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General Discussion

Donghyeok Yun
Donghyeok Yun
4,514 Points

Quick question about, what Laptop I should get ?

Hello guys, in about eight days Thanksgiving is coming up with Black Friday aside. Everyone knows electronic devices are on tremendous sale and I need new computer to program with. My question is what requirement do you guys think I need on my laptop in order to program many things (right now I am exploring many things and by many things it includes web development, app development, working with python on IDLE, installing Kali Linux, networking, hacking, games, and more....)

Need information on RAM, Core (i3, i5, i7, AMD....), Graphics Card, Storage, and additional info is great such as websites on cheap laptops that are actually useful.

Also, I want it to be below $500 or $600

Thanks to whoever participated on my question :)

3 Answers

Christopher Lebbano
Christopher Lebbano
15,338 Points

Without seeing the deals it's obviously going to be hard to tell you exactly which laptop to get. I would just wait until the deals start so you can see what you can afford, I think you know what specs you are looking for so it won't be difficult for you.

If you want my opinion on what to look for though, I would make sure to get a big screen and something with a very comfortable keyboard, and I always like my keyboards to include a numpad and big separate arrow keys.

For programming and stuff I would just make sure you have at least an i3 or i5 and a screen with a 1080p resolution.

Here's the laptop I use, it plays pretty much every game I own.

https://www.amazon.com/Dell-Inspiron-i7559-2512BLK-Generation-GeForce/dp/B015PZ0EHS/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1479648648&sr=1-1&keywords=dell%2Binspiron%2B7559&th=1

I highly recommend a Mac.

Even if you hate Mac (hopefully you don't), it is very hard to learn programming.

Web design is harder to do on a PC, and (almost) everything is a hassle since the entire Console built-in to your computer is different from the standard Terminal.

Also by default Treehouse uses a Mac so it will be easier to follow along.

Last note:

If you really can't afford a Mac, you actually can get a PC but to do development you should use a flavor of Linux (for example ubuntu), and that should be good, too, since Linux is also flexible for programming.

Abraham Juliot
Abraham Juliot
47,353 Points

Get a 4gb chromebook flip for $259. You can also manually add swap (dynamic) memory via the shell console and or enjoy android apps while your at it. I use mine for web development with sites such as https://repl.it, http://codepen.io, and https://c9.io. If you intend to build native apps or big data apps, you may want to consider getting something else.

sources: https://www.amazon.com/C100PA-DB02-10-1-inch-Chromebook-1-8GHz-Operation/dp/B00ZS4HK0Q http://www.omgchrome.com/how-to-add-swap-memory-to-your-chromebook/, https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/7021273?hl=en,