I have a budget of around $750 and I expect to be able to code in it. I honestly have not much idea what the ideal requirement of a laptop for a college student should be, which is why I am asking here to get an estimate of the specs I should be considering while choosing one. I would advice against naming any specific laptop as I have no guarantee of its availability in my region.
Edit: Seeing some of the comments, I have decided to add some context and additional constraints:
- Fit for Computer Science: I wish for the laptop to handle all the tasks expected from the course with reasonable efficiency first and foremost. Gaming support (at least Minecraft) may be desirable but completely optional.
- Windows only: I am completely inexperienced with Linux and college life, and I want to prioritize my studies over setting up and learning a completely new OS until I am sure I can find enough time to consider switching, so for the time being I am going with Windows. Moreover, the cheapest models among the Macbooks available here cost way above my budget and aren’t feasible either.
- Newly purchasable models only: My college is offering a grant for newly bought laptops and it is in my best interest to avail the offer to get the most capable model possible, so I will not be purchasing any used laptop.
- Price matching allotted budget: For the same reason above, I will not be deviating from my budget by more than $100 from either side.
I understand that these constraints narrow down my options by a large margin. If no one can offer something that fulfills the above criteria, that’s OK. I will ask someone else or simply buy one by my own intuition. I will only request you to comment if you actually have a suggestion that respects the above constraints and not just to complain about them.
Whatever you do, do NOT buy a gaming laptop. They usually have utterly terrible battery life and are very noisy.
If you are planning to code then for your own sanity, install Linux or get a Mac.
No. Please stop supporting their soldered-in designed-ewaste ways
Just install Linux OP, you’ll get far more computer for the money AND you’ll be able to upgrade it in the future by avoiding a Mac
There are legitimate reasons to buy a Mac. For example I knew a guy in university who, in addition to being a computer science major, was an avid amateur filmmaker and frequently took filmmaking classes as electives. For that, he needed Premier Pro which doesn’t run on Linux, but does run on Mac. So he bought a used MacBook Pro.
Yes but the reasons to do so are specific and few and far between. OP did not say anything about Filmmaking, which is one of the few areas that there aren’t a whole lot of alternatives.
You definitely don’t need a Mac for CS/coding and nearly all other college work which is what OP mentioned.
And a used MacBook means you are a lot closer to a SSD failure, that you can’t easily replace because it’s all soldered just like Apple wants
Kdenlive and Davinci Resolve say hi.
Industry standards and class requirements say “hi”.
Well fuck so called Industry standards and class requirements.
The digital world should be built upon non proprietary “standards”.
That’s a nice speech but if your boss tells you to use Premier Pro and you don’t, you get fired. If the assignment says to use Premier Pro and you turn in a Davinci Resolve project, you get a zero.
I don’t disagree that the status quo is bad, but you can’t pretend that the standards as they are don’t exist just because you don’t agree with them.
Well fuck that teach if they require you to use proprietary shit.
And fuck that company as well.
Yes the status quo exist and I refuse to accept it.
Besides to circle back, if company and course require software they need to have to provide it and hardware to run it on.
It goes without saying that it’s reasonable to expect a company you work for to provide a company computer for work purposes.
But if a cheque from the company pays for the food on my table and the roof over my head, if they say “dance” during work hours, I’m gonna dance.
You had me in the first half