Best Laptop for PE Investor + Running AI Tools Locally
All
I'm looking for some laptop recommendations from the community. I work at a consumer-focused private equity firm and my day-to-day is the typical deal workflow. Heavy Excel modeling, decks, research, deal comms, and increasingly leaning on AI tools to tackle the usual activities (run agents, cut data, etc.).
I'm currently on a Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon from 2021 and while I've always liked the form factor and portability, it's starting to feel underpowered when I've got everything running at once.
What I'm looking for:
- Enough horsepower to handle heavy multitasking without slowing down
- Good for AI-assisted workflows
- Portable and professional
- Battery life that can survive a full day
Have any of you found something that actually keeps up? Would love to hear what's working for folks in PE/investing specifically.
Thanks in advance.
The new Intel "Panther Lake" processors that came out this year are beasts across processing power, AI and battery life. I've been eyeing the HP Omnibook Ultra (2026) or HP EliteBook X G2i (2026). Downside is the RAM shortage has made these pretty expensive at $2k+. Gonna wait until Black Friday to grab one at hopefully big discount.
Btw can I dm you to ask about consumer PE? I'm also in the sector
thanks! Feel free to dm
this isn't a direct answer to your question, but curious why you prefer local models to foundational models? i have a thinkpad x1 but run mostly foundational models and also have a new personal 16" m5 mackbook pro, which is an absolute pleasure to use. not fun for excel, though.
Ha fair question - to clarify I do run foundational models, not local. Will edit the title.
I'd love to use a macbook but i can't sacrifice efficiency in xls
Believe can still install windows OS via Macabacus on MacBook to improve excel efficiency – pair w/ external keyboard / setup ofc.. used to be the trick when I was in college for MacBook kids
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