be on the local machine's registry. The registry files/keys are can't be stored on a portable drive.

How about this one for $900?

Acer Aspire V3-772G-7616
4th Gen Intel Core i7-4712MQ
Windows 8.1 (64)
8 GB DDR3L RAM
256 GB SSD
Blu-ray writer
1920 x 1080, NVIDIA, GeForce GTX 850M (2 GB graphics memory capacity GDDR5 SCRAM)
17.3" Active Matrix TFT Color LCD Full HD

I've been using an Acer this past 3 years, no problems. Pull the trigger?

AggieMike,

The laptop spec's you've posted are good, but here are a few thoughts:

--- Since you mostly use your laptop at a desk, I highly recommend buy a docking station for the laptop and use 1 or 2 monitors at home. The docking station will easily support 2 monitors; maybe more if you want.

--- Using a docking station would allow you to purchase a much more portable laptop that will be lighter, have better battery life, easier to use when traveling, etc.

--- Laptops today will have much higher resolution screens than you old laptop, so a 15" or even smaller may have the same number of pixels as your old 17". Screen size wouldn't matter for your home coding work if using a docking station. It would even give you a 3rd screen to use if desired.

--- EDIT: One more thing; many people don't like Windows 8.1. Windows 10 is coming out at the end of July. Most computers you would buy today will receive a free upgrade to Windows 10, but you may prefer Win7 over Win 8.1 if you choose not to upgrade to 10 for some reason (SAS software compatibility).

Roy, thanks for the suggestion on the docking station. I had planned to buy one a while back, but figured my old Acer was not dockable (I do not think it has USB 3.0). I see some universal laptop docking stations on Amazon that allow for dual monitors and connect through USB 3.0, I will probably buy one of those.

I think I'm making this a mountain out of a molehill! It's just a laptop! And money!!!

Ok...one more question...I'm narrowing it down!

Which would you choose if the prices (and everything else) were exactly the same?

A) Acer
i7-4712MQ
8GB of RAM
256GB SSD
2GB graphics memory (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M)

B) HP
i7-5500U
16GB of RAM
2TB HDD
4GB graphics memory (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M)

The processors look to be similar (maybe a slight edge to the 4712MQ). The RAM is obviously better on the HP. However, the speed of the SSD has the Acer at the advantage (no way I'll need 2TB).

Thoughts?

I'd get the Acer because of the SSD. You can always add RAM later if for some reason you need more (you shouldn't). You don't need the increased Video RAM of the HP because you won't be pushing resolutions high enough to matter. You can use an external HD if you need more storage.

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I'd get the Acer because of the SSD. You can always add RAM later if for some reason you need more (you shouldn't). You don't need the increased Video RAM of the HP because you won't be pushing resolutions high enough to matter. You can use an external HD if you need more storage.

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My thoughts exactly! Thanks Bryan!

What Bryan said.

I would go Acer over the HP

Mike,

With SAS you will really want to get the SSD. If you are using STATA more often then the extra RAM might be helpful, although 8 gigs will still be plenty.

Boone makes us use SAS. So, that's what I've become most efficient at.

Ordered the Acer yesterday afternoon and FedEx just delivered it. Let's hope the boot up goes as smoothly! Thanks for all the comments above!

what about Core M processors vs i5/7

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Ordered the Acer yesterday afternoon and FedEx just delivered it. Let's hope the boot up goes as smoothly! Thanks for all the comments above!

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Congrats! Happy Regressing!!

Update on the new laptop: I have a SAS program that pulls for two databases (hundreds of thousands of observations in both, and hundreds of variables). The EXACT same SAS code and databases produce the following results:

New Laptop: 34 seconds
Old Laptop: 4 minutes, 22 seconds

I'd say this was a good purchase!

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Update on the new laptop: I have a SAS program that pulls for two databases (hundreds of thousands of observations in both, and hundreds of variables). The EXACT same SAS code and databases produce the following results:

New Laptop: 34 seconds
Old Laptop: 4 minutes, 22 seconds

I'd say this was a good purchase!

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How about this one for $900?

Acer Aspire V3-772G-7616
4th Gen Intel Core i7-4712MQ
Windows 8.1 (64)
8 GB DDR3L RAM
256 GB SSD
Blu-ray writer
1920 x 1080, NVIDIA, GeForce GTX 850M (2 GB graphics memory capacity GDDR5 SCRAM)
17.3" Active Matrix TFT Color LCD Full HD

I've been using an Acer this past 3 years, no problems. Pull the trigger?

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Where'd you find this laptop for $900? This is pretty much exactly what I want, except I'd prefer a 15" to the larger 17".

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Here's another question... I license SAS through the school (so it's dirt cheap), can I install/run it on an SSD and use this SSD on multiple computers? Amazon has a Samsung portable 250GB SSD for $98. Because I do the vast majority of my SAS work at home, I'd be happy to buy/build a home desktop but will need the portability of a laptop from time to time on campus.

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While it might be too late at this point for this, you may be able to do this if you formatted the SSD correctly and loaded an OS onto the drive, and then install SAS to the drive as well. then whatever computer you are sitting at you boot the computer from the external drive. (may have to change the boot settings to check for an external drive before booting from an internal drive) This may not work with windows due to how it handles its licensing but would work fine with a Linux OS assuming SAS works with linux.

TLDR It could theoretically work but will likely be a bigger headache than its worth.