Soon-to-be uni student in need of advice

[QuestionablyQuiet]

I'm going to be attending a programme of programming. I've been wondering what kind of laptop should/could I get for Computer Science.

My budget is about $500-$700. I know that the most I can get out of that is something decently ok, along the lines of atleast 8 gigs of ram, 8th gen Intel i5, ssd for storage, decent display and keyboard, etc... Nothing too shabby, just entry level for what It's needed for.

 

I'm trying to gather as much info as I can in regards to viable options of what I should/shouldn't go for to make the decision that would be the best for me. For instance I'm skeptical of HP laptops, used ones, etc..

 

Any and all help is appreciated.

[Slottr]

This space is kinda weird, because you can go thousands of different routes

 

Higher level, and second year courses will probably want you to do UNIX work, which is where this recommendation comes from-

 

I'd get an older macbook or macbook pro. The OS is super refined and a little more user friendly than linux (without practice) and you have the ability to stay within your native OS without dual booting windows and ubuntu, for example.

[QuestionablyQuiet]

9 minutes ago, Slottr said:

This space is kinda weird, because you can go thousands of different routes

 

Higher level, and second year courses will probably want you to do UNIX work, which is where this recommendation comes from-

 

I'd get an older macbook or macbook pro. The OS is super refined and a little more user friendly than linux (without practice) and you have the ability to stay within your native OS without dual booting windows and ubuntu, for example.

Thank you for the advice!

I haven't really taken apple products into consideration thus far. I have heard that they can be really good and trustworthy, just a tad bit too much on the expensive side. Both when it comes to buying it brand new, or having it repaired if something goes wrong.

 

Though I would prefer to buy something brand new, I'll definitely take into consideration buying an older macbook (/pro).

[Slottr]

9 minutes ago, QuestionablyQuiet said:

Thank you for the advice!

I haven't really taken apple products into consideration thus far. I have heard that they can be really good and trustworthy, just a tad bit too much on the expensive side. Both when it comes to buying it brand new, or having it repaired if something goes wrong.

 

Though I would prefer to buy something brand new, I'll definitely take into consideration buying an older macbook (/pro).

Yeah if you're okay with dual booting, its absolutely fine to go with something non-apple. That's what I do at least- I have an XPS 13 with windows 10 and Ubuntu on it. Would wildly prefer a macbook though.

 

I'd look at maybe an ideapad or if you're okay with a larger, thicker system- a T440. But they're fairly big, and probably not as ideal for campus

[Metallus97]

7 minutes ago, QuestionablyQuiet said:

Thank you for the advice!

I haven't really taken apple products into consideration thus far. I have heard that they can be really good and trustworthy, just a tad bit too much on the expensive side. Both when it comes to buying it brand new, or having it repaired if something goes wrong.

 

Though I would prefer to buy something brand new, I'll definitely take into consideration buying an older macbook (/pro).

Yup! Idd go with an older MBP. They last for ages and with dual boot are verry flexible depending on what you need to code

[Kon-Tiki]

19 minutes ago, QuestionablyQuiet said:

Though I would prefer to buy something brand new

In some countries Lenovo offers quite good student deals. The ThinkPad E495 and ThinkPad E595 sell in the price range you stated (depending on configuration) and what I know from Lenovo, I expect the E series to have a decent build quality (albeit not reaching T series features and quality). However be aware that they might not come with an OS, which you might not need anyway, as a lot of universities offer free (or greatly reduced) Windows 10 licenses. And ultimately you'll work with Linux quite a bit (from what I know from our department of Computer Sciences).

[genexis_x]

22 hours ago, QuestionablyQuiet said:

My budget is about $500-$700

Are you from US? By decent display you mean high sRGB display? Any preferences on weight, battery life and display size?