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Ask HN: What is the best laptop for developer for less than 1100 USD?

6 points by ericthegoodking ↗ HN
Im a web developer ,looking to upgrade my old laptop, im currently thinking about purchasing a hp laptop here are the -specs 4th gen processor core i7 -8 Gb Ram -24 ssd + 750 GB harddrive -NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M Graphics with 2048MB of dedicated video memory -15.6-inch diagonal Full HD BrightView LED-backlit Display (1920x1080) The cost for this laptop is 1100 including shipping. Is this worth it?

9 comments

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kfk
Why do you need so much horse power? I mean, you can do easily web development on a laptop for half the price.

I think you need to understand better your needs...

ericthegoodking
I do backend development as well as front-end. I recently noticed that running tests i.e spec tests can greatly take alot of computing power. I just want a laptop that will speed up my work.
lsiebert
Completely unrelated to your original question, but I'd recommend you profile the tests sometime. often its not the processor that is the bottle neck, but the hard drive/ram.
Anonymous9823
Agreed, you can do web development on nearly any modern laptop. There are more important things to focus on, besides horse power.

1. Solid state drive. One of the few upgrades you'll notice day to day.

2. Portability, and screen size. After a handful of laptops, I've settled with a Samsung Series 9, 13.3", 2.8lbs. I'm constantly on the road, so it works perfect. If I'm home, I just HDMI the display to my 24" monitor and keep working.

3. Display. The Samsung I'm running uses PLS, similar to IPS, so it doesn't matter if you view it head on, or any angle, the colors and lightness remain accurate. This is incredibly important for any type of design work, and on my prior TN laptops, I'd be bending my screen forwards and back, trying to dial in subtle differences in color.

madmax96
I'd get a Macbook Air, but it might be just a little bit above budget. On the plus side you get a huge battery life and you're running a *nix. You can't be sure how difficult it'll be to get Gnu + Linux to run if the HP has Window's 'safe' boot.
phaus
You don't need to spend $1000 on a development computer. Yet if you do want to spend that much, there are better options.

Lenovo is about to release their new line of thinkpads. For the first time, most of them are going to have 1080p IPS screens. Historically, they have supported Linux better than most other manufacturers. Keep an eye out for the T440p, T440s, and the x240, they are all going to be around your price range, and they should be really good machines.

The Macbook Air is another good option, unless you truly do need that much power.

If you are going for power, the Asus N550JV is still a much better option than the HP. It's got a metal chassis, a Quad Core i7 Haswell processor, a 1080p IPS panel, and a Nvidia GT 750M. The best part is that it costs about the same as the one that you were looking at.

If you want something cheaper, I'd keep watching the Lenovo Outlet. I just bought a T430 with 8GB Ram and a 256GB SSD for 448 on the outlet, you just have to be patient.

codemonkeymike
I would like to second this opinion. I have a T430, bought it a year ago, and has never done me wrong. With extended battery which is only about $70 more it lasts 7-8 hours, the screen in good enough for anyone who isn't working for pixar, and all the function keys work on linux.
lsiebert
Reddit has a sub reddit specifically for this, (r/suggestalaptop) which I really liked. You might look at a clevo. I would want more ram, personally, and You don't need a video card that powerful for web development (many people like integrated only for the power savings).
LowWalker
I just picked up the Asus Q501 from best buy, I upgraded the ram and SSD, overall was about 1k spent. I put fedora on there and it's running like a champ.