Secondary Computer for College

[bobbyboy222]

I need recommendations for a laptop for college. I don't need something too strong, because I'll have my desktop. I just need something with good enough performance and lifespan. Thanks in advance!

I'm already considering this, but I would end up buying another hard drive for it: https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-NVIDIA-Windows-E5-575G-53VG/dp/B01DT4A2R4/ref=cm_cr_othr_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

 

[Samer1970]

I need recommendations for a laptop for college. I don't need something too strong, because I'll have my desktop. I just need something with good enough performance and lifespan. Thanks in advance!

I'm already considering this, but I would end up buying another hard drive for it: https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-NVIDIA-Windows-E5-575G-53VG/dp/B01DT4A2R4/ref=cm_cr_othr_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

your budget ? and size of screen ?

 

[inanition02]

Also, what major (what programs would you be running) and what sort of battery life - will you be in classrooms that have plugs, or ones without, etc - and what storage space do you need if you also have the desktop?

 

[bobbyboy222]

your budget ? and size of screen ?

$1500, and 15" is probably the biggest I'll go.

Also, what major (what programs would you be running) and what sort of battery life - will you be in classrooms that have plugs, or ones without, etc - and what storage space do you need if you also have the desktop?

Computer science major, and I'll want a decent battery life. The classrooms have plenty of plugs, but I still want to be safe. 1TB max, but I can definitely make due with half that.

 

[Samer1970]

your budget ? and size of screen ?

$1500, and 15" is probably the biggest I'll go.

Also, what major (what programs would you be running) and what sort of battery life - will you be in classrooms that have plugs, or ones without, etc - and what storage space do you need if you also have the desktop?

Computer science major, and I'll want a decent battery life. The classrooms have plenty of plugs, but I still want to be safe. 1TB max, but I can definitely make due with half that.

This one

http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/xps-15-9550-laptop/pd?ref=PD_OC

Dell XPS 15 has unique feature , it uses full i7/i5 4 cores strong CPU , and at the same time has long battery life an is SMALL

how small ? They fit a 15 inch screen in 13 inch sized notebook by making the bezels ultra thin .

and it takes upto 32G of RAM and has a GTX 960M incase you need it .

my best recommendation

 

[inanition02]

It may be unorthodox, but (IF you wouldn't be using it for things like LAN parties), I'd go with something like a Surface Pro. If you get the Pro, it has plenty of power to run your programs, great battery life and most importantly is super portable. For any heavy duty development, you're going to want multiple screens and desktop type horsepower anyhow, which in a mobile device would suck battery life. As a bonus, you can write your notes with the pen if you get sick of typing

Such things weren't an option when I was a CS major (this century, but barely) and I mostly had slow old laptops and a primary development box at home - today I have an Asus Transformer running Windows 10 (basically like the non-pro Surface, but a bit better keyboard) because I love the portability of it and the battery life and just use remote desktop to access my 3 screen desktop when I want to code (I do have Visual Studio on the tablet for quick changes).

 

[inanition02]

Microsoft also seems to have deals for students at the moment.

As another unorthodox solution, what about a Macbook (and/or Air)? Depending on the languages you're using, you can develop on an Apple (anything except .NET really, though you can also install bootcamp or VMWare/Parallels to use Visual Studio - or remote back to your desktop), great battery life, solid shells...and more and more software companies are using them now. Particularly if they're coding in Java or Ruby. Also, owning a Mac is the only way to develop iOS apps. Apple also offers student discounts.

 

[bobbyboy222]

Microsoft also seems to have deals for students at the moment.

As another unorthodox solution, what about a Macbook (and/or Air)? Depending on the languages you're using, you can develop on an Apple (anything except .NET really, though you can also install bootcamp or VMWare/Parallels to use Visual Studio - or remote back to your desktop), great battery life, solid shells...and more and more software companies are using them now. Particularly if they're coding in Java or Ruby. Also, owning a Mac is the only way to develop iOS apps. Apple also offers student discounts.

From what I've seen, things seem to be mostly Windows at my school. I have practically no experience with Macs anyways.

 

[inanition02]

Microsoft also seems to have deals for students at the moment.

As another unorthodox solution, what about a Macbook (and/or Air)? Depending on the languages you're using, you can develop on an Apple (anything except .NET really, though you can also install bootcamp or VMWare/Parallels to use Visual Studio - or remote back to your desktop), great battery life, solid shells...and more and more software companies are using them now. Particularly if they're coding in Java or Ruby. Also, owning a Mac is the only way to develop iOS apps. Apple also offers student discounts.

From what I've seen, things seem to be mostly Windows at my school. I have practically no experience with Macs anyways.

Then I would strongly consider the Surface, Surface Pro or a similar long battery life convertible.