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General Discussion

Ben Jakuben
STAFF
Ben Jakuben
Treehouse Teacher
Posted by Ben Jakuben
Ben Jakuben
Treehouse Teacher

Laptop advice for new students?

I saw this question on Twitter and thought it would be great to post here in the Forum. As a mobile developer I need a Mac for iOS, so I'm a bit out of touch about good budget-friendly Windows laptops. What are you using, and are you happy with it?

Was wandering what's a good laptop under $300 that's good for doing C# & Java programming and also some MySQL?

Note that C# development requires Windows and Visual Studio.

3 Answers

Gregory Casazza
Gregory Casazza
2,268 Points
Gregory Casazza
Gregory Casazza
2,268 Points

It's a tall order to find decent laptops under $300, since very nearly all machines in that range are identical as far as specs go, unless theres a sale or deal going on an otherwise more expensive laptop.

Generally I would say getting any computer with 4gb ram and a decently rated dual core(or more) processor would suit your needs, I personally prefer Asus and Toshiba but your experience may vary.

Dustin Matlock
Dustin Matlock
33,856 Points
Dustin Matlock
Dustin Matlock
33,856 Points

Hi Ben, I did some research a while back for someone. It was for new laptops under $500. I'd maybe check out eBay for a refurbished Thinkpad or something. The auctions for the Core i5s have ended at around $200 - $300 (depending on 4GB or 8GB of RAM), and there were a few i7s that ended at $430 give or take.

If you choose a new one in the range of $200 - $300, you will most likely notice the difference, wishing you spent an extra $100 - $200. However, I think refurbished is a great choice, and it's hard to beat getting a Core i5 processor for under $300 in a laptop. Some people think refurbished products work better than new because they've been thoroughly tested.

If I had to choose a new one from below, I'd go for #2 because it has a Core i3, 6GB of RAM, and somewhat within that price range.

New Laptops Under $500

  1. Acer Aspire E5-571-56UQ 15.6-Inch (June 8, 2014) ($499)
  2. Asus 15.6-Inch D550CA-RS31 (January 3, 2014) ($368.01)
  3. Acer Aspire E1-572-6870 15.6-Inch (June 23, 2013) ($474.95)
  4. Acer Aspire ES1-512-C88M 15.6-Inch (October 5, 2014) ($249.99)