I use a 17" laptop personally because I love the number pad on the keyboard and the bigger screen (and I do take it around with me). I would get the more power

I use a 17" laptop personally because I love the number pad on the keyboard and the bigger screen (and I do take it around with me). I would get the more powerful laptop if possible due to the text analysis and neural network stuff you will be doing. Hook it up to an external monitor if you can. It really helps to have the display at eye level.