Buying laptop. Help please!

Buying laptop. Help please!
0
#1 
 Hello everyone,

I need help with choosing my laptop. I was doing my research and I can’t decide which to choose. Since I don’t have experience with programing, I am clueless and do not really know what is important to look for as a starting programmer. I am looking for a long term investment. I am in a dilemma whether i should invest into high-cost piece of tech.

My requirements for laptop:

  • Coding usage
  • web-browsing
  • life-long battery
  • classic style (not 360°, not touch screen)
  • not mac

Here are my key questions:

  • Do I really need to look for 8h battery life?
  • Is 15,6" display needed for programing?.. rather than 14"
  • In your opinion, is +1000$ worth it in the end of the day (meaning years)?
  • Do you have specific recommendations?

Thanks for replying

#2

diankosztolanyi,

I am using a Hp laptop with a 15 inch screen. HP LAPTOP UNDER 600
I got good battery life out of it at about 50% more than 4 hours. I did just a few weeks ago upgrade to a SSD drive and the extra power savings added about 15% battery life.
You dont want to code for 8 hours on a 15 inch screen if you can help it. I go about 2 2 hr sessions if I am away from a power source and that still gives me enough juice to watch a movie on break or stream some Netflix.
It is light and that is good. I previously had a Gaming Laptop that had a huge nearly 18 inch screen. Big battery and was just a monster and removed the need for a desktop but it cost 3 times as much and to do coding and research and light entertainment it was overkill and a JOB to carry around.
You can get a great laptop for about 500-600 and for the needs you are listing above. The batteries are cheap enough and light enough if your worried about power just get a second battery for about $25-$35.
Warning, this class of computer seems pretty laggy once you add office and other fav software you have collected over the years. You can turn the 1TB drive into a portable DATA drive and replace it with a 240GB SSD
I dont hord movies etc on my SSD so it has tons of free space and it so fast it feels very much like a 1500+ computer for day to day use.
Hope this helps.

#4

I have Acer Aspire E 15 E5-575G-57D4 which have 12 hours battery life and as I am a programmer and web designer myself, this Lapppy works like a charm for me. The best bit is that it’s actually a gaming laptop under $500 and half of the budget which you’ve specified. I would suggest you go for it.

#5

Personally I like to work with a an external full keyboard with standard layout, a mouse and a big screen (24 inch).

If I would work a lot from the same place (home/office) I would invest in a bigger standalone screen (22"-24") and connect my laptop to it. If you have bigger additional screen, you could get a 14" laptop that should be lighter.

I would check these requirements:

  • keyboard layout that I like. 15" laptops can have the numpad too. Laptop keyboard have sometimes very strange layouts.
  • SSD, no HDD. Min 256GB.
  • at least 8 GB RAM (on some laptops you can extend, on some you don’t, the RAM may be even soldered)
  • display (reflective or mate?)
  • battery. Some batteries are soldered so you can’t user replace them. Some have internal and external batteries. Do you want to replace it after a couple of years if it can not hold that long?
  • do you plan to use the laptop on your lap? I’ve seen a lot of laptops that try to suck in air from below, so if you have it on your lap you would block the air vents and it will overheat easier.
  • weight
  • CPU - don’t get the lowest one possible, but don’t invest too much either.
#6

I definitely have to recommend a Thinkpad. They’re so cheap, but they’re TANKS, built to last years, and they’re easy to repair. I just got a refurbished Thinkpad T410 for $130, and I couldn’t be happier.

#7

I know you said not a mac, but if you’ve never used one before and is avoiding it based on the brand then I’ll recommend that you get a mac.

#8

I haven’t seen it either, but the original post was from May…
User was last seen June. This topic should be closed.

#9

Hi,

I also purchased a new laptop recently. I only use it for programming. I wanted the best price for the highest value.
Initially, I wanted to buy IBM but read about tracking device scandal that IBM faced. Instead I purchased Dell because I got it with a discount and extra warranty.
I wanted fast so went for SSD hard drive, i7 processor, 8GB RAM.
I didn’t go for crazy graphic card because I don’t play video games but you should if you are a gamer.

Also, I scandalously erased windows 10 and replaced it with Linux Mint Cinnamon.

So far so good, I m happy with my purchase.

#10

Personally I went with Thinkpads and I will never buy another laptop.

1)They are very robust and reliable
2)You can find them very cheap used. That’s because they are used in a corporate environment and they sell them in bulk for a low price.

You can find a lot of tips on what to buy here:

#11

Yeah, I love thinkpads.

They don’t have the snazzy form factor that a lot of people generally desire, but they are bullet proof work horses!

I also like that mine can double up as a blunt object weapon for self defence, in case anyone tries to mug me while coding.

#12

They’re so strong, you could probably hook up some wheels and stroll around as if you were on a skateboard. *boardslides*

#13

I have a post about what should you give attention while buying laptop for web development.
https://medium.com/@yusufbekalimatov/what-is-important-while-choosing-laptop-for-web-programming-488f210c4426

#14

@diankosztolanyi I think if you want to go easy on the pocket, first you should see Laptops under $500

#15

Original post was a year ago. Probably OP got it by now!! :slight_smile: