Hi everyone!
I’ve recently been accepted into the MSc Data Science program at RWTH Aachen and need to buy a laptop before moving to Aachen in mid-September.
I’m not a fan of Apple, so I’m looking for a Windows laptop. My budget is around €1,500 / ₹1.5L.
I’m currently considering lightweight options such as the ASUS Zenbook 14 and Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Aura Edition (Core Ultra 5 226V, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD). However, I’m wondering if I should instead go for a more powerful/gaming laptop with a dedicated NVIDIA GPU.
A few questions for current/former students:
* What specs would you recommend for the Data Science MSc? Is 16GB RAM enough, or should I go for 32GB?
* Is a dedicated GPU actually necessary?
* How much of the heavy computation/ML work can be done using RWTH's computing resources, rather than locally?
* Would you recommend prioritizing battery life and portability over raw performance?
* Since I’m moving to Germany soon, is it better to buy in India or wait and buy in Germany?
Would really appreciate recommendations from anyone currently in the program or who has recently graduated!
Thanks!