Minimum or Recommended spec for a laptop for heavy excel calculation

Question

Hi Microsoft,

Can you recommend a laptop specs for heavy excel calculations? Let's say around 500k plus rows of data

Regards,

Answer 1

Excel can handle up to 1million rows in a tab. But for large numbers like that you should use PowerQuery and "Data Manager". Data Manager applies "data compression" to imported data so it does not have a hard limit on number of rows. You are only limited by RAM. I've heard of examples of 100 million rows loaded into DataManager.

.

Any reasonably current computer should handle it. What are the specs on your current computer:

• chip type,
• amount of RAM,
• disk type SSD vs HD?

If you are planning to buy a new computer, to get the longest life out of it try to find a "12th generation" Intel chip, or current generation AMD.

https://nvidiasettlement.com/intel-10th-gen-vs-11th-gen-vs-12th-gen

.

Go for an Intel i5 or i7, you don't need an i9 too high power for your needs. i3 is probably too low power.

.

i5/i7/i9 is a subcategory of Intel chips that is separate from the "generation".

.

.

The general rule of thumb is try to buy "leading edge, not bleeding edge". Bleeding edge typically has a $1000 (or more) price premium compared to leading edge. Look computer price in the $1000 to $1500 range if you can afford it. Get the most powerful chip you can at what ever price you can afford.

.

Make sure to NOT buy a cheap 7th gen or lower computer. They are dirt cheap, but cannot be upgraded to Win 11. While I personally don't like Win 11, if you buy a 7th gen chip you will NEVER be able to upgrade to Win11 when Win10 reaches end of support in 2025. Stores and builders are still unloading those older chips on unsuspecting customers! Don't be a sucker.

.

RAM, most mid to upper range computers now come with 8GB. That is absolute min. If you can get 12 or 16GB that is much better.

.

Look for a computer that has at least a 200+GB SSD drive. Bigger is better. Many computers now come with dual drives, a relatively small SSD and a large HD. Don't buy anything with less than a 128GB SSD. Most definitely do not bother with a 64G SSD. Win10 alone takes about 30GB. Office 365 takes about 4GB. That is already half of the min spec 64GB drive. The HD will typically be 1 or 2TB.

.

For example, here is a Dell computer that matches my personal recommended specs for Can$1300, right in my price ball park https://www.dell.com/en-ca/shop/desktops/xps-desktop/spd/xps-8950-desktop/dxps8950_s1800m2e You can probably get non-brandname computers with similar specs for a lower price ...
.

There are actually 2 general strategies for buying a new computer. Buy the cheapest one that will do the job for the next couple of years, and plan to replace it. Or spend a much as you can afford to get "leading edge, not bleeding edge" specs that will be "future proof" for a longer span of time. The more expensive approach means you spend less effort moving to new computers. You pick which one you prefer, which one you can afford.

.

Answer 2

i am afraid you'd better import all rows to database like access or sqlite and run sql to handle so many rows.

the max rows of excel may be 100k rows as far as i know.