Laptop, Workstation, Cloud, Budget - Recommendation

[smatovic]

Just sharing my experience:

Laptop:
I like modular laptops where you can still upgrade/replace RAM, SSD, battery,
there are several vendors in this market, Tuxedo from Germany, System76 or
Framework, I like the Pulse 15 Gen2 from Tuxedo for example:

https://www.tuxedocomputers.com/en/Linu ... en2.tuxedo

8 cores AMD Zen 5700U, 2xDDR4 RAM slots, 2xM.2-M SSD slots, WLAN-module slot,
battery screwed not clued. MME, TPM, camera/mic deactivatable via BIOS.
8 cores, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, 2.5K display, with Ubuntu Linux for 1.3K euro,
optional Windows 10 Pro for +160.

Workstation:
I prefer local/regional system-builder, DeltaComputer from Hamburg/Germany has
decent CPU/GPU workstations in offer, but those from Bizon-Tech seem really
nice, maybe a bit pricier, but look solid to me:

https://bizon-tech.com/best-workstation-computers
https://www.deltacomputer.com/workstati ... ipper.html

Cloud:
I tried Amazon AWS and Google Cloud, but meahwhile you have to talk through
their sales department (with an kind of business plan) before you get access to
their GPUs, and mostly they offer only Nvidia server brands to rent, no AMD or
Intel.

There are several OpenStack cloud providers out there, local/regional providers,
to rent CPU servers hourly, I like Artfiles in Hamburg/Germany for example:

https://www.artfiles.de/cloud/af.stack-technik/

Budget laptop:
A 4 core CPU@~3GHz, 8GB RAM, 250GB PCIe-SSD and 1-2 TFLOPS iGPU shall be enough
for an entry-level business/office laptop IMO. You can spare ~100 bucks if you
waive on Windows OS and install Linux on your own. Found the budget HP 255 G8
for 300,- to 400, euro for example. If you consider an used laptop you should
look for AVX2 enabled CPUs for NNUE chess engines, as in Intel Haswell since 2013,
Skylake from 2015, or AMD Zen since 2017.

Budget PC:
I ususally prefer a custom-build over things from HP/Dell/Lenovo, they tend to
use non-standard parts for PSU, Mobo, case, but I recommend for example the
HP EliteDesk 800 G2 TWR as used budget machine. ~130,- euro w/o HDD on eBay.
4 cores Skylake@3.2GHz, 14nm with AVX2 and iGPU from 2015, 8GB DDR4 RAM,
sufficient to have some fun with chess engines IMHO. The PSU supplies only ~280
watts and has no PCIe connectors, hence not suitable to add a decent GPU for Lc0
and alike.

--
Srdja

[Werewolf]

Just sharing my experience:

Cloud:
I tried Amazon AWS and Google Cloud, but meahwhile you have to talk through
their sales department (with an kind of business plan) before you get access to
their GPUs, and mostly they offer only Nvidia server brands to rent, no AMD or
Intel.

There are several OpenStack cloud providers out there, local/regional providers,
to rent CPU servers hourly, I like Artfiles in Hamburg/Germany for example:

https://www.artfiles.de/cloud/af.stack-technik/

--
Srdja

Amazon, Google and Microsoft were painful to deal with. I spent around a month of negotiation and was then hit with a massive quote.

Your one is more reasonable, though limited to 32 cores.