[SoreGums]

To run the whole system need multiple VMs. It's not enough to just run the app container anymore. There are a bunch of support containers and if you want to experiment with failure then there are even more VMs & containers to run. sure we could just dump $1,000 into a cloud provider for a couple months usage, for me I'd rather put that $1,000 into my laptop (i7 3.8GHz, 64GB RAM, 2x SSD, 1x2TB HDD) and be able to experiment at my leisure. Plus it's quicker to iterate if the experiment is running all the time, cloud is expensive to run stuff that doesn't generate income.

[corv]

You could get a dedicated Xeon with 16GB ECC for $36 a month, that's less than $1000 for two years.

You would also be able to forego the VMs since you can run your containers on the metal.

[tonyarkles]

What on earth laptop do you have with all that for $1000? Or maybe you mean $1000 in upgrades, but still... what laptop will take 64GB of ram and 4 disks?!

[scholia]

A ThinkPad P-series workstation takes four disk drives: two SSDs, one HD, and one DVD. It has four RAM slots so you can have 64GB. Low-end CPU is an Intel Core i7-6820HQ but you can upgrade to a Xeon.

It's a highly configurable, professional machine.

http://shop.lenovo.com/gb/en/laptops/thinkpad/p-series/p70/

The Dell Precision M6800 (no longer available) supported a 4 drive configuration if one was a Mini Card plugged into a slot on the motherboard, It had three 2.5in drive bays. You could have a look at the current Dell models, or an HP Z Book.

[thinkmassive]

This is exactly what should be expected from the Pro model. Not to mention that cloud requires connectivity, and the purpose of a laptop is mobility. I would prefer to be able to work entirely offline, and even when I have an internet connection it may not meet the bandwidth and/or latency requirements to make efficient progress with cloud servers.