[R] Specifying suitable PC to run R

[Michael Dewey]

If I am buying a PC where the most compute intensive task will be running R 
and I do not have unlimited resources what trade-offs should I make?
Specifically should I go for
1 - more memory, or
2 - faster processor, or
3 - something else?
If it makes a difference I shall be running Windows on it and I am thinking 
about getting a portable which I understand makes upgrading more difficult.

Extra background: the tasks I notice going slowly at the moment are fitting 
models with lme which have complex random effects and bootstrapping. By the 
standards of r-help posters I have small datasets (few thousand cases, few 
hundred variables). In order to facilitate working with colleagues I need 
to stick with windows even if linux would be more efficient


Michael Dewey
med at aghmed.fsnet.co.uk
http://www.aghmed.fsnet.co.uk/home.html