[Qgis-user] minimum and recommended specs for a laptop?

[Steven Drake]

Hello,

I'm thinking of buying a laptop and wondering about the minimum and
recommended specs for a laptop to run QGIS 3.x? The plan is to use Ubuntu
as the OS and the laptop for writing scripts, working on Process Models,
etc... with occasional full blown tests using 'large' (+500,000 polygon)
shapefiles. My desktop is more than sufficient for this but I'm looking for
something to use when travelling.

I used to have a somewhat decent laptop but it is older and gets crazy
hot... and does not do well with larger shapefiles. The old laptop case
actually deformed slightly in the hot areas which screams to me "fire
hazard!" and therefore is no longer used. I'd like to avoid those issues
with the new laptop.

The laptops on the market seem to be mainly 7th generation Intel processors
with a wide variation in performance. Just to keep this simple, let's
consider i7 types. There are designations ending with a "U" which use less
power, create less heat and used in lower performing computers. Then there
are the "H" and "HQ" processors in higher end computers which sound more
capable and use more power.

I'm guessing a "U" processor will be overtaxed by the scenario in the first
paragraph. So *if* it does not crash it will run to the design limit and
heat up. If using the "H" or "HQ" processors it will likely not crash,
produce lots of heat but maybe not too much since it is designed for such
intensive applications?

Am I understanding the situation correctly? What else might play a
significant role in the heat issue? What about laptops with built in
cooling systems beyond the normal fans and heat sinks? And most
importantly... how to pick a computer / processor / other items capable of
running QGIS with large datasets? How to find a reasonable middle between
performance and heat? ...and of course not cost too much? Gaming
computers????

Thank you,

--S
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