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.
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.
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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.
If you're on the road, it might be important to check the battery life and related hardware (storage in particular) to optimize batteries. Buying a laptop today, I'd get a smaller solid-state drive.
Watched code never compiles.
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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 Gateway with an i5 processor, some huge amount of disk space I'm only using 30% of, and 4GB RAM with W7 Home Premium. I use it almost constantly for heavy duty development: Visual Studio 8 and 9, SQL Server, Oracle Personal Edition, various tools, etc. My only complaint is that I wish it had an illuminated keyboard. Otherwise, the machine is delightful. Marc
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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.
Deyan Georgiev wrote:
Very few of the laptops will last 4-5 years especially if intensively used.
I've been using an IBM ThinkPad (Pentium III) at work everyday for the past 7-ish years. It's slower than cold molasses but does its job nonetheless.
"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.
Just get yourself a netbook, unless you really want a bigger screen. Your list about sums up what I use mine for, and it's just an Intel Atom with 2 GB ram. (Of course, mine also cost $500 but that's because I got one with a touchscreen that rotates so I can also use it as a tablet...). Just remember, if you get a netbook you may need an external CD drive. You probably won't miss it though.
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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 environment do you want to use it in? For tough use, you may want to look at one of the ruggedized Dell or Panasonic laptops. I have heard good things about both, but have no personal experience.
Best wishes, Hans
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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
My kids, who inherit my cast off machines, have just expired a Dell that was 7+ yo, I bought it as a desktop replacement, used it for 3 years, travelling! Then they cog a Compaq that is not 4yo and working happily! Maybe they are building in a shorter life these days but some of the older machines were quite robust.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH
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I personally would want at least win pro, you never know what the future holds for you. Same thing to be said for the processor. i3 would be sufficient for what you are describing but you never know. in a few months you might get an itch to get into mobile programming or some such thing, then you might think that the i5 would have been better. ram.. get all it can take :-D I have a win 7 ultimate, i7 processor, 8 gig ram, and highly rated everything else(such as graphics card). But I specifically bought mine for development. I run up to 5 vms some days, multiple visual studios etc..I also run things such as Eclipse with the Android and crackberry plugins.Yes, it cost a tad more than the 500 dollar mark. That being said, I recently bought a laptop for an employee(company money of course) that had win 7 pro, an i5 processor, 4 gig ram and over 500 gig hard drive for right at 800 bucks..Dell Vostro of some sort I think it was.
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.
Good points - Thanks! I definitely want Win7Pro - being able to join my domain is probably going to be handy. I looked at the Vostro, and it's a nice machine. But I don't think I could get much done on a 14" screen.
Will Rogers never met me.
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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)
A netbook is probably a good choice for you youngsters, but I can't see the screen without squinting, and the keys are far too small.
Will Rogers never met me.