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Decent laptop for learning to programme.

  • 15-07-2015 03:42PM
    #1
    eoinp11
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 109 ✭✭


    Focus mostly for learning to programme in college. General use also, i.e streaming. Maybe some light gaming... (i'd consider a GPU for some heavier gaming if it was feasible, but my guess is it would mess everything else up?)

    Anyone in the know as to best places to be looking for a laptop? I've been collating what kind of spec i'd need and what brands to aim for, thinking maybe amazon would be a good start? Maybe direct with Dell... Looking to get the best value possible.

    Ideal spec: ( i know i'll have to sacrifice some things, not sure which)
    -SSD
    -between an i5/i7 processor
    -between 8 - 16gb RAM
    -Backlight Keyboard
    -12-15 inch screen (maybe 13-14). with good reso-1600x900 or 1920x1080
    -Weight: around 2 kg. (bringing it to college, so somewhat mobile)
    -Doesn't over heat to easily.
    -Probably windows or ubuntu

    I guess my ideal budget would be around the €600-700 range... give or take when worth it!

    Hoping someone has info! Thanks!


Comments

  • #2
    ozt9vdujny3srf
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,150 ✭✭✭ozt9vdujny3srf


    For learning particularly, the development software and programs you'll be writing will be happy on pretty much any hardware. To that end, hardware wise I'd say portability, battery life and a good quality display would be the priority.

    If you go the PC Laptop route, but you want the option of running a *nix, make sure you get something that is well documented as running well with whatever flavor of *nix you go for.

    I used Macbook Airs for programming throughout college, and for 3 years professionally and found it great. I still have my 2013 model with 4 GB of ram and a Core i3 1.3 Ghz processor and it causes no issues performance wise. I use windows now but not by choice. It's fine, but a lot of the tools of the web development trade (node, npm, git) work better on OS X, or some flavor of Linux.

    Best of luck.


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