Programming Laptops

GSB93

Hey Guys, I was looking to get a new laptop as I have started in college and find mine is just not up to scratch for programming. I really want a 2 in 1 laptop. But am struggling to decide on the best option. The Lenovo 920 has stuck in my mind but I'm still a bit indecisive for the price. Does anyone have one and find it good for programming or opinions on the Microsoft Surface or HP Spectre that may be better are greatly appreciated...

Phoebas

'Programming' can mean a simple text editor and a compiler or it can mean 5 instances of Visual Studio and a few instances of Webstorm all running, along with a DBMS or two on the go.

The Lenovo seems like a decently spec'd laptop (obviously depending on the options you choose) - should be OK for most programming tasks.

Edit: The constraint that I'd find with it for programming is the small screen.

GSB93

Sorry I realise "Progamming" was a bit vague. At the moment I'm starting off with coding in Python. I was worried about the screen size myself. Was going to go for the Intel Core i7-8550U Processor option too as the benchmark ratings etc. seem a lot better than the i5 option.. Thank you for your feedback, all opinions are much appreciated

Alanstrainor

Can you post links to these machines, or at least post detailed specs?

Processor, RAM, storage etc?

It all depends on what your programming obviously. But most development courses really don't require huge horsepower from laptops. My main concerns would be a good keyboard, a decent display (larger would be better imo). And so long as it has a Core i5 and 8GB of RAM you'll most likely be fine. The 8th generation processors are a big plus too.

from the benchmarks that I've seen there is only 5% between the 4-core i5 and i7 chips so not worth the extra €150 or so you'd pay imo
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5-8250U+%40+1.60GHz
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?id=3064

not 2 in 1 but a good laptop imo

lenovo 720s for the 8250u and 8550u options
https://www3.lenovo.com/ie/en/laptops/ideapad/700-series/Ideapad-720S-14/p/88IP70S0833
4 core cpus
nvidia mx 150 graphics which is a big step up over the old 740mx or 940mx
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Comparison-NVIDIA-GeForce-MX150-vs-NVIDIA-GeForce-940MX.242750.0.html
thunderbolt 3 which is great to have for fact connection options and even external graphics cards.
ssd
long battery life
full hd screen - 14 inch is a nice size between 13.3 and 15.6
light enough at 1.5 kg

the_syco

Would you consider the Dell Precision 3510?