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.
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
For that, he needed Premier Pro which doesn’t run on Linux, but does run on Mac.
Kdenlive and Davinci Resolve say hi.
If your course allows it, an m1 macbook air might be within your price range if you shop around.
It would be better to get just about any other laptop and just install Linux. At least OP could get a laptop specced lower on ram and storage and upgrade later unlike Apples entire M line of MacBooks. No upgrades, and when (Not if, when) the storage dies you’re just screwed.
Plus, you just get more computer per dollar when you don’t have to pay the Apple Tax
You can code pretty much with every laptop.
ThinkPad is always a solid choice.
It seems to me that the quality of Thinkpads have decreased the past few years, though I would still choose that over a Dell or HP. Thinkpads are best when buying used from companies replacing their computer fleet.
If you have a desktop at home, what was working super well for me was to just get a cheap laptop, and figure out Wake on Lan through RPI. When I needed to do anything that demanded more than running a simple text editor from my laptop, I just WoL my desktop and connected using Parsec. I never ran into issues, but it depends on WiFi you have (or having an unlimited mobile data plan, which I also have).
I could play any game through Parsec without any issues, and when they asked us to work in Unreal Engine, I was one of the only ones actually being able to run it without major stuttering and such a long loading times.
