Laptop Recommendation for Comp Sci Program

[Tromulus]

I'm needing a decent laptop for an upcoming University program this Fall.

 

Required specs for the program are; 15-16 inch screen, 16GB RAM (more is better), 512GB SSD, among other basics like USB slots and webcam.

 

Beyond that I'm not sure which components (CPU, GPU etc.) will provide a better experience. I don't think I'll be doing any 3D modeling, and I'm not sure how important a good CPU would be.

 

Any money I can save will go towards the desktop I'm building that I use for gaming/music production/video editing.

 

I did find this: https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/asus-vivobook-s-15-6-oled-laptop-midnight-black-intel-evo-core-i9-13900h-1tb-ssd-16gb-ram/16943135

It's got a decent CPU, but I'm a little disappointed that the RAM can't be upgraded and there is no GPU (which is fine if I don't need one).

 

Thanks,

 

-Thomas

[Agall]

28 minutes ago, Tromulus said:

I'm needing a decent laptop for an upcoming University program this Fall.

 

Required specs for the program are; 15-16 inch screen, 16GB RAM (more is better), 512GB SSD, among other basics like USB slots and webcam.

 

Beyond that I'm not sure which components (CPU, GPU etc.) will provide a better experience. I don't think I'll be doing any 3D modeling, and I'm not sure how important a good CPU would be.

 

Any money I can save will go towards the desktop I'm building that I use for gaming/music production/video editing.

 

I did find this: https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/asus-vivobook-s-15-6-oled-laptop-midnight-black-intel-evo-core-i9-13900h-1tb-ssd-16gb-ram/16943135

It's got a decent CPU, but I'm a little disappointed that the RAM can't be upgraded and there is no GPU (which is fine if I don't need one).

 

Thanks,

 

-Thomas

I'd say you're starting with a good option. You'll likely find yourself limited by an ultrabook 'U' series processor over the 'H' variants. Less battery life, but you should have AC outlets in most CS field spaces at a campus (should).

 

Something to consider is a previous generation gaming laptop, which will usually have socketed RAM if you needed to upgrade. 15.6" being a common form factor. That laptop you linked at least has the major reason to go with gaming laptops, being the 'medium' sized CPU die. They're physically larger than the ultrabook processors, but not as big as desktop processors, but will be far better at actual productivity like coding and such.

 

I'd look at an Nvidia GPU'd gaming laptop, probably last generation. Something with an RTX 3060 or such. It'll come with a dedicated encoder an support CUDA, which a lot of those applications prefer.

[ToboRobot]

You can code on a 13" laptop just as well as a 15" one.

I'd get a cheap MacBook air.  Computer science doesn't really need a powerful laptop, you need something thin and light easy to drag around to class with good battery life.  Laptop + powerful desktop (which you can use as a "server") is a much more valuable skillset to develop, and it's easier to remote into your machine to do heavy computation/access files than dragging around a chonky laptop.

 

[Tromulus]

1 hour ago, ToboRobot said:

You can code on a 13" laptop just as well as a 15" one.

I'd get a cheap MacBook air.  Computer science doesn't really need a powerful laptop, you need something thin and light easy to drag around to class with good battery life.  Laptop + powerful desktop (which you can use as a "server") is a much more valuable skillset to develop, and it's easier to remote into your machine to do heavy computation/access files than dragging around a chonky laptop.

 

I think their cited reason for the screen size is for using multi window applications.

 

Remote accessing the home PC would be an ideal option, depending on reliability. Would you have any software recommendations for that?

[Tromulus]

1 hour ago, Agall said:

I'd say you're starting with a good option. You'll likely find yourself limited by an ultrabook 'U' series processor over the 'H' variants. Less battery life, but you should have AC outlets in most CS field spaces at a campus (should).

 

Something to consider is a previous generation gaming laptop, which will usually have socketed RAM if you needed to upgrade. 15.6" being a common form factor. That laptop you linked at least has the major reason to go with gaming laptops, being the 'medium' sized CPU die. They're physically larger than the ultrabook processors, but not as big as desktop processors, but will be far better at actual productivity like coding and such.

 

I'd look at an Nvidia GPU'd gaming laptop, probably last generation. Something with an RTX 3060 or such. It'll come with a dedicated encoder an support CUDA, which a lot of those applications prefer.

How important do you think it would be to have expanded RAM? Or would 16GB be perfectly fine for my applications?

[Agall]

3 minutes ago, Tromulus said:

How important do you think it would be to have expanded RAM? Or would 16GB be perfectly fine for my applications?

TBH you'd probably be fine with 16GB, but I'd rather have 32GB in your scenario as well.

[ToboRobot]

1 minute ago, Tromulus said:

I think their cited reason for the screen size is for using multi window applications.

 

Remote accessing the home PC would be an ideal option, depending on reliability. Would you have any software recommendations for that?

I've went to university for CS, and college for cyber security, so I am speaking from experience.  I had  15 inch laptop with a GPU and it sucked.  Getting a smaller mac for college was much better.  Software compatibility for CS is great for macs.

The screen size difference doesn't make a real difference.  It's BS.  Virtual desktops are great, and a few inches doesn't help with anything other than a bigger screen.

Lots of ways to set it up the remote connection, just remember to think about security and backups. 

[ToboRobot]

8 minutes ago, Agall said:

TBH you'd probably be fine with 16GB, but I'd rather have 32GB in your scenario as well.

It's not apples to apples, but my macbook air with 8GB of RAM is perfectly capable of having 2 browsers with dozens of tabs, a couple PDFs, music playing, discord and happily be writing and compiling simple code projects.

Most projects in a CS program don't need 32GBs of RAM, and probably none of them actually do.

There is a big gap between hello world and compiling massive projects that require 32+ GB of RAM to build.  And once you get to that point, you use a laptop to connect to a desktop/server and build your code there.

Seriously consider what actual work you will be doing and spec your machine based on that.  If you want, feel free to email your professors and ask "What tools they are teaching with?", and see if they recommend an IDE.  It may be handy to use exactly what they teach as you follow along or you may be comfortable using a similar tool.  Personal preference and amount of individual learning you are willing to do is important.

[Agall]

1 minute ago, ToboRobot said:

It's not apples to apples, but my macbook air with 8GB of RAM is perfectly capable of having 2 browsers with dozens of tabs, a couple PDFs, music playing, discord and happily be writing and compiling simple code projects.

Most projects in a CS program don't need 32GBs of RAM, and probably none of them actually do.

There is a big gap between hello world and compiling massive projects that require 32+ GB of RAM to build.  And once you get to that point, you use a laptop to connect to a desktop/server and build your code there.

Seriously consider what actual work you will be doing and spec your machine based on that.

Precisely why I said, "TBH you'd probably be fine with 16GB, but I'd rather have 32GB in your scenario as well."

[ToboRobot]

1 minute ago, Agall said:

Precisely why I said, "TBH you'd probably be fine with 16GB, but I'd rather have 32GB in your scenario as well."

But why, especially if it's unlikely to be useful.  Why not 64GB of RAM?

[Agall]

11 minutes ago, ToboRobot said:

But why, especially if it's unlikely to be useful.  Why not 64GB of RAM?

I regularly run into limitations with 16GB with just multitasking, although the laptop I'm currently on is only 16GB, but using a dGPU with its own VRAM which can make a difference. There's specific applications that I'll run through RDP on the host server for that reason, because I'll otherwise cap out the system RAM.

 

I have desktops with all 3 configurations, 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB. 64GB isn't necessary, especially on a laptop where that can be prohibitively expensive. 32GB or even 24GB is another story, 16GB can be limiting in 2023 in my experience however.

 

In various scenarios, my RAM usage is anywhere from 18GB to 26GB at home. At work, I can get by with 16GB.

[ToboRobot]

12 hours ago, Agall said:

I regularly run into limitations with 16GB with just multitasking, although the laptop I'm currently on is only 16GB, but using a dGPU with its own VRAM which can make a difference. There's specific applications that I'll run through RDP on the host server for that reason, because I'll otherwise cap out the system RAM.

 

I have desktops with all 3 configurations, 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB. 64GB isn't necessary, especially on a laptop where that can be prohibitively expensive. 32GB or even 24GB is another story, 16GB can be limiting in 2023 in my experience however.

 

In various scenarios, my RAM usage is anywhere from 18GB to 26GB at home. At work, I can get by with 16GB.

I regularly run a 8GB mac and I zero issues.  Don't have issues simply multitasking with 16GBs of RAM on Windows or linux, so maybe that's a problem with your system or how you are using it.  Just because your computer sucks doesn't mean other people have to overspec their machine for issues that you experienced. 

16GB of RAM has been limiting for years, but only on workloads that need it, and you haven't shown how OPs workload will actually need it for a CS student laptop.

[Agall]

2 minutes ago, ToboRobot said:

I regularly run a 8GB mac and I zero issues.  Don't have issues simply multitasking with 16GBs of RAM on Windows or linux, so maybe that's a problem with your system or how you are using it.  Just because your computer sucks doesn't mean other people have to overspec their machine for issues that you experienced. 

16GB of RAM has been limiting for years, but only on workloads that need it, and you haven't shown how OPs workload will actually need it for a CS student laptop.

This is something I experience across multiple systems over the last ~4 years in multiple unique use cases both professionally and personally. This even translates down to lower end systems running 4GB and 8GB with far more limited use, Windows just using more RAM over the last few years. Its such an easy problem to fix in 2023 by smarter product selection or simply upgrading it yourself.

 

You're using RAM usage on macOS as an example when we're talking about Windows? I also use macOS, including older Intel and 8GB M1 systems. RAM usage is far more efficient on macOS, its not comparable to a Windows system...

 

Still unsure of why you're trying to convince someone who regularly runs into limitations with RAM in various configurations that X configuration is enough. If OP wants more than 16GB, they can make that decision on their own. As I've already mentioned multiple times, they'll probably be fine with 16GB, but if I were them, I'd rather have 32GB given the multiple scenarios I personally run into where it's a limitation.

 

Make a case to OP of why their specific use case won't run into limitations with 16GB for the entirety of their participation in a CS program.

 

To remind you, we're talking about a laptop for a CS program with an approximate $1400 budget so far. 32GB or even 24GB in that environment is incredibly easy to get, even if its just swapping a soDIMM for $50. I'm not give a hard recommendation for 16GB when I know there's scenarios where its a limitation even on a standard workstation.