Laptop for Coding

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timmmay

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#1112930 21-Aug-2014 15:49

Given the external keyboard and monitors, I'd say for me the most important parts would be i5 or i7 CPU, 16GB RAM (32GB is likely unnecessary) and SSD (probably 256GB, 120GB at a pinch). RAM and SSD are more important that processor, CPU is rarely a limiting factor, it's more often I/O.

zaptor

745 posts

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#1112998 21-Aug-2014 17:42

paulmilbank: Just helps get a better picture of what is required seeing as I don't write or compile code. We have a requirement for some of our dev team to be mobile hence the question and just wanted to know what kind of things were important to look for.

Wouldn't your own dev team have a better idea of what's required?

In any event, the two main selection criteria of in order of importance are:
1. Budget
2. Type of development work (which you haven't stated)

toyonut

1508 posts

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#1115039 25-Aug-2014 12:03

zaptor:
paulmilbank: Just helps get a better picture of what is required seeing as I don't write or compile code. We have a requirement for some of our dev team to be mobile hence the question and just wanted to know what kind of things were important to look for.

Wouldn't your own dev team have a better idea of what's required?

In any event, the two main selection criteria of in order of importance are:
1. Budget
2. Type of development work (which you haven't stated)

I was trying not to stand on toes at work and so this was more for my own interest/speculation. But due to a couple of factors it is now a work issue and is being discussed with various staff in the office.
Seems that there is no one right answer. Some of the guys are happy with super light and portable and would love a surface pro3 with an i7 and 256GB SSD, but they use VM's in the company fabric and have build bots that compile changes daily.
Other staff compile a lot of things locally for testing/production or run test VM's locally so need a lot of grunt. They also would not be happy if jobs take longer to compile, so they need SSD, 16GB ram and i7 M/MQ procs with quad core and hyperthreading. This is something of an issue though as most laptops are now using i7U procs and these are slower but with better battery life. Have to almost go to alienware/ HP Z series levels to get an M/MQ quad core. But they don't want to weight of a full blown workstation/gaming machine like that. Also budget doesn't spread to something like that. Fun times. Laptops are always a compromise.
It is all Microsoft Visual studio and a mix between website and application development.

Try Vultr using this link and get us both some credit:

http://www.vultr.com/?ref=7033587-3B

TwoSeven

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#1115067 25-Aug-2014 12:33

Another strategy that can be useful is to have the development environment on the [secure] workstation and then allow the developers to use remote desktop/VPN from a laptop when on-the-road. It reduces the mobile machine to a super-light ultrabook with a decent screen, but still gives the full capabilities of the development environment.

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reven

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#1115071 25-Aug-2014 12:38

i would one with
- at least a 15", preferrable a 17".
- ssd 240gb
- 2tb hdd (vms)
- 16gb ram
- i7

my coding involes
- sql server 2012
- visual studio
- darteditor (thats a resource hog, easily 2.5gb)
- vmware

so yeah, if i had a choice it would be that.
however, what i actually use is
- 14"
- 320gb hdd
- 8gb ram
- i7
I have to run vms on a desktop computer i rdp into. its a work provided laptop, seems more like a business laptop, def not a developers laptop....

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