Question Laptop for Programming

[JClement01]

1. What is your budget?
Less than $700

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
At least 15.6 in

3. What screen resolution do you want?
1080p

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Portable preferably

5. How much battery life do you need?
At least 7-8 hours

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?
Probably won't game much since I have a desktop, but at least Minecraft and such.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Programming/web development

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
Preferably 512gb ssd but will take 256gb if it's upgradable

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
Doesn't matter

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
5+ years

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
N/A

12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
Doesn't matter

13. What country do you live in?
USA

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
Need something with a good screen since I'll be using it for programming a lot, prefer IPS. I don't mind upgrading the RAM or storage if it keeps the total price $700 or less.

 

[Lutfij]

Here's a shortlist I came up with. You should be able to upgrade the ram and storage on this one;
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo...56gb-ssd-shadow-black/6513216.p?skuId=6513216
courtesy of this video;

View: https://youtu.be/UbpNo7d35Wc


There can be other suggestions by other members of this community.

 

[JClement01]

Here's a shortlist I came up with. You should be able to upgrade the ram and storage on this one;
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo...56gb-ssd-shadow-black/6513216.p?skuId=6513216
courtesy of this video;

View: https://youtu.be/UbpNo7d35Wc


There can be other suggestions by other members of this community.

I'll keep this one in mind, but I would prefer to keep the cost less than $700 including upgrading the RAM and storage.

 

[Deleted member 14196]

For programming any laptop will do you don’t need fancy graphics cards

you can easily search the price range you want on Google

get an AMD based system with a good integrated graphics so you can play Minecraft

 

[LinuxDevice]

What kind of programming? I'd mostly agree with @Mandark, most programming won't care. On the other hand, if you are doing something like AI or CUDA, or even OpenGL, then you need support for it. OpenCL could use AMD or NVIDIA GPUs, but CUDA would use only NVIDIA. Some AI frameworks are also dependent upon this. So if you are learning C, C++, Python, so on, then it won't matter, but on occasion the GPU does matter (not so much for performance as for API).

 

[JClement01]

What kind of programming? I'd mostly agree with @Mandark, most programming won't care. On the other hand, if you are doing something like AI or CUDA, or even OpenGL, then you need support for it. OpenCL could use AMD or NVIDIA GPUs, but CUDA would use only NVIDIA. Some AI frameworks are also dependent upon this. So if you are learning C, C++, Python, so on, then it won't matter, but on occasion the GPU does matter (not so much for performance as for API).

What kind of programming? I'd mostly agree with @Mandark, most programming won't care. On the other hand, if you are doing something like AI or CUDA, or even OpenGL, then you need support for it. OpenCL could use AMD or NVIDIA GPUs, but CUDA would use only NVIDIA. Some AI frameworks are also dependent upon this. So if you are learning C, C++, Python, so on, then it won't matter, but on occasion the GPU does matter (not so much for performance as for API).

I'm strictly doing web development. So html, css, JavaScript, etc.

 

[LinuxDevice]

I'm strictly doing web development. So html, css, JavaScript, etc.

In that case GPU won't matter. I will say though that if you render graphics, the GPU is somewhat involved in speed, but even a low end GPU should do that well. If you are a content creator of 2D graphics, e.g., gimp or photoshop, then it will matter a bit more. Until you get into 3D animation (even if it is just a scripting language and not a discrete graphics program), then it will matter a bit more (but not as much as something like game programming; still, some GPU power will relieve frustration if creating graphical media for your web development). Some content (e.g., flash...ugh, ugly stuff) might want sufficient RAM.

 

[JClement01]

In that case GPU won't matter. I will say though that if you render graphics, the GPU is somewhat involved in speed, but even a low end GPU should do that well. If you are a content creator of 2D graphics, e.g., gimp or photoshop, then it will matter a bit more. Until you get into 3D animation (even if it is just a scripting language and not a discrete graphics program), then it will matter a bit more (but not as much as something like game programming; still, some GPU power will relieve frustration if creating graphical media for your web development). Some content (e.g., flash...ugh, ugly stuff) might want sufficient RAM.

Thanks for the information!