Best programming laptop?

College Life
1

<p>I'm going to major in computer programming, and I've been looking around... I want a laptop that can be both a "powerhouse" and portable to an extent. Portability isn't a big concern.</p>

<p>Price Range: less than 1500
Black list: Toshiba and Dell</p>

<p>I've heard from people that Macbooks are ideal for programming, as they have packages and tools preinstalled on their OS.</p>

<p>So, I've boiled it down to these:
[url=<a href="http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_pro%5DMacBook"&gt;http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_pro]MacBook&lt;/a> Pro - Buy MacBook Pro with Retina display - Apple Store (U.S.)<a href="13%22%20MBPR">/url</a>
[url=<a href="http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_air%5DMacBook"&gt;http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_air]MacBook&lt;/a> Air - Buy MacBook Air Notebook Computers - Apple Store - Apple Store (U.S.)<a href="13%22%20MBA">/url</a>
[url=<a href="http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/ideapad/y-series/y510p/%5DIdeaPad"&gt;http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/ideapad/y-series/y510p/]IdeaPad&lt;/a> Y510p High-Performance 15.6" Multimedia Laptop from Lenovo | Lenovo (US)<a href="15.6%22%20Y510p,%20$989.00;%20i'm%20leaning%20towards%20this%20one">/url</a>
[url=<a href="http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/x-series/x1-carbon/%5DThinkpad"&gt;http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/x-series/x1-carbon/]Thinkpad&lt;/a> X1 Carbon Business Ultrabook | Lenovo (US)<a href="13%22%20X1%20CT">/url</a></p>

<p>I mean, are ultrabooks worth the money? Should I just go with the Lenovo as it seems like a beast? Are Macs really ideal for programming? Thanks.</p>

2

<p>Mac and Win are both fine; most schools support both. If you don’t care, check what your future profs use, or what the school’s infrastructure uses. Some schools are predominantly one or the other, some just don’t have a favorite.</p>

3

<p>The MacBook Air’s screen may not be the option for you because of the screen size and power. When I was doing programming I found the 13’ to be a little on the small side for what I was doing. Now if you were doing a major like English or something like that then the MBA would be enough for you.</p>

4

<p>Haswell processors are great because they have deep power states which allows them to conserve a lot of battery life and they’re OK for overclocking too. Forget the i5 mobiles as I personally believe they are junk. Go for a real i5 in the sandy or ivybridge line.</p>

5

<p>I registered just to reply, so I hope you’re still checking this. If you’re a student, even if you’re on a generous budget do NOT pour your money into a macbook. </p>

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<p>That doesn’t make Macbooks themselves ideal, you can set up the needed environment for any programming language on any OS, although I should mention that from what I’ve understood you’ll need an Apple product to test iOS targeted programs. With a Macbook you’ll be paying hundreds for the brand and the design. Also, if you’re majoring in computer science, programming will be just a fraction of your studies.</p>

<p>From the links you posted, even the lowest price ($819) IdeaPad will absolutely suffice, it should even do pretty good gaming wise.</p>

6

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<p>Once you factor in resale value they will end up being equal in cost.</p>

7

<p>If you plan on progamming for mostly OSX then a Mac may be your best choice. Otherwise I find that windows have better programming environments readily available. Then again I code as a hobby and am no expert.</p>

8

<p>Blacklisting Dell? Why, they are great and have the best support! Plus they have cheap outlet sales.</p>

<p>But anyway the Lenovo is a beast, my brother has one. It’s great. Plus a lot of colleges stick with programs that often only run or at least only run smoothly on windows. So that’s a plus.</p>

9

<p>I know this is almost a year later but I will give my input since this is a featured thread:</p>

<p>I think OS X, along with Linux, are the best programming operating systems. I’d only consider Windows if I was doing .NET, video game, or C# development (so Windows-only).</p>

<p>The reason is, both OS X and Linux are Unix. OS X is actually certified UNIX. What this means is that you have a completely capable command line with a lot of built in development tools like Vim or Emacs. Even stuff like ssh is already built in. Compilers like gcc or clang are easily installed along with Xcode (which you don’t have to use). If I recall right, Python even comes pre-installed. And on OS X you can download homebrew, a package manager that allows you to install a lot of Linux programs, some for programming, some just really useful. Programmers, as they mature, naturally gravitate towards UNIX OSs, and with a OS X you get that and a stable, easy to use environment, as well as high resale value and pretty good build quality.</p>

<p>Windows is not naturally suited for programming, while UNIX OSs are. On Windows, you always have to download third party software to do anything. Some languages, like C, are such a pain the butt to code on Windows that it’s not worth it (unless you want code that is not portable). It would be fine for your basic classes, but you’d be using IDEs all the time, which I personally don’t see useful unless you are working in a huge project. Everything on Windows just feels clunky after using Linux or OS X.</p>

<p>For example, my friends in CS had to log in to a virtual Linux machine to do all their work since Window’s command line doesn’t have a C compiler by default, and third party software that emulates one is unreliable. Since it was over the internet it was really slow. All I had to do was open the terminal and I could do whatever. Visual Studio doesn’t count since it uses and forces a lot of Windows-only metadata and code, and the professors were on Linux or OS X.</p>

<p>Technically, yes, you can use Windows, but it’s not the ideal choice. If you do any amount of research, you will find that most renowned CS professors and professional developers use Macs (of course ignoring Windows devs), either running OS X or Linux. Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc all use Macs (Google actually banned Windows in their HQ). It’s not really a coincidence. This is especially true for web development (again ignoring .NET).</p>

<p>And as a plus, Apple’s sense of design is out of this world. It honestly makes Windows feel like it was done without much thought.</p>

<p>This is just my opinion of course, and you will be successful in any OS, but I will add some sources or websites:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.quora.com/Computer-Programming/Why-do-most-professional-programmers-prefer-Macs”>http://www.quora.com/Computer-Programming/Why-do-most-professional-programmers-prefer-Macs&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://usesthis.com/interviews/professor/”>http://usesthis.com/interviews/professor/&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://usesthis.com/interviews/developer/”>http://usesthis.com/interviews/developer/&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://usesthis.com/interviews/software/”>http://usesthis.com/interviews/software/&lt;/a&gt; (That John McAfee interview is the best).</p>

10

<p>I’ve spent a ton of time out in the bay area which is pretty much the home of software development so I can confirm pretty much everything Matachines said above. Just to add onto his sources a bunch of developers crowdsourced this poll which backs up a lot of the points above.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.slant.co/topics/103/~what-is-the-best-laptop-for-programmers-under-1-500”>http://www.slant.co/topics/103/~what-is-the-best-laptop-for-programmers-under-1-500&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

11

<p>@Crustacean‌ What is the majority of Computer Science like, if not programming?</p>

12

<p>Maybe 5-10% writing code, the rest reading, design, debug, documentation, meetings…</p>

13

Get a Windows laptop and dual-boot Linux on it. All those pre-installed packages on a Mac? Linux wins hands-down. Python (3 and 2), C compilers, plaintext editors… they’re all there. And most Linux distros have a nice easy to use package manager to install stuff with (e.g. apt-get on Ubuntu or Mint). Plus you get to choose your desktop environment, nice perk.