Laptop for Software Engineering

[Remixt]

I'm entering my final year of school and I've been getting hit with bigger and bigger projects. I have a great computer at home, but I've been stuck with developing on a measly 5 year old laptop with a 30 minute battery life while not at home.  In January I'm going to buy a laptop, but I've been out of the mobile game for awhile now and I'm not up to date on the brands/specs for this generation.

 

Aim: 

• 6 + hour battery life with a medium load. (Internet browser with a few tabs open and an IDE such as Visual Studio running)
• 1080p minimum resolution
• Prefer a 15 inch screen. 18 inches max, 12 inches min
• Core i-7 skylake or kabylake 
• Solid State Drive with at least 250 gb capacity
• Good keyboard. (prefer mechanical, but that's hard for a laptop)
• Prefer GTX 1060 + graphics, not a deal breaker if its something slightly lower
• At least 2 USB 3.0 ports
• Minimum 16Gb of Ram, prefer 32gb
• Very unlikely to consider a Mac
• Solid build with a premium feel. (no plastic hollow feeling stuff)

Budget:

Soft $2,000, meaning I could go a little higher (for tax or bang for the buck feature). If you can meet every one of the above specs for less then that's what I prefer.

Don't squeeze everything you can into the $2000 just because you haven't hit the cap is what I mean.

 

 

[UMxMarky94]

hmmm, depending on your programs i would suggest from the dell line a precision, but they only come with either a Firepro or Quadro.

 

you can config them as well so I link it. 

 

http://www.dell.com/uk/business/p/precision-m7710-workstation/pd?oc=xctop7710emea&ref=PD_OC#overrides=xctop7710emea:146~I76920;3~16G4EC

[Electronics Wizardy]

Dell 5510/xps 15, dell 3510, dell 7510

 

Thinkpad p50, thinkpad t460p

[Mark77]

Latitude E7470.  Laptop GPU's are always going to suck due to the inherent design problems associated with laptops and their thermal constraints.

 

Make sure you get a Dell proprietary docking station for those 2 external LCDs you'll want to attach.  

 

XPS is Dell's 'consumer' level line.  Wouldn't consider it for serious use.

[UMxMarky94]

3 minutes ago, Mark77 said:

XPS is Dell's 'consumer' level line.  Wouldn't consider it for serious use.

Prosumers,

 

Also you be surprised how many business are starting to use them (especially sales people, looks good)

[Remixt]

Thanks for the suggestions fellas.

[Remixt]

1 hour ago, UMxMarky94 said:

hmmm, depending on your programs i would suggest from the dell line a precision, but they only come with either a Firepro or Quadro.

 

you can config them as well so I link it. 

 

http://www.dell.com/uk/business/p/precision-m7710-workstation/pd?oc=xctop7710emea&ref=PD_OC#overrides=xctop7710emea:146~I76920;3~16G4EC

I think the development level graphics cards make that a little less desirable price wise.

[gtx1060=value]

ok, so... thinkpads are generally the best laptop for programming - i don't know about you, but thinkpads are just amazing - i've used them since the late 1900's and haven't switched since then. 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA24G41G0525&cm_re=thinkpad-_-0EJ-001J-00091-_-Product

only one with dedicated gpu under 2 grand i could fin - but really, get a thinkpad if you're a programmer - it's a status symbol - just get a damn thinkpad