<p>I'm a mechanical engineer major that will be taking programming for engineers in the fall. I need a laptop that would help with that(I'll possibly program in my free time, too), watching anime, and maybe gaming.
Price range: Under $500 at the moment. Suggestions?</p>
<p>Any laptop will work. Programming does not put high demand on the laptop. If you want gaming, then buy a desktop.</p>
<p>Thanks for answering my question. I appreciate it! I was only sure that gaming is horrible on MAC, but maybe I shouldn’t use it for gaming so that I’m more focused on studying.</p>
<p>If your price range is under $500, then stay away from Mac.</p>
<p>Call the professor or department office and ask. That is how I picked one for my son’s graduation present.</p>
<p>Get something with a good keyboard. Many laptop keyboards are just awful. Stay away from the 11-14" form factors, it will be incredibly frustrating if you’re trying to accurately hit certain symbols on the miniature keyboards on most of those computers.</p>
<p>Another consideration is screen resolution, which would be important since you could divide the screen and be working on some code while you have a helpful document or website open in the other half of the screen. You could possibly get a good deal on something with a 1080p screen if you looked around.</p>