Laptop for Programming Degree? Loose Budget at around $1200- $2000

solic on 27/01/2022 - 17:57
Last edited 27/01/2022 - 20:55 by 1 other user

Missed out on Black Friday sales because I honestly couldn't be bothered looking at the time. Budget around $1200-$2000, can go a bit higher if it is worth it but would prefer not to.

I'm a second year Software Engineering student and need a decent laptop for my coding. I initially bought a Lenovo Ideapad L340 but the battery life and screen glare is driving me insane whenever I use it. The weight doesn't help either. So I'm looking into getting a new laptop for my uni work, something with good battery life and decent specs (At least 16GB of ram) that should last me at least a few years.

I've been looking around at the ASUS Zenbook, which looks really good but they are insanely expensive and are from 2019/2020 (dunno if that makes a difference or if its just throwing me off), along with the HP Spectre x360, but again they are insanely expensive.

Should I just grab a Zenbook or could someone give me good recommendations on what to buy? Looking for laptops does my head in.

Thanks!

Computing Computer Laptop

Comments

  • avoidfullprice on 27/01/2022 - 18:09

    So you want a cheaper Zenbook, but unsure what to compromise between price, weight and battery life?

    Do you still want to game on your new laptop?

    Would suggest you go in shop like JB and short list laptop with good screen first. Then narrow down your choices

    • solic on 27/01/2022 - 18:15

      Its mostly battery life and price I'm worried about. Mainly price to specs, because I'm not 100% sure on buying a 2019 laptop for $2000 but if its well worth it I would for sure do it.

      I mostly wouldn't game on it honestly, I have a pretty decent desktop setup so I would probably only play stuff like Project Zomboid or Kenshi.

  • salmon123 on 27/01/2022 - 18:14
    -4

    I'm a second year Software Engineering student and need a decent laptop for my coding.

    Most people greatly over-estimate the computing power needed for university coding assignments. Anything with an i3 or i5 CPU is more than enough.

    someone give me good reccomendations on what to buy?

    Look no further than an XPS13 or XPS15 (depending on what screen size you prefer). Plenty of battery life. Get something 1 generation old from their outlet store. Should be done in under $1200.

    At least 16GB of ram

    Why do you need so much RAM?

    • solic on 27/01/2022 - 18:16

      I looked around at a couple other posts and people were reccomending at least 32GB for a laptop that used for coding, which I thought was a bit over the top. Honestly 8GB would be fine but I wanted to do 16GB for the safety net.

      I'll have a look at an XPS13/15 now. Thanks for the reccomendation.

      • salmon123 on 27/01/2022 - 18:22
        +1

        I looked around at a couple other posts and people were reccomending at least 32GB for a laptop that used for coding

        I doubt you'll get a coding project at university that needs 32GB ram. You have to remember there will be people doing the assignment in labs, with shared resources and the chance of the lab computers (or shared servers) having enough RAM for everyone is low.

        Having said that, perhaps there's some data science course you'll encounter that require you to work with a large dataset in memory. I'd argue that these assignments are best tackled in the cloud, rather than on a personal laptop.

        Honestly 8GB would be fine but I wanted to do 16GB for the safety net.

        Stick to 8GB (depending on what configurations you see available). You could check if the RAM is upgradable. I'm not sure that it is on an xps 13, but should be on an xps 15.

        • No Username on 27/01/2022 - 20:06
          -1

          You'll want 32gb if your doing Full Stack Web Development.

          • salmon123 on 27/01/2022 - 20:30
            -1

            @No Username:

            You'll want 32gb if your doing Full Stack Web Development.

            Which university course does full stack web development on personal laptops?

            • No Username on 28/01/2022 - 23:33
              -1

              @salmon123: Most people would opt to use their own laptop due to COVID, Personalised dev env with no restriction and also they can work on their project anywhere.

              Having your front, back and burp is already a struggle with 16gb.

              • salmon123 on 29/01/2022 - 00:11
                +1

                @No Username:

                Most people would opt to use their own laptop due to COVID

                Which university course does full stack web development on personal laptops?

                • No Username on 29/01/2022 - 09:44
                  -1

                  @salmon123: Lol. It's personal choice. Any uni will allow you to use your personal laptop. RMIT, Swinburne, etc.

                  Most people are also learning from home so…

                  Your laptop will be on their VPN anyway.

                  • salmon123 on 29/01/2022 - 10:03
                    +2

                    @No Username:

                    It's personal choice

                    Damn straight. You seem to have a very fixed idea about carrying around a mini-server in your backpack to do "full stack development".

                    Hate to say it, but you're probably a crappy developer if that's the way you work.

                    • No Username on 29/01/2022 - 18:50
                      -3

                      @salmon123: Lol I own a software company and lead a team of 12 so I'm well aware of what I'm doing.

                      No one in the right mind if going to commit straight to the backend. You're gonna want to test the backend against your front end on your local machine first.

                      But seeing that you're suggesting an i3 and other people are negging you. It shows that you haven't got much experience or done anything advanced.

                      • salmon123 on 29/01/2022 - 22:16
                        +2

                        @No Username:

                        I own a software company and lead a team of 12 so I'm well aware of what I'm doing.

                        Dude, did you see the bit where the OP said he's a 2nd year uni student?

                        But seeing that you're suggesting an i3 and other people are negging you.

                        More than enough for any undergrad course.

                        It shows that you haven't got much experience or done anything advanced.

                        I don't need to exaggerate my credentials or experience or list it here for you, but I also know what I'm talking about.

                        • No Username on 31/01/2022 - 18:14
                          -2

                          @salmon123:

                          Dude, did you see the bit where the OP said he's a 2nd year uni student?

                          Yes, but as part of your course you'll be doing on site experience work. We host workshops for RMIT and once they start running all the unit testing and API pen testing your CPU and RAM will s**t it's self on 8gb. You realise all these run on separate services right? This consumes system resources.

                          More than enough for any undergrad course.

                          Sure if you're using Scratch

                          I don't need to exaggerate my credentials or experience or list it here for you, but I also know what I'm talking about.

                          Clearly not as seen with the other comments correcting you.

                          • salmon123 on 31/01/2022 - 20:58

                            @No Username:

                            We host workshops for RMIT

                            There's the first problem. Go to a real university, they'll teach you real coding.

                            once they start running all the unit testing and API pen testing your CPU and RAM will s**t it's self on 8gb

                            Sorry - I can't argue with this level of stupidity. You've convinced yourself that full-stack programming on a personal laptop is the only things they teach at university.

                            • JimCarter on 03/02/2022 - 22:50
                              +1

                              @salmon123: I wouldn't want to work for that guy or have him as my team leader… How toxic is he. You are correct @salmon123 , everything you've said is correct and rational

        • cille745 on 27/01/2022 - 23:00

          8GB of RAM is a terrible decision, can be filled up with a few chrome tabs alone

          • nubix on 05/02/2022 - 10:47

            @cille745: with you on this one, 16gb m1 air is the way to go imo. Out of all the possible upgrades between the base Air and the maxed out pro, I think getting to 16gb RAM is the most important. I was having so much problems with my 8gb m1 that I went back to my 16" Intel at the time - constantly thrashing, Zoom/Teams freezing. No problem with coding though.

      • andresampras on 27/01/2022 - 22:41
        +2

        unless you are a super organised neat freak, do not go under 16GB of RAM in a Windows machine.

        If you want to keep the machine for a few years, I'd suggest even more RAM, or at least the possibility of upgrade down the line (note that a lot of ultrabooks don't let you upgrade RAM, it's soldered on - like my old lenovo yoga x1)

  • jv on 27/01/2022 - 18:17
    +4

    Programming Degree

    Looking for laptops does my head in.

    Maybe wrong career choice ???

    • solic on 27/01/2022 - 18:22

      Could be, its mostly just the overwhelming amount of options tbh. I'm fine when it comes to desktop shit.

    • Providence on 04/02/2022 - 20:38
      +1

      How many software engineers does it take to change a light bulb?

      None - it's a hardware problem.

      • jv on 04/02/2022 - 20:40

        Get a grep on yourself…

  • boomramada on 27/01/2022 - 18:29
    +1

    Any $1200 laptop can run Eclipse and compile and 16gb is new norm now. For uni, I would get a light weight notebook (easy to carry etc) and big monitor to use it at home.

    If you have budget of $2000, haggle a laptop just over $2000 for $2k and call it a bargain, this is ozb after all.

  • raptormesh on 27/01/2022 - 19:26
    +5

    Macbook air m1. Almost all the devs I know are using macbooks and linux machines(personally developed on one for the last 8 years). Will last you years and battery live is just amazing. Choose the 16GB ram version and you're golden.

    • jetblack on 28/01/2022 - 15:38
      +1

      Agreed. I just finished a Web dev course and the advice from all teachers (including one Windows user) in the beginning was to go mac. No matter what machine people chose everyone had minor issues getting their machines set up, but the Windows users were by far having the most.

      My pre-M1 (2019) macbook air held up quite solidly, but I was definitely impressed by the ridiculous battery life and performance improvements from classmates' M1s, and now I'm lusting after one of those.

      The track pad gestures are also ridiculously helpful to my work flow and productivity (even outside of development) . That's actually one of the things that would make it hardest for me to switch ever again.

  • Drakesy on 27/01/2022 - 19:41
    +1

    I'm a big fan of Lenovo Carbon X1's which you can pick up refurbished on Ebay for within your price range.
    I've had a gen 3 and they're great, battery life is 5-6 hours (and its 5/6 years old), new ones i think get up to 10 hours?

    Else go down the mac route, it seems to be all the rage these days.

  • flyflytea on 27/01/2022 - 21:16
    +2

    I chose a Macbook Air M1 base model, got it for $1294 with student discount. It runs like a champ and VS Code works fine for me. The battery life is so good, great screen and keyboard. I got use to mac OS in a few hours.

  • ktvibes on 27/01/2022 - 22:47

    If your programming curriculum doesn't include anything that requires game-dev, then Macbook Air M1 baseline would be fine, or if you're looking to reach the top end of your budget, add extra ram to 16GB.
    The performance of the M1 greatly reduces the need for 16GB RAM in most cases, but I could understand wanting to be future proof and feeling more comfortable with more.

  • mshanann on 27/01/2022 - 23:44

    Can you increase budget to $2800
    https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B09JQP9H5W

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