Which laptop to go with for programming?

JakeDH

Estimable
Aug 2, 2014
1
0
4,510
Hey there!

I am looking to pick up a new laptop this black friday. I'm from Canada, so my options are a bit more limited than they have down in the states. My price range is < $500.

I have found two laptops that look pretty good, but I don't know which to go with, or if there may be a better option out there. Here are the two that I have found:

HP 15-R138CA ($399.99)
-2.16GHz Intel Pentium N3540 Processor
-8GB DDR3L SDRAM
-750GB hard drive running at 5400rpm
-15.6 inch diagonal HD WLED backlit display w/ 1366 x 768 resolution

Acer Aspire E5-521-66SN ($399.99)
-AMD Quad-Core A6-6310 Processor
-6GB DDR3L RAM
-1TB HDD
-15.6 inch high brightness LED backlit display

So my question is; which laptop is the best for programming? Even if it's not one of the two that I found, I would love any insight! Thank you for your time.
 

armapker

Distinguished
May 19, 2012
190
0
19,010
I think if you are sticking to <$500, then this is your best bet:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834314720

Both the laptops you were looking at have extreamly slow processors. This one has an i3 that is quite a bit better. It has 8GB of RAM which is good for programming, but only a 500GB hard drive. I'm not sure how much space you typically use on your computers but that may or may not be good enough. Ideally you would have a higher resolution screen, and I hope that you would plug an external monitor in because at 1366x768, you are going to have a hard time programming, as you won't be able to fit a lot of code on such a low resolution. However, at your price range it is difficult to find a 1920x1080 screen or even a 1600x900.

Hope I could help!