Fr Robert Ballecer, SJ : What is the best config for a Laptop for a computer science major? Mor...

[G+_Joel G. J]

Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ : What is the best config for a Laptop for a computer science major? More Cores or More GHz? Best amount of memory?

[G+_Taylor Graham]

something cheap so you have a little extra to pay off your crippling student loan debt.

[G+_Ben Reese]

I'd probably second the cheap idea. You can get quite a bit for pretty cheap now. Core i5 laptops with 4+ GB of RAM are pretty cheap and will last you at least a couple years. Unless you're building some huge application with tons of graphics, I doubt you'll need much processing power. Plus you can save your money and buy a Raspberry Pi or two.

[G+_Ben Tyger]

First off put in a SSD. I would also put RAM over CPU in priorities.

 

The other thing is to watch for CPU features. The big things to watch for are the features concerning virtualization. That's going to come in big play when setting up testing environments for your software.

[G+_Ben Tyger]

The big thing to watch out for is the maximum amount RAM you can install on the machine.

 

Also watch for build quality. Even if your careful it doesn't mean everyone around you will be.

[G+_Joel G. J]

Ben Tyger : Would a Hybrid drive be a good alternative if I only have one drive bay?

[G+_Ben Tyger]

Joel J?? Maybe. It really depends on your usage profile. My biggest issue with hybrid drives is the amount cache. Most only have 8GB of cache. That's sorely inadequate for the larger rotating disks. I'd go with a rotational drive plus a mini-mSATA cache drive. This setup is available in many laptops.

 

I'd still go with an SSD first though if possible. If you can work within 240 GB, go with an SSD. Else go with the setup above.

 

Also remember you don't have to store everything on the laptop. I'd get an Raspberry Pi and connect a large USB drive to it. Then setup the storage services you need. Owncloud, music streaming, GIT, and subversion can live on the RPi.?

[G+_Ben Reese]

LOL. Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ?? actually addressed that on a recent episode. If I remember right, he recommended hybrid if you need the larger storage and don't have room for another drive.

As Ben Tyger?? also mentioned though, keep virtual machines in mind as well. If you want your VM to run well too, you'll want it to be stored in solid State as well and you probably won't get the with a hybrid drive.

 

That said... There may be a way to get a second drive into the laptop you choose. For example, some laptops still come with an optical drive that can be swapped out for anothed SATA drive. And this is complete speculation, but I've seen extra PCIE slots in some laptops for adding a cell network card. If that is a standard PCIE, I'd imagine there's a PCIE drive that will fit it. ?

[G+_Mark Jurisch]

As a current CS major, I get along fine with a 2011 Macbook Air, 4gb memory, 256 gb SSD. I run parallels and with Windows for the applications that can't run directly on OSX. You don't need anything fancy for 95% of what you will be doing. Go cheap and upgrade more often, or spend the money on other fun "toys".

[G+_Joel G. J]

Mark Jurisch Would a custom Thinkpad be a good purchase? Here is my current config of a custom L440 in my wishlist:

 

Intel Core i5-4200M Processor (3MB Cache, up to 3.10GHz)

14.0" HD+ (1600 x 900) LED Backlit Anti-Glare Display, Mobile Broadband Ready

Intel HD Graphics 4600 with HM86(non-vPro), with TPM, without Express Card

8GB PC3-12800 DDR3L (2 DIMM)

720p HD Camera

500GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm, 2.5"

16GB M.2 Solid State Drive

DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer

Intel Dual Band Wireless 7260AC with Bluetooth 4.0

Integrated Mobile Broadband upgradable

 

Cost with coupon code: $866.73

[G+_Mark Jurisch]

That should be more than sufficient. The best thing you can do is find out what development environments you are likely to be using for a lot of your programming. You often can use what ever you want, but I have found it easier to use what ever the class instructor or book recommends. Visual Studio Express is common and probably the largest one, but it really depends what you will be programming. I haven't gotten into much graphics/simulation yet, but I would guess what ever that is done in would be the most resource intensive. An external monitor and hard drive were some of the best investments I've made. The monitor makes homework easier to look at two screens, and the hard drive for backups, because loosing your homework due to any number of reasons with a laptop is all too common. Good luck with your studies!

[G+_Ben Tyger]

Joel J Looks good. My only worry would be if you want to even some moderate gaming, the internal GPU can't support that. If your cool with that, it looks good.