Hi guys I want to buy a laptop for programming, but I couldn’t figure out what i really want .
my budget range from 600$ to 1200 .
I found these laptops in the market
(i3 - 4g ram - 256 giga ssd) for 600$
(i5 - 8g ram - 512 giga ssd) for 800$
(i7 - 16g ram - 512 giga ssd) for 1200$
and also ryzen 3 5 and 7 .
here what I want you to Know :
1- I want to use this laptop for programming only (and browser of course),
2 - I will programming for android (for now ),that’s mean i need to install android studio , IntelliJ IDEA or Eclipse (maybe other).
so I’m afraid if I buy 1200$ laptop i will regret it , because don’t need that much ram or cores or ssd capacity.
and if i buy 600$ i will regret it too ,because it will be too slow or not ideal for programming,less ram -less capacity -less core
I was depressing for long time and I’m slowly back on track so i don’t know what going on ( on tech world).
and also there are laptop 2 in 1 (laptop and tablet) with pen, is it worth to buy ?.
dose the laptop now upgrade-able in terms of ram , saying this because of what going on in part replacement issue (like apple ).
so help please what should I buy.
pardon my English not my first Language, and thanks in advance.
Edit : thank you guys very much , that’s really help and very informative. 👍 😍
I have a framework laptop and really like it.
The main benefit is that it is fairly future proof, so you could get one the of the cheaper ones now and then upgrade if you need better ram/CPU/apu
pardon my English not my first Language, and thanks in advance
Considering OP might not from the US nor Europe, I don’t think Framework will fall on his budget (I mean he probably could get a lower end one, but alas), and shipping would be a hassle.
I liked framework a lot, but understand that they’re new in town and selling world wide is not an easy feat to do for new company.
Buy the cheapest MacBook model you can find with an M-series chip and as much RAM as you can stomach the cost for.
I’d say 8gb is barrrrre minimum for doing app development. You’ll want 16gb.
Listen, I’m the last person you’d expect to recommend a Mac. I am an Android guy. No other Apple products in my place.
…but I’ve owned every top end model from pretty much every relevant PC manufacturer just trying to find something as reliable, hassle free, and well built as my work Mac and it just doesn’t exist.
The MacBooks are just in a whole other class. The battery life, the standby time, the speed of those M1/2 chips, runs cool and quiet.
I’m neutral on MacOS. It tends to stay out of my way. I don’t use any of the Apple apps. It is usually stable as hell. My work MBP currently has an up time of 68 days without a reboot, and the only reason it rebooted last time was for security patches.
Build quality is unmatched, screen is great, trackpad is still a generation ahead of anything else, keyboard is great.
I accept my fate, Fediverse. Roast away
Nothing wrong with recommending a Mac. I’m not a Mac guy myself but I am pretty productive with one.
I second the Mac recommendation. I use Linux on my desktop, but use Mac for laptop, after 6 years of using MBP (I still use my mid-2015 15" MBP for mobile development and day to day work), I can vouch for their quality (but skip the 2017, 2018, butterfly keyboard + touchbar crap, our company have buttload of those broken). Their M1/M2 battery life is just out of this world.
If OP worry about spending big and having buyers remorse, I recommend MBP.
I have an x86 MacBook.
How well do the M-series MacBooks work if you want to run Windows or Linux in a VM?
I should have been a bit more specific: How well do the M-Series run an x86 guest OS?
I’ve heard not well too. But don’t personally know anyone who has experience with this.
This thread, Windows 11 for Arm runs unbelievably fast, seems to say that Windows ARM (not x86) runs well and it emulates x86. One person says well, one person says garbage.
Back to OP’s question - I have a two MacBooks and one HP Windows laptop. I much prefer the MacBook hardware, but am 50/50 on the virtue of the OSs. Windows having WSL2 is a big benefit. That said, I’d probably buy another MacBook as they do seem to last a long time, I’m writing this on a 2018 MacBook, and like the Apple integration.
I do a substantial amount of software development inside a Linux VM on an M2 Pro. Runs fine. The guest OS is AArch64 too.
I use Lima for this.
From what I’ve read: not well.
I’m not here to “roast” but M chips aren’t fully supported for everything a software engineer could be compiling/running. At the current moment, they’re not quite as well-supported in every single way possible like an x86 chip would be for dev environments (even though we all really want them to be).
Same. I haven’t used a Mac seriously since my 2004ish G5 power mac… I’ve been on Linux pretty much exclusively for 20 years. My current job gave me a new apple silicon Macbook though and it’s almost unbelievable how good of a machine that is. I think 90% of that comes down to the chip but still… The software is still mostly just fine but the chip is in a class of its own.
You could do your programming theoretically on any laptop, although I’d say faster the better/easier it’ll be for you in the long run. In regard to your comment on upgradability I’d recommend taking a look at a Framework laptop where their whole goal is repairability which comes with the added benefit of being upgradable.
Those Framework laptops look amazing. I hope they take off so the big guys take notice.
@out_of buy what you can afford . The more power the better when programming. Remember you are running 2 maybe more applications at once. The IDE and the application you are debugging (maybe not so much with Android dev). Unlike a normal user who is just using their browser or word or excel . HTH
If your doing android work, you’ll be running Android studio and likely an emulator. Both love ram. Get 16gb if you can afford it. I believe many newer laptops are going with unupgradable ram, you’ll need to check the specific laptop carefully.
Cores will also be loved by Android studio and the emulator.
Check the video out put options as well, you’ll likely want an external monitor at some point, the benefits of dual (and triple) monitors can’t be overstated.
If your concerned about cost, maybe look for second hand stuff? But lots of cores and lots of RAM will be worth it in the long run.
IDEs for this purpose (android dev) are not small little text editors that work well with limited resources. Keep that in mind. You will also need to consider things like compilation and phone emulation, which can also be resource intensive.
I highly recommend looking for something that is built with a Linux distro by default. This will make your life easier in the long run, although it may not be a simple task up front if you are not familiar with Linux.
I don’t actually have a Linux laptop, it is a desktop, but I use my Steam deck as a Linux laptop, and can almost do everything I want to, although steamos will require some weirdness similar to Windows. I use IntelliJ Ultimate on my steam deck and can successfully work on smaller scale Go and Kotlin projects while running IntelliJ low power mode.
Most larger dev shops (in the JVM world) will just hand out whatever is the current top ~$3000 MacBook pro (for reasons). This leads to a lot of devs using OSx at work and Linux (at home) for personal projects. An apple computer of any type can help prepare for this inevitability, if Linux is out of the options. I personally dislike this, as I am not an Apple fan, but this is what I have experienced.
Although I use Windows for some personal development, there are so many hoops that one has to jump through to get Windows working properly for advanced things, it almost isn’t worth it and requires heavy windows development knowledge, and is probably best to just get a MacBook (of whatever type).
Could you elaborate on your workflow with the SteamDeck? I’m quite curious on how you work with it
I am still fairly new to Steam deck (~6 months).
Outside of having the dock to allow for normal USB ports for both keyboard and mouse (without converters and such), this awesome steam-deck-tricks readme/repo is majorly where I have been learning from.
The major catch is rootfs read only and strategizing how to avoid reinstalls after steam updates. I haven’t quite gotten all the way there yet since I am using it more for tinkering (linux host on local network) for the time being.
Others have said it already, but I love my Framework laptop. I have one of the first gen ones, running Ubunut, and I’m looking forward to upgrading it to the new AMD motherboard they’re releasing later this year. The fact that they have upgrade paths for their laptops is amazing.
They really do deserve success with their business model, it’s great to see cases being made available that turn the used mobos into ‘new’ computers as well.
IntelliJ and BlueStacks both love RAM
For your case, you are going to need at least 16GB. I remember that 4 years ago I loaded Android studio with 8GB and it took a while to load. It also ran a little slow. I suggest 16GB,preferably 32GB and SSD at least 512.
Always get more RAM.
As many people are saying, a DIY frame.work laptop should be considered if you can get one on your country. Screen is good for work, battery life is decent, Linux compatible, trackpad and keyboard are good, you get to choose your ports, etc. I use one daily for work, mainly docked to my monitor but if the weather is decent I’m out in a park working.
I would recommend taking a look in the second hand market. You’ll find great deals there.
As for the device itself, I think a Lenovo Thinkpad would be the best option for your needs.
I personally use a $200 Thinkpad T480 i found on eBay. Has 8th gen i5 processor, 16 GB memory, and 256 GB storage on an SSD.
deleted by creator
-
Buy current gen Ryzen if you can. They are more efficient (= longer battery life) and offer more GPU muscle than their Intel counterparts. Just make sure it’s a 7X4X part, the 4 indicates it’s actually Zen 4
-
1000$ is way too much if all you want to do is programming. If that’s really all you want to do, all you’ll really care about is it not being complete garbage in some regard and the keyboard. Maybe the display if you want to work outside.
Edit: I realized this might be confusing. To be clear: I mean if you want to splurge on a laptop, you might as well get a Ryzen one. I don’t recommend spending too much on a laptop used for programming only tho
-
I would get a higher end Chromebook. They run Linux, have a built in android container, nice keyboards, touch screen, often have 360 hinges if that matters to you.
I’ve got the middle one in that pic and it’s almost as fast as my 24 core desktop. Like others said, get 16 gig of ram. Edit: i use VS code which is less beastly than Android studio, but there’s no need to run an emulator because it’s already built in, accelerated.
These things have been the source of so much frustration for me over the years. I think you are the only person I’ve ever seen IRL or online who didn’t immediately regret the purchase after about 3-6 months.
I returned my $4000 MacBook, I don’t like the keyboard layout and thought it had poor performance for the hardware. I would go for a Linux laptop but other than that I prefer Chromebooks and have been using them for 10ish years.
Are you sure you need a laptop? You can get a refurbished HP workstation with a 1TB SSD, i7 (7th gen), and 32GB DDR4 for less that $300. Just look on Amazon.
