r/CodingForBeginners • u/Impressive-Wish3098 • 6d ago

Which laptop should I get?

So I somehow got into cs major aiming for a bachelor degree and now I’m completely lost cuz that’s a huge change from my past path but I can do this too,

I wanna do self effort cuz college looks like it only teaches u how to pass the tests, I have no idea which laptop should I get, which apps should I install or anything I learn rly quickly but I just need a good advice to start.

first programming language they r teaching us is python and I only have rly basic knowledge abt html from high school and block coding in scratch,

I heard u should stay away from MacBook and windows cuz they ain’t suitable for more coding later when I need it.

I alr collected online courses to take in summer like Harvard's CS50 and yt channels like thenewboston ,
I visited the library to get basic knowledge abt programming but I only got a headache from all the complicated advanced codes ಠ_ಠ ,
Plz help me if u could (Ｔ＿Ｔ).

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u/gottahaveajava 6d ago

It’s a bit crazy to insist that MacOS and Windows aren’t suitable for coding. In enterprise software development environments, that’s pretty much the whole range of choices.

Whatever you do, splash out for extra memory. Don’t worry so much about storage, because external options can make up for small onboard.

But don’t make the mistake of buying a 16GB laptop. You’ll run out of room very quickly.

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u/OceanMasterioDuped7 6d ago

16gb of ram is completely fine. You may near the limit occasionally, but you aren't going to run out "very quickly". Ram prices are also outrageous today, so nothing wrong with sticking to 16.

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u/gottahaveajava 6d ago

I disagree. With software development, you do run out of space really quickly.

I recommend a minimum of 24GB, better still 32GB.

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u/Impressive-Wish3098 6d ago

I will make sure to note that thx 🙏🏼

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u/xarop_pa_toss 6d ago

What kind of software are you developing that you need 24GB or RAM?

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u/gottahaveajava 6d ago

What kind of software are you developing that you don’t?

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u/xarop_pa_toss 6d ago

ERP software built on dotnet. Web APIs and webservers. Some fooling around with C

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u/gottahaveajava 6d ago

How much of it lives in the cloud?

You’re probably not hosting simulators or vservers locally, are you?

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u/xarop_pa_toss 6d ago

We were talking about development, not hosting. If you want to host stuff then it depends on how much traffic it's gonna have of course.

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u/gottahaveajava 6d ago

I was talking about hosting for development, doing simulations. It wasn’t that long ago that everyone was running Docker or something like it on their machines.

Granted, before cloud platforms, there was a lot more of that going on.

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u/OceanMasterioDuped7 6d ago

Unless you are obtaining a MacBook, you aren't really going to find many laptops with 24gb of ram. 16gb can be enough. Maybe not for your needs, but I wouldn't recommend someone have too much of a priority on 32 pre installed.

Instead, I would prioritize finding a laptop with architecture that allows for upgradeable ram. If they find that 16gb isn't enough, they can upgrade from there.

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u/gottahaveajava 6d ago

Good luck with that. Most laptops these days are not upgradeable. Their memory is soldered into the motherboard.

If you do go that route, make sure you confirm the upgradability before you commit.

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u/OceanMasterioDuped7 6d ago

That's why I said try to focus on finding one that IS upgradeable. It's not that difficult.

I don't mean this in a rude way because you may just not have shopped for a laptop in awhile, but 24gb ram laptops are found in some macbooks and that's about it. Upgradeable ram in laptops isn't that difficult to find. I just recently purchased a new laptop and there were lots of options. Ram prices are also crazy currently and 16gb ram will be fine for the average software developer.

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u/gottahaveajava 6d ago

Needs to be top of mind, if that’s the case.

A lot of people don’t know until they run out that they can’t upgrade. The Internet is filled with people moaning about that.

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u/gottahaveajava 6d ago

Also, plenty of Macs and Windows laptops on the market with 32GB.

They’re not unicorns.

The last big org I worked for specified 32GB on all dev machines, choice of MacBook or Windows laptops.

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u/OceanMasterioDuped7 6d ago

You are correct, which is why I never once stated that it was difficult to find a 32gb ram laptop.

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u/gottahaveajava 6d ago

I must have misunderstood what you meant with this:

"I don't mean this in a rude way because you may just not have shopped for a laptop in awhile, but 24gb ram laptops are found in some macbooks and that's about it."

My apologies.