What laptop to get for Ph.D.

[broje_mac]

I'm starting my Ph.D. in education/economics starting this fall. I've been using a 2011 MacBook pro 13-inch for the last 7 years and I think it's finally time to upgrade, especially with the recent MacBook pro updates.

I want this to be the only computer I want to buy for the next five years. So my basic requirements are 16GB of ram, 512 GB storage, and an i7. My only question is to wether to get the 13-inch pro or the 15-inch. I was originally thinking the 13-inch since I will be going to and from class and research meetings and would like the portability. With the education discount, the 13-inch would cost me $2,309.

However, the 15-inch would only cost me 120 more dollars, and that gets me a dedicated GPU, 2 more cores, and 15-inch display. It seems like the 15-inch is a better value, but is the extra pound of weight worth it since I'm going to be carrying it around all day every day? Thoughts?

 

[mroy16]

What do you anticipate doing with the computer? Are there specific software / computing requirements?

I'm working on a PhD in chemistry right now, and most of my work is reading/writing papers and data workup using Excel. I occasionally run some more computationally intensive software, but I have access to computer clusters for anything really taxing. For what I'm doing, my base-level 2016 13" MBP is wonderful. I carry the laptop to and from campus everyday, and it's super easy to grab and move between my office and meetings or classes. The only thing I would add is that I love having a second monitor connected.

 

[Randall2018]

You’ll like the larger display on the 15”, but it may not matter if you are going to hook it up to an external display most of the time when you aren’t in class anyway.

As far as processing power goes any of them should be sufficient.

 

[broje_mac]

What do you anticipate doing with the computer? Are there specific software / computing requirements?

I'm working on a PhD in chemistry right now, and most of my work is reading/writing papers and data workup using Excel. I occasionally run some more computationally intensive software, but I have access to computer clusters for anything really taxing. For what I'm doing, my base-level 2016 13" MBP is wonderful. I carry the laptop to and from campus everyday, and it's super easy to grab and move between my office and meetings or classes. The only thing I would add is that I love having a second monitor connected.

Mostly data analysis with stata or R. Sometimes the data analysis can get fairly complex, and more cores can certainly help. Stata holds data in memory, so large data sets can bog down a computer if it doesn’t have a large amount of memory. I won’t have access to clusters so I have to have some processing power in my machine. I don’t anticipate using the gpu for anything more intensive than simple gaming.

 

[mroy16]

It sounds like either option will work well for you. The 15" will certainly pack more punch, and I expect that you'd definitely feel that from time to time.

I would strongly recommend an external display - it makes working with datasets and references and everything so much easier. If you factor in even $100 for a basic 1080p external display, does that shift the odds one way or the other? It's a choice between increased power or portability when both matter to you. I don't think there's a right or wrong choice here.

 

[jaduff46]

Agree on the external display. Probably don’t need the i7 chipset unless you’re doing video editing. Our daughters started off with 15” mbps freshman year but they got heavy over time and they migrated to the 13” mbps which they love after grad school.

 

[dukebound85]

I'm starting my Ph.D. in education/economics starting this fall. I've been using a 2011 MacBook pro 13-inch for the last 7 years and I think it's finally time to upgrade, especially with the recent MacBook pro updates.

I want this to be the only computer I want to buy for the next five years. So my basic requirements are 16GB of ram, 512 GB storage, and an i7. My only question is to wether to get the 13-inch pro or the 15-inch. I was originally thinking the 13-inch since I will be going to and from class and research meetings and would like the portability. With the education discount, the 13-inch would cost me $2,309.

However, the 15-inch would only cost me 120 more dollars, and that gets me a dedicated GPU, 2 more cores, and 15-inch display. It seems like the 15-inch is a better value, but is the extra pound of weight worth it since I'm going to be carrying it around all day every day? Thoughts?

Your current computer honestly is more than capable

People seem to think school has some kind of performance premium needed.....

 

[Gata]

The main area where I can see computational power needed is if you're in some sort of STEM class where you would benefit from the additional compute horsepower, and they somehow don't give you external computing resources to do so.

 

[theluggage]

Mostly data analysis with stata or R. Sometimes the data analysis can get fairly complex, and more cores can certainly help.

Well, you'll have to make that judgement, since you have the facts and figures and know precisely what research and number crunching you'll be doing for your PhD (and you're in a position to test whether the work makes your 2011 MBP grind to a halt, or if it is ok but you'd just prefer something a bit more snappy). If there was such a thing as a "typical" PhD then we'd be talking doing standard stats analyses on a few thousand data points - plus a whole load of word processing - and that wouldn't even make your 2011 MBP break a sweat... but then if your actual research involves serious number crunching, the sky is the limit - and if you need a "big data" workstation then its probably best to get a big ugly PC tower that can crunch data while you're writing it up on your MacBook (although the modern solution to that would be to use something like Amazon Cloud services to rent capacity as and when it was needed rather than buying your own hardware).

My feeling, though, is that the 13"/i5 quad core/8G/512GB would probably be more than enough for your needs, although going to 16GB would probably make sense for future proofing. 13" is a good size for portability, and you can always supplement it with an external display if you spend a lot of time using it on a desk.

However, if you do think you're going to need more processing grunt for your research then I'd agree that the upgrade to the 6 core 15" would be money better spent than upgrading the 13" to a (still only quad core) i7. One of the frustrations of the current MBP range is that you still have to pay for the extra CPU/GPU grunt just to get a 15" screen for extra real estate.

You'll also need to make your own mind up about the MBP keyboard issues q.v. ad nauseum elsewhere on this site. Sadly, though, I don't think people will still be rocking their 2016-2018 MacBooks in 2025 the way that 2011 MBPs are still many users' workhorses today (for starters, that can't be good for Apple's bottom line).

 

[Matz]

I want this to be the only computer I want to buy for the next five years. So my basic requirements are 16GB of ram, 512 GB storage, and an i7.

It seems like the 15-inch is a better value, but is the extra pound of weight worth it since I'm going to be carrying it around all day every day? Thoughts?

Since you’re carrying it around all day every day, are there external monitors at your various destinations? If not, my personal preference would be the 15”.

An i7 plus a more powerful GPU makes it arguably more future-resistant. Gaming now, but who knows what will develop in the next few years, applicable to your field, that would benefit from the GPU.

As for the weight, it depends on how you carry it around, and your size and level of fitness. Although grad school is almost 20 years in my rear-view mirror, for work I use a leather backpack in lieu of a briefcase or messenger bag, almost entirely based on ergonomics. And up until recently, I carried a 13” MBP.

Thinking back and trying to put myself in your shoes, a one-pound weight increase would be well worth it to me if I wasn’t using the Mac with an external monitor most of the time.

Congratulations on entering your PhD program. Best of luck in making your choice of MBP.

 

[960design]

I'm starting my Ph.D. in education/economics starting this fall. I've been using a 2011 MacBook pro 13-inch for the last 7 years and I think it's finally time to upgrade, especially with the recent MacBook pro updates.

I want this to be the only computer I want to buy for the next five years. So my basic requirements are 16GB of ram, 512 GB storage, and an i7. My only question is to wether to get the 13-inch pro or the 15-inch. I was originally thinking the 13-inch since I will be going to and from class and research meetings and would like the portability. With the education discount, the 13-inch would cost me $2,309.

However, the 15-inch would only cost me 120 more dollars, and that gets me a dedicated GPU, 2 more cores, and 15-inch display. It seems like the 15-inch is a better value, but is the extra pound of weight worth it since I'm going to be carrying it around all day every day? Thoughts?

I have old eyes and need all the display real estate I can use. The 15" is a must for me.

 

[broje_mac]

Thanks for all of your advice everyone.

I will have an external monitor at home. I won’t have access to one at school, at least for the first few years. This is what made me interested in the 15-inch.

 

[ejb190]

Your current computer honestly is more than capable

People seem to think school has some kind of performance premium needed.....

Have to agree with dukebound85. When I was at college I had access to more processing power than I could ever use. All I had to do was ask the department. There's no reason you need to own it personally.

I have a late 2011 13" MBP (i7-2.7) (bought used). I host pretty intense FileMaker Pro databases and never had an issue with not enough power.

 

[RootBeerMan]

If the difference is only $120 it's a no brainer. Get the 15. You'll be more satisfied with the extra screen area and the additional power, for a longer time.

 

[millerj123]

If the difference is only $120 it's a no brainer. Get the 15. You'll be more satisfied with the extra screen area and the additional power, for a longer time.

Except for the portability of course.

 

[hajime]

What software will you use to write your thesis? Then you can tell if the extra screen estate will help. If you use Latex, you can have the text editor and the preview side by side for easy and comfortable viewing on the 15" screen. Anybody tried 13" screen? Maybe too small.