Last updated Aug 22, 2018
Following are recommendations for students taking advanced courses in Temple’s Professional Science Master’s in GIS, and students recently graduated and looking to purchase a computer for professional use. The expected uses include desktop GIS, geospatial programming, and database or web server development (but not deployment).
I am not a Mac user. These recommendations are targeted at Windows and Linux. Mac uses Intel processors, so most of these hardware specifications should translate, but you should get Mac-specific advice elsewhere.
TL;DR
Laptop Recommendations:
- Intel i5 or equivalent processor, i7 preferred
- 16 GB RAM
- 250+ GB SSD or 500+ GB hard drive
- Integrated graphics
Desktop Recommendations:
- Intel i7 or equivalent processor
- 16 GB RAM
- 120 GB SSD and 1+ TB hard drive
- GPU with 1 GB RAM
OK, Why?
Processor
For this kind of work, go with a top tier processor. This will be particularly helpful for any geoprocessing you do. Similar processing power is more expensive for laptops, which are trying to squeeze similar computing power into smaller spaces while reducing the heat output. Pricing is the only reason I suggest i5 as acceptable for laptops, and if you can afford the i7, go for it. For a desktop, go with the i7.
Benchmarks on 8th generation (indicated by 8000s after the processor class, e.g., i7-8550U) show a worthwhile performance boost over 7th generation, but there are still a lot of 7th generation processors in the supply chain, and buying one will be fine. But if you are looking at used computers, you will see older processors, and the i3/i5/i7 tiers must be viewed with caution. A newer generation i5, or even i3, will often outperform an older generation i7.
You might also see computers with AMD processors. An AMD Ryzen 5 or 7 should be very roughly equivalent to an i5 or i7, but you will have to search online for specific benchmarking.
Tom’s Hardware has a lot of detailed comparisons. Although the site is primarily geared toward gamers, their processor benchmarking is of more general use. If you want more info, see for example CPU Hierarchy 2018: Intel and AMD Processors Ranked
RAM
In some sense you don’t actually need 16 GB of memory for most day-to-day GIS tasks, and most geoprocessing tasks will hit the processor harder than the memory. I am recommending 16 GB minimum for two reasons:
- Web browsing: Modern website designers just don’t care how much memory their website uses on your computer. Google Chrome, the most popular web browser, is notoriously bad at memory management. And our web browsing habits make it worse, as we often have dozens of tabs open at a time. Everything is going fine and then you open one more ad-heavy website, or launch a GIS application, and your computer is brought to its knees.
- Virtualization: Virtual machines require dedicating part of your RAM to the VM, which means it is unavailable to the host OS. (Note, Docker doesn’t work this way.) Virtualization is useful for server development (it’s better to run a test server in a VM) and for working with multiple operating systems (particularly Linux or Mac users who need access to Windows-only software like ArcGIS).
An additional consideration is the maximum RAM the computer can support. If you buy a computer with 8 GB RAM, expecting to upgrade to 16 GB when you have some spare cash, that won’t do you any good if the computer motherboard won’t support more than 8 GB. Also, while memory is a fairly easy upgrade on a desktop computer, laptop manufacturers have started soldering their memory to the motherboard, making some newer models difficult or impossible to upgrade.
Storage
As computing moves to the cloud, it is increasingly common to find computers—especially laptops—being sold with fairly small hard drives. If you are working with data, you still need a decently sized hard drive. If you are working with GIS data, you need a larger hard drive. If you are working with raster data, you need the largest hard drive you can afford.
Solid state drives can also boost performance, particularly at boot time and when launching software. For a desktop system, I recommend using a solid state drive as your boot drive, and a bog standard hard drive (or drives) for storage of documents and data. The storage drive will use a SATA interface. The boot drive can use SATA or PCI Express/NVMEe. You will still get a performance boost using a solid state drive on SATA, but you will get even better performance from a PCIe/NVMe.
It shouldn’t be too hard to find a vendor that will sell you a desktop computer configured with a separate boot drive and storage drive(s). The boot drive only needs enough room for the OS and software. You will probably be fine with about 120 GB. If you intend to dual boot, or know you will use particular software that requires a lot of storage (gaming software in particular), consider increasing this. Because hard drives are cheap, there’s almost no reason to get less than 1 TB for the storage drive.
It’s a little harder to find vendors that will sell you a laptop computer with both boot and storage drives, although they are out there. For a while, with the introduction of the M.2 form factor (a smaller, gumstick style SSD), this was getting easier to find, or to do yourself. You just have one M.2 drive and one 2.5″ drive. But with laptops getting smaller and lighter, it seems less common recently. Going with a single drive is fine, as large as you can afford. A 500 GB hard drive is a minimum, larger is better. SSDs are more expensive, so you might try to get away with 250 GB, particularly if you also have access to a desktop computer where you can store most of your data.
Things to remember:
- More is better. It’s just a question of your price point.
- Getting a larger hard drive will not make your computer run faster. Getting a different hard drive (HDD → SATA SSD → PCIe/NVMe SSD) will improve certain aspects of performance.
- A storage upgrade is an easy end user upgrade, so if you’re on a budget, prioritize CPU and RAM for now. And if you find that you are running out of space, don’t get a new computer, just get a new drive.
Graphics Cards
Graphics processing can take place in the CPU (integrated graphics) or in a separate GPU (discrete graphics). ESRI’s recommendations for ArcGIS Desktop 10.6 are “64 MB RAM minimum; 256 MB RAM or higher recommended. NVIDIA, ATI, and Intel chipsets supported.”
It is important to realize that discrete graphics will only speed up certain kinds of tasks, primarily 3D rendering. This will be important if you are doing 3D GIS such as 3D urban modelling or landscape flyovers. Additionally, in the “big data” era, there has been work on GPU processing for data analysis. If you are working in these areas you probably know more about GPUs than I do, and if you are not, then you probably won’t get much of a performance boost from discrete graphics. I can tell you ArcGIS runs fine on computers without a GPU.
That said, for a desktop computer, it’s fairly inexpensive to add discrete graphics. Almost anything will help, but with today’s hardware a graphics card with 1 GB RAM seems like a good price point.
For a laptop computer, unless you know you need a GPU, I would recommend against getting one, mostly because a GPU will reduce your battery life and probably make your computer run hotter. Even if you are doing 3D modelling or GPU processing, I would probably get both a laptop and a desktop, and do the GPU-intensive work on the desktop. But this won’t apply to certain situations, for example if your job requires you to run 3D demos for clients or public demonstrations.
Further Considerations
Computers can be divided into three broad classes: consumer, business, and gaming. Gaming computers are excellent computers, but probably go beyond the needs of most geospatial analysts. You have to know your own use cases.
If you focus on the technical specifications, it really shouldn’t matter whether you get a consumer or business model. However, for laptops, business models give you additional benefits, even when they have the same processor, memory, etc. They are designed for professionals who travel frequently, rather than to just be occasionally moved from the living room to the dining room. To this end, they use higher quality components, often have aluminum bodies instead of plastic, and have been designed to better withstand shocks and drops. I don’t want to shill for any particular brand, but some brands have specific distinctions, such as the highly regarded quality of their keyboards. Every manufacturer has a business and consumer line. The business models do come at a premium, but for a GIS student or professional, I would recommend purchasing a business laptop. For desktops, I don’t think it makes much difference.
If you are trying to save money, a good strategy can be to buy a refurbished business laptop from a reputable seller. Unless you really know what you’re doing, I do not recommend buying a used computer from a private seller.
If you have any questions or comments, please contact Prof. Hachadoorian at Lee.Hachadoorian@temple.edu.