Laptop CPU for programming

[adamwox]

Hi!

It has to be Windows, because of the types of some projects. Mostly web applications with ASP .NET + Angular. From time to time also mobile apps with Flutter, so the CPU must be able to handle android emulator, sometimes not just one.

 

APPLICATIONS:

Visual Studio 2022, Visual Studio Code, NodeJS, MS SQL Server, SQL Server Management Studio, Postman, Android Studio and some ERP Applications.

 

PS.

I quit my job after 6 year and went for B2B contract. The company that I will work with is giving me a laptop and monitor, but I can't do my own stuff on it. For the last 6 year I was working with Lenovo Legion y530-ich (i7-8750H, 16GB RAM, two 512 Samsung SSD (860 EVO and 980) and it is still really fast and it's able to handle a lot of stuff at once. 

 

Should I go for something new? Should I buy used, same Legion? Which CPU - AMD or Intel? Is 16GB of RAM enough? What matters - highest Hz or more cores?

[AndreiArgeanu]

11 minutes ago, adamwox said:

Lenovo Legion y530-ich (i7-8750H, 16GB RAM, two 512 Samsung SSD (860 EVO and 980) and it is still really fast and it's able to handle a lot of stuff at once. 

That's kinda the answer to your question. If what you have currently is satisfactory and meets your needs then there's no need to upgrade, assumming you still have the laptop. It also depends on how you're going to use the laptop. Do you plan to be away from the wall for longer periods of time? Then a laptop with a lower power CPU might be worth considering such as a laptop with a i7 1255U which is still a really capable CPU (2P cores up to 4.7ghz and 8E cores up to 3.5GHZ) but also offers good battery life when you need it in comparison with an H series chip like the i7 13700H which has a base power of 45W which is 3 times as much as the 15W of the i7 1255U.

[ImorallySourcedElectrons]

I'd up the ram to 32GB at least, or at least ensure there's an upgrade path available. Memory requirements are escalating quickly.

[adamwox]

@AndreiArgeanuI don't have lenovo legion anymore. I had to return it.

 

About i7 1255U - base power is 15W, but what if I turn on max performance mode in battery settings? 

[AndreiArgeanu]

2 hours ago, adamwox said:

@AndreiArgeanuI don't have lenovo legion anymore. I had to return it.

 

About i7 1255U - base power is 15W, but what if I turn on max performance mode in battery settings? 

Depends on the manufacturer and thermal limits but on Intel's site the max turbo power is 55W

[adamwox]

Is there any reliable website to compare CPUs? I've heard that cpu.userbenchmark is the worst of them all.

BTW - second thoughts

I am not sure which way should I go. Prices are almost the same compared to gaming versions.

1. I am not going to do 3 hours sessions with clients without power.

2, I would prefer to show some progress to my clients online, from office or home, by remote control.

3. I would be able to play some games when I travel for vacations

 

Most of them are with RTX 3050. I know it is not powerfull, but definitely better than GTX 1050.

 

 

[Aremis]

8 hours ago, adamwox said:

Hi!

It has to be Windows, because of the types of some projects. Mostly web applications with ASP .NET + Angular. From time to time also mobile apps with Flutter, so the CPU must be able to handle android emulator, sometimes not just one.

 

APPLICATIONS:

Visual Studio 2022, Visual Studio Code, NodeJS, MS SQL Server, SQL Server Management Studio, Postman, Android Studio and some ERP Applications.

 

PS.

I quit my job after 6 year and went for B2B contract. The company that I will work with is giving me a laptop and monitor, but I can't do my own stuff on it. For the last 6 year I was working with Lenovo Legion y530-ich (i7-8750H, 16GB RAM, two 512 Samsung SSD (860 EVO and 980) and it is still really fast and it's able to handle a lot of stuff at once. 

 

Should I go for something new? Should I buy used, same Legion? Which CPU - AMD or Intel? Is 16GB of RAM enough? What matters - highest Hz or more cores?

I'm a janky asshole so I want that made clear up front.

 

MSI made a thiccboy laptop, or asus?, that had an AM4 socket and your choice of 1600X or 1800X, with up to like 64GB ram with 4 sodimm slots or some dumb shart like that.

Given that it has a SOCKET in it....  Could you upgrade that maybe?

Just a suggestion.  Skip laptop CPU's all together ;3

[NoTechTipsPlease]

1 hour ago, Aremis said:

I'm a janky asshole so I want that made clear up front.

 

MSI made a thiccboy laptop, or asus?, that had an AM4 socket and your choice of 1600X or 1800X, with up to like 64GB ram with 4 sodimm slots or some dumb shart like that.

Given that it has a SOCKET in it....  Could you upgrade that maybe?

Just a suggestion.  Skip laptop CPU's all together ;3

Battery life = no

[Aremis]

5 minutes ago, NoTechTipsPlease said:

Battery life = no

Meh?  He's got a work laptop.  Have this one on the network nearby.  Boom, processor.  Then it doesn't matter what the other machine is.  He could have an Atom N270 for all I care.

 

But thats also how I think so eh, not everyone likes distributed computing

[wasab]

I suggest 6 core(or more) latest intel or amd and at least 16 gb ram. Ram is actually the biggest. IDEs like android studio and intellij are very ram heavy. Add it with emulators, dozens of docker containers running elastic search, database, redis and what not as part of your local dev set up, ram can be eaten up quickly. Then you may also have to combine it with regular zoom calls with your coworkers(assuming you are working remote like me) in which you screen share while having dozens of chrome tabs opened. Not to mentioned pre production, unoptimize softwares you are debugging with bad memeory leaks or just hogging more ram than it needs to... so yeah... just get more rams. 

 

Btw, having worked on a 34 inch monitor, I can't imagine going back to tiny laptop screen. I don't see how it is even possible to code on these tiny screen sizes. Invest in a couple of monitors that you can hook up for more screen real estate at least. Two side by side is a good set up. 

[adamwox]

Battery life doesn't bother me and there are laptops that are not so thic, like IdeaPad gaming 3.

 

I got my new laptop from company that I started to work with, it's HP with i5-1235u and... It seems not so fast. Maybe because there is Win11, but for 3 days I had trainings what I am going to do and how systems works. It was just emails, teams chats and calls and it struggles. I read somewhere that i5-1235u is same as i7-1250u or 1260u but with vPro so what's the point. 

 

I don't know what to do.