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. 👍 😍

  • @nyan@lemmy.cafeEnglish
    14•1 year ago

    For programming, you need as much RAM and as much processor as you can manage, and all other considerations are secondary. If you’re intending to keep this machine for more than a year or two, that becomes even more important, because software always seems to expand to fill the space available—kind of like clutter. If you’re buying a laptop, you’re sacrificing upgrades in return for portability, so assume that you’re going to have a hard time adding more RAM after you buy (the memory might even be soldered in place if it’s a cheap thin-and-light machine). Framework is an exception to that.

    I find the Ryzen processors offer better value for money than Intel, but the last time I checked they were more difficult to find in laptops. You shouldn’t compromise on other things just to get the AMD chip.

    2-in-1 with pen: likely not worth it unless you, y’know, want or need a tablet anyway.