Any question answered...

I'm considering something new. My default position is one of the 15inch macbook pros as I currently use an old macbook pro, and am already invested in terms of software eg. light-room etc. However some of the software I'll need to run (ArcGIS and associated add on products for example) only run on Windows - I'm not sure whether the software itself is optimised for 32 bit or 64bit but I assume the latter. If I could get away with running the software with Mac and windows in parallel then that would be a bonus, but I'm not averse to using bootcamp if necessary when my analyses get heavy.

My work is to look at spatial conservation planning at a global scale for instance the congruence between factors such as human population, global forest cover, rates of deforestation and anything else I think is interesting. So, I'll be looking at the world as a bunch of several million pixels each with data values for a whole range of attributes. I'll then be looking at how resources can be allocated at a spatial scale to best deliver a range of policy outcomes... in other words there will be quite a lot of data flying around.

I have an as yet un negotiated budget for a new computer but I need to know roughly how much (a) the minimum requirements cost and (b) how much I will benefit from a better system and at what cost.

Obviously all this is too much for an online forum to answer and being almost illiterate on these things means I'm unlikely to be able to adequately describe my requirements, but I'm just not exactly sure what the processor speed(?) contributes to and the RAM contributes to.

When I worked for the local authority, we had the fastest PC's in the organisation just to run ArcGIS. Still crashed all the time!