<p>Hi, i'm going to Purdue and wanting to get into computer science and I was wondering what is good laptop that I can buy. I have a budget up to $1800 dollars, but if I don't have to spend that much I wont. I want something that wont become obsolete after a couple of years.</p>
<p>ANY THOUGHTS?</p>
<p>I made it through all of my programming classes with a $300 Compaq. Just something to think about.</p>
<p>That was just normal old code > compiler > see if it works programming though. If you’re planning on taking classes involving, for example, 3D/audio/etc programming you need something significantly better.</p>
<p>disco is right – computer science majors don’t necessarily need their own fancy laptops. I spent most of my undergrad career working in the computer labs and I made a lot of friends as a result. If you have to, you can also log into your school’s machines remotely.</p>
<p>That said, if you still want a nice, new laptop, the only thing I might recommend is that you get something with a decent graphics card (in case you start getting into graphics). I also recommend getting an nvidia graphics card, since it will allow you to do some Cuda programming (I’ve been out of the loop in GPU computing for a while so I’m not sure if ATI has made any headway with their OpenCL implementations).</p>
<p>Although… 1800 may be enough for a future 13 inch macbook with retina display (if the rumors are true). I have to admit, I liked the retina display when I checked it out at the store.</p>
<p>Anything works. A lot of CS majors seem to gravitate to either ThinkPads or Macs, though.</p>
<p>One important thing to keep in mind: this is the machine you’ll be spending the next few years doing much of your work on. As long as your budget allows it, don’t be afraid to spend a little bit more to get a computer that you really want and are comfortable with over a more mediocre computer.</p>
<p>Regardless of the computer you choose, I would suggest getting familiar with unix command-line tools. Whether this is through Linux, Mac, or Cygwin on Windows doesn’t really matter too much.</p>
<p>There are other considerations I’d like to add.</p>
<p>I would highly recommend having at least 4GB of RAM, if not even more. In my experience, 2GB of RAM will lead to lots of lagging if you have an IDE like Eclipse open, along with several tabs in Firefox (and you will be using the internet a lot, to look up documentation and APIs and generally will be spending lots of time on stackoverflow).</p>
<p>Screen size also matters, by allowing you to have multiple windows open, and allowing you to see more lines of code in a single screen (which matters if you have 1,000+ lines). But if your screen is too big, then your laptop is not portable.</p>
<p>CPU also matters to a slight extent - it might mean the difference between a program compiling in 10 seconds vs. 5 seconds, which is rather meaningful since you’ll compile and re-compile your programs many, many, many times a day.</p>
<p>IMO, having a powerful graphics card doesn’t matter because unless you do 3d rendering or something - any graphics programming (not rendering) work done in an intro CS graphics course is not very graphics processing intensive.</p>
<p>Everyone that has replied has good advice if you take this route, but I suggest you at least take a look at alternative routes. I am going to be a CS major as well so I can’t tell you how it will work out, but I am actually bringing a desktop AND a netbook. I don’t know what your plans are but I am on my computer ALOT and I do lots of programming. With this set up you can build your own system for cheap (which is also fun and you learn a lot). I built a $600 system that completely destroys $1200+ laptops. I spent probably an additional $200 but I have a good keyboard/mouse/sound system/and dual monitors.</p>
<p>I also spent about $180 on a netbook, so for I got everything for under $1000.
Benefits: -High performance, low cost
-Easily upgrade components, system doesnt lose value like a laptop
-Netbook is nice for class and on the go type stuff, but you have your desktop for big projects/programming/gaming</p>
<p>Cons: -Initial cost is pretty high, although in the long run it will pay off
-If you don’t know what you’re doing, building a desktop can be a pain and you can LOSE money
-Having 2 computers means you might have to sync some of the data (this is becoming pretty easy to do, however).</p>
<p>Whatever you decide, just look at what you are going to use it for. I probably would have just gone with a laptop, but I am a casual gamer and a desktop is nice. It is also amazing programming on 2 20" screens</p>
<p>The Lenovo ThinkPad line has always been good to me, so I’ll suggest those. The X-220 is amazing if you’re willing to spend $1200 (weighs 3 pounds, 10 hours battery life, and all-around amazing). The T-420 is almost as good and it’s a lot cheaper.</p>
<p>Not a CS major, but do a fair bit of programming to manipulate large datasets in my area (climate science). I went ThinkPad, and love my T-420s: lighter and more portable than the T-420, but a more reasonable screen size than the X-220. Who can write code on a 12" screen???</p>
<p>Although, Lenovo tries to be sneaky sometimes - I ordered only 4GB of memory, intending to upgrade to 8GB (for WAY less money) on my own. Turns out, instead of putting this 4GB on the advertised single DIMM, they split it between 2 (cheaper) 2GB cards, occupying the two available memory slots and limiting my ability to upgrade. Calling and griping got me a refund, but still…come on Lenovo.</p>
<p>Asus G53S. Mine has i7, 12 GB ram, 750 GB HD, a 2GB video card cost about $1200. Also has a 2 year warrenty. This is a large laptop though. </p>
<p>Also have an HP business class 14" that is a bit older but has been very reliable for 4 years.</p>