Laptop Specs for Industrial Engineer/Operations Research

[bandinterwebs]

Hey all -

I would love to hear what you guys have found to be import in grad school laptops. My parents are gifting me a laptop, but we have differing ideas as to what's important in a laptop. For me - I am notoriously hard on laptops. So durability is a priority for me, as well as being lightweight, since I have a large campus that I will be traversing.

When I say "durable", my parents are looking at big, heavy machines. Additionally, they believe I need high processing power and the ability to support heavy software. However, I am not a design engineer, so heavy CAD or simulation software isn't a high priority. I would think that I may need the ability to run some programming software (R, Matlab, etc.) and have some large databases. I assume that I will have remote desktop abilities if worst comes to worst and I need heavy processing power.

I'm interested to hear what specs other potentially data-intensive students value in a laptop, as well as what laptops you might recommend. How do you prioritize durability vs. weight, and how much processing power does one REALLY need?

My budget is probably capped at 2K, and I am not interested in buying a disposable laptop. I'm looking to get one that will last me most of my PhD. I do NOT have a personal desktop, and as I am about to get married, I also don't want to be confined to the university laptops 24/7. How much processing power/RAM/etc. does one truly need, in that case.

Appreciate any and all suggestions.

[nubswitstubs]

In terms of durability, you can't do much better (if at all) than Mil-SPEC Thinkpads. I would suggest waiting until you know what specific project you're working on and what your computing needs will be before purchasing a laptop, though. You might even find out that your adviser will provide funding for it. 

[Edotdl]

You might get a desktop for your office, so you could do the heavy computing there. Durability, portability, and battery life are probably the most important, IMO.