Laptop For Computer Science

[NeonFirefox]

Mac or PC for Computer Science? and why?

What are some recommendations?

 

 

[Jon Trollston]

What do you mean by Computer Science? What exactly do you need to do? Word processing? Programming? What's your budget?

[derrickd241]

I'm also in computer science find a laptop with a comfortable keyboard (since you'll be typing a lot) and then run Linux on it such as Ubuntu or I personally like Linux mint that would be a true computer scientists laptop doesn't necessarily have to be top notch spec wise if you absolutely don't want to use Linux use Windows as almost all companies use windows at some point not because its good but because it's compatible with nearly everything.

[derrickd241]

8 minutes ago, Jon Trollston said:

What do you mean by Computer Science? What exactly do you need to do? Word processing? Programming? What's your budget?

computer science usually is a "Jack of all trades" as they usually do a little bit of everything, but never really master any one single element eg. programming, networking, databases, etc. also with a couple more math classes they would have a minor in math too and nobody f's with a guy with a math degree hahaha

[tbake0155]

I'm a second degree student minoring in computer science, majoring in computer engineering.  It's intensive in programming.  All of my required CS courses are programming.

 

I can tell you that a 4k screen is a pain for me with my laptop.  On remote servers and on a lot of software, codeblocks for example, I have to put my face right onto the screen to see.

I agree with derrickd241, a comfortable keyboard is a must. I don't particularly care for the keyboard on my laptop because the keys are too soft and low.  It's fine for what I use it for, but I do not use it for programming or doing a lot of typing.  It's manageable but I'm used to a nice mechanical keyboard so I mistype a lot and have to readjust to the flat keyboard.  I'd seriously consider a nice keyboard and mouse at your work desk that you can plug in and increase your productivity.

 

You don't need that much processing power, but I'd get something with 4 cores or 4 threads if it's in your budget.  I actually do all of my programming for school on the schools remote servers, which will likely be the case for you as well.

 

As far as the operating system, it really doesn't matter.  You can run virtual machines and log into remote servers on any of the 3 big distros, so regardless of what your preference is you can manage.  I've personally never used a mac so I'm not familiar with OSX.  If you want OSX, then you should get a mac.  If you don't care about OSX then don't get a mac.  I would not get a mac because of value, but some people seem to prefer them.  There's no advantage as far as I can see to using a mac for programming, and the people that I've heard say things like that are barely worth their salt as programmers.

 

Good luck!

[psytherea]

Senior CS in uni. I had classes that asked us to run custom distros for assignments, so you need a CPU that doesn't tank when VirtualBox is running. 15in is a minimum, as IDE fonts are thin as hell and aren't Ariel nor Times New Roman. 1080p minimum, none of that 1366x768 garbage.

 

Battery life is a little more important than you think. The most valuable real estate in classrooms and libraries are near the power outlets.