What's the perfect laptop for a CompSci major? Budget is around 2K give or take a bit. Want something light and thin

What's the perfect laptop for a CompSci major? Budget is around 2K give or take a bit. Want something light and thin.

MS surface book

MBP 2015 and earlier

Apple MacBook Pro

Also, bonus points if it can be made into a hackintosh

Unironically a 2015 mbp

Thinkpad P50.

Why not the new MBP? The basic version without the touch bar has relatively good value, with the only draw back the CPU which isn't that bad

>compsci
Something that runs GNU/Linux/emacs and LaTeX.

Buy a Latitude/XPS. Great linux and hackintosh compatibility.

and the lack of native connectivity options

I'm a bit of an aesthetic fag, nearly pulled the trigger on an HP Spectre but realized how bad HD520 graphics would be for the price.

Surface book is the current leader, but wifi doesn't work with a hackintosh on it so would need a USB wifi adapter

>2017
>Needing a wifi cable

Thinkpad 13. Cheap, ultrabook size / weight, thinkpad build quality, actually looks good.

HD5xx graphics are actually pretty capable, and for linux compatibility it's definitely preferred, though I'm not sure about OS X compatibility.

>wifi cable
hurrr

Jesus christ dude, you don't need a $2,000 laptop for school. I used a thinkpad t60 for four years during my school studies and it's still my primary computer. Consider a thinkpad t400 or x400 series, or get one of the modern ones for around $600 which are lighter but not as strongly built.

I know I can get something cheaper, but I've got the money to spend so why not

new 13 inch rMBP without touchbar

Buttblasted because his community college doesn't have campus wifi with home folders.

To me, the best laptop is one that you wouldn't feel bad about it getting stolen. This is achieved by making your laptop secure with disk encryption so your privacy is protected from thieves, making your data safe by automatic daily backups, and giving the laptop little value to decrease the damage and the desirability of theft, by simply buying a cheap laptop.

I have a 6 year old MBP.

Still running solid.

Beginning Software Systems degree soon.

Windows is mandatory in all but 1 programming classes. Doubt my current MBP can handle boot camp.

So I'm getting a Dell XPS 13", i5, 8GB memory, 128GB SSD. Currently 10% off online. May wait until holiday deals though???

Despite the constant shilling of ThinkPad's on this board, and having tested many personally, I haven't found one used ThinkPad whose battery can come close to handling a full day of work away from a power outlet.

What are you currently considering user?

At least consider splitting it out into money for a laptop, but also an additional monitor, peripherals (a really nice mouse and keyboard) and nice chair for home for added productivity.

Any laptop within a $2000 budget is going to do anything and everything you want it to do for school.

Literally just pick your favorite looking laptop

>Windows is mandatory
wut

>hey guys I'm studying comp sci and need a laptop
>recommend one without a fucking ethernet port
durr

> I haven't found one used ThinkPad whose battery can come close to handling a full day of work away from a power outlet.

Buy more batteries.

>Doubt my current MBP can handle boot camp.
>implying you need more than a piece of junk to program

Eh, comp sci students can get ahead with the ability to run multiple VMs or compile faster.

I think OP might be aiming high, but honestly not that high. I know too many comp sci majors with shit laptops doomed to suffer. If you're gonna use it for 4 years why not invest?

>hey guys I'm studying comp sci and need a laptop
>recommend one without a fucking floppy drive!
durr

It's 6 years old and I'm not expecting it to last another 2-4 years.
I use my laptop for things beyond programming, and would probably kys if I had a piece of junk lecheapmemepad250

Wtf I'm not an autist I'm not gonna walk around with pockets full of xps battery bars

Am I missing something, or do I desperately need an ethernet port?

You expect used batteries of second-hand laptops to last long? You really think there are non-bulky laptop batteries that can last for a full day of work?

>and would probably kys if I had a piece of junk lecheapmemepad250
lel what a goy, don't worry you won't last longer than a semester so don't even waste money ;^)

> X260
> 17 hour battery life
> in the ultrabook category
> Swappable battery pack

What is the new Mac, like 10 hours now?

I was just pointing out that you aren't qualified to give advice on hardware. Still questioning whether or not you realize your mistake.

Think I'm going to go with the new MBP, in New Zealand dollars there's 410 between the base model and the one with the touch bar. Touch bar one has a slightly better, but still i5 CPU and iris 550 graphics instead of 540

>$2k for a school computer
Unless it's something that actually requires a lot of processing power, that's a huge waste of money.
Buy some $250 Acer and spend the rest of the money on something useful.

It'll be my main/only computer, I have the money. So why not.

Because that's just stupid. Spend money on what you need. You shouldn't be asking "why not?" when buying something, you should be asking "why?".
Did you work for the money or did someone give it to you?

Get a used T430, upgrade the hardware a bit and invest the rest in something else

So wait, you think that because I've worked to be able to afford a not-trash computer... that means that I'll fail in comp sci?

I've got a job, the money isn't a big issue. I've got nothing else that I'd spend it on

Let him buy what he wants. This is a free country. He's just looking for validation for the decision he had already made.

Then save it.

Good choice, most of your CS professors will be running a Mac also.

New question, touch bar or no touch bar?

Whatever makes you feel good.

i legitimately have no idea why you guys care how other people spend their money
if you had an argument other than money, maybe people would consider your points

Why do you care about what I care about?

>OP is asking for Sup Forums's opinions
>Expect people not to give opinions

computer opinions, not financial advice

Thinkpad x260

Maybe if he's going to a shit school. Not one of my professors at MIT uses a Mac.

x1 carbon

>OP mentions budget
>Expect the discussion not to involve money

>but I've got the money to spend so why not
dont even bother going to school m8, youre always going to be poor

Definitely the best decision

Don't bother getting anything over 13" though, it's just not worth it

I run a import business, small scale but enough to get me through college comfortably

>computer science "major"
>doesn't even know how to choose a laptop optimized for his needs

you're probably better off in business or women's studies

>his professors are too dumb for UNIX.

this tbqhfampai

have you considered suicide, op?

they can be really usefull when reconfiguring wireless access points

serial ports are usefull when configuring some network switches switches

if your laptop doesn't have these and you want to configure networking devices, you may be able to get away with usb adapters...

Yes studyiby CS, not mechanical electrical information technological engineering, you fucking dweeb

A macbook is the ideal computer and pretty much everyone else in the class will have one

They all run Linux which is far better. The low level of OS X is horrible.

Get a 2013+ MacBook Air for as cheap as you possibly can. You won't need any more power than this for literally any assignment you'll work on through your entire time in college and the 10+ hours of battery life will be what you actually want/need. If you do legitimately need more power, you will have local access to a lab or server or remote access to a server for processing. Don't be one of those stupid faggots that adds $2k to their total loans for a laptop that they don't really need.

I'm looking for a laptop that had a not shit keyboard that's back-lit, 1080 resolution and great at dual booting for under $400. I want to have Linux for coding and Windows for Photoshop. Chromebooks are looking like my only option right now at this price range.

I'm in the same boat as OP basically. Budget is around the same.
I've been looking at the surface book with dgpu, the x1 carbon and.. the macbook pro 13". I am struggling with making a decision. I need it to be able to play some games, so that means either an ok config from the get go or having thunderbolt (for egpu). Also needs to be portable, look good and have a great display.

I love the x1 carbon, but it has no thunderbolt. Neither does the surface book, but it has the puny dgpu tho. The MacBook on the other hand has thunderbolt, but its keyboard is bad and it's terribly overpriced. I can't decide which of them I like better on an aesthetic level. Screen preference is probably something like MacBook pro > Surface Book > x1 Carbon. So overall I might have been in favor of the macbook if it wasn't for the mandatory emoji bar with the higher end processor.

So I'm kinda in a tie. Please help me. I can't stop thinking about this and it's sabotaging my life. Any input (or other recommendations)?

My aluminum macbook is 8 years old (late 2008) and I am typing on it right now. Have programmed python, java, c++ and c on it. Got through all 4 years of college with it. Thinking about getting new macbook pro.

Macbook pros are indestructible and the build quality is top tier. Love the operating system. Is absolute shit for games.

$2k for comp-sci computer

You have more money than sense.

>want light

Your phone, with a fold up keyboard, ssh client installed (I use Reflection). ssh to your Linux host in the dorm. Write programs. Send to academic computer lab printers for homework program listing and output.

Slightly less light setup:

Chromebook with ssh client. ssh to your Linux host in the dorm. Write programs. Send to academic computer lab printers for homework program listing and output.

Mach Kernels > monolithic shit

The Linux kernel is so far ahead of the OS X kernel it's impossible to even debate it. Fuck off idiot.

The summary of my impression [after reading the OpenSolaris code] was that I was... surprised....the [OpenSolaris] code, as I saw it, was neat. Real neat. Extremely neat. In fact, I found it painful to read after a while. It was so neatly laid out that I found myself admiring it. It seems to have been built like an aircraft. It has everything that opens and shuts, has code for just about everything I've ever seen considered on a scheduler, and it's all neatly laid out in clean code and even comments. It also appears to have been coded with an awful lot of effort to ensure it's robust and measurable, with checking and tracing elements at every corner. I started to feel a little embarrassed by what we have as our own [Linux] kernel. The more I looked at the [OpenSolaris] code, the more it felt like it pretty much did everything the Linux kernel has been trying to do for ages. Not only that, but it's built like an aircraft, whereas ours looks like a garage job with duct tape by comparison....[OpenSolaris] looks like an excellent design for a completely different purpose. It's built like a commercial design for commercial purposes that have very different requirements than what most of us use Linux for, but it does appear to have been done so very well. It looks like a goddamn Star Destroyer, and the Linux kernel (scheduler) suddenly looks like the Millennium Falcon. Real fast, but held together with duct tape, and ready to explode at any minute.

A Macbook Pro

wow,
was my first post in this thread, and i just answered your question with an opinion based around my experience. You seem triggered and a little buthurt for some reason.

I really dont care what you buy, I dont really care what you studyiby??? either.

I really do hope you feel that you fit in well.

The Solaris and OpenBSD code bases are beautiful. The Linux kernel source is uglier but it's often much, much faster because it handles and optimizes a lot of special cases. It's like BSD grep vs GNU grep.

Surface Pro 4 or Surfacebook

Or, instead of sshing to the host, he could get a Chromebook and install a proper Linux distribution, and then compile and run code on the local machine, without requiring constant Internet access to do assignments.

MacBook Pro. You can get used non-Retina versions cheap. Max the RAM, through in a Samsung SSD, and load up some Windows and Linux VMs.

I would be more worried about running out of space on a piece of shit Chromebook than not having constant internet access in this day and age.

>GNU grep

>Windows is mandatory

Explain this, please.

it honestly doesn't matter what you buy. just about any laptop made in the last 4 years will be sufficient no matter what you pick.

Are MBP good for coding? I'm into photography/video/music so it would be nice to be able to do those things as well.

Buy a Latitude for half as much money and make a hackintosh. Better yet, dual boot Windows and an easy linux distro like Fedora.

If youre a CS major you will be switching between languages a lot, from my experience this was much easier to setup in linux rather than windows. You can always just setup a windows VM on your linux computer for windows only things.

Really though dont buy a 2 grand laptop for CS, I finished my junior year with a 2008 dell laptop running XP, you just need to be able to run eclipse, an internet browser, and some office programs.

wth u should know already cp major lmao

what a stupid thing for you to have said, how embarassing.

Bump

NEC 486 laptop

Dell XPS 15

>I myself like Dell laptops they tend to be better quality especially the core i3,i5 and i7 models.

>HE gotta get wit his Sup Forums's first homeboy.

>Eh, comp sci students can get ahead with the ability to run multiple VMs or compile faster.

Find a modern used dell latitude. Pair it with 16 GiB of ram, and you can run more than two virtual machines inside your host. It shouldn't cost you more than 700 dollars.

>compile faster
They aren't going to compile the linux kernel or firefox, so that's a moot point.