Laptop for programming use

[ABCD1233]

I am looking to buy a laptop for general programming use. I will not be playing video games, and no CAD, just general browsing and programming. My programming is mostly in labview, python, java, C, ROS, and some open cv.

Price: Ideally around $700

Display Resolution: 1080p

CPU: i5-i7 preferably above 2Ghz, idealy above 2.5Ghz

GPU: The most Graphically intense things I will be doing is minor image-processing with open cv
I think I don't need one, but correct me if I am wrong

RAM: 8GB or above

Storage: This is my big issue, I want to have both an SSD and a HDD but I can't find the right deal for me. Either both a SSD and a HDD, or an SSD with the option of adding a HDD (internal)

Nice to Have: Backlit keyboard, aluminum chassis

QUESTIONS
This is the stuff I thought is what I need but I am not too sure,
Is quad core necessary?
Would an internal SSD with an external HDD hinder my programming at all?


Thanks for the help!

 

[dudeman509]

Generally, you won't find any dual-drive systems until you get up into the $1500-2000 17" gaming laptop behemoths.

With that said, I would start my looking at the 8th gen i5u systems. 15W TDP, great on battery life if you need it to go somewhere, and still quad core. While it has 1.6 GHz base clocks, the i5-8250u has very high turbo speeds that it will boost to when power is needed and if cooling isn't an issue (I wouldn't expect it to be; all of my ULV chips run extremely cool).

The Dell Inspiron 15 5000 series, Acer Swift (eh), and HP Probook 450/470 all offer down-to-earth i5u systems with 256 GB SSDs in them.

 

[ABCD1233]

Generally, you won't find any dual-drive systems until you get up into the $1500-2000 17" gaming laptop behemoths.

With that said, I would start my looking at the 8th gen i5u systems. 15W TDP, great on battery life if you need it to go somewhere, and still quad core. While it has 1.6 GHz base clocks, the i5-8250u has very high turbo speeds that it will boost to when power is needed and if cooling isn't an issue (I wouldn't expect it to be; all of my ULV chips run extremely cool).

The Dell Inspiron 15 5000 series, Acer Swift (eh), and HP Probook 450/470 all offer down-to-earth i5u systems with 256 GB SSDs in them.

Do you know if an external hardrive would be a bad option? Can I still download applications, and program off the external hardrive w/o hindering that much performance.

 

[dudeman509]

Generally, you won't find any dual-drive systems until you get up into the $1500-2000 17" gaming laptop behemoths.

With that said, I would start my looking at the 8th gen i5u systems. 15W TDP, great on battery life if you need it to go somewhere, and still quad core. While it has 1.6 GHz base clocks, the i5-8250u has very high turbo speeds that it will boost to when power is needed and if cooling isn't an issue (I wouldn't expect it to be; all of my ULV chips run extremely cool).

The Dell Inspiron 15 5000 series, Acer Swift (eh), and HP Probook 450/470 all offer down-to-earth i5u systems with 256 GB SSDs in them.

Do you know if an external hardrive would be a bad option? Can I still download applications, and program off the external hardrive w/o hindering that much performance.

You can. USB3 speeds aren't too bad for something that doesn't hit the disk super hard.

Another alternative is a network drive, accessible from anywhere on your network. I have a WD MyCloud that is accessible from my 3 computers, be it wired or on WiFi. Pretty cool little device.