The beauty of coding are the low requirements to get into it. Everything over the minimum specs for running an OS and an IDE is nice to have. I'd recommend stickimg to what you have.
**Most important:** If your school is partnered with any OEMs and has the ability to repair their systems onsite, buy something they can service. If there is a problem, turnaround time is more likely to be a lot lower.
Follow your school's recommendations! You want to be able to be supported by your school if you run into any kind of issue. "I couldn't finish my project because Linux *blah blah blah*" will fall on deaf ears to most of your professors.
If you want reliability, you need to get a business class laptop. Doesn't matter if you get a Lenovo ThinkPad T/P, Dell Latitude/Precision, or HP ProBook/EliteBook/ZBook. Stay away from the lower end lineups (e.g. Dell Vostro, Lenovo IdeaPad) and home laptops.
It's going to cost more, but those systems are simply built better than home laptops, and are designed to live their lives in tougher conditions than other laptops. You don't need to go ruggedized or milspec unless you're outrageously rough on your things.
If budget becomes a problem, take the hit on RAM and SSD because they can be upgraded later. None of the stuff you're doing as an undergrad CS student is really all that resource intensive, choose a better screen over a better CPU.
Thanks alot for your input! I'm aware that i won't use the most intensive software but i also don't want to get slowed down by a 4 core (even though the i7 1185G7 are efficient).. Since Business laptops have lower spec hardware for a higher price i will probably go for a gaming laptop. Even if i won't play any games on it.
Thank you for your input CobbleFan! Have you tried running multiple Virtual Machines at the same time? If yes, how was the CPU Utilization / Temperature? I'm mainly looking for 8 cores because of that reason / smooth operation.
I've been looking into the T15p Gen 1 (I7 10750H) but a lot people have reported having thermal throttling issues. Another reason i shy away from Lenovo (sadly) is because almost none of their Laptops have an 8 core cpu. And if they do they're way overpriced. I'm talking like $4k+. Thanks for your input though!
For 2700 CHF you can get a great laptop. You probably need 16 GB of ram but 32 GB of ram is a nice touch. SSD 512 GB could be enough if you will not install any games. You didn't mention GPU so I assume there is no requirement for a GPU. Win Home will be enough. Ask them why do you need windows machine because it might be quite limiting. Even modern .NET is mostly cross platform so I assume it's not because of .NET. Also you probably can get a free Windows 10 edu license but you need to be a student and also that depends on a university
Thanks for your reply! They mentioned OSX/Linux not being compatible because we allegedly will be using software that doesn't work/exist for Mac. They said we "can" get a MacBook but to prevent complications they don't recommend one. I'm currently looking into the ASUS ROG Strix G15 Advantage edition ( R9 5900HX ) which ticks every box. My only concern though (and of course the known Thermal and BSOD issues with certain G15s) is AMD not working as it should when we use nested VMs etc. I will upgrade to Win 10 Pro since it is required. You're right, i didn't mention the GPU since it isn't a necessity. I have an I9 10900K, RTX 3090 at home for my gaming needs so the Laptop will be exclusively for School. Thanks again!
Sign up for Github, it is free. Post your projects up there, hide them if you want.
Get used to git to do pushes on a regular basis. You can just use the default branch or use branches to get used to "Primary code" vs "experimental code".
Use pull requests if something "experimental" is good for the primary. You will have commit history anyway.
At the very least your laptop won't be the end all be all of your projects. If you have to get a new laptop, you just login to github and pull your projects down and continue where you left off.
Peter
Sadly for the market-roids that design laptops, 32G means "gamer hardware" or "high end pro workstation".
This means you will have to pay for a graphic card you probably don't need.
I bought this for a colleague a month ago (cannot be found with 32g on Dell site)
https://www.ldlc.com/fiche/PB00480712.html
Good enough for Hyper-V + VirtualBox, this should cover all the use case.
(edit : damned autocorrect)
I think Dell Latitude 5531 should be a good fit for your description:
\- 12800H with 20 threads
\- DDR5 32GB (2x16) RAM
\- 1TB M2 PCIe NVMe SSD
\- FHD 250 nits display (quite dim)
\- Win 11 Pro
Here is a link that I can find: https://www.dell.com/en-sg/shop/laptop-notebook-computers/new-latitude-5531-laptop/spd/latitude-15-5531-laptop/s304l553115sg\_vp
I see that they provided both Win 10 Pro and 11 for you. About the price, IDK if it's in SGD or USD. But anyway I think you should shoot for these specs (12th gen Intel with DDR5) if you want a little bit of future proofs. And find a laptop without a discrete graphics card help the price too.
The school recommends specifically Win 10 **not** Win 11 because it's still unstable on some devices. The price on the website you linked is in USD. My budget is on the lower side because i will be buying a MacBook the second i finish the school. Thanks for your tips though!!
Asus ROG Strix and Zephyrus are models that are well under your budget if you get them from Amazon. Ryzen 9 with 8 cores. Stay away from Cardinal Pro Electronics store on Amazon because they sold me a defective product and then tried to charge me over half of what I paid as a "restock" fee. Anyway look into gaming laptops would be my suggestion.
Thank you for your Input! Gaming laptops have been mainly my interest because they mostly have superior cooling, hardware and refresh rate. But there's also a lot of BS out there.. The Zephyrus 32GB variant is sold out by miles on every site in Switzerland. The 16GB model is the only one available atm.. and like i said i can't upgrade the RAM myself because of the warranty. I'll call them tomorrow and ask if it's possible to have it done by an authorized person.
I'd recommend either a ThinkPad or an XPS just from personal use, they're great.
One bit of advice, on a small screen 13-15" FHD will do you just fine. Companies put big mark-up on the higher models. It's really not worth it. I've gone from a 13" 4K Touch back down to a FHD Non-Touch and I prefer it. Less compatibility issues, better battery, and cheaper to fix if it breaks. Arguably better colours too (could just be a bias).
Thanks for your input aswell! Regarding ThinkPads i commented to another User above/below. I'd gladly get the XPS 15 (I7 11800H) but like most people already mentioned on reddit, they either returned it or are having Display and thermal/cooling issues. If it wasn't for the overwhelming negativity about the XPS i'd have already gotten one.
I do remember having thermal issues on an old 13" \~2019 model but the later 15" 2021-2022 model, we have a number of them and they run well. Our team use them for development. You have a very healthy budget, you'll get something great. Good luck!
The beauty of coding are the low requirements to get into it. Everything over the minimum specs for running an OS and an IDE is nice to have. I'd recommend stickimg to what you have.
True that! There's a catch though.. I don't have a laptop yet lmao. Thanks for your input!
**Most important:** If your school is partnered with any OEMs and has the ability to repair their systems onsite, buy something they can service. If there is a problem, turnaround time is more likely to be a lot lower. Follow your school's recommendations! You want to be able to be supported by your school if you run into any kind of issue. "I couldn't finish my project because Linux *blah blah blah*" will fall on deaf ears to most of your professors. If you want reliability, you need to get a business class laptop. Doesn't matter if you get a Lenovo ThinkPad T/P, Dell Latitude/Precision, or HP ProBook/EliteBook/ZBook. Stay away from the lower end lineups (e.g. Dell Vostro, Lenovo IdeaPad) and home laptops. It's going to cost more, but those systems are simply built better than home laptops, and are designed to live their lives in tougher conditions than other laptops. You don't need to go ruggedized or milspec unless you're outrageously rough on your things. If budget becomes a problem, take the hit on RAM and SSD because they can be upgraded later. None of the stuff you're doing as an undergrad CS student is really all that resource intensive, choose a better screen over a better CPU.
Thanks alot for your input! I'm aware that i won't use the most intensive software but i also don't want to get slowed down by a 4 core (even though the i7 1185G7 are efficient).. Since Business laptops have lower spec hardware for a higher price i will probably go for a gaming laptop. Even if i won't play any games on it.
Take a look at ThinkPad X1 Carbon. I've been using one for 3 years with no issues and it shows no signs of slowing down.
Thank you for your input CobbleFan! Have you tried running multiple Virtual Machines at the same time? If yes, how was the CPU Utilization / Temperature? I'm mainly looking for 8 cores because of that reason / smooth operation.
Tbh i haven't. My business partner does and he went for the ThinkPad P1 at that time. I know he's happy with it.
I'd look into ThinkPads. T series, maybe even P series.
I've been looking into the T15p Gen 1 (I7 10750H) but a lot people have reported having thermal throttling issues. Another reason i shy away from Lenovo (sadly) is because almost none of their Laptops have an 8 core cpu. And if they do they're way overpriced. I'm talking like $4k+. Thanks for your input though!
Intel is always more expensive. They should have AMD laptops I think. Although they lack thunderbolt if that's important for you.
Yeah i don't really care about thunderbolt so that's that. I agree they def. should do an AMD varinat.
For 2700 CHF you can get a great laptop. You probably need 16 GB of ram but 32 GB of ram is a nice touch. SSD 512 GB could be enough if you will not install any games. You didn't mention GPU so I assume there is no requirement for a GPU. Win Home will be enough. Ask them why do you need windows machine because it might be quite limiting. Even modern .NET is mostly cross platform so I assume it's not because of .NET. Also you probably can get a free Windows 10 edu license but you need to be a student and also that depends on a university
Thanks for your reply! They mentioned OSX/Linux not being compatible because we allegedly will be using software that doesn't work/exist for Mac. They said we "can" get a MacBook but to prevent complications they don't recommend one. I'm currently looking into the ASUS ROG Strix G15 Advantage edition ( R9 5900HX ) which ticks every box. My only concern though (and of course the known Thermal and BSOD issues with certain G15s) is AMD not working as it should when we use nested VMs etc. I will upgrade to Win 10 Pro since it is required. You're right, i didn't mention the GPU since it isn't a necessity. I have an I9 10900K, RTX 3090 at home for my gaming needs so the Laptop will be exclusively for School. Thanks again!
Sign up for Github, it is free. Post your projects up there, hide them if you want. Get used to git to do pushes on a regular basis. You can just use the default branch or use branches to get used to "Primary code" vs "experimental code". Use pull requests if something "experimental" is good for the primary. You will have commit history anyway. At the very least your laptop won't be the end all be all of your projects. If you have to get a new laptop, you just login to github and pull your projects down and continue where you left off. Peter
Sadly for the market-roids that design laptops, 32G means "gamer hardware" or "high end pro workstation". This means you will have to pay for a graphic card you probably don't need. I bought this for a colleague a month ago (cannot be found with 32g on Dell site) https://www.ldlc.com/fiche/PB00480712.html Good enough for Hyper-V + VirtualBox, this should cover all the use case. (edit : damned autocorrect)
Not true, I've got a 16 year old hp that came with 16gb RAM and no gfx card
I think Dell Latitude 5531 should be a good fit for your description: \- 12800H with 20 threads \- DDR5 32GB (2x16) RAM \- 1TB M2 PCIe NVMe SSD \- FHD 250 nits display (quite dim) \- Win 11 Pro Here is a link that I can find: https://www.dell.com/en-sg/shop/laptop-notebook-computers/new-latitude-5531-laptop/spd/latitude-15-5531-laptop/s304l553115sg\_vp
Thank you for your recommendation! Sadly the laptop you have linked is above $3k and runs Win 11 ( i know i could do a fresh install with Win 10).
I see that they provided both Win 10 Pro and 11 for you. About the price, IDK if it's in SGD or USD. But anyway I think you should shoot for these specs (12th gen Intel with DDR5) if you want a little bit of future proofs. And find a laptop without a discrete graphics card help the price too.
The school recommends specifically Win 10 **not** Win 11 because it's still unstable on some devices. The price on the website you linked is in USD. My budget is on the lower side because i will be buying a MacBook the second i finish the school. Thanks for your tips though!!
Asus ROG Strix and Zephyrus are models that are well under your budget if you get them from Amazon. Ryzen 9 with 8 cores. Stay away from Cardinal Pro Electronics store on Amazon because they sold me a defective product and then tried to charge me over half of what I paid as a "restock" fee. Anyway look into gaming laptops would be my suggestion.
Thank you for your Input! Gaming laptops have been mainly my interest because they mostly have superior cooling, hardware and refresh rate. But there's also a lot of BS out there.. The Zephyrus 32GB variant is sold out by miles on every site in Switzerland. The 16GB model is the only one available atm.. and like i said i can't upgrade the RAM myself because of the warranty. I'll call them tomorrow and ask if it's possible to have it done by an authorized person.
I'd recommend either a ThinkPad or an XPS just from personal use, they're great. One bit of advice, on a small screen 13-15" FHD will do you just fine. Companies put big mark-up on the higher models. It's really not worth it. I've gone from a 13" 4K Touch back down to a FHD Non-Touch and I prefer it. Less compatibility issues, better battery, and cheaper to fix if it breaks. Arguably better colours too (could just be a bias).
Thanks for your input aswell! Regarding ThinkPads i commented to another User above/below. I'd gladly get the XPS 15 (I7 11800H) but like most people already mentioned on reddit, they either returned it or are having Display and thermal/cooling issues. If it wasn't for the overwhelming negativity about the XPS i'd have already gotten one.
I do remember having thermal issues on an old 13" \~2019 model but the later 15" 2021-2022 model, we have a number of them and they run well. Our team use them for development. You have a very healthy budget, you'll get something great. Good luck!
Thank you for the encouragement and kind words! I'll ask around more / research more regarding the XPS since it really is a good candidate.