<p>I'm currently looking a for a high-end laptop mostly for programming though. I would like to once in a while play a game on it also, like maybe Starcraft. I've looked through many and Asus and MSI look very good to me.</p>
<p>What I would prefer:
RAM: 5GB or above
HDD: 500GB or above
Display: Higher end. 1600 x 900 - 1920 x 1200 The higher the better.
Graphics: I'm sort of behind on graphics, but a good Nvidia should do the trick. Run games smoothly.
CPU Speed: At least 2.3 Ghz or above.
Etc: Multiple USB ports, decent sound quality, battery life - 3 or more hours, </p>
<p>And what's your opinion on size? I think 13" -15" is good, does anyone have portability issues? I mean that as the laptop is just too big, etc.</p>
<p>And my price range is up to $1,000. </p>
<p>Thanks for looking, I really appreciate the help.</p>
<p>OK, your first problem is you don’t understand how much computer you actually need. Second problem is your preferred specs would costs $2000+.</p>
<p>First, programming isn’t an intensive process. Unless you’re working for microsoft or a lab running through crazy advanced simulations, you can’t do anything that would tax even a 5 year old laptop. Next, if you only plan on doing occasional light gaming, you don’t need much in the way of graphics power.</p>
<p>Second, 5 GB of ram doesn’t exist. You can have 4 or 8 GB with AMD and older Intels (not i3/i5/i7). Newer Intels are 3 GB or 6 GB. 4 GB should be *plenty *for a laptop. </p>
<p>Don’t waste money on a 500 GB integrated hdd. Buy a 320 or 250 and supplement it with a 1TB external usb hdd.</p>
<p>1920 x 1200 does not exist in < 17" laptops. Even at that, it only exists in very high end 17" laptops that are WAY out of your price range. FWIW I had a 17" work laptop that was 1920x1200 and everything was too small to read because the pixels were so dense. 1600 x 900 is OK, but I’m not a fan of 16:9 screens.</p>
<p>Graphics it seems like you could use just about anything that isn’t Intel Integrated Graphics. Your price range is too small for any serious graphics power regardless.</p>
<p>CPU speed is pretty much irrelevant nowadays. A ssd hard drive will make much more difference in performance than .3 ghz or so.</p>
<p>Pretty much no laptops have decent sound quality. Nearly every < 15" laptop is > 3 hours battery life.</p>
<p>Lenovo makes some bullet proof laptops and they’re having back to school specials. A T420 with NVIDIA NVS 4200M Graphics would nail your requirements and cost a shy bit under $1000.</p>
<p>Just to be clear, many brands are perfectly fine. I’m just saying Lenovo because they’re particularly reliable.</p>
<p>Thanks UAKid for the wake up call. I’m looking at the T420 with Nvidia and looks great. I can take $50 just by downgrading to Windows 7 Home Premium? Is it worth it?</p>
<p>Downgrading Windows? Yeah. Pretty much every version is OK except for Starter. You can google Windows 7 Version Comparison. Even Home Premium vs Ultimate, nearly all the features they add 99% of people would never use.</p>
<p>As a software developer of 30+ years I think programming IS very intensive. Not as bad as AutoCAD, on the surface, but depending on what tools you use and how complex the stuff is, it can get pretty intensive…</p>
<p>My DD1 got a Lenovo T420 for Architecture and it is pretty good. Great compromise between size and power, and impeccable build quality.</p>
<p>Check with your university regarding Win7 versions…</p>
<p>^^ I mentioned it can get intensive. But when recommending to an undergrad I assume they’re not doing anything difficult or off the beaten path. And if you do eventually end up doing something “hardcore” (gaming, crazy photoshopping, mechanical simulations, etc) , I’d be suggesting to have a high performance desktop rather than a laptop.</p>
<p>PS - The most intense thing I’ve ever seen done is mechanical simulations. A coworker at my internship was simulating high rpm stress of a cage assembly and it took an hour to run on a desktop costing several thousand dollars.</p>
<p>If you’re taking a class in, say, Operating Systems and want to rebuild Linux or run LTIB or this or that, it can get slow in a hurry. If you’re using some specialized environment like VMware, likewise. True that basic stuff like freshman and sophomore level comp sci are not computationally nasty, but once you start junior and senior year depending on what you’re doing things can get intense.</p>
<p>Any program involving visualization (user interface, design, graphics) also would benefit from a good system. Or a serious class in database design or algorithm analysis, or my ever favorite, numerical analysis (I’ve been known to tie up the mainframe for hours multiplying matrices for fun)…</p>
<p>At work (Embedded Linux development) a dual quad xeon machine hums along using VMware and Eclipse :-)</p>
<p>You can easily find a computer around $1000 with those specs.
HP has up-ed the quality of their laptops compared to 3 yrs ago. Dell is good for a budget but many of their laptops now are like chunky desktop replacements. Sony is pretty good but I know that some of their lineups don’t offer good battery life. I heard the Sony Vaio S series is very good. Asus is always solid. The way they name their laptops is terrible though!! Learning their naming system is as hard as studying for a chemistry exam. Lenovo and Samsung are good too.</p>
<p>I would stay away from MSI. Although they offer good laptops, their customer service is poor. They’ve scored on the bottom in many customer service reviews for many years in a row.</p>
<p>Be sure to stay away from cheap, plastic laptops no matter how good the specs are. (Like those $300 ones you see at Walmart…)
Check if it also has overheating problems. Thousands of people bought Dell’s Studio XPS series a few yrs ago and the models were so poorly designed that almost every one of them overheated.</p>
<p>There is a debate between i5 and i7 processors.</p>
<p>i7s have more “cores” but all the cores run at a slower clock speed.</p>
<p>i5s have less “cores” but the cores they do have run at a higher clock speed</p>
<p>If you don’t use programs that are specifically made for multi core processors i5 is what you want.</p>
<p>I would get a high end i5 processor for your needs.</p>
<p>You want at least 6 GB of memory, which is becoming pretty standard imo.</p>
<p>As for the guy who said you cant get 1920x1080 (1080p) on 15" laptops that is a joke as I have one of those right now.</p>
<p>500 gb hd should be fine, just get minimum really. If you need extra space you can pick up terabyte external drives for 60 or so.</p>
<p>Do not get a laptop that has a plastic chasis. The outside is just for looks — the plastic there doesn’t really matter. Make sure you get one where the components are all put on a metal frame.</p>
<p>I am not trying to plug HP but they have some really nice laptops for the specs you want. Look at the dv6t line. You can also find some pretty good coupons by googling hp coupons lol</p>
<p>Dude check out the Dell XPS15 laptops… Im more of a mac guy but since you’ve mentioned a tight budget and win7 wants, the macbook pro 15 is not possible.</p>
<p>the XPS15z is a mbp-esque machine and it’s essentially power on a budget. worth looking at… im sure you can get most of your requirements nailed within the 1000 dollar budget if not just a little over that. :D</p>
<p>This isn’t true at all, i7’s have hyperthreading but don’t have more than 4 cores, and i5’s also have 4 cores but no hyperthreading. There are some exceptions that have dual core i5’s. The clock speed depends on the specific laptop.</p>
<p>In terms of programming intensiveness: compile times can vary. However, I found that even for my upper-div classes, there’s rarely a need for all that power. Truth is, all the classes are taught with an isolated platform that focuses on the concepts at hand instead of the full picture in a real-world application, so they end up running nicely on almost any hardware.</p>
<p>Personally, I think the most important factors are: good keyboard, large screen. It’s really helpful when you can fit lots of content on the screen while still having all of it easy-to-read. Your keyboard is the main input method, so a good one will make a huge difference.</p>
<p>As for some specialized stuff: I’ve only had to push the limits when working on personal projects or just playing around with some bleeding-edge code. Yeah, it’s really nice that I can rebuild the Linux kernel and all modules in under 5min while running 3 VMs in the background, but I’d be able to live with a 1hr compile and one VM at a time. Yet, none of this is for any real coursework. :)</p>