Off topic:Basic Bioinformatics Setup--What do I need?

Question

[dan2198187]

Hello Biostars, I'm a biotechnology undergraduate working on a metadata from a methylation project in conjunction with my mentor. As of yet, I have been working off my laptop (1 core) and a 3 TB hard drive. However, I don't have enough processing power to sift through the data on my laptop on a timely basis. I'm interested in setting up a "bioinformatics lab bench" cheaply--that is, on a student's budget. Any recommendations on hardware?