Programming Laptop Suggestions

[TerminatrSlayer]

As our old dell laptop is reaching the end of its lifetime, we (the programming team) are looking at getting a new laptop.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a certain model laptop to get or what to look for in a new laptop? Right now we are working with a $500 budget, so we are trying to make sure that the next laptop we get can out-live our previous one (which has lasted us quite some years).


Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Thank you

[The Numenorean]

I have always like the Dell Inspiron line. You can get fairly cheap ones, and they last a really long time. I have an old winXP one, 6-7 years old (or more) which I use for controlling the robots, works perfectly, as well as newer win8 team laptop, which works perfectly for all our FRC needs.

[sanddrag]

See if a teacher can do a DonorsChoose project for one, if you don't want to fund it through other means. There's quite a selection through Bestbuy, CDW-G, and now Amazon. Pretty much any laptop these days will do what you need, but keep in mind you may not do only programming on it. I use mine for CAD now and then too, or video projects, or graphic design, etc.

We've sort of standardized on the Acer Travelmate line as a good compromise between features/power and affordability. They're nice (and nice looking) machines that have been good to us. Aside from removing the mild bloatware that comes preinstalled, they've been great. We have 2nd gen and 3rd gen Core i3 processors with 4 gigs of RAM and they're good for all our uses. We also have some 2nd gen Core-i5 HP Probooks (6570b) that are ok, but honestly nothing special. The 7200RPM hard drive is nice I guess, but I had one (of 8) die on me really early on. I do like that they have a hardware DB9 serial port, which is hard to find nowadays.

Get something with Windows 7 is my recommendation. Windows 8 as a matter of personal preference I think is terrible, and is not mainstream yet. It would be a deal-breaker for me. Although, most Windows 8 machines come with Windows 7 downgrade rights.

Whatever you get, make sure it has whatever ports you need, VGA, HDMI, USB, etc. I absolutely HATE my Macbook Pro that has only two USB ports that are so close together you can't even use both at once.

[wlmeng11]

Originally Posted by TerminatrSlayer

As our old dell laptop is reaching the end of its lifetime, we (the programming team) are looking at getting a new laptop.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a certain model laptop to get or what to look for in a new laptop? Right now we are working with a $500 budget, so we are trying to make sure that the next laptop we get can out-live our previous one (which has lasted us quite some years).


Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Thank you

If you plan on using Linux (which I would recommend), Thinkpads are really well supported. If not, they still run Windows well.
New Thinkpads are rather expensive, but you can get a used T420 on eBay for about $500.

[faust1706]

the school gave each student chromebooks this year for seniors and juniors. netbooks for freshman and sophomores. If you put a chromebook into developer mode and install crouton, it becomes an Ubuntu laptop, with chrome os still on it. I've been using this to do my programming, and it works great, and it is cheap! so for 500 dollars, you could get 2 chromebooks.

[Joe Ross]

Originally Posted by faust1706

If you put a chromebook into developer mode and install crouton, it becomes an Ubuntu laptop, with chrome os still on it. I've been using this to do my programming, and it works great, and it is cheap! so for 500 dollars, you could get 2 chromebooks.

You programmed LabVIEW with a chromebook running Ubuntu?

[wlmeng11]

Originally Posted by Joe Ross

You programmed LabVIEW with a chromebook running Ubuntu?

Probably C++, using UCPP

[faust1706]

Originally Posted by Joe Ross

You programmed LabVIEW with a chromebook running Ubuntu?

yikes. no language was given, made the mistake of assuming c++/java was being talked about. sorry! I program in c/c++ in qt on my chromebook, and it works great!

[null]

Our team uses a 2010-spec Dell Latitude E5410. Reliable machine, I can tell you that. Besides that, I personally use my custom Acer Aspire 7741G. Both are equipped with first-generation i3s and have 4GB/8GB RAM respectively. While they may be a tad old, they're still incredibly fast when it comes to creating and compiling code.

[Invictus3593]

We use an Asus G73-SW with 20gb of ram, an i7 and soon, a 32gb SSD.

Lightning fast but maybe overkill for just programming, as we use it for other things as well. I'd suggest anything with 8gb of ram and an intel i-anything. In my experience, 8gb makes a huge difference in building code and in the overall interface, as opposed to 4gb.

My only complaint about our machine is its size. Of course its great for programming and everything else, but as the driver station it's kind of bulky.

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by Invictus3593

I'd suggest anything with 8gb of ram and an intel i-anything. In my experience, 8gb makes a huge difference in building code and in the overall interface, as opposed to 4gb.

I'm not so sure I believe this. You can create a full moderately-complex 3D CAD model on 4GB of RAM. I can't possibly imagine why building code would use more than 4GB of RAM. Anyone care to explain? I'm not a programmer.

[Tom Line]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

I'm not so sure I believe this. You can create a full moderately-complex 3D CAD model on 4GB of RAM. I can't possibly imagine why building code would use more than 4GB of RAM. Anyone care to explain? I'm not a programmer.

We use Labview exclusively on both laptops and desktops, and it runs just fine on 2, 4, and 8 gb.

[Nemo]

I just ordered one of these for programming in C. Note, however, that this one doesn't have a DVD drive. Oops - didn't realize that when I ordered it. It's super slim and light, though. I like a 15.6" screen as a compromise between longer battery life and big viewing size - this way we can use it more easily in the stands if we use laptops for scouting again. This one has a touch screen, which would be nice for scouting as well. I'll probably end up spending $40 on an external USB DVD drive.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834314085

I figure this thing should last five years pretty easily. It is currently way overpowered for what we would need to program either C or LabView. This laptop has an i5 and 6 GB of RAM and nothing special on graphics. That is exactly where I wanted to spend the bucks. I trust an i5 processor, but if I'd decided to research this more I might have gone with AMD as a way to save a few bucks (that model is $20 less) and possibly get longer battery life if AMD processors are still less energy hungry than Intel. Not sure if that is still true as I haven't researched AMD processors in years.

[Invictus3593]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

I'm not so sure I believe this. You can create a full moderately-complex 3D CAD model on 4GB of RAM. I can't possibly imagine why building code would use more than 4GB of RAM. Anyone care to explain? I'm not a programmer.

We do high-resolution animations with Blender and Cinema4D, and it's faster with more RAM. You're right that CAD modeling does only require 4GB.

Like I said, it may just be my experience with labview. It seems like the program's UI is tough on any computer, taking a long time to load projects and initialize builds etc.

[Ether]

Originally Posted by Invictus3593

Like I said, it may just be my experience with labview. It seems like the program's UI is tough on any computer, taking a long time to load projects and initialize builds etc.

How do you know it's a RAM issue and not a disk issue. What do you mean by "initialize builds" in this context?