The Best Laptop for Machine Learning in 2021

Sayantini Deb
Edureka
Published in
8 min readJul 4, 2019
Best Laptop For Machine Learning — Edureka

With the Rise in Machine Learning and Deep Learning in every sector. Be it a well-known MNC or any Startup. The need for Machine Learning is there and companies usually don’t pay much attention to the fact that any normal laptop that is being used by Software Developers and Support people is not suitable for Machine Learning. So, let’s get started and find out the Best laptop for Machine Learning.

  • Factors Affecting Portability
  • Minimum Requirements
  • Best Laptop for Machine Learning
  • Building a Custom PC

Factors Affecting Portability

To find the best Laptop for Machine Learning, Portability is one of the key factors that anyone looks for in a laptop, otherwise, if portability is not the issue then you can go for custom PC, which I’ll discuss in the later part of this article.

The Higher the Processing Power, the Heavier is the Laptop. Now, this can mean a lot of things.

  • More RAM leads to More Weight
  • More Battery leads to More Weight
  • Larger Screen Size leads to More Weight
  • Higher the Power Lower the Battery Life.

Minimum Requirements

Before Buying the Best Laptop for Machine Learning you Must have a look at the Minimum Requirements to look for in a Laptop. This can also be useful if you are building a custom PC.

RAM: A minimum of 16 GB is required, but I would advise using 32 GB RAM if you can as training any algorithm will require some heavy Lifting. Less than 16 GB can cause problems while Multitasking.

CPU: Processors above Intel Corei7 7th Generation is advised as it is more powerful and delivers High Performance.

GPU: This is the most important aspect as Deep Learning, which is a Sub-Field of Machine Learning requires neural networks to work and are computationally expensive. Working on Images or Videos require heavy amounts of Matrix Calculations. GPU’s enables parallel processing of these matrices. Without GPU the process might take days or months. But with it, your Best Laptop for Machine Learning can perform the same task in hours.

NVIDIA has started making GeForce 10 series for Laptops. These are one of the best GPU’s to work with select the one which suits your Price Range. Although they have the RTX 20 Series as well, But it’s way too costly. You can also go for AMD Radeon.

Storage: A minimum of 1TB HDD is required as the datasets tend to get larger and larger by the day. If you have a system with SSD a minimum of 256 GB is advised. Then again if you have less storage you can opt for Cloud Storage Options. There you can get machines with high GPUs even.

Operating System: Mostly People go for Linux, but Windows and MacOS can both run Virtual Linux Environment and you can work on those systems too.

Best Laptop For Machine Learning

Tensorbook

The TensorBook by Lambda Labs would be my #1 Choice when it comes to machine learning and deep learning purposes as this Laptop is specifically designed for this purpose.

Pros: Specially Built for Deep Learning with pre-installed Deep Learning Libraries.

Cons: Nothing as such, apart from pricing.

Apple MacBook Pro 15″

One of the best Laptops for Multi-tasking and for Machine Learning. This is a good option for Apple fans who don’t want to shift to another platform.

Pros: Gorgeous Retina Display (2880×1800)

Cons: Too expensive, RAM is not upgradable.

ASUS ROG Strix GL702VS

It’s an unusual Laptop, from outside it looks like any other heavy-duty gaming laptop. It powered by some of AMD’s finest desktop hardware — and a price that’s surprisingly low.

Pros: Great value for money, Superb performance with excellent thermal management, Value for Money

Cons: The battery could be better

ASUS ROG Zephyrus S

The Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX531GX is a stunning 15-inch gaming laptop that has the svelte design of an ultrabook but packs powerful GPU components.

Pros: Powerful, Slim design, Great performance, Innovative cooling

Cons: Very expensive, Screen isn’t HDR.

Dell XPS 15 9560

The Dell XPS 15 is an amazingly flexible laptop, despite looking like an ordinary high-end one on the surface. It’s very powerful but has unusually good battery life for its class.

Pros: Fast, amazing battery life, 4k Display

Cons: Pricey, Heavy and no webcam

Razer Blade 15

The Razer Blade is one of the best laptops you can get for machine and deep learning. It basically checks all the boxes for it to handle your projects and some more. The performance is top-notch.

Pros: Excellent Performance, Great Build Quality, and Design, Light And Portable

Cons: Pricey

MSI GS65

The MSI GS65 is once again, a thin and lightweight gaming laptop which is aimed for power users working on Deep Neural Networks.

Pros: Attractive, subtle design, Gorgeous, a fast display, Excellent performance, Effective thermal management

Cons: Underside gets burning hot, Forthcoming Biometric login, Poor Native Audio

Acer Predator (Helios 300 and Triton 700)

Both the Helios and Triton 700 are amazing Laptops with amazing power and speed. Triton is the latest and more costly one. But even Helios can do your Job.

Pros: For an affordable laptop, it performs excellently. It also has enough space for data storage.

Cons: The screen display could be better.

Dell Alienware 15 R4

One of the Cheapest Laptops that can get your work done, if not multitasking much. Good for students who cannot spend much on a new Laptop.

Pros: Cheap, gets the work done.

Cons: More RAM and hence performance.

Gigabyte Aero 15X

The Gigabyte Aero 15X is a fantastic laptop for tasks beyond gaming like Machine learning while maintaining its excellent battery life, making for a more versatile laptop than previous versions.

Pros: Excellent performance, Fantastic battery life, Gorgeous screen, Plenty of ports

Cons: Chin-facing Webcam, Not super premium for the price.

Building a Custom PC

If Portability is not an issue, you can build a custom PC. There are a lot of places where you can build a custom PC. Here is one of few PC’s that you can customize too on iBuyPower. You can also assemble one yourself. Just make sure you check the minimum requirement boxes and you are good to go.

You can use Cloud Support for GPU’s if you don’t want to spend so much. Here you can go for either AWS or Microsoft Azure. Azure is cheaper and better in some ways for analytics purpose. But I would advise you to Save money and buy the GPU as it will be cheaper for Long Run.

With this, we come to an end of the quest for Finding the Best Laptop for Machine Learning. I hope you have made up your mind on which Laptop to get according to your budget. Don’t spend too much on Displays or GPU’s if you aren’t a gaming person. Go with mid-range or cheap Laptops.

If you wish to check out more articles on the market’s most trending technologies like Artificial Intelligence, DevOps, Ethical Hacking, then you can refer to Edureka’s official site.

Do look out for other articles in this series which will explain the various other aspects of Deep Learning.

1. TensorFlow Tutorial

2. PyTorch Tutorial

3. Perceptron learning Algorithm

4. Neural Network Tutorial

5. What is Backpropagation?

6. Convolutional Neural Networks

7. Capsule Neural Networks

8. Recurrent Neural Networks

9. Autoencoders Tutorial

10. Restricted Boltzmann Machine Tutorial

11. PyTorch vs TensorFlow

12. Deep Learning With Python

13. Artificial Intelligence Tutorial

14. TensorFlow Image Classification

15. Artificial Intelligence Applications

16. How to Become an Artificial Intelligence Engineer?

17. Q Learning

18. Apriori Algorithm

19. Markov Chains With Python

20. Artificial Intelligence Algorithms

21. Object Detection in TensorFlow

22. Top 12 Artificial Intelligence Tools

23. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Interview Questions

24. Theano vs TensorFlow

25. What Is A Neural Network?

26. Pattern Recognition

27. Alpha Beta Pruning in Artificial Intelligence

Originally published at https://www.edureka.co on July 4, 2019.

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Sayantini Deb
Edureka

A Data Science Enthusiast and passionate blogger on Technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Deep Learning and TensorFlow.