Hello,
I am a future CS Graduate Student at UMD. I have a Dell Inspiron 5577 (Intel Core-i7, 8GB RAM, NVDIA GPU - GeForce GTX 1050). I was wondering if I should get a new laptop and which one then?
I wanted to know what are the requirements for the same.
I feel like it’s much harder to have an inadequate laptop than one that should be fine. I upgraded my laptop from a chromebook (which are great laptops btw) to an HP Envy 360 which is a more college practical computer, at least in my opinion. It’s not too big but still big enough to multi-screen etc, has a number pad on the right for those who work with numbers or spreadsheets in excel and has pretty cool features. It is touchscreen and it’s a 3 in 1 so the screen flips so it can be a tablet or you can prop it up. It has one particular feature that i can’t wait to use where you can input certain functions or algebraic type equations and it’ll solve, graph, and show steps for the problem. That all being said as long as your computer has enough space and has the capability to download whatever programs you might need for your studies I’d say anyone is fine with the computer they have. One rule of thumb would just to make sure it’s not super heavy for you since majority of us will probably be carrying it around all day and make sure you get some sort of bag and laptop cover for it while you’re on the go.
A lot of people like Macs for their ability to dual-boot and for their built-in terminal (makes it easier for most CS things) but, in my experience, a Windows laptop can also achieve a UNIX-like system through programs like MobaXTerm, puTTY, or virtual machines. I’ve always had a Windows laptop so I don’t really know if Macs are truly better, but they’re definitely pricier.
If you’ve been good with your laptop so far, I would say don’t get a new one and wait until you get to school to decide whether you actually need a new one or not.
My daughter has a similar PC and is in the EE program. They run some pretty intense software and it seems to work fine (she’s not complaining). You can also buy discounted laptops thru Terrapin Tech.
https://techstore.umd.edu/