if you have the $budget, get a laptop with dual drives - one SSD with enough storage to contain your OS and all of the programs you'll run, and one large HDD drive to manage all of your data that isn't offed to a USB drive or Cloud

with this setup, you'll boot up super fast, and open programs super fast, and yet not break the bank with a super-size SSD that isn't getting used to its fullest potential

I run this exact configuration for my account management day-job, and also my home-based small business (CNC manufacturing and consulting) and it's been perfect for both reliability and cost