What is good configuration of a laptop for a .NET programmer?
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Hi all, I want to buy a laptop. My purpose is to run .NET 2005 or 2008 with Sql server 2005, play games and surf internet. Is it a combination of Dual core processor, 1 GB Ram, 80 GB SATA Hard disk will serve my purpose? Do I need to buy a Core 2 Due processor? The price difference is high to both of those processors. Don’t think I am a miser. I don’t have much money. Regards, Hogan
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Hi all, I want to buy a laptop. My purpose is to run .NET 2005 or 2008 with Sql server 2005, play games and surf internet. Is it a combination of Dual core processor, 1 GB Ram, 80 GB SATA Hard disk will serve my purpose? Do I need to buy a Core 2 Due processor? The price difference is high to both of those processors. Don’t think I am a miser. I don’t have much money. Regards, Hogan
I bought a laptop for the same purpose about a month ago. A DELL Inspiron 1501. My configuration is AMD X2 1800 GHz, 2 GB RAM, 120 GB HDD. I got the N series model (with no preinstalled OS) and threw XP on it. It runs VS 05 like a dream. I am eager to see how it will go along with VS 08. (That's exactlty why chose 2 GB RAM instead f 1 GB).
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Hi all, I want to buy a laptop. My purpose is to run .NET 2005 or 2008 with Sql server 2005, play games and surf internet. Is it a combination of Dual core processor, 1 GB Ram, 80 GB SATA Hard disk will serve my purpose? Do I need to buy a Core 2 Due processor? The price difference is high to both of those processors. Don’t think I am a miser. I don’t have much money. Regards, Hogan
Not sure if a dual core processor drastically improves performance, but by all means, go for 2 GB of RAM.
Cheers, Vikram.
"If a trend is truly global, then that trend ought to be visible across ANY subset of that data" - fat_boy
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I bought a laptop for the same purpose about a month ago. A DELL Inspiron 1501. My configuration is AMD X2 1800 GHz, 2 GB RAM, 120 GB HDD. I got the N series model (with no preinstalled OS) and threw XP on it. It runs VS 05 like a dream. I am eager to see how it will go along with VS 08. (That's exactlty why chose 2 GB RAM instead f 1 GB).
I saw a good blog post about just this topic the other day... Basically make sure you get (at least) a 7200rpm hard disc and as much RAM as you can... Then if you've still got money left over upgrade the CPU. Dual core is good! I personally use XP with 4GB RAM, 7200RPM disc and a AMD Athlon X2 3800+ and it flies! http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2007/11/01/tip-trick-hard-drive-speed-and-visual-studio-performance.aspx[^]
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Hi all, I want to buy a laptop. My purpose is to run .NET 2005 or 2008 with Sql server 2005, play games and surf internet. Is it a combination of Dual core processor, 1 GB Ram, 80 GB SATA Hard disk will serve my purpose? Do I need to buy a Core 2 Due processor? The price difference is high to both of those processors. Don’t think I am a miser. I don’t have much money. Regards, Hogan
Consider a larger disk and more memory - then try out virtualization. Having a testbed Windows (of whatever version you need) image that you can test install and run your programs on (and then roll back whatever happened during the test, leaving the image ready for next test session) is worth every cent it costs in terms of hard disk and memory space... For virtualization, use whatever you feel most at home with (MS or vmware). I use vmware currently, but as I'm moving to a new Vista laptop (160GB HD, 4GB RAM), I'll first try out the latest MS stuff. I can't stress enough how valuable it is to have a testbed (or several with different configs) to run your own (or other) software in without affecting your development environment. It just ROCKS! /Peter
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For XP 1GB is enough.
SSK. Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain.
Vri SSK wrote:
For XP 1GB is enough.
Not if you install SQL Server.
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I saw a good blog post about just this topic the other day... Basically make sure you get (at least) a 7200rpm hard disc and as much RAM as you can... Then if you've still got money left over upgrade the CPU. Dual core is good! I personally use XP with 4GB RAM, 7200RPM disc and a AMD Athlon X2 3800+ and it flies! http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2007/11/01/tip-trick-hard-drive-speed-and-visual-studio-performance.aspx[^]
Not sure what to think of the processor you have, the Athlon X2 3800+. I like AMD, but is Athlon really suited for laptops? Aren't overheating and power consumption (hence low battery life) a problem?
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You need at least 2gb of ram, 7200rpm hard-drive >= 120gb, Dual-core is a must, but an AMD processor may take care of your needs. I would definitely go for discrete graphics. A mobile GForce 8600 or even a 8400 should take care of most gaming needs. I would try to pack all this into a 15.4 inch notebook with at least a 1440x900 screen. HP makes some nice well equipped notebooks for a reasonable price, check around with all the major laptop vendors to see what they offer for the price.
Word, write letters and sh*t yo.
I would stress CQ's point about hard-disk speed - Vista will work much more efficiently with a high-speed disk
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Hi all, I want to buy a laptop. My purpose is to run .NET 2005 or 2008 with Sql server 2005, play games and surf internet. Is it a combination of Dual core processor, 1 GB Ram, 80 GB SATA Hard disk will serve my purpose? Do I need to buy a Core 2 Due processor? The price difference is high to both of those processors. Don’t think I am a miser. I don’t have much money. Regards, Hogan
I recommend you to read this blog: http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2007/11/01/tip-trick-hard-drive-speed-and-visual-studio-performance.aspx[^]
Co-Author ASP.NET AJAX in Action CP Quote of the Day: It is the same Friday that blooms as a new enriching day with novelty and innovation for us every week. - Vasudevan Deepak Kumar
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Hi all, I want to buy a laptop. My purpose is to run .NET 2005 or 2008 with Sql server 2005, play games and surf internet. Is it a combination of Dual core processor, 1 GB Ram, 80 GB SATA Hard disk will serve my purpose? Do I need to buy a Core 2 Due processor? The price difference is high to both of those processors. Don’t think I am a miser. I don’t have much money. Regards, Hogan
hogan.john wrote:
Is it a combination of Dual core processor, 1 GB Ram, 80 GB SATA Hard disk will serve my purpose?
No. VS 2008's splash screen needs 1 GB :-) More seriously, you'd need at least 2 GB of Ram, preferably 3, a core 2 duo processor, at least a 7200 RPM hard disk (which are expensive for laptops).
Regards, Nish
Nish’s thoughts on MFC, C++/CLI and .NET (my blog)
My latest book : C++/CLI in Action / Amazon.com link -
Hi all, I want to buy a laptop. My purpose is to run .NET 2005 or 2008 with Sql server 2005, play games and surf internet. Is it a combination of Dual core processor, 1 GB Ram, 80 GB SATA Hard disk will serve my purpose? Do I need to buy a Core 2 Due processor? The price difference is high to both of those processors. Don’t think I am a miser. I don’t have much money. Regards, Hogan
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buy a core 2 due processor with 1Gb ram, and 80Sata hard disk hope will serve your purpose.
SSK. Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain.
I got a laptop with a 2 GHz Core 2 Duo, 2 GiB RAM, and a 160 GiB had drive (5400 RPM). The hard disk capacity isn't so important (but the minimum you'd want is 30 GB). It's the processor and the RAM that counts. I'd recommend getting more than 1 GiB of RAM since Visual Studio tends to suck up a lot of memory. A good processor (preferrably a fast dual core) is recommended for compiling code.
ROFLOLMFAO
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I would stress CQ's point about hard-disk speed - Vista will work much more efficiently with a high-speed disk
Who was getting Vista? :)
ROFLOLMFAO
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You need at least 2gb of ram, 7200rpm hard-drive >= 120gb, Dual-core is a must, but an AMD processor may take care of your needs. I would definitely go for discrete graphics. A mobile GForce 8600 or even a 8400 should take care of most gaming needs. I would try to pack all this into a 15.4 inch notebook with at least a 1440x900 screen. HP makes some nice well equipped notebooks for a reasonable price, check around with all the major laptop vendors to see what they offer for the price.
Word, write letters and sh*t yo.
A graphics card isn't necessary unless he's gaming. I don't think he mentioned that. Hypocritically, I got myselfa laptop with a video card 4 months ago even though I don't game with it. Hopefully, WPF's 3DViewPort will make use of it.
ROFLOLMFAO
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Who was getting Vista? :)
ROFLOLMFAO
:laugh: haha not me - not yet, anyway; may have to next year... But I know about the hard-disk issue from others who do have it. They swear it really does make a difference.
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Hi all, I want to buy a laptop. My purpose is to run .NET 2005 or 2008 with Sql server 2005, play games and surf internet. Is it a combination of Dual core processor, 1 GB Ram, 80 GB SATA Hard disk will serve my purpose? Do I need to buy a Core 2 Due processor? The price difference is high to both of those processors. Don’t think I am a miser. I don’t have much money. Regards, Hogan
Hi, Hogan. What kind of games are you looking to run? If you're planning to run any recent heavy-3D games, you will want a laptop with a fast processor, fast memory, minimum of 2 gb RAM, video card with dedicated RAM, and a decent sized hard drive. If you're going to be running primarily games such as Solitaire, then you'll still want the fast processor, fast memory and 2 gb of RAM for Visual Studio. I know some people have suggested 1 gb is enough for Windows XP, but I'd suggest getting 2 gb anyway. Then you have everything you need in case you decide you want to run Vista later on. Most laptops will come with some form of Vista anyway. Home Premium or Business should be plenty for programming on, with Business probably being the better choice due to easier IIS support and no Media PC software to bog te system down. :-> My current laptop is an Acer Aspire with 2 gb RAM (128 mb shared with video card), 160 gb hard drive, and a Pentium-D 1.73 ghz (pre Core Duo, heh) processor. It is plenty fast enough to run VS 2008. It won't run the latest and greates 3D games (due to both the weak processor and video card -- Intel EX945), but I don't play much in the way of games anyway. I paid about $750 total for it after boosting the RAM and hard drive space in it. By contrast, I'm looking at a Dell laptop for later on that's pretty much loaded -- 2 gb ram, ATi video card with 256 mb dedicated memory, 320 gb hard drive, Blu-Ray Rom/DVD+-RW drive, Core2Duo 2.0 ghz processor and a bunch of other stuff -- over $1700, but it should last at least three or more years, heh. Flynn
If we can't corrupt the youth of today,
the adults of tomorrow will be no fun...