Thin/light laptop for programming?

[HiJoeK]

 

I'm looking for some new hardware. My laptop (Razer stealth 13 2017 model. 8550u cpu) is showing its age.

 

I want to stick with a thin/light windows laptop. Budget is under $2200. I was looking at the new xps 15. It is bigger than I like, but looks smaller than most 15" laptops

 

I biggest thing is something that will compile fast. Wifi6 is a bonus. 256gb storage is enough. 16b ram is good for me. I don't care about sound, but build quality and a nice track pad are pretty essential too

 

Thanks!

 

[RadiatingLight]

If you don't need a GPU, then XPS13 could work for you, LG Gram is a good option.

You could also wait a little bit for Ryzen 4000 series processors to show up in more thin and lights, and they'll compile much faster than anything Intel currently has to offer. 8550U is still a very capable processor so you could probably keep it for a few more months until then.

[5x5]

The new XPS models have some wicked heat issues. Avoid them for now.

 

Your best bet is to look at Ryzen Renoir since intel haven't released anything a lot better than your current CPU. Meanwhile, a Ryzen 4700U is over double the performance of your current CPU

[TheBean]

you'll probably want something with a ryzen 4000 series cpu. those are MUCH faster than intel's offerings in terms of code compiling. thats because they have more cores. 

[Streetguru]

4 minutes ago, HiJoeK said:

 

I'm looking for some new hardware. My laptop (Razer stealth 13 2017 model. 8550u cpu) is showing its age.

Unless you also need an updated GPU i don't know how much of an upgrade anything will be.

Could try one of the newer Ryzen 4000 8 core laptops that just came out, might have more available now.

 

and you might as well go for 32Gbs if it's user upgradable.

[5x5]

Just now, RadiatingLight said:

If you don't need a GPU, then XPS13 could work for you, LG Gram is a good option.

You could also wait a little bit for Ryzen 4000 series processors to show up in more thin and lights, and they'll compile much faster than anything Intel currently has to offer. 8550U is still a very capable processor so you could probably keep it for a few more months until then.

Agreed with all except XPS. The 13 runs very hot and very loud even doing basic stuff. It's also got latency and firmware issues. I'd avoid them for now

[HiJoeK]

thanks, everyone! I'll take a look at what ryzen laptops are out there.