In my case, if i want to, i can even program with (with Visual studio.net) my 10 years old Toshiba Satellite L40 (with a little lag sometimes though). Good display too. So IF someone in a tight budget, he/she can even program with that kind of an ancient laptop IMO. So, anything similar or higher than that will do for programming, i think. If adequate space means like 500GB, then machines on core i3 has it. Please consider that This is from my experience only.