Hi guys I want to buy a laptop for programming, but I couldn’t figure out what i really want .

my budget range from 600$ to 1200 .

I found these laptops in the market

(i3 - 4g ram - 256 giga ssd) for 600$

(i5 - 8g ram - 512 giga ssd) for 800$

(i7 - 16g ram - 512 giga ssd) for 1200$

and also ryzen 3 5 and 7 .

here what I want you to Know :

1- I want to use this laptop for programming only (and browser of course),

2 - I will programming for android (for now ),that’s mean i need to install android studio , IntelliJ IDEA or Eclipse (maybe other).

so I’m afraid if I buy 1200$ laptop i will regret it , because don’t need that much ram or cores or ssd capacity.

and if i buy 600$ i will regret it too ,because it will be too slow or not ideal for programming,less ram -less capacity -less core

I was depressing for long time and I’m slowly back on track so i don’t know what going on ( on tech world).

and also there are laptop 2 in 1 (laptop and tablet) with pen, is it worth to buy ?.

dose the laptop now upgrade-able in terms of ram , saying this because of what going on in part replacement issue (like apple ).

so help please what should I buy.

pardon my English not my first Language, and thanks in advance.

Edit : thank you guys very much , that’s really help and very informative. 👍 😍

  • jpfreely@programming.devEnglish
    21·
    1 year ago

    I would get a higher end Chromebook. They run Linux, have a built in android container, nice keyboards, touch screen, often have 360 hinges if that matters to you.

    I’ve got the middle one in that pic and it’s almost as fast as my 24 core desktop. Like others said, get 16 gig of ram. Edit: i use VS code which is less beastly than Android studio, but there’s no need to run an emulator because it’s already built in, accelerated.

    • DaleGribble88@programming.devEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      These things have been the source of so much frustration for me over the years. I think you are the only person I’ve ever seen IRL or online who didn’t immediately regret the purchase after about 3-6 months.

      • jpfreely@programming.devEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        I returned my $4000 MacBook, I don’t like the keyboard layout and thought it had poor performance for the hardware. I would go for a Linux laptop but other than that I prefer Chromebooks and have been using them for 10ish years.