SOLVED

MS Excel laptop specs for large datasets

Copper Contributor

Hello,

I am working with a downloaded dataset that currently has 2.5M+ rows.  I am also adding some additional columns for additional dimensional/descriptive slicing for analysis/reporting purposes.  I current have the DELL Inspiron 14 2-in-1 (Model: 7420), which has Windows 11 OS, 16 GB memory, 512GB SSD Graphics card with an Intel Core i7-1255U Processor.

 

I am finding performance has gotten pretty slow as I work to expand/transform the dataset to suit my reporting purposes (often involving Pivot Tables/Charts).  My question is whether a more powerful DELL model will help improve performance, or whether I'm simply hitting up against the limits of the MS Excel software itself and need to either creatively chunk up my dataset, or move it to MS Access, regardless of which model laptop I'm using.  Regarding MS Access, I've already brought in the data set into it, and while it performs better than Excel, I'm seeing performance hits there as well.  Is there a Windows machine that will better suit my performance 

1 Reply
best response confirmed by PatDools (Copper Contributor)
Solution

@PatDools 

The Intel CPUs whose name ends in U are optimized for low power usage, not for performance,

The higher-end XPS laptops from Dell have more powerful CPUs at a considerably higher price, and generally, desktops offer more performance for the same price because they have fewer constraints.

1 best response

Accepted Solutions
best response confirmed by PatDools (Copper Contributor)
Solution

@PatDools 

The Intel CPUs whose name ends in U are optimized for low power usage, not for performance,

The higher-end XPS laptops from Dell have more powerful CPUs at a considerably higher price, and generally, desktops offer more performance for the same price because they have fewer constraints.

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