I’m sure it’s been asked many times before but I feel like it’s an answer that can change every few months. My parents are offering to get me a new laptop for CS for my graduation gift so I’m looking for some good suggestions from those in the know.
The Dell XPS 13 is one of the best laptops around. Go to Costco to check it out first though to make sure it is not too small. I wouldn’t buy it from Costco though, I’d get a configuration with as much RAM and at the highest speed you can afford.
The Macbook Pro is of course the other top choice, but even though I am an Apple shareholder, I just feel that you get a bit more bang for the buck with the Dell XPS.
@ProfessorPlum168 Thanks. So I think you’re saying the XPS 13 Touch with 16 GB? Do you recommend 256 or 512 GB for hard drive?
I don’t think storage size matters that much unless you’re going to store a ton of movies and you need immediate access. Besides, you can always use all sorts of cloud or USB-based drives as extensions. Ram and CPU speed on the other hand is not modifiable, so you should get as much and as fast as you can afford. 32Gb RAM would be a luxury that would be really nice to have.
You may also want to get the 2019 XPS 13 model as opposed to an older model. Older models had the camera underneath the monitor screen, so that when you did video screen chats, the other person would have a good view of your nostrils. The 2019 model finally fixed that, putting the camera on top of the screen like most other laptop manufacturers.
@ProfessorPlum168 I appreciate the help. I will pass along the information to my parents.
Something that can run an OS that is the same as or similar to what is run on the CS department instructional computers would allow you can do work while disconnected from the campus network.
More memory is often the main factor in how fast the computer feels. Paging and swapping slows things down a lot.
Realistically? Any non-chromebook.
If you are considering more heavy RAM usage in college (e.g. machine learning), I think 8 gb ram makes the most sense.
Generally, I think a solid laptop for a student would be:
Intel i5 chip (i7 models are generally overpriced for a similar performance in laptops)
8 gb ram (more seems overkill)
256gb hard drive (ssd if you have the luxury to afford one)
battery life
thin and easy to carry around (usually 13~14 inch laptops)
not heavy
{optional: dedicated GPU like from nvidia if you want to game on the side in high resolution. Just know with a dedicated GPU on a light/thin/easy to carry laptop, you lose battery life quite a bit and won’t be as fast as those super clunky big gaming laptops. Otherwise, you will feel zero difference and it will probably be waste of your extra pocket money.}
$699.99
IdeaPad 720S (13”, Intel) Laptop
<great laptop=“” by=“” the=“” looks=“” of=“” it.=“” also=“” only=“” 2.2=“” lbs.=“” really=“” light=“” and=“” got=“” all=“” bells=“” whistles=“” more.=“” a=“” good=“” battery=“” life.=“” pretty=“” high=“” end=“” chip.=“”>
https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/ideapad/ideapad-700-series/Ideapad-720S-13-Intel/p/81BV002GUS
$684.20
ThinkPad L380 Yoga
https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad-yoga/ThinkPad-L380-Yoga/p/20M7S0CF00
$679.99
Inspiron 14 7000
https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/inspiron-14-7000/spd/inspiron-14-7472-laptop
<the $699.99=“” one=“” if=“” you=“” want=“” a=“” dedicated=“” graphics=“” card=“” for=“” higher=“” end=“” gaming=“” on=“” laptop=“” like=“” counter=“” strike=“” in=“” resolution=“”>
$749.99
ASUS ZenBook 13 UX333FA-DH51
https://store.asus.com/us/item/201811AM060000001/A17602-ASUS-ZenBook-13-UX333FA-DH51-Ultra-Slim-Laptop-13.3%22-FHD-WideView%2C-8th-Gen-Intel-Core-i5-8265U-Processor%2C-8GB-%2C-256GB-PCIe-SSD%2C-Backlit-KB%2C-NumberPad%2C-Windows-10—Royal-Blue
Then there’s the generic Macbook Pro option. If you have the money for a Macbook Pro, why not. Unix based OS? Most popular among students? Sure.
I would reocmmend the IdeaPad 720S (13”, Intel) Laptop for $699.99. Great laptop honestly. Looks far better than XPS 13 honestly and the price is far lower too.
If you like gaming though, I would recommend the $699.99 option with Dell Inspiron 14 7000 as it comes with a dedicated GPU.
If you want to save a bit more, the L380 Yoga or the 679.99 Inspiron 14 7000 are just as great options (you probably will feel zero difference in everyday anyways).
If your budget is a bit lower,
for $543.99, you can also opt something like:
IdeaPad 330S 14" - Platinum Grey
https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/ideapad/ideapad-300-series/Lenovo-ideapad-330S-14IKB/p/88IP30S0987
The hard drive isn’t SSD (so you won’t have that super snappy feel and instant booting) and has a relatively short battery life (when PC say 7 hours, it’s really 3.75 hours. I usually subtract 3~4 hours).
All these options I laid out to you are portable and more than overkill for CS degree.
I still think the $699.99 IdeaPad 720S is a great laptop and something I’m planning to purchase myself after looking through different sites.
Hope I helped filter your list down.
And unless you are the type to leave like 70 tabs open at a time in Chrome while coding and listening to Youtube in 1080p, don’t think you really need more than i5 chip and a 8 gb ram.
Oh and another great model:
https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/yoga/700-series/Yoga-730-13-/p/88YG7000964
Yoga 730 13" - Iron Grey
$699.99
I recommend the Yoga 730 
over all the other options out there I just listed before.
8GB of RAM is relatively low these days, I don’t think bumping up to 16GB is a bad idea. You’ll feel the difference just doing browsing with many tabs + a few other programs. It also is very nice for running VM’s, though that is less commonly needed in the age of cloud computing. Buy your own RAM and install it yourself if you’re looking to save money.
While just about anything will work, I would recommend spending a bit to get a computer that lasts (and stays fast). $700 is a bit low for a high-end computer these days and for a CS major I would be concerned about how long those last without becoming infuriatingly slow. While Macs are overpriced, they have incredible longevity that few others have. For PC’s the Dell XPS 13 is a good choice, as is the X1 Carbon.
If you go PC, consider going Linux as most CS departments run Linux on their own machines, though you should check with your school. Linux is a UNIX OS (Mac is mostly UNIX as well) and to grossly simplify, it means that installing programs you’ll need is a lot easier and the command line will be a lot more fun generally speaking than Windows. I use all 3 OS’s for my work and Windows is always the nightmare to work with. Mac has the best UX by far but as mentioned you will pay more for it than the hardware itself is worth.
Personally Mac is still my main personal and work computer and if you can afford it I would go with it, but there are plenty of better deal for the hardware itself if that’s what you’re optimizing for. Realistically you’re going to want to spend $900+ though for a machine that lasts and has the needed RAM/processing speeds (i5/i7 for Intel, don’t feel the need to upgrade them if it’s an option).
That said, if budget is very important, you can certainly do fine with a $500-$700 machine. But in the grand cost of college, I don’t think $300 on your computer is the place to skimp/cut. If I had to choose between the Yoga 730 and spending $20 less on food per week for my first two semesters and having a Mac, the second option is the no brainer for me.
@AccCreate @PengsPhils Seems like some more great options for them to look at. I will certainly pass those on to them as well. They are willing to pay on the higher end(if necessary) but would ideally like to get the most out of what they are paying for.
Most CS majors I know had no troubles with their laptops. The only ones I did note that struggled were those who bought Intel M chip laptops and Chromebooks (and those who had those laptops still graduated perfectly fine so it shows even the really low ends are more than capable for schoolwork).
Outside those group of people, I really haven’t evidenced people feel limited due to their laptop ability.
Upper level CS courses tend to be more writing-based (theory) than programming so don’t feel like you would need state-of-the-art laptop.
Having said that, maybe CS changed much since I graduated a year ago but, I don’t really think you need to shell out so much for a solid laptop (there’s nothing wrong if you do. I mean, who wouldn’t want a nice Macbook Pro?). And 8gb at the time was more than enough for me. Generally I spent about 6.25gb all the time when I was focusing.
And those that tend to be more server based, you will probably be connecting to the school server at end of day (or AWS).
Note laptops tend to be on sale on: 2 days before Christmas Eve, up until today (due to president’s day last week), 2 weeks before a new Intel model release (AMD equivalent to i5 would be Ryzen 5), Mid-late August (“back-to-school” sale ), a day before Cyber Monday.
Just note such. My Dell Inspiron 13 7000s series was bought at about $585 when a week after, it went back to $880.
I have evidenced a peer who bought a $1200 Dell XPS13 laptop as $620.
One can save quite a substantial bit if one purchases laptop at the right time (during sale) [outside Macbooks. Those rarely go on sale much and if they do, it… doesn’t really feel like a sale. You might get a Beats headphone/earphone if you purchase them during back-to-school week through education program].
Just keep that in mind.
Personally, if there was no budget, I would definitely opt something like Macbook Pro “2.3GHz Dual-Core Processor 256GB Storage” $1,449.00 (and the higher models).
Again, it depends on your budget but don’t feel limited by your laptop capabilities. Nowadays chips are stupidly amazing.
This isn’t 2013. I’m sure you can evidence just from smartphone models how much technology has progressed in the last few years. It feels almost unreal how much the scene of tech changed in the past 3 years.
There’s a new release of MacBook Air last year. I just got a 13 for my kid last week.
I don’t know what a CS student needs who is an undergrad. I used a Surface Pro 4 for most of my mechanical engineering classes and any programming that I needed to do was done on that. I think they’re pretty solid for programming. I programmed in C and C++ on it.
As for what I actually use as a master’s student, I use the three to four thousand dollar desktop computer that I have at home because it’s a beast that can do anything (mostly used for gaming). Heck, I even do some java on a 2010 iMac when I don’t want to come into the office. That thing is literal trash and frustrating to work with sometimes.
If you are going to be doing C/C++, I’d avoid using Macbooks. You’ll just have an easier time.
For instance, I simply gave up on getting Java FX to work on the iMac a couple weeks ago and just hopped on my desktop. It’s just easier.
https://www.digitaltrends.com/news/walmart-xps-15-gtx-1050-ti-sale/
This is the model from last year and it is a slower i5, but the specs are fantastic beyond that.
It shouldn’t matter, realistically, which computer you get, unless your Uni has a specific preference. Go with what you’re comfortable with and what’s in your budget range. Worst case scenario, you SSH into the CS department’s servers to run programs (which you’ll likely be doing anyways)
This is slight overkill but this computer comes in many configurations and cheaper with less config at I think Best Buy. It’s quick with good battery life. Will process anything you throw at it. I would never get any computer with less then 16 g ram due to windows 10 and office suite are resource hogs (but college students usually use Google apps anyway).
This is my son’s computer but he does AR /VR For school and his student org so you don’t need a 1070 graphics card like this :
But this one is configured nicely and a great price right now. It’s pretty lightweight for school and again this will eat anything you can throw at it. With a nice 1060 video card you can still game if you want to.
Only in CollegeConfidential do we take extremes on even commodities like a laptop for college.
Doing:
System.out.println(“Hello World”);
does not require state of the art laptop.
People programmed in college in the 1980s with laptops that had far less power than our current smartphones.
Well, that’s a poor analogy considering much has changed but realistically:
First year: Print “Hello World” and learn the basics. Any non-chromebook can do this. Non-CS majors are able to take these courses too without any issues.
Second year: Learn Data Structures, Pointers, Functional Programming, Machine code. Any non-chromebook can do this. Non-CS majors are able to take these courses too without any issues.
Third/Fourth year: Take a bunch of theory courses (theoretical) or a mix of both theory and applied.
One of the more consuming memory hogging courses are 3D Graphics. For those, you will probably be working at your state of the art school computers as most laptops just aren’t capable. So taking that out of equation, we have:
Neural Networks.
Machine Learning.
Both of those are sufficient at college ‘learning’ level with a solid laptop. Most of my friends had 8gb ram. If you really feel you need 16gb ram then upgrade it yourself on the laptop you bought (make sure the laptop you purchase then allows you to replace hardware unlike Macbooks which glues everything in).
And most likely for these two courses, data sets are going to be trained over AWS, Google Cloud, School Server. Just not really possible on some data sets to do it yourself. Hence again, not that necessary.
In addition, most students are not going to be taking Neural Networks or Machine Learning in the first place.
And for those who did (including me), there was no need to get super high end laptops.
You don’t need a $100 pencil to be in an art class. You need a good pencil for sure but there’s a fine line between luxury and comfort.
Now in the workforce I do agree, 8 gb is nowhere near enough. My co-workers use 32gb ram as the default portable laptop. But that is the “workforce”, not school itself. And in the workforce, you are provided these laptops since there can’t be any leaks of confidential information through your home laptop. In other words, moment you graduate college, you will probably never see the need outside personal life to have a ‘high end’ laptop.
Let’s stop recommending eager high school students over-the-top products.
I’m already tired of seeing many undergrads saddled with high student loans. Let’s not contribute more to that burden and be realistic.
Yes, if you can afford to do so, getting a high end laptop is great.
I want a $100 pencil too for art class. But to keep pushing naive students towards this I feel is more harmful than good.
Get something that works in your price range with good amount of ram, an i5 or higher chip, and is portable while having a great battery life with good build quality. Above there, you really are hitting ‘luxury’ category in laptops for college.
@AccCreate. I don’t know if I agree or disagree with you… Lol… The student didn’t give a price point as many do, and stated his parents might be able to invest in a higher priced computer also. Having options is a good not a bad thing. If he stated “what the best computer under $700.00 for CS” he would of gotten pricing in that category.
Most schools will suggest just about anything will do. Most your working off their server anyway. Most schools departments have computer suggestions and if his school has a computer showroom that sells computers they will have suggestions as well.
Now he has a variance of computers to educate himself on. He can only decide what is important and not to himself.
Majoring in CS (or math) doesn’t require a special laptop, unless you’re into gaming. No reason to spend extra money. Here’re basic specs I would look for in a laptop for a college:
- The most current generation of microprocessors (currently, at least an 8th generation of i5 from Intel, or Ryzen 5 from AMD). For the 8th generation Intel chips, i7 is only marginally faster than i5 so it’s generally not worth the extra cost.
- An SSD with at least 256GB, preferably 512GB or 1TB.
- At least 8GB of DRAM.
- Relatively light weight, below 4lb.
- Good keyboard (ideally backlit).
- Good IPS or OLED screen (min 1920x1024).
The cheapest ones meeting these specs are around $500. If you kid is into gaming (not sure that’s a good idea in the first place), then a good graphics card is the key. A really good graphics card costs more than the laptop itself.
I’m going to throw a few more ideas out – Many schools have deals with various manufacturers where you get a student discount once you are registered to attend. So it might be worth your while to hold off until you pick the school you plan to attend and get your student id/emal address (with a .edu suffix) before you buy the laptop. Also, some schools will provide recommendations based upon how they teach their lower level CS courses. For example, some schools use C# in their intro courses, so a Windows-based machine will make life easier. Some schools favor a linux-type environment for their courses, which might prompt you to want a dual-boot machine (i.e., Windows with a separate linux boot partition) which will be easier to configure in a new machine.
For the most part, unless you are a heavy duty gamer, you don’t need a particularly powerful/expensive machine. Computer hardware can get obsolete quickly so it would be better to keep your investment in it low until you know what you really need.