Personal computing discussed
Moderators: renee, Flying Fox, morphine
windwalker wrote:I disagree with the APU recommendation as slightly better gaming performance doesn't seem to be a priority for your primary use case.
superjawes wrote:So just to be clear, you need to compile on the laptop, right? I only ask because a netbook could work if you were letting a "real" machine do the heavy lifting.
TurtlePerson2 wrote:Also, a first year CS student won't really need to do anything processor intensive with his computer. The code you will compile will be very small and will probably run quickly.
Chrispy_ wrote:I agree, but absolutely don't do the upgrade via Lenovo -- buy the extra RAM and SSD separately and do it yourself. It's easy to do (assuming the X131e hasn't departed significantly from the x120e) and much cheaper.If you can tolerate 1366x768, the Thinkpad X131e is a fantastic machine - sturdy, great keyboard, small and powerful 11.6" screen.
You can find the lowest-spec i3 variants at around £400, I'd spend an extra £100 making it an 8GB machine with a low-idle-power 128GB SSD. Significantly less expensive than an ultrabook but also more robust, better to type on and arguably a better shape/size.
Arvald wrote:While I tend to agree, screen resolution is one of the most expensive features to buy in a laptop -- and one of the rarest on offer. If you're going to prioritize that, you might as well get a "retina" Macbook and pick up the rest of its hardware for free. More to the point here, this is a third machine for a student who is looking for portability and thinks the lower resolution is tolerable, so it sounds foregoing the expense (and limiting choices) of a higher-res machine is a reasonable choice.Biggest issue I see here is you are talking about coding and compiling then cutting your screen realestate down to incredibly tiny.
I personally am a programmer for a living and I cannot live with the aweful 768 line resolutions on most value laptops/ultrabooks.
UberGerbil wrote:I agree, but absolutely don't do the upgrade via Lenovo -- buy the extra RAM and SSD separately and do it yourself.
Chrispy_ wrote:Heh, I got kicked off-campus for my 2nd year too. Stupid UK universities!
Anyway, I still think you'll be best served by the x131 with an i3 that I recommended - it has great battery life, build quality and it's compact.
However, I bought a Clevo from these guys because they will sell you a machine without an OS. You should be able to get a student copy of Windows dirt cheap with your NUS card.
I have the Inferno (a Clevo W110ER) which is a great little gaming powerhouse but it's a battery eater and includes a graphics chip that you won't need/use. Something like this can be configured with an i3, 8GB RAM and a 120GB SSD for about £400 which, frankly, are amazing levels of performance for a ridiculously low price. Clevo (the OEM for these things) are often reviewed under the guise of AVADirect, Sager, Eurocom - and they usually fare well so I don't have a problem recommending them. You'd be trading off some portability for a full-sized keyboard, since the 11.6" models are typically only 92% of a full-sized keyboard.
RobotHamster wrote:Just had a look at the Thinkpad x131 which is rather good, although for not much more I think I would rather go with one of the clevos, and as a friend has a similar one from PCSpecialist and recommends them that would be the likely option. I already have an SSD I could use but before I make a decision, how heavy is the lenovo?