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Which is the Best Laptop For Data Science in 2025? Top 15 Options

By Rohit Sharma

Updated on May 19, 2025 | 19 min read | 24.82K+ views

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Choosing the best laptop for data science hinges on several critical hardware factors. Ideally, you should pick a laptop with at least 16–32 GB RAM, a 6-core CPU, dedicated GPU, fast 1 TB NVMe SSD, and a 1080p+ 14-15" display. Prioritize 8+ hours battery life and under 4 lbs weight for portability. These specifications boost performance, multitasking, and mobility.

Did you know? According to the BLS, employment of data scientists is projected to grow 36% between 2023 and 2033, resulting in approximately 20,800 openings annually through the decade. Naturally, since the duties demand you to handle complex and demanding data analysismachine learning, and statistical modeling tasks, your laptop needs to live up to the standards too!

While choosing the best laptops for data science is critical, so is choosing the right data science courses. In order to make the most of the opportunities that exist for skilled professionals, you must pick the right programs with GenAI integrated curriculum and modules or specializations diving deep into Python, Machine Learning, Tableau, and SQL so what you learn today remains relevant in your job.

And this blog will offer you the details on both the fronts: 15 best laptops for data science students and professionals and the best data science courses you can count on to future-proof your career.

Struggling to break into data science due to lack of practical experience or a recognized degree? The Master of Science in Data Science from Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) and IIIT Bangalore, offered via upGrad, is designed to bridge that gap. This 17-month online program combines academic rigor with industry-relevant skills, providing dual credentials: an Executive Diploma from IIIT Bangalore and a Master's degree from LJMU. Enroll now!

Top 15 Laptops for Data Science Students and Professionals in a Glance

Here’s a carefully chosen tabulated list of 15 best laptops for data science students and professionals. It includes both budgeted and high-end options:

Best Laptop for Data Science Students and Professionals For Students or Professionals?
ASUS ROG Strix G17 (Latest 2023 Model) High-end: For Professionals
Apple MacBook Air (M2) Budgeted: For Students and Pros, both 
Apple MacBook Pro With M4 Chip High-end: For Professionals
2023 Lenovo ThinkPad T490 Medium-budget: For Students and Pros, both
Acer Nitro 5 Budgeted: For Students
Razer Blade Pro 17 High-end: For Professionals
Lenovo Legion 5 Gen 6 (17″ AMD) Gaming Laptop Budgeted: For Students
Dell Alienware M15 R6 High-end: For Professionals
MSI GS65 High-end: For Professionals
Acer Swift 3 Budgeted: For Students
HP ZBook 15 G5 High-end: For Professionals
HP Pavilion 15 (AMD Ryzen Model) Budgeted: For Students
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon High-end: For Professionals
Lenovo LOQ 15IAX9 Budgeted: For Students
Acer Aspire 5 A515-57 Budgeted: For Students

Before we walk you through the features that earned these laptops a spot in our list of 15 best laptops for data science students and professionals, let’s walk you through the factors you need to consider when purchasing a laptop for data science.

Factors to Consider When Choosing a Laptop for Data Science

Choosing the best laptop for data science requires careful consideration of numerous significant factors. Here are some of the most significant considerations when choosing a laptop for data science:

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1. Processor

A powerful processor ensures fast and smooth performance, essential for handling complex data analysis and modeling tasks. Upgrading to newer processors can significantly enhance power efficiency, processing power, hardware compatibility, and thermal management.

These are the two best options you can consider:

  • AMD’s 5000 Series
  • Intel’s 11th-generation processors

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2. RAM

Working with large datasets requires ample memory to prevent lagging and ensure seamless multitasking. The best laptop for data analysts and data science students should have at least 16GB of RAM, with 32GB being preferable for advanced applications like deep learning.

3. Storage

Consider a laptop with a Solid State Drive (SSD), which provides faster data access and retrieval than a traditional Hard Disk Drive (HDD). Upgrading to an SSD (Solid State Drive) can significantly reduce boot-up and program launch times.

4. Graphics

For deep learning and AI applications, a dedicated graphics card is necessary. The best laptop for data science and AI should include an NVIDIA GPU (such as GTX 1650 or higher) to accelerate machine learning computations and support high-performance modeling.

5. Display

A high-resolution display is important for data visualization and analysis. Go for a 15-inch or larger laptop with a high resolution, such as 1920×1080 or greater.

6. Battery life

Data science involves long work hours, and a laptop with good battery life can ensure uninterrupted productivity. Ensure to go for a laptop with a battery life exceeding 8 hours.

Now that you know the features, let’s explore the ins and outs of the 15 best laptops for data science professionals and students. Dive in!

Top 15 Best Laptops for Data Science in 2025

Did you know? According to CFA UK's guide From Zero to Hero – A Data Scientist's Guide to Hardware, discrete GPUs are essential for deep learning tasks due to their parallel processing capabilities. It also warns that not all GPUs are equally useful for data science, emphasizing the importance of selecting compatible and performant hardware to avoid bottlenecks that reduce productivity.

Listed below are the top 15 laptops for data science.

1. ASUS ROG Strix G17 (Latest 2023 Model)

The ASUS ROG Strix G17 laptop is one of the best laptops for data science for your data analysis task.

Initially designed for gaming, this laptop can deliver a punch thanks to its processing strength. Due to this, it is preferable to perform comprehensive data analysis for your data science initiatives.

As a data scientist searching for a laptop for data science work, it’s important to look for a device with ample processing power.

Pricing: INR 1,74,990 (the prices vary based on the vendor since official ASUS website does not offer direct selling option in India).

Features  Specifications 
Operating System Windows 11 pro
Processor AMD Ryzen™ 9 7945 HX 16-Core
Storage Up to 2TB PCIe® 4.0 NVMe™ M.2 SSD
RAM 16GB or 32GB of DDR5-4800MHz
Battery Capacity 90 WHR

2. Apple MacBook Air (M2)

The Apple MacBook Air with M2 chip is one of the best laptops for data science students, particularly those who prioritize portability, battery life, and a macOS environment.

The M2 chip offers enhanced CPU and GPU performance over its predecessor, the M1. It's well-suited for tasks like data wrangling, statistical analysis, and running machine learning models using libraries such as pandasNumPy, and scikit-learn.

Pricing: INR 85,900 for 13.6-inch display

Features  Specifications 
Operating System macOS Monterey (upgradable to latest versions)
Processor

8-core CPU:

  • 4 performance cores 
  • 4 efficiency cores)

8-core GPU and 16-core Neural Engine

Storage 256GB SSD (configurable up to 2TB)
RAM 8GB unified memory (configurable up to 24GB) 
Battery Life Up to 18 hours

3. Apple MacBook Pro With M4 Chip

If you’re a data analyst, you should focus on CPUs with several cores, and the new MacBook Pro has 10. The 512 GB SSD on this MacBook Pro is overly quick and offers data scientists and analysts more than enough storage space.

Price: INR 1,69,900 for 14-inch display

Features  Specifications 
Operating System macOS Sequoia
Processor Apple M4 chip with 10-core CPU (4 performance cores and 6 efficiency cores)
Storage 512 GB SSD (configurable up to 2TB)
RAM 16GB unified memory (configurable up to 32GB)
Battery Life Up to 14 hours of wireless web usage

4. 2023 Lenovo ThinkPad T490

This laptop has all the powerful specs needed to run huge data sets and the ability to support a Unix-like environment smoothly. This is the best option to install Linux Distros on a Windows laptop.

You can customize this laptop’s RAM (8–40GB) and processor to meet your demands. However, those who want to work on parallel computing for deep learning, machine learning, or neural networks should not use this laptop because a dedicated GPU is missing from ThinkPads.

Pricing: INR 1,21,401

Features  Specifications 
Operating System Windows 10 Professional
Processor Intel Core i5-8265U up to 3.9 GHz
Storage 256GB-2TB SSD (different for different devices)
RAM 16GB DDR4 RAM
Battery Life 16 hours approximately

5. Acer Nitro 5

This isn’t just the best laptop for data science students, it’s also very cost-effective.

The design is simple, with a complete keyboard that is backlit and an HD display that refreshes at a rate of 144Hz. 

You can also choose from:

  • NVIDIA GPUs (we suggest the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050Ti) 
  • Intel i5 or i7 CPU (we suggest the i7; the i5 is inappropriate for people who work in data science).

Pricing: INR 64,000

Features  Specifications 
Operating System Windows 10
Processor Intel i5 11300H
Storage 512 GB
RAM 8 GB 
Battery Life 8 hours approximately

6. Razer Blade Pro 17

The chipset in this Razer Blade Pro 17 is the top-tier Intel Core i7-9750H. This laptop’s 6 gigabytes of usable VRAM and NVidia GeForce RTX 2060 GPU make it the best laptop for data analytics.

In addition, there is a quick 12 GB SSD storage device with dual-channel upgradeability. This laptop’s 17.3-inch display is a useful addition for data analysts. Most people use an additional screen to work, but this laptop boasts a 17.3-inch 1080p panel, rendering it the finest substitute.

Pricing: INR 3,20,000

Features  Specifications 
Operating System Windows 10
Processor 2.6GHz Intel Core i7-9750H
Storage 1TB
RAM 512 GB SSD
Battery Life 6 hours approximately

7. Lenovo Legion 5 Gen 6 (17″ AMD) Gaming Laptop

Lenovo’s new Gen 6 series, which includes the AMD Ryzen™ 5 5600H Processor (upgradable to the 5800H version), guarantees extraordinary processing power.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that this is the best laptop for data science when it comes to storing massive datasets due to its substantial SSD storage capacity.

Pricing: INR 79,990

Features  Specifications 
Operating System Windows 10 Home or Windows 11 Home
Processor AMD Ryzen™ 5 5600H Processor
Storage 512 GB SSD
RAM 8GB DDR4-3200 (expandable up to 32GB)
Battery Life 8 hours approximately

8. Dell Alienware M15 R6

Another excellent laptop at a fair price is the Alienware M15 R6, renowned for its command center technology, which gives users more control over the hardware.

This is the only laptop that can match the HD picture quality for streaming or gaming, thanks to the 360 Hz refresh rate.

This is considered amongst the best laptops for data science professionals as it has 8 cores with 16 threads, base clock of 2.3 GHz, and up to 4.6 GHz with Turbo Boost.

Pricing: INR 1,59,990

Features  Specifications 
Operating System Windows 10 Home or Pro, with upgrade options to Windows 11
Processor Intel i7-11800H
Storage 1TB
RAM Configurations range from 8 GB to 64 GB DDR4 at 3200 MHz or 3466 MHz
Battery Life 4 hours approximately

9. MSI GS65

The MSI GS65 is the ideal laptop for data analysis as its features make it stand out. The Cooler Boost Trinity on this laptop helps increase airflow and pressure for better cooling performance.

The glass touchpad in this laptop offers an enormous surface area and looks fantastic. The RTX 2070 and GTX 1070 are the two GPU options that are currently available.

Pricing: INR 2,49,390

Features  Specifications 
Operating System Windows 11 
Processor Intel i7-11800H
Storage 1TB
RAM 32 GB
Battery Life 4 hours approximately

10. Acer Swift 3

This Acer Swift 3 laptop is ideal if you’re new to data analysis and want to learn more about data mining, visualization, and prototyping limitations. This laptop offers an NVIDIA GeForce MX 150 graphics card with a maximum VRAM capacity of 2 gigabytes.

Pricing: INR 59,999

Features  Specifications 
Operating System Windows 11 Home 64-bit 
Processor 1.8GHz Intel Core i7-8565U
Storage 1TB
RAM 256 GB SSD
Battery Life 11 hours approximately

11. HP ZBook 15 G5 laptop

The HP ZBook 15 G5 is a mobile workstation designed to tackle heavy data science workloads. It offers Xeon® processor options (up to the Intel® Xeon® E-2176M with six cores and Turbo Boost to 4.4 GHz) paired with NVIDIA® Quadro® graphics, which can accelerate GPU-enabled machine learning frameworks such as TensorFlow and PyTorch.

Beyond raw performance:

  • The ZBook’s robust cooling system maintains sustained workloads.
  • Its 15.6″ Full HD DreamColor display ensures accurate color representation for data visualization.
  • Security features like a fingerprint reader and optional Sure View privacy screen add enterprise-grade protection for sensitive datasets.

Pricing: INR 2,77,000

Here are some critical specifications that make it powerful and the best laptop for data science professionals:

Features Specifications
Operating System Windows 10 Pro for Workstations 64-bit
Processor Intel® Xeon® E-2176M (2.7 GHz base, up to 4.4 GHz Turbo Boost; 6 cores)
Storage 512 GB M.2 PCIe® 
RAM 16 GB DDR4-2666 
Battery Life Up to 5 hours (workstation-rated)

12. HP Pavilion laptop (AMD Ryzen model)

The HP Pavilion 15 powered by the AMD Ryzen 5 5500U delivers six high-performance cores (up to 4.0 GHz boost) and 12 threads, striking a balance between single-threaded data wrangling and multithreaded data preprocessing.

Its integrated AMD Radeon graphics enable lightweight GPU acceleration for libraries like CuPy or minor model training, while dual-channel 16 GB DDR4-3200 MHz RAM keeps Jupyter notebooks, IDEs, and browser tabs running smoothly.

Pricing: INR 62,990

Here are some critical specifications that make it one of the best laptops for a data science workflow:

Features Specifications
Operating System Windows 11 Home
Processor AMD Ryzen™ 7 7730U 
Storage 512 GB PCIe® NVMe™ SSD
RAM 16 GB DDR4-3200 (2 × 8 GB)
Battery Life Up to 8 hours (mixed usage)

13. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon is a premium ultrabook that balances performance and portability for data scientists on the move. It features 12th Gen Intel Core i5 or i7 processors, integrated Iris Xe graphics, and top-tier build quality with military-grade durability.

It’s ideal for data cleaning tasks, complex Excel operations, and iterative model development. The laptop also includes enterprise-grade security features like TPM 2.0 and a fingerprint sensor.

While it's not designed for GPU-heavy machine learning, its support for up to 32GB RAM and blazing-fast SSDs makes it ideal for statistical programming, dashboard development, and cloud-based workflows.

Pricing: INR 2,01,753

Here are some critical specifications that make it powerful and the best laptop for data science professionals:

Features Specifications
Operating System Windows 11 Pro
Processor Intel® Core™ i7-1260P (4P + 8E cores)
Storage 512 GB M.2 PCIe® NVMe™ SSD
RAM 16 GB LPDDR5-5200 soldered
Battery Life Up to 9.4 hours (mixed productivity)

14. Lenovo LOQ 15IAX9

The Lenovo LOQ 15IAX9 is part of Lenovo’s affordable performance line, well-suited for beginners in data science who also want the flexibility for gaming or content creation.

It typically includes Intel Core i5 12th Gen CPUs and dedicated NVIDIA RTX 2050 or 3050 GPUs, offering a solid balance for running Jupyter Notebooks, training ML models locally, or using TensorFlow and PyTorch.

  • What’s worth noting is its thermal design, which keeps performance consistent even during extended workloads.
  • Combined with a high refresh rate display and roomy keyboard, it's a good choice for students or early-career analysts across different data science domains.

Pricing: INR 62,549

Here are some critical specifications that make it one of the best laptops for data science students:

Features Specifications
Operating System Windows 11 Pro (configurable)
Processor Intel® Core™ i5-12450HX 
Storage Up to 2 TB (2 × 1 TB M.2 PCIe® NVMe™ SSD)
RAM Up to 32 GB DDR5-4800
Battery Life Up to 8 hours (web browsing)

15. Acer Aspire 5 (A515-57)

The Acer Aspire 5 A515-57 is a highly popular choice among budget-conscious data science learners. Equipped with a 12th-Gen Intel® Core™ i5-12450H, this laptop provides reliable performance for coding, data visualization, and using libraries like pandas and matplotlib. Its generous port selection and full-HD IPS display add to the usability factor.

Despite its modest pricing, this model often includes upgradable dual-channel RAM and M.2 SSD slots, allowing it to grow with your skillset.

Please note: It’s not built for GPU-accelerated tasks but works well for cloud-based computing and lightweight local experimentation.

Pricing: INR 49,199

Here are some critical specifications that make it one of the best laptops for data science students:

Features Specifications
Operating System Windows 11 Home
Processor Intel® Core™ i5-12450H (8 cores)
Storage 512 GB PCIe® NVMe™ SSD
RAM 8 GB DDR4-3200 (1 × 8 GB; expandable to 24 GB)
Battery Life Around 8 hours (light usage)

Conclusion

As a result of the advancement of data and analytics, data science now requires a laptop that works well regarding CPU power, speed, battery capacity, and other aspects. As a result, the aforementioned best laptops for data science offer exceptional quality and power.

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References:
https://www.bls.gov/ooh/math/data-scientists.htm 
https://www.cfauk.org/pi-listing/from-zero-to-hero---a-data-scientists-guide-to-hardware
https://www.gadgets360.com/asus-rog-strix-g17-price-in-india-100714
https://www.apple.com/in/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro/14-inch-macbook-pro 
https://www.apple.com/in/shop/buy-mac/macbook-air 
https://www.smartprix.com/laptops/lenovo-thinkpad-t490-20n2s11400-laptop-8th-ppd1xgmm2dyb
https://www.gadgets360.com/acer-nitro-5-intel-price-in-india-101305
https://www.indiamart.com/proddetail/razer-blade-17-full-hd-360hz-geforce-rtx-3080-black-2853043353962.html
https://store.lenovo.com/in/en/legion-5-39-62cms-amd-ryzen-5-82jw00hyin-1527-1.html
https://www.gadgets360.com/dell-alienware-m15-r6-price-in-india-102446
https://www.gadgets360.com/msi-stealth-gs65-thin-068-8470
https://www.gadgets360.com/acer-swift-3-price-in-india-94077
https://www.smartprix.com/laptops/hp-zbook-15-g5-5lb34pa-laptop-8th-gen-core-ppd1q5ipbr1v
https://www.smartprix.com/laptops/lenovo-thinkpad-x1-carbon-20r1s05400-laptop-ppd1e00kwbvy
https://www.reliancedigital.in/product/lenovo-loq-15iax9-intel-core-i5-12450hx-laptop-3962-cm-156-inch8bin12i5hx12-gb512-gb-ssd2050bt-luna-grey-lucm5u-7537957
https://www.gadgets360.com/acer-aspire-5-a515-57g-price-in-india-110726 
https://www.flipkart.com/hp-pavilion-ryzen-5-hexa-core-amd-r5-5600h-8-gb-512-gb-ssd-windows-11-home-4-graphics-nvidia-geforce-rtx-3050-144-hz-15-ec2145ax-gaming-laptop/p/itmbb28e8f26e4d1

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Do I need a powerful laptop for data science?

2. How to choose a computer for data science?

3. Is 32 GB RAM enough for data science?

4. Is 512GB SSD enough for data science?

5. Which processor is best for data science?

6. Which OS is best for data science?

7. Which laptop is best for Python?

8. Can Intel Core i5 run Python?

9. Which laptop should I choose for machine learning and data science?

10. Is Core i5 good for data science?

11. Which laptop brand is best for data science?

Rohit Sharma

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Rohit Sharma shares insights, skill building advice, and practical tips tailored for professionals aiming to achieve their career goals.

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