Solved! New Laptop - Is this good? Please help

[n8dogg59]

Hi all. I'm 40 years old and starting school again to get a programming degree and need a new laptop and just don't know a ton about what to get. I'll just be using the computer for school work, internet, and probably letting kids watch shows on it every once and a while. I'd like to keep the price around $600 with an absolute max of $700. I won't be doing any gaming. Don't need an optical drive. Probably need at least 500 GB hard drive and like the idea of an ssd. Definitely don't need the touchscreen and don't really want it to be honest. I'm looking for something 14-16". I saw this HP pavilion 15 at Costco for $600 and the specs are below. I was just hoping to get some advice if this is a good choice. The others I've considered are the Acer Swift 3 but it sounds like the screen brightness could be an issue. The Lenovo Ideapad also looks like a decent option along with the Asus Vivobook 15. Anyone have advice because I could definitely use some help.

HP Pavilion 15.6" Touchscreen Laptop - 10th Gen Intel Core i5-1035G1 - 1080p


Item 1422467
Model 15-cs3153cl

• 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-1035G1 Processor at 1.0GHz
• Intel® Wi-Fi 6 (2x2) + and Bluetooth® 5.0
• HP WideVision HD Camera with Dual Array Digital Microphone
• B&O Play Audio with Dual Speakers
• Full-size Island-style Backlit Keyboard with Numeric Keypad

Battery Life Up To - 10 Hour
Brand - HP
Backlit Keyboard
Numeric Keypad
Intel 10th Generation
Integrated Graphics
Memory (RAM) - 12 GB
Model - 15-cs3153cl
Windows OS
Intel Core i5 - 1035G1
Resolution - 1920 x 1080 (Full HD)
Screen Size - 15.6 in.
Screen Type - Touchscreen
SSD Size - 512 GB

 

[AlHuneke]

I've been happy with HP laptops lately (my wife has a Lenovo she really likes). I have found I like touch more than I would have anticipated. Your specs look appropriate for your use case. I've been buying laptops from Staples lately. Not plugging one vendor, but I've had good luck with them (5 different computers in the last few years). Good luck with your education. I finished my masters (in computer science) at 50 and it was a lot harder than it was at 20!! Writing code is easy. Designing systems is much harder and more important. Don't neglect course on algorithm design and system design.

 

[rgd1101]

Writing code is easy.

Writing good code is hard tho