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Forum: Recommendation for laptop in bioinformatic

Excuse me, I'd like to ask for a recommendation in the field of Bioinformatics. I'm planning to buy a new laptop, since my 2015 MacBook Pro is having battery problems. What brand or model of laptop would you recommend for doing decent bioinformatics analyses (assembly, anotations, proteomic, phylogeny)? I know I won't be replacing the high-performance servers at universities or research institutes, but I'd at least like to have a laptop from a brand that allows me to do the bare minimum in bioinformatics. I'm not sure whether to stick with Apple, or maybe a Lenovo with Linux, or perhaps another brand (for example, Legion) with Windows (which I imagine isn't very highly recommended). Thanks in advance.

recommendation laptop hardware
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updated by Ram Ram • written by joe_mar02 • joe_mar02

Because of the incessant demand from AI companies, memory and storage prices have gone through the roof so it would be best to consider your budget and then look for a machine that fits that budget. Get as much RAM as you can since many current laptops now use soldered RAM, which can't be upgraded later.

Unfortunately now is not the best time to get a laptop (or any hardware for that matter). Apple just increased prices on most all hardware across the board in US (and perhaps other locations as well). If you are otherwise satisfied with your Macbook, you could consider replacing the battery (if that is the only issue) for a much smaller cost and wait to get a new laptop for another year or two.

Buying refurbished directly from Apple is a great way to save some money (but that may be only be an option in US, not sure if apple online stores in other countries offer this option).

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written by GenoMax GenoMax

Thanks for your reply. I live in Bolivia and haven't seen those refurbished products, but I can look into it. I agree with you that everything has gone up in price.

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written by joe_mar02 • joe_mar02

1 answer

You sort of answered this already. You used your 2015 MacBook Pro until now, when it finally gave up after 11 years and

I know I won't be replacing the high-performance servers at universities or research institutes

The only question is whether it's going to be a 13'', 15/16'' screen imho (I regret a bit going 13' but with a large stationary screen on the desk). The Apple-silicon chips are absolute fire, core-by-core more powerful than our server's (ofc the server has 60 of them and 2TB of RAM). That brings us to:

What brand or model of laptop would you recommend for doing decent bioinformatics analyses (assembly, anotations, proteomic, phylogeny)?

None, or any for that matter. That's what the servers and cloud are for. Use the laptop for what it's meant for, writing, browsing, coding, drawing, video editing (if that's part of your job), and interactive stuff like small R studio jobs. You can even run some lighter Ollama models without problems on a current MacBook Air. It shouldn't suck at Illustrator/Photoshp or be able to run some small single-cell visualizations in R Studio.

In my opinion, the optimal bioinformatic laptop:

  • small, lightweight, durable
  • battery efficient, no thermal overload (in normal operation)
  • just works
  • 15/16'' screen
  • has a >=34'' external curved monitor attached
  • has an external 104-key mechanical coding keyboard, American layout (also the internal keyboard!) attached
  • has a high-quality ergonomic trackball attached (ok, this is the only point that's debatable)
  • Has native bash and great terminal implementations
  • comes with a native compiler suite
  • >= 1 TB disk
  • runs R studio, VSCode, and Illustrator, Word, LaTeX, Excel, PP, and whatnot for presentations and, data exchange with lab biologists.
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written by Michael Dondrup Michael Dondrup

Thank you so much for your response. I actually bought the 2015 MacBook Pro in 2021; it was a used display model. I've already bought about three different batteries, but they weren't original. I asked because, in my experience with this MacBook, some pipelines like Snakemake weren't compatible, and other tools like SamTools wouldn't install because it was missing some source libraries. However, at work, I have a Lenovo laptop with Linux, and so far, all the programs and pipelines have installed without any problems.

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written by joe_mar02 • joe_mar02

And so I wanted to know what kind of laptop people who do bioinformatics use, because while the Lenovo computer with Linux is good, I don't like that the programs it runs in a very small size.

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written by joe_mar02 • joe_mar02

It's all coming down more and more to a matter of taste and budget, and most importantly, how you shape your workplace ergonomically.

In addition, Apple has the tendency to lock you in to their ecosystem. Also, in my experience, Macs are far from flawless, especially not the Intel-based ones from late 10's, early 20's (like the touchbar models). At least for the earlier model, the battery could be changed cost-effectively. I just think that, currently, with the Silicon architecture, Apple has reached a sweet spot and is making good stuff.

If your employer provides you with a Linux laptop, then that's what it is. If you want to buy yourself a private laptop, it depends on how you intend to use it. How much bioinformatics work and what kind of work are you going to do with it?

Software-wise, you should get to run most software using conda or Docker. Samtools and Snakemake can run just fine.

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written by Michael Dondrup Michael Dondrup

Thank you for your response. I need the laptop to perform genomic data analysis (reference and de novo assemblies), phylodynamic analysis, and phylogeographic analysis using Python, Linux, and R. Additionally, next year I'll be starting a master's degree in bioinformatics, and while I'll have access to a server, I'll be working with transcriptomic and proteomic data.

Perhaps you could recommend laptop specifications for performing these types of bioinformatics analyses?

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written by joe_mar02 • joe_mar02

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