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University Computer Science Laptop.

bradscoolio

Hi there guys!

My brother has put me onto the task of finding a laptop for him to use at university.

He'll be studying either computer science or software engineering, and It needs to have good battery life and be portable.

It also needs to have all the necessary requirements for say virtual machines, as he'll be doing a lot of programming and study of operating systems etc.

Whether he needs lots of cores with hyperthreading or lots of ram for the vm's, I'm not sure. that's where you lovely fellas come in ;)

We live in Melbourne Australia and our budget is a max of $1200, preferably can you find one from a big box store such as: JB-HI, Harvey Norman, office works etc.

I like the idea of an Ultrabook but i'm not sure if it'll handle what he needs to do with it.

Cheers!

export PS1='\[\033[1;30m\]┌╼ \[\033[1;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[1;30m\] ╾╼ \[\033[0;34m\]\w\[\033[0;36m\]\n\[\033[1;30m\]└╼ \[\033[1;37m\]'


"All your threads are belong to /dev/null"


| 80's Terminal Keyboard Conversion | $5 Graphics Card Silence Mod Tutorial | 485KH/s R9 270X | The Smallest Ethernet Cable | Ass Pennies | My Screenfetch |

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I dont do anything with computer's in uni but I've seen alot of the software engineering students with lenovo's - IBM's , dunno if a choice thing or a pricing thing

 

but the think pads seem quite well

 

I am quite sure there's a MSY in melbourne, you will get it cheaper there then harvey norman and the like

Its all about those volumetric clouds

 

 

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Plenty of options. I Started of my CS degree with a mac, found it harder and harder to find OSX compatible programs for programming. 

You could always dual boot, just never felt like it.

 

Anyways. I'm sure he'd be fine w/ an i5 anything. Save money by getting an i5 then upgrade the ram and pop an ssd in there on your own. You will be solid.

Don't think that since he's doing computer programming /  engineering he will need a power house because he wont. at all. Anything really would work, but up the ram and add ssd!

 

Hope this helps.

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When does he need it for? Mid year intakes? I would seriously wait for Haswell because it's power optimized. The issue with the decently performing laptops is that they can get a little power hungry. 

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He's getting it for his birthday may 18th so it will have to last for as long as possible.

export PS1='\[\033[1;30m\]┌╼ \[\033[1;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[1;30m\] ╾╼ \[\033[0;34m\]\w\[\033[0;36m\]\n\[\033[1;30m\]└╼ \[\033[1;37m\]'


"All your threads are belong to /dev/null"


| 80's Terminal Keyboard Conversion | $5 Graphics Card Silence Mod Tutorial | 485KH/s R9 270X | The Smallest Ethernet Cable | Ass Pennies | My Screenfetch |

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I'm thinking http://m.harveynorman.com.au/hp-envy-6-1113tx-sleekbook-laptop.html

8gb of memory, SSD cashing, i7, 9 hour battery.

Looks pretty good to me :)

export PS1='\[\033[1;30m\]┌╼ \[\033[1;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[1;30m\] ╾╼ \[\033[0;34m\]\w\[\033[0;36m\]\n\[\033[1;30m\]└╼ \[\033[1;37m\]'


"All your threads are belong to /dev/null"


| 80's Terminal Keyboard Conversion | $5 Graphics Card Silence Mod Tutorial | 485KH/s R9 270X | The Smallest Ethernet Cable | Ass Pennies | My Screenfetch |

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I'm not entirely happy with HP laptops. A couple of my friends both have DV6's and have had to RMA them for structural issues - parts rattling around internally. I'd have a closer look at the Asus models as I was talking with someone I know who works at JB HiFi Brighton and they're shifting a lot more of the Asus units and have less issues with them especially compared to HP. The other option would be the Dell XPS. I wouldn't touch any of their low end products but their 2012 XPS laptops were pretty decent. Only problem is that I think now they're all using 128GB SSD's for the low end units which may be an issue for you.

 

Also I'll move this to mobile devices.

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Cheers :)

export PS1='\[\033[1;30m\]┌╼ \[\033[1;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[1;30m\] ╾╼ \[\033[0;34m\]\w\[\033[0;36m\]\n\[\033[1;30m\]└╼ \[\033[1;37m\]'


"All your threads are belong to /dev/null"


| 80's Terminal Keyboard Conversion | $5 Graphics Card Silence Mod Tutorial | 485KH/s R9 270X | The Smallest Ethernet Cable | Ass Pennies | My Screenfetch |

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Found this bad boy at msy: Asus Ultrabook R505CB-XO004H i7-3537U

Looks like a winner!

export PS1='\[\033[1;30m\]┌╼ \[\033[1;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[1;30m\] ╾╼ \[\033[0;34m\]\w\[\033[0;36m\]\n\[\033[1;30m\]└╼ \[\033[1;37m\]'


"All your threads are belong to /dev/null"


| 80's Terminal Keyboard Conversion | $5 Graphics Card Silence Mod Tutorial | 485KH/s R9 270X | The Smallest Ethernet Cable | Ass Pennies | My Screenfetch |

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I am a Business Information Systems and Combined Studies student in Uni and I did all the PL/SQL on my old ASUS G73Jh that is now dead as dead. But it did all my virtual machines and Oracle database perfectly.

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I'm a computer engineering major and I can tell you that CS doesn't really require any special functions of a laptop. Just pick any modern one that fits his unique preferences. The only thing I can say is that a bigger screen (if he doesn't mind the extra weight) is helpful when you have two windows open side by side.

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