Need a new laptop for Uni

I'm starting uni next month and I'll be studying Computer Science. The laptop I have now is started to get a bit dated and want to get a new one. What laptops would you recommend for me that aren't outrageously expensive?

Reply 1

trythis

11

Doesn't matter much - choose whichever brand you're comfortable with. Personally I tend to go for Lenovo; if you have a bit more money, get a Thinkpad. An i3/i5 with 4GB RAM will be fine, but try to get something with an SSD.

Whatever laptop you choose, you should be installing Linux on it. I recommend Fedora, but Ubuntu is fine too. Very important to familiarise yourself with *NIX systems.

Reply 2

M451

14

Dell Inspiron or Latitude series, HP Elitebook or Probook series. If you want serious power then Dell XPS or Precision and HP ZBook.

If you're getting a business class notebook then specs should be the same around similar price points. Feel free to go with whatever brand you like best, between Dell, HP and Lenovo.

I'd go for something with an SSD, possibly an M.2 SSD and space for a HDD for storage, 8GB RAM and an i5 as minimum.

Reply 3

kingLAWZA

13

be a hype beast like me and get a macbook pro

Reply 4

Sydmin

10

Original post by Ciaran_Finnegan

I'm starting uni next month and I'll be studying Computer Science. The laptop I have now is started to get a bit dated and want to get a new one. What laptops would you recommend for me that aren't outrageously expensive?

For a CompSci degree, you shouldn't be aiming for a machine with less than a £300 pricetag really. Depending on your modules, you might be using virtual machines or the hideously bloated IDE known as NetBeans (shudder..). Either way they can tax your machine a lot.

The poster above posted some specs to do with processors, RAM and hard disk type - very good info and I would back this.

I wouldn't back installing a *nix variant though. If you haven't used Linux before, I wouldn't recommend doing it full time especially when you're starting a degree. Instead, go and find out/install VirtualBox and install it on that.

Reply 5

Ciaran_Finnegan

OP

Original post by SpiffyTheSeal

For a CompSci degree, you shouldn't be aiming for a machine with less than a £300 pricetag really. Depending on your modules, you might be using virtual machines or the hideously bloated IDE known as NetBeans (shudder..). Either way they can tax your machine a lot.

The poster above posted some specs to do with processors, RAM and hard disk type - very good info and I would back this.

I wouldn't back installing a *nix variant though. If you haven't used Linux before, I wouldn't recommend doing it full time especially when you're starting a degree. Instead, go and find out/install VirtualBox and install it on that.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01HIWOOWM/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

Does this seem like a good deal?

Reply 6

Sydmin

10

Original post by Ciaran_Finnegan

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01HIWOOWM/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

Does this seem like a good deal?

Actually, yes. I wrote this reply initially saying "oh it's a good spec, but the weight will kill you in the heat of the summer" but actually - at 1.5kg - it's not a bad laptop. It won't be light and you might want to consider buying a slightly lower spec and a tablet instead, so you can just use the tablet for the days when you only have one or two lectures and want to take notes, but yeah - overall I'd say that's good. Compared to the Asus "X" series on Amazon, which is 2kg+, it'd be fine.

Reply 7

TrojanH

21

If you want to write Swift get a Mac
If you don't want to write in Swift get a Mac

Reply 8

Sydmin

10

Original post by TrojanH

If you want to write Swift get a Mac
If you don't want to write in Swift get a Mac

Macs are pretty good at writing anything that isn't Windows-specific, to be honest. There are a lot of IDEs designed for OSX that are really nice, well designed and fluid - blows Visual Studio out of the water. But if you design anything that is going near Windows then absolutely, you'll want a Windows box to do it on really.

Reply 9

TrojanH

21

Original post by SpiffyTheSeal

Macs are pretty good at writing anything that isn't Windows-specific, to be honest. There are a lot of IDEs designed for OSX that are really nice, well designed and fluid - blows Visual Studio out of the water. But if you design anything that is going near Windows then absolutely, you'll want a Windows box to do it on really.

You ever tried dual booting OSX on Windows? Pain in the ass.
You ever tried dual booting Windows on OSX? Easy ****ing peasy.

Reply 10

Bobjim12

20

i got a mac for cs, was it a good idea?

Reply 11

username738914

21

Original post by Bobjim12

i got a mac for cs, was it a good idea?

yes mate, join the mac gang

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 12

TrojanH

21

Original post by Bobjim12

i got a mac for cs, was it a good idea?

good os, good screen res, good display, good trackpad, good dev options, good keyboard, well built, 3 year warranty, fast n nippy.

its worth the price if you know how to use it right

Reply 13

ktallett

My recommendation for a budget on computer science would be to search ebay for a Thinkpad X240 or a T440. You can pick up a base model of an i5 for around £250. Now either spend a touch more on one someone has already added, 8gb of ram and a ssd to or upgrade yourself. Plenty on ebay come with a warranty so look out for those. Also for the X240 you can upgrade the battery to one that lasts over 15 hours which is actually quite useful. I suggest thinkpads as they are really easy to upgrade and fix plus they all are rather easy to dual boot Linux on which whilst probably not compulsory, is rather useful to learn. You can run in a VM but it is better to run natively.
Now if you have an even smaller budget try an x220 and if you have a larger budget you could go brand new but it isnt really needed. I dont recommend a mac anymore for Computer science, the build quality isnt as good as it was plus it is moving away from allowing as many command line applications. For example the last os broke many symlinks (think of it like rerouting mail that is menat for one address). Ghc (the way to run a programming language called haskell in the command line) was broken for weeks.
The best CS applications and ide's are cross platform, such as atom, visual studio, brackets and so on.

Reply 14

Light Venom

15

Here we go again. I bet the outcome of this is his going to buy a mac, like all the other threads I see.

EDIT:
btw lenovo thinkpad x220 is a great laptop. you can buy one second hand ebay around £80-130. 4GB ram, i5, intel hd graphics 3000. but that imo tho. I have had mine since 2009 and still running like new. I ONLY USE IT FOR STUDIES, not for gaming etc.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 15

Bobjim12

20

Original post by TrojanH

good os, good screen res, good display, good trackpad, good dev options, good keyboard, well built, 3 year warranty, fast n nippy.

its worth the price if you know how to use it right

Thought so, just easier to use than a PC, nothing to worry about like anti-virus and ****, so pretty too

Original post by Princepieman

yes mate, join the mac gangPosted from TSR Mobile

BIG UP THE MAC GANG MASSIVE

Reply 16

TrojanH

21

Original post by Bobjim12

Thought so, just easier to use than a PC, nothing to worry about like anti-virus and ****, so pretty too
BIG UP THE MAC GANG MASSIVE

Bro I use whatever is best for each application. Macs make the best laptops.

My PC at home is a custom built rig. What do you mean nothing to worry about? He's studying CS, he's going to be tinkering all day.

The hate is unreal for the paupers out there that can't afford macs. Just say it; I can't afford it so I undermine it.

Easy.

Reply 17

jameshburton

1

When buying a new laptop you must think about which type of applications you will use. Normally for programming you will be using visual studio, eclipse which can be very memory and cpu demanding if building complex applications (e.g. Chrome ). You may want to get a large SSD to speed up the whole process (recommended). Windows 10 includes hyper-v which will allow you to run multiple virtual machines. Virtual machines are good way to test software, allow you a safe environment to modify the operating system and run multiple versions of operating systems at the same time. If anything does go wrong you are not damaging the underling OS on your laptop. Dual booting is not recommend.

Choosing screen size and resolution are just as important, I recommend buying a laptop which very high screen resolution (e.g. 1920 X 1800) because you will require large screen area when programming and if you are building websites you must have a true colour representation. Screen size is up to you.

I recommend buying the Microsoft Surface Book which gives you all of the above and more.

James

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 18

Bobjim12

20

Original post by TrojanH

Bro I use whatever is best for each application. Macs make the best laptops.

My PC at home is a custom built rig. What do you mean nothing to worry about? He's studying CS, he's going to be tinkering all day.

The hate is unreal for the paupers out there that can't afford macs. Just say it; I can't afford it so I undermine it.

Easy.

huh, im confused

I also have a custom built PC, mainly just for games though..

Reply 19

TrojanH

21

Original post by Bobjim12

huh, im confused

I also have a custom built PC, mainly just for games though..

Different products have different purposes. My PC at home does all the grunt work.
My Macbook is for computing, using as a display reference as they produce the best screens, and for portability.

Need a new laptop for Uni

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