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  3. Buying a Laptop - Can I have some help?

Buying a Laptop - Can I have some help?

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  • N Nagy Vilmos

    Okay, what spec should I look for for a dev ready laptop? I won't need over 15" screen as I have an external I'll use as well, but I'm after help on processor [i5?] and memory [4GB]. I am undecided between going down Win8 or finally switching to Ubuntu [Ubuntu, they use it in the Jungle!]. HDD capacity isn't a big thing, I've got 2TB, and growing, external. But a DVD player would be useful or should I move to an external. The budgie right now is ~£400 but I'd like to know what I should get [probably costs more] and then look at what I can get. Mercans can only suggest if they'll ship it here. For free. As in beer.

    Reality is an illusion caused by a lack of alcohol "Nagy, you have won the internets." - Keith Barrow

    E Offline
    E Offline
    Ennis Ray Lynch Jr
    wrote on last edited by
    #5

    My current laptop is an i7 with 8gb and Windows 7 Pro and an SSD works great. Total cost about $800. It's an ACER. Hard to beat. Considering the exchange rate you might be able to get similar, esp. since my laptio is 2 years old.

    Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. "And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs" -- Robert Frost "All users always want Excel" --Ennis Lynch

    OriginalGriffO 1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • L Lost User

      i5's are fine, but 4GB RAM seems a little tight to me

      C Offline
      C Offline
      Colin Mullikin
      wrote on last edited by
      #6

      I agree. An i5 is perfectly fine for development. In most situations, an i7 is overkill. 4GB of RAM seems kinda low. I would try to get 8GB (6GB would work fine, but it's rare).

      The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative. -Winston Churchill America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between. -Oscar Wilde Wow, even the French showed a little more spine than that before they got their sh*t pushed in.[^] -Colin Mullikin

      I 1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • N Nagy Vilmos

        Okay, what spec should I look for for a dev ready laptop? I won't need over 15" screen as I have an external I'll use as well, but I'm after help on processor [i5?] and memory [4GB]. I am undecided between going down Win8 or finally switching to Ubuntu [Ubuntu, they use it in the Jungle!]. HDD capacity isn't a big thing, I've got 2TB, and growing, external. But a DVD player would be useful or should I move to an external. The budgie right now is ~£400 but I'd like to know what I should get [probably costs more] and then look at what I can get. Mercans can only suggest if they'll ship it here. For free. As in beer.

        Reality is an illusion caused by a lack of alcohol "Nagy, you have won the internets." - Keith Barrow

        M Offline
        M Offline
        Maximilien
        wrote on last edited by
        #7

        Get Windows 8 (especially if it's OEM and you have the installtion disks) and install side-by-side with ubuntu. Got with 8 gig memory. Minimum 128gig SSD.

        I'd rather be phishing!

        1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • E Ennis Ray Lynch Jr

          My current laptop is an i7 with 8gb and Windows 7 Pro and an SSD works great. Total cost about $800. It's an ACER. Hard to beat. Considering the exchange rate you might be able to get similar, esp. since my laptio is 2 years old.

          Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. "And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs" -- Robert Frost "All users always want Excel" --Ennis Lynch

          OriginalGriffO Offline
          OriginalGriffO Offline
          OriginalGriff
          wrote on last edited by
          #8

          The normal exchange rate for electronics differs from the currency conversion. If you assume the currency rate is £1 == $1.5, or $800 == £500 (about right at the moment) then the exchange rate for electronics is normally $800 == £800 or thereabouts. Strangely, this doesn't vary much, despite what happens to the currency rate...:mad:

          This message is manufactured from fully recyclable noughts and ones. To recycle this message, please separate into two tidy piles, and take them to your nearest local recycling centre. Please note that in some areas noughts are always replaced with zeros by law, and many facilities cannot recycle zeroes - in this case, please bury them in your back garden and water frequently.

          "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
          "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt

          1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • N Nagy Vilmos

            Okay, what spec should I look for for a dev ready laptop? I won't need over 15" screen as I have an external I'll use as well, but I'm after help on processor [i5?] and memory [4GB]. I am undecided between going down Win8 or finally switching to Ubuntu [Ubuntu, they use it in the Jungle!]. HDD capacity isn't a big thing, I've got 2TB, and growing, external. But a DVD player would be useful or should I move to an external. The budgie right now is ~£400 but I'd like to know what I should get [probably costs more] and then look at what I can get. Mercans can only suggest if they'll ship it here. For free. As in beer.

            Reality is an illusion caused by a lack of alcohol "Nagy, you have won the internets." - Keith Barrow

            OriginalGriffO Offline
            OriginalGriffO Offline
            OriginalGriff
            wrote on last edited by
            #9

            Have you asked Dave? He might be able to do you a deal, provided you want a Red one! :laugh:

            This message is manufactured from fully recyclable noughts and ones. To recycle this message, please separate into two tidy piles, and take them to your nearest local recycling centre. Please note that in some areas noughts are always replaced with zeros by law, and many facilities cannot recycle zeroes - in this case, please bury them in your back garden and water frequently.

            "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
            "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt

            N M 2 Replies Last reply
            0
            • C Colin Mullikin

              I agree. An i5 is perfectly fine for development. In most situations, an i7 is overkill. 4GB of RAM seems kinda low. I would try to get 8GB (6GB would work fine, but it's rare).

              The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative. -Winston Churchill America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between. -Oscar Wilde Wow, even the French showed a little more spine than that before they got their sh*t pushed in.[^] -Colin Mullikin

              I Offline
              I Offline
              Ingo
              wrote on last edited by
              #10

              Colin Mullikin wrote:

              In most situations, an i7 is overkill.

              I like my i7. When you have nothing to do, you can open the task-manager and watch all 8 virtual threads. That's good entertainment. :-\

              SharePoint Consultant and Developer at acocon Author of Primary ROleplaying SysTem I'm the ninth in a row of seven!

              C 1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • I Ingo

                Colin Mullikin wrote:

                In most situations, an i7 is overkill.

                I like my i7. When you have nothing to do, you can open the task-manager and watch all 8 virtual threads. That's good entertainment. :-\

                SharePoint Consultant and Developer at acocon Author of Primary ROleplaying SysTem I'm the ninth in a row of seven!

                C Offline
                C Offline
                Colin Mullikin
                wrote on last edited by
                #11

                I like my i7 3770K as well, especially since I got it for the price of a 3570K i5. :-D When I built my computer, I was leaning towards the i5, but then I found the i7 for cheap and my decision was made for me. :laugh:

                The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative. -Winston Churchill America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between. -Oscar Wilde Wow, even the French showed a little more spine than that before they got their sh*t pushed in.[^] -Colin Mullikin

                I 1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • L Lost User

                  i5's are fine, but 4GB RAM seems a little tight to me

                  N Offline
                  N Offline
                  Nagy Vilmos
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #12

                  What about AMD CPU's? What would be equivalent to an i5.

                  Reality is an illusion caused by a lack of alcohol "Nagy, you have won the internets." - Keith Barrow

                  L M 2 Replies Last reply
                  0
                  • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

                    Have you asked Dave? He might be able to do you a deal, provided you want a Red one! :laugh:

                    This message is manufactured from fully recyclable noughts and ones. To recycle this message, please separate into two tidy piles, and take them to your nearest local recycling centre. Please note that in some areas noughts are always replaced with zeros by law, and many facilities cannot recycle zeroes - in this case, please bury them in your back garden and water frequently.

                    N Offline
                    N Offline
                    Nagy Vilmos
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #13

                    He said he could do me deal, but as it's "buyer collects" I'll have to price in the £200 bar bill. :-D

                    Reality is an illusion caused by a lack of alcohol "Nagy, you have won the internets." - Keith Barrow

                    OriginalGriffO 1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • N Nagy Vilmos

                      He said he could do me deal, but as it's "buyer collects" I'll have to price in the £200 bar bill. :-D

                      Reality is an illusion caused by a lack of alcohol "Nagy, you have won the internets." - Keith Barrow

                      OriginalGriffO Offline
                      OriginalGriffO Offline
                      OriginalGriff
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #14

                      Is that all? That's just the bar bar for the train from Waterloo to Hindhead...:TunelessWhistleSmiley:

                      This message is manufactured from fully recyclable noughts and ones. To recycle this message, please separate into two tidy piles, and take them to your nearest local recycling centre. Please note that in some areas noughts are always replaced with zeros by law, and many facilities cannot recycle zeroes - in this case, please bury them in your back garden and water frequently.

                      "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
                      "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt

                      N 1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • C Colin Mullikin

                        I like my i7 3770K as well, especially since I got it for the price of a 3570K i5. :-D When I built my computer, I was leaning towards the i5, but then I found the i7 for cheap and my decision was made for me. :laugh:

                        The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative. -Winston Churchill America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between. -Oscar Wilde Wow, even the French showed a little more spine than that before they got their sh*t pushed in.[^] -Colin Mullikin

                        I Offline
                        I Offline
                        Ingo
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #15

                        Colin Mullikin wrote:

                        I like my i7 3770K as well, especially since I got it for the price of a 3570K i5.

                        Yeah! Sound good. I've only got a small one (3610QM) in my Laptop, but it's fast enough for programming, design, 3D-programming and games (with a GT650M it's really nice).

                        SharePoint Consultant and Developer at acocon Author of Primary ROleplaying SysTem I'm the ninth in a row of seven!

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • N Nagy Vilmos

                          What about AMD CPU's? What would be equivalent to an i5.

                          Reality is an illusion caused by a lack of alcohol "Nagy, you have won the internets." - Keith Barrow

                          L Offline
                          L Offline
                          Lost User
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #16

                          Nothing. AMD has processors that are in that performance range, but they are desktop processors with TDPs over 100W.

                          N 1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • L Lost User

                            Nothing. AMD has processors that are in that performance range, but they are desktop processors with TDPs over 100W.

                            N Offline
                            N Offline
                            Nagy Vilmos
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #17

                            I don't know half this shit. :laugh: :laugh: I've found a Toshiba, a brand I trust and like, with an i5, 4gb and 1TB HDD all for £390. It can take a second 4gd RAM block [or so it is said] which I'll do later. It might be I are sorted.

                            Reality is an illusion caused by a lack of alcohol "Nagy, you have won the internets." - Keith Barrow

                            M L 2 Replies Last reply
                            0
                            • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

                              Is that all? That's just the bar bar for the train from Waterloo to Hindhead...:TunelessWhistleSmiley:

                              This message is manufactured from fully recyclable noughts and ones. To recycle this message, please separate into two tidy piles, and take them to your nearest local recycling centre. Please note that in some areas noughts are always replaced with zeros by law, and many facilities cannot recycle zeroes - in this case, please bury them in your back garden and water frequently.

                              N Offline
                              N Offline
                              Nagy Vilmos
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #18

                              Have you been to Hindhead? I'd need a lot more before I went there again!

                              Reality is an illusion caused by a lack of alcohol "Nagy, you have won the internets." - Keith Barrow

                              OriginalGriffO 1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

                                Have you asked Dave? He might be able to do you a deal, provided you want a Red one! :laugh:

                                This message is manufactured from fully recyclable noughts and ones. To recycle this message, please separate into two tidy piles, and take them to your nearest local recycling centre. Please note that in some areas noughts are always replaced with zeros by law, and many facilities cannot recycle zeroes - in this case, please bury them in your back garden and water frequently.

                                M Offline
                                M Offline
                                Mark_Wallace
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #19

                                OriginalGriff wrote:

                                Have you asked Dave? He might be able to do you a deal, provided you want a Red one!

                                He's even gone one further than apple, by making it bucket shaped.

                                I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!

                                OriginalGriffO 1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • N Nagy Vilmos

                                  Okay, what spec should I look for for a dev ready laptop? I won't need over 15" screen as I have an external I'll use as well, but I'm after help on processor [i5?] and memory [4GB]. I am undecided between going down Win8 or finally switching to Ubuntu [Ubuntu, they use it in the Jungle!]. HDD capacity isn't a big thing, I've got 2TB, and growing, external. But a DVD player would be useful or should I move to an external. The budgie right now is ~£400 but I'd like to know what I should get [probably costs more] and then look at what I can get. Mercans can only suggest if they'll ship it here. For free. As in beer.

                                  Reality is an illusion caused by a lack of alcohol "Nagy, you have won the internets." - Keith Barrow

                                  M Offline
                                  M Offline
                                  Marc A Brown
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #20

                                  I recently bought a new workstation. It has a current generation i5 and 8GB of RAM. If you can get 8, I'd go for it. And if you're doing Windows development, you're going to want to go Win8 (I would recommend Win8 unless you have a real reason to go with Linux, but then I've been shamelessly singing its praises since before RTM). If you can get one, a multitouch touchpad is helpful (I have a Logitech T650 for my workstation). I much prefer that to a mouse when working with Win8.

                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • N Nagy Vilmos

                                    I don't know half this shit. :laugh: :laugh: I've found a Toshiba, a brand I trust and like, with an i5, 4gb and 1TB HDD all for £390. It can take a second 4gd RAM block [or so it is said] which I'll do later. It might be I are sorted.

                                    Reality is an illusion caused by a lack of alcohol "Nagy, you have won the internets." - Keith Barrow

                                    M Offline
                                    M Offline
                                    Marc A Brown
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #21

                                    Yeah, as long as you can upgrade the RAM, you should be OK with that.

                                    1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • M Mark_Wallace

                                      OriginalGriff wrote:

                                      Have you asked Dave? He might be able to do you a deal, provided you want a Red one!

                                      He's even gone one further than apple, by making it bucket shaped.

                                      I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!

                                      OriginalGriffO Offline
                                      OriginalGriffO Offline
                                      OriginalGriff
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #22

                                      That makes sense. When you find its got Win 8 and you can't get it off, you can kick the bucket... :laugh:

                                      This message is manufactured from fully recyclable noughts and ones. To recycle this message, please separate into two tidy piles, and take them to your nearest local recycling centre. Please note that in some areas noughts are always replaced with zeros by law, and many facilities cannot recycle zeroes - in this case, please bury them in your back garden and water frequently.

                                      "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
                                      "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt

                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • N Nagy Vilmos

                                        Okay, what spec should I look for for a dev ready laptop? I won't need over 15" screen as I have an external I'll use as well, but I'm after help on processor [i5?] and memory [4GB]. I am undecided between going down Win8 or finally switching to Ubuntu [Ubuntu, they use it in the Jungle!]. HDD capacity isn't a big thing, I've got 2TB, and growing, external. But a DVD player would be useful or should I move to an external. The budgie right now is ~£400 but I'd like to know what I should get [probably costs more] and then look at what I can get. Mercans can only suggest if they'll ship it here. For free. As in beer.

                                        Reality is an illusion caused by a lack of alcohol "Nagy, you have won the internets." - Keith Barrow

                                        V Offline
                                        V Offline
                                        vonb
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #23

                                        Hi Nagy, quick response before I go on a plane to Ibiza (Amsterdam no more good due to my knee, cannot walk to much..). On the serious side I just bought a new SONY VAIO for my friend (he paid it, 499 CHF, great machine) I have an Acer 5250 ASPIRE at home and I like it, got it for 600 CHF.. With 0.69 rate enter your budget..

                                        The signature is in building process.. Please wait...

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                                        • N Nagy Vilmos

                                          Have you been to Hindhead? I'd need a lot more before I went there again!

                                          Reality is an illusion caused by a lack of alcohol "Nagy, you have won the internets." - Keith Barrow

                                          OriginalGriffO Offline
                                          OriginalGriffO Offline
                                          OriginalGriff
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #24

                                          I went through there every Elephanting day in the rush hour for seven or eight years (before they started work on the tunnel). I never stopped there voluntarily...but away from the A3 it's OK, apparently.

                                          This message is manufactured from fully recyclable noughts and ones. To recycle this message, please separate into two tidy piles, and take them to your nearest local recycling centre. Please note that in some areas noughts are always replaced with zeros by law, and many facilities cannot recycle zeroes - in this case, please bury them in your back garden and water frequently.

                                          "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
                                          "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt

                                          N 1 Reply Last reply
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