What Would You Consider Minimum Requirements For A Laptop?
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I'm considering buying a laptop, primarily because I need to be able to do schoolwork anywhere, even when travelling for work. I haven't a clue what to get, though I know I don't want to spend a ton for a premium machine with features I'll never need. My expected uses would include: Checking into the online school features Reading online and locally stored books in pdf and Kindle form Composing homework assignments in Word and Excel Occasional C# development, and web stuff SQL server express access General web surfing and email checking/composing Accessing my home network from around the house Looking for naughty pictures on the 'net from my hotel room No gaming, no 3D rendering, scratch-n-sniff interface not required. Key things that worry me are lack of functionality in Windows 7 Home Premium (I don't know what it's lacking), small memory available, i3 vs i5 vs i7 capabilities, and generally what to expect. I can get a decent Dell with an i3, 320GB HDD, 3 GB RAM, and Win7 Home Premium for under $500, but will it be something I can use effectively, or will I be regreting it in 6 months? What would you look for, and why?
Will Rogers never met me.
What you are describing pretty much matches a netbook I got - eMachines e350 uk amazon clickety[^]. It's cheap, has an excellent battery life, is extremely light, boots very fast and I have even been able to do a bit of .Net development on it(I upgraded to 2 gig memory) . I know netbooks are not everybody's cup of tea - but I was amazed at how well it performed and feel like I made a very good choice.
Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential.(Winston Churchill)
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I'm considering buying a laptop, primarily because I need to be able to do schoolwork anywhere, even when travelling for work. I haven't a clue what to get, though I know I don't want to spend a ton for a premium machine with features I'll never need. My expected uses would include: Checking into the online school features Reading online and locally stored books in pdf and Kindle form Composing homework assignments in Word and Excel Occasional C# development, and web stuff SQL server express access General web surfing and email checking/composing Accessing my home network from around the house Looking for naughty pictures on the 'net from my hotel room No gaming, no 3D rendering, scratch-n-sniff interface not required. Key things that worry me are lack of functionality in Windows 7 Home Premium (I don't know what it's lacking), small memory available, i3 vs i5 vs i7 capabilities, and generally what to expect. I can get a decent Dell with an i3, 320GB HDD, 3 GB RAM, and Win7 Home Premium for under $500, but will it be something I can use effectively, or will I be regreting it in 6 months? What would you look for, and why?
Will Rogers never met me.
Go for the most expensive you can possibly afford with the highest spec it will give you. I'd advice a $1,000 now and keep it for 4-5 years [I'll burn for that one] against a $250 cheap and cheerful that is a doorstop before the warranty runs out.
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. Drink. Get drunk. Fall over - P O'H OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre I cannot live by bread alone. Bacon and ketchup are needed as well. - Trollslayer Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb - they're often *students*, for heaven's sake - Terry Pratchett
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I'm considering buying a laptop, primarily because I need to be able to do schoolwork anywhere, even when travelling for work. I haven't a clue what to get, though I know I don't want to spend a ton for a premium machine with features I'll never need. My expected uses would include: Checking into the online school features Reading online and locally stored books in pdf and Kindle form Composing homework assignments in Word and Excel Occasional C# development, and web stuff SQL server express access General web surfing and email checking/composing Accessing my home network from around the house Looking for naughty pictures on the 'net from my hotel room No gaming, no 3D rendering, scratch-n-sniff interface not required. Key things that worry me are lack of functionality in Windows 7 Home Premium (I don't know what it's lacking), small memory available, i3 vs i5 vs i7 capabilities, and generally what to expect. I can get a decent Dell with an i3, 320GB HDD, 3 GB RAM, and Win7 Home Premium for under $500, but will it be something I can use effectively, or will I be regreting it in 6 months? What would you look for, and why?
Will Rogers never met me.
Don't overlook netbooks, we bought one, filled it up on ram and so far I've been extremely impressed. Huge battery life, very small and compact and haven't run into any limitations with windows and once the extra ram was added performance is excellent. Don't use it for any development though.
There is no failure only feedback
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I'm considering buying a laptop, primarily because I need to be able to do schoolwork anywhere, even when travelling for work. I haven't a clue what to get, though I know I don't want to spend a ton for a premium machine with features I'll never need. My expected uses would include: Checking into the online school features Reading online and locally stored books in pdf and Kindle form Composing homework assignments in Word and Excel Occasional C# development, and web stuff SQL server express access General web surfing and email checking/composing Accessing my home network from around the house Looking for naughty pictures on the 'net from my hotel room No gaming, no 3D rendering, scratch-n-sniff interface not required. Key things that worry me are lack of functionality in Windows 7 Home Premium (I don't know what it's lacking), small memory available, i3 vs i5 vs i7 capabilities, and generally what to expect. I can get a decent Dell with an i3, 320GB HDD, 3 GB RAM, and Win7 Home Premium for under $500, but will it be something I can use effectively, or will I be regreting it in 6 months? What would you look for, and why?
Will Rogers never met me.
With the exception of C# development and SQL Server Express, you've got everything that my wife does with a netbook. The battery life on these things is pretty incredible too. Possibly just ensuring you got maximum memory in the thing may make up for the programming you wish to do. :)
Chris Meech I am Canadian. [heard in a local bar] In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is. [Yogi Berra] posting about Crystal Reports here is like discussing gay marriage on a catholic church’s website.[Nishant Sivakumar]
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I'm considering buying a laptop, primarily because I need to be able to do schoolwork anywhere, even when travelling for work. I haven't a clue what to get, though I know I don't want to spend a ton for a premium machine with features I'll never need. My expected uses would include: Checking into the online school features Reading online and locally stored books in pdf and Kindle form Composing homework assignments in Word and Excel Occasional C# development, and web stuff SQL server express access General web surfing and email checking/composing Accessing my home network from around the house Looking for naughty pictures on the 'net from my hotel room No gaming, no 3D rendering, scratch-n-sniff interface not required. Key things that worry me are lack of functionality in Windows 7 Home Premium (I don't know what it's lacking), small memory available, i3 vs i5 vs i7 capabilities, and generally what to expect. I can get a decent Dell with an i3, 320GB HDD, 3 GB RAM, and Win7 Home Premium for under $500, but will it be something I can use effectively, or will I be regreting it in 6 months? What would you look for, and why?
Will Rogers never met me.
I have a Dell XPS, Core i5, 4GB memory, 500GB HDD, Windows 7 Home Premium. It does all the things you mention above, and also C++ (VS 2010 Express) and Java (Eclipse) development, plus a Virtual partition on which I run Windows XP from time to time, for remote connection to Linux systems. Standard battery lasts 3-4 hours on average, but since I do very little travelling that's not a problem.
Unrequited desire is character building. OriginalGriff
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I'm considering buying a laptop, primarily because I need to be able to do schoolwork anywhere, even when travelling for work. I haven't a clue what to get, though I know I don't want to spend a ton for a premium machine with features I'll never need. My expected uses would include: Checking into the online school features Reading online and locally stored books in pdf and Kindle form Composing homework assignments in Word and Excel Occasional C# development, and web stuff SQL server express access General web surfing and email checking/composing Accessing my home network from around the house Looking for naughty pictures on the 'net from my hotel room No gaming, no 3D rendering, scratch-n-sniff interface not required. Key things that worry me are lack of functionality in Windows 7 Home Premium (I don't know what it's lacking), small memory available, i3 vs i5 vs i7 capabilities, and generally what to expect. I can get a decent Dell with an i3, 320GB HDD, 3 GB RAM, and Win7 Home Premium for under $500, but will it be something I can use effectively, or will I be regreting it in 6 months? What would you look for, and why?
Will Rogers never met me.
I would go for a decent iCore5 4+ gigs of ram. While the price may be like 300 bucks more, they usually come with w7 pro. So the fears toward lack of functionally is gone. Besides I'm sure it will be able to handle almost anything(gaming excluded) you throw at it for like 3 years(including the occasional development).
All the best, Dan
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Go for the most expensive you can possibly afford with the highest spec it will give you. I'd advice a $1,000 now and keep it for 4-5 years [I'll burn for that one] against a $250 cheap and cheerful that is a doorstop before the warranty runs out.
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. Drink. Get drunk. Fall over - P O'H OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre I cannot live by bread alone. Bacon and ketchup are needed as well. - Trollslayer Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb - they're often *students*, for heaven's sake - Terry Pratchett
Very few of the laptops will last 4-5 years especially if intensively used. Dell (if you’re lucky and with regularly cleaning) and Toshiba could survive that long, but everything else will probably vanish after the second year taking with it your money.
There is only one Vera Farmiga and Salma Hayek is her prophet! Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
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Very few of the laptops will last 4-5 years especially if intensively used. Dell (if you’re lucky and with regularly cleaning) and Toshiba could survive that long, but everything else will probably vanish after the second year taking with it your money.
There is only one Vera Farmiga and Salma Hayek is her prophet! Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
I have a Toshiba that is on year 3, a Lenovo that is going year two and my big Asus that is in its first year. If taken care of properly I see no reason whatsoever that a laptop cannot last that long. We have laptops here at the company I work for that were bought long before vista was even out... and they still work. Compared to newer machines they might be slow and cranky, but they do work about as good as they did when purchased.
Programming is a race between programmers trying to build bigger and better idiot proof programs, and the universe trying to build bigger and better idiots, so far... the universe is winning. Be careful which toes you step on today, they might be connected to the foot that kicks your butt tomorrow. You can't scare me, I have children.
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I'm considering buying a laptop, primarily because I need to be able to do schoolwork anywhere, even when travelling for work. I haven't a clue what to get, though I know I don't want to spend a ton for a premium machine with features I'll never need. My expected uses would include: Checking into the online school features Reading online and locally stored books in pdf and Kindle form Composing homework assignments in Word and Excel Occasional C# development, and web stuff SQL server express access General web surfing and email checking/composing Accessing my home network from around the house Looking for naughty pictures on the 'net from my hotel room No gaming, no 3D rendering, scratch-n-sniff interface not required. Key things that worry me are lack of functionality in Windows 7 Home Premium (I don't know what it's lacking), small memory available, i3 vs i5 vs i7 capabilities, and generally what to expect. I can get a decent Dell with an i3, 320GB HDD, 3 GB RAM, and Win7 Home Premium for under $500, but will it be something I can use effectively, or will I be regreting it in 6 months? What would you look for, and why?
Will Rogers never met me.
AFAIK the Windows Home version doesn’t include IIS, so if you’re planning to do web development with ASP it’s probably not for you. For the desktop development I don’t know any differences or restrictions with the pro version. The processor is not so important for what you are going to use the laptop, but you have to go for 4 GB RAM, just to be on the save side. In the moment I have opened VS 2010, few office applications and a browser and the memory usage is well above 2 GB. I also would stay away from the netbooks. They are good for internet backup devices or casual browsing, but the screen is too small for what you want to use it.
There is only one Vera Farmiga and Salma Hayek is her prophet! Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
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I'm considering buying a laptop, primarily because I need to be able to do schoolwork anywhere, even when travelling for work. I haven't a clue what to get, though I know I don't want to spend a ton for a premium machine with features I'll never need. My expected uses would include: Checking into the online school features Reading online and locally stored books in pdf and Kindle form Composing homework assignments in Word and Excel Occasional C# development, and web stuff SQL server express access General web surfing and email checking/composing Accessing my home network from around the house Looking for naughty pictures on the 'net from my hotel room No gaming, no 3D rendering, scratch-n-sniff interface not required. Key things that worry me are lack of functionality in Windows 7 Home Premium (I don't know what it's lacking), small memory available, i3 vs i5 vs i7 capabilities, and generally what to expect. I can get a decent Dell with an i3, 320GB HDD, 3 GB RAM, and Win7 Home Premium for under $500, but will it be something I can use effectively, or will I be regreting it in 6 months? What would you look for, and why?
Will Rogers never met me.
IMO there's very little that win7 pro offers of potential value if you're not joining a domain or building a goxbox (in which case the 16GB ram limit is likely to be a problem). Check out wikipedia's comparison table[^] for details. I'm happy with my C2D's performance running small MSSQL DBs and VS2k10, so I wouldn't rule out an i3 if you're trying to pinch pennies. That said an i5 can turbo about 50% faster so it's not a bad value for an upgrade. I'd skip an i7 quad for a sub $1k system; and for light dev you won't miss it. I would go for 8GB of ram (might be cheaper to newegg it instead of upgrading from dell); VS 2k10 is a bloated pig and I can only assume VS2k12(13??) will be even worse. You can run one copy of it in 4gb fine; but 8 gives a lot more headroom for multi-tasking. If you can find it and aren't resolution limited by your eyes I'd recommend a 1600x900 display on a 14+, and a 1080p on a 17" (and maybe a 15" too); programming efficiency runs on lines of code visible at one time. 720p = fail. HD capacity is a who cares item unless you're willing to drop a few hundred on an SDD, in which case buy as much as you can afford.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
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Go for the most expensive you can possibly afford with the highest spec it will give you. I'd advice a $1,000 now and keep it for 4-5 years [I'll burn for that one] against a $250 cheap and cheerful that is a doorstop before the warranty runs out.
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. Drink. Get drunk. Fall over - P O'H OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre I cannot live by bread alone. Bacon and ketchup are needed as well. - Trollslayer Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb - they're often *students*, for heaven's sake - Terry Pratchett
Nagy Vilmos wrote:
Go for the most expensive you can possibly afford...
That's pretty much the advice I give everyone that asks me this question. It makes no sense to consider all of the other bells and whistles if you can't afford them anyway.
"One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson
"Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons
"Some people are making such thorough preparation for rainy days that they aren't enjoying today's sunshine." - William Feather
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I'm considering buying a laptop, primarily because I need to be able to do schoolwork anywhere, even when travelling for work. I haven't a clue what to get, though I know I don't want to spend a ton for a premium machine with features I'll never need. My expected uses would include: Checking into the online school features Reading online and locally stored books in pdf and Kindle form Composing homework assignments in Word and Excel Occasional C# development, and web stuff SQL server express access General web surfing and email checking/composing Accessing my home network from around the house Looking for naughty pictures on the 'net from my hotel room No gaming, no 3D rendering, scratch-n-sniff interface not required. Key things that worry me are lack of functionality in Windows 7 Home Premium (I don't know what it's lacking), small memory available, i3 vs i5 vs i7 capabilities, and generally what to expect. I can get a decent Dell with an i3, 320GB HDD, 3 GB RAM, and Win7 Home Premium for under $500, but will it be something I can use effectively, or will I be regreting it in 6 months? What would you look for, and why?
Will Rogers never met me.
You can definitely get a laptop to meet your needs. I wouldn't worry too much about the specs on the processor and memory. Memory is about the only thing to upgrade on a laptop, so it's fine to skimp out when you buy the system, and either buy from a cheaper source or upgrade later. I'd nail down what you want for display and weight more than anything. After that would be a fast enough HDD. If you can deal with a smaller drive moving to SSD will make any system fast, plus it saves on weight and durability.
Curvature of the Mind now with 3D
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Very few of the laptops will last 4-5 years especially if intensively used. Dell (if you’re lucky and with regularly cleaning) and Toshiba could survive that long, but everything else will probably vanish after the second year taking with it your money.
There is only one Vera Farmiga and Salma Hayek is her prophet! Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
Funny that. I have Toshiba kit and it lasts.
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. Drink. Get drunk. Fall over - P O'H OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre I cannot live by bread alone. Bacon and ketchup are needed as well. - Trollslayer Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb - they're often *students*, for heaven's sake - Terry Pratchett
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I have a Toshiba that is on year 3, a Lenovo that is going year two and my big Asus that is in its first year. If taken care of properly I see no reason whatsoever that a laptop cannot last that long. We have laptops here at the company I work for that were bought long before vista was even out... and they still work. Compared to newer machines they might be slow and cranky, but they do work about as good as they did when purchased.
Programming is a race between programmers trying to build bigger and better idiot proof programs, and the universe trying to build bigger and better idiots, so far... the universe is winning. Be careful which toes you step on today, they might be connected to the foot that kicks your butt tomorrow. You can't scare me, I have children.
My work P4 laptop is going on 8 years - the only thing I did to it is swap out the HDD for a SDD while the HDD was still good :thumbsup:
Steve _________________ I C(++) therefore I am
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I'm considering buying a laptop, primarily because I need to be able to do schoolwork anywhere, even when travelling for work. I haven't a clue what to get, though I know I don't want to spend a ton for a premium machine with features I'll never need. My expected uses would include: Checking into the online school features Reading online and locally stored books in pdf and Kindle form Composing homework assignments in Word and Excel Occasional C# development, and web stuff SQL server express access General web surfing and email checking/composing Accessing my home network from around the house Looking for naughty pictures on the 'net from my hotel room No gaming, no 3D rendering, scratch-n-sniff interface not required. Key things that worry me are lack of functionality in Windows 7 Home Premium (I don't know what it's lacking), small memory available, i3 vs i5 vs i7 capabilities, and generally what to expect. I can get a decent Dell with an i3, 320GB HDD, 3 GB RAM, and Win7 Home Premium for under $500, but will it be something I can use effectively, or will I be regreting it in 6 months? What would you look for, and why?
Will Rogers never met me.
Roger, I needed about the same when I went back to school with mostly the same specifications. I found an HP laptop at Sam's Club for $300 that came with a printer. It's served me well and the price was right. I loaded it with student versions of Office, VS, Matlab, etc. and it works fine. YMMV, of course.
CQ de W5ALT
Walt Fair, Jr., P. E. Comport Computing Specializing in Technical Engineering Software
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I'm considering buying a laptop, primarily because I need to be able to do schoolwork anywhere, even when travelling for work. I haven't a clue what to get, though I know I don't want to spend a ton for a premium machine with features I'll never need. My expected uses would include: Checking into the online school features Reading online and locally stored books in pdf and Kindle form Composing homework assignments in Word and Excel Occasional C# development, and web stuff SQL server express access General web surfing and email checking/composing Accessing my home network from around the house Looking for naughty pictures on the 'net from my hotel room No gaming, no 3D rendering, scratch-n-sniff interface not required. Key things that worry me are lack of functionality in Windows 7 Home Premium (I don't know what it's lacking), small memory available, i3 vs i5 vs i7 capabilities, and generally what to expect. I can get a decent Dell with an i3, 320GB HDD, 3 GB RAM, and Win7 Home Premium for under $500, but will it be something I can use effectively, or will I be regreting it in 6 months? What would you look for, and why?
Will Rogers never met me.
Since you are travelling a lot and not interested in gaming/3d stuff. I will suggest you Dell Vostro v131[^]. (~ $700.00) It's a decent laptop with looooooong battery life (around 8 hours, and now it is user replacable) and a core i3 processor with enough RAM (get al-least 4GB). and it's not a netbook. plus it got style + nice build quality. :) and for reading books, I will strongly suggest you to get Kindle[^] (it's just around $110.00 now) if you care about your eyes (which costs more than $110.00). ;) Before you decide to go with the netbooks, you should try typing on that keyboard (and if you think you will get used to it, try typing on regular keyboard afterwards :-D ). plus you will get a screen with infinite scroll bars... and get Windows 7 Home premium, I dont think you will miss anything (unless you want to join active directory and want to use bitlocker)... it now has IIS also (which is getting optional now a days since we have IIS Express). ---- and if you dont want to spend this much money and if you are happy with smaller screen. then nothing beats Thinkpad x120e[^], That AMD Fusion APU has enough power to run day to day apps smoothly.
modified on Wednesday, September 14, 2011 2:39 PM
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Funny that. I have Toshiba kit and it lasts.
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. Drink. Get drunk. Fall over - P O'H OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre I cannot live by bread alone. Bacon and ketchup are needed as well. - Trollslayer Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb - they're often *students*, for heaven's sake - Terry Pratchett
That’s what I’m saying: Toshiba or Dell and a good maintenance. Oterwise: :((
There is only one Vera Farmiga and Salma Hayek is her prophet! Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
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AFAIK the Windows Home version doesn’t include IIS, so if you’re planning to do web development with ASP it’s probably not for you. For the desktop development I don’t know any differences or restrictions with the pro version. The processor is not so important for what you are going to use the laptop, but you have to go for 4 GB RAM, just to be on the save side. In the moment I have opened VS 2010, few office applications and a browser and the memory usage is well above 2 GB. I also would stay away from the netbooks. They are good for internet backup devices or casual browsing, but the screen is too small for what you want to use it.
There is only one Vera Farmiga and Salma Hayek is her prophet! Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
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I have a Toshiba that is on year 3, a Lenovo that is going year two and my big Asus that is in its first year. If taken care of properly I see no reason whatsoever that a laptop cannot last that long. We have laptops here at the company I work for that were bought long before vista was even out... and they still work. Compared to newer machines they might be slow and cranky, but they do work about as good as they did when purchased.
Programming is a race between programmers trying to build bigger and better idiot proof programs, and the universe trying to build bigger and better idiots, so far... the universe is winning. Be careful which toes you step on today, they might be connected to the foot that kicks your butt tomorrow. You can't scare me, I have children.
Keep your fingers crossed for the Lenovo and the Asus. And as I said it depends how extensively they are used.
There is only one Vera Farmiga and Salma Hayek is her prophet! Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
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Thanks for the info and you’re right my confusion probably comes from win XP.
There is only one Vera Farmiga and Salma Hayek is her prophet! Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.