Hello everybody. And
welcome back to in the
YouTube video. So in
today's video, I'm
going to be walking you
through my buying guide
for a programming
laptop. Now I get asked
the question all the
time is four gigs of
Ram enough. It's eight
gigs of Ram enough. Do
I need an I five? Do I
need I seven? And so in
this video, I'm going
to focus heavily on the
specs of a computer and
just kind of what you
should look for in
terms of specs and
features in any laptop
that you're going to
buy for programming. So
I'm going to start with
the bare minimum
requirements, the
absolute minimum I
would recommend for any
device that you're
going to use for
programming. They don't
give you kinda my
recommended
configuration for a
decent experience. I'll
talk about some nice to
have features, and then
we'll get in and talk
about some specific
exceptions. So say
you're working with,
you know, 3d games,
you're doing iOS apps,
what kind of machines
you might need for
that. And finally, I'll
end off by just walking
through a few laptops
that look good to me
that I would personally
recommend. So with that
being said, let's go
ahead and get started
and talk about what you
should look for in a
programming laptop.
So I'm going to get
started by discussing
the bare minimum
requirements that I
would recommend for a
programming laptop. Of
course, you could go
lower than these, if
you're really on a
budget, but I would
personally recommend
saving up until you can
buy a device that has
these kinds of specs,
just because your
experience is going to
be much better. And
you're going to be
using that really cheap
device maybe for a year
or two before you
decide to upgrade.
Anyways, when all of
the new software can no
longer run on it.
Anyways, let me go
through the specs. So
starting with system
memory, I'm going to
recommend you have at
least four gigabytes of
system Ram. This is
because a lot of
programs require at
minimum four gigabytes
of Ram to run. And if
you want to run
multiple programs at
the same time, without
having them be
drastically slower than
they usually would be,
you're going to want
four gigs of Ram, even
in today's age, that's
a little bit low, but
for some basic
programming tasks,
that's totally fine.
And four gigs should be
fine. Next I'm going to
recommend you get a
quad core processor. So
this is going to bring
the price up on the
computer that you're
going to be purchasing.
It's going to push it,
you know, over a few
hundred dollars
probably, but buying
something like a
Pentium or Celeron
processor, which are
dual core processors,
they're just going to
be very slow. And for
programming, it's just
not going to be a good
experience whatsoever.
I'd highly recommend
saving up to get a quad
core processor,
something like an or an
I three equivalent on
the AMD side. I'm not
quite sure exactly what
that model number would
be after that. I would
recommend having a 120
gigabytes of disc
space. Yes, you could
go with something like
60 gigs of disk space,
but there is some quite
large packages and
applications when
you're programming and
combined with say a
windows installed or a
Linux installer,
whatever operating
system it is, you're
going to be running out
of storage quite
quickly.
If you don't have at
least a hundred
gigabytes after that,
we're going to be
talking about operating
system. What you're
going to want to look
for typically is
windows, Mac, or Linux.
Those are kind of the
three options you have.
Yes. You use something
like iOS, so you could
buy maybe a cheap
mobile phone and try to
use that for
programming or maybe an
iPad or a tablet or
something like that.
But you're going to be
highly limited to what
you can download, what
programs you can use
and what code you can
run. If you don't get
one of those three
mentioned operating
systems. Another thing
to be careful with is
look out for devices
that are running,
running windows S mode.
That is kind of like
the mobile version of
windows. It comes with
a lot less features
than your standard
windows, and only
allows you to download
things from the windows
store.
You can turn off
windows S mode and put
it to a full fledged
windows install, but
that uses a lot more
system resources is
going to be very slow
on that device. If it's
meant to run windows S
mode. So personally, I
would recommend going
with Linux, if you are
comfortable with that
operating system,
something like Ubuntu
is really easy to get
used to if you're not
coming from a Linux
background and it will
be much faster on a
device like this. So
that's kinda what I'm
recommending for the
bare minimum
essentials. Of course,
if you can't afford
that, you can
definitely code simply
using any kind of web
browser. So whatever
device you have, if it
has a web browser, you
can write code and you
can actually start
learning and
experimenting. And
that's totally fine.
But to start doing
anything locally,
you're going to want
the specs that I just
mentioned.
So I'm going to quickly
list three websites
here that I think you
should consider. If
you're someone who has
a lower end machine, or
just want to experiment
with coding, and don't
want to worry about
installing and
downloading anything.
First one is called
replica. This is a
browser based IDE
ripl.it totally free.
You can write and test
code in the cloud. Next
one is Google
collaboratory. This is
specifically for Python
users, but you can
actually run a Jupiter
notebook and execute
that in the cloud with
hardware acceleration
as all as well for
free. So that's like
having access to a GPU
to train a machine
learning model or
something like that.
And then finally,
there's vs code code
spaces. I actually
don't know how new this
is and how accessible
it is, but I do know
that this is visual
studio code in the
cloud.
And that essentially
means you can use a
full fledged code
editor on the cloud on
another device totally
for free. So check
those three things out.
If you have a lower
tier machine where
you're just looking to
kind of get started
without needing to
download install, and
set everything up on
your own machine. So
now time for my
recommendation for kind
of a decent PC, that's
going to give you a
good experience. That's
not going to be super
fast, but it's
definitely not going to
be slow, and it's gonna
be able to achieve kind
of all the programming
stuff that you want. So
I'll start by
recommending eight
gigabytes of system
memory. You really
don't need any more
than this. Eight
gigabytes is plenty
when you're doing
programming. And I
personally can't think
of many situations
where I've been doing
some kind of
programming stuff and
needed more than eight
gigabytes of memory.
Now, of course, if
you're doing something
with machine learning,
loading, large data
sets, or you want just
a ton of different
things open at once,
maybe you're running
like three instances of
Android studio, then
you might want some
more system memory, but
eight gigabytes is
enough. You definitely
do not need more. Then
I would recommend a I
five processor or
higher. You also
probably could get away
with an, but sticking
with kind of the last
recommendation, just a
quad core processor,
something modern and
something that's just
going to be kind of
fast, right? That's
what we're looking for.
So an I five equivalent
or an I five, I don't
know what all the AMD
model numbers are.
Otherwise I would list
them next. You're going
to want to go with
probably about 250
gigabytes of storage or
more, again, really
depends on what you're
going to be using this
for and how much you're
going to be
downloading.
But I feel like 250
gigs is enough. For
most people. You have a
ton of different
applications. You might
want to go up to 500
gigabytes and a nice
feature to look for
here would be an SSD.
So not all computers
come with essence. I
know it's much more
common now, but looking
for some kind of SSD
just means your storage
is going to be a little
bit faster. And that's
just going to make for
a better experience,
especially kind of in
your day to day use on
the operating system,
loading things up,
moving files around. So
on. I also like to
mention here to look
for stuff that has a
USBC port. This is kind
of a newer port, I
guess, but this is
pretty important. If
you want to think about
future proofing your
device, a lot of the
accessories that are
coming out now are
USB-C of course you
could dongle stuff, but
it's just nice to have
a really fast port on
the computer.
I always recommend
people look out for
USB-C next. I'd
recommend that you look
for something that has
a large screen. If this
is going to be the only
device you use. So if
you don't have a
desktop at home, if
you're not planning on
plugging in an external
monitor, I'd really
recommend you go with
something that's 14
inches or larger. Yes,
you can go with the 12
inch screens or the 11
inch screens, but I
find programming, at
least for myself, if I
want to have multiple
things open on the
screen, it's really
nice to have that extra
inch or two of screen
screen real estate,
especially when you're
scrolling through large
code files, I find it
can actually make you a
bit more efficient. And
of course it just nicer
to have that extra bit
of space. So I always
recommend that. And
then of course, you're
going to want to look
for a decent keyboard
on the laptop.
Of course, if you're
working at home, you
know, you can plug into
a monitor, you can buy
an external keyboard
and mouse and you can
just use the laptop.
But if this is going to
be something where
you're on the go all
the time, you're
actually using the
laptop keyboard. Look
for something that
you're going to enjoy
typing on. I know I've
heard that Lenovo has a
really good keyboards
and I've had a Lenovo
laptop that I've used.
And I can definitely
say it's probably the
best keyboard I've seen
on a laptop. Other than
that. Yeah, that's
really all you're
looking for, for a
laptop for programming.
There's nothing special
that you need. You
don't need a graphics
card, just eight gigs
of Ram modern
processor, enough
storage, big screen,
and a nice keyboard.
That's really what
you're looking for. You
can get all of that for
probably under $800.
So that is kind of my
recommendation for the
mid tier, um, you know,
mid tier programming
laptop. No, you're not
going to be able to
game a ton on this. Um,
you know, it's not
going to be the best
thing ever, but for
programming, that's
really all you need.
Now, last thing say
here, if you're looking
for something that's a
bit better, kind of
some nice to have
features. Maybe you've
got an extra few
hundred bucks in the
budget looking for
something that has a
lower end graphics
card, maybe with two
gigabytes of video
memory or four
gigabytes will
definitely be great. If
you want to do
something like a little
bit of video editing,
content creation, maybe
you want to play a few
video games or whatever
it may be having. Some
kind of dedicated
graphics card is going
to be a great
investment.
Um, and it just, you
know, something to look
out for in a nice to
have feature, also
looking for some things
that have higher than a
nine, a 1920 by 10 80
display. So higher than
10 ADP, like a two K
display or four K
display. It's just
going to make the
screen that much nicer
to look at. And again,
a nice to have, if you
have the extra bit of
budget, finally, you
could go to up to 16
gigabytes of Ram,
definitely not
necessary, but if you
have the money, 16 gigs
is probably worth it.
And you will see a
little bit of a speed
increase. So that is
kind of my
recommendation for the
mid tier PC. Now I'm
going to talk about
some exceptions or
sorry, mid tier laptop.
I'm going to talk about
some exceptions now and
things you might want
to consider if you're
doing some specific
programming related
tasks.
So we'll quickly list a
few exceptions here to
keep in mind if you're
a specific type of
developer first, if you
want to develop
anything for iOS, so
you want to make iOS
apps. So you want to
make Mac applications.
You're going to need a
Mac operating system.
Unfortunately, that's
just the way it is.
That's what we have to
deal with. And you just
need a Mac. If you want
to develop anything or
actually push it, sorry
to the app store for
iOS, for iPad,
whatever, any, you
know, Mac related
operating system. Next,
if you're doing
anything related to
three D modeling, three
D graphics, 3d games,
you're going to want a
graphics card and
probably a decent one
System. This is simply
because
You probably will not
be able to test the
code that you write,
unless you have
something that can
actually run it. And
depending on how
intensive the 3d stuff
is that you're doing,
you're probably gonna
want a graphics card
next, if you are a data
scientist or someone is
dealing with extremely
large data sets and you
don't want to deal with
having to batch
everything out, you
probably want more Ram
in your system. Now
that is simply because
if you're loading
really large data sets
or doing data
preprocessing or
whatever it may be,
it's just helpful to
have at least say 16
gigs of Ram or 32 gigs
of Ram. Uh, although
I'm sure you're
probably dealing with
files much larger than
that, but just keep
that in mind that if
you want to be able to
load that much into
Ram, well, you're going
to need that much Ram
next, if you're doing
machine learning and
you want to do model
training locally on
your machine, you're
going to want a
graphics card in there.
That's Kuda enabled. So
in the video graphics
card, that is simply
because the major
frameworks like PI
torch TensorFlow can
utilize Kuda and that
graphics card to
actually accelerate
training. And well, if
you want to do it
locally, you should
have a graphics card.
Of course, a lot of
these things you can
mitigate by just, you
know, running virtual
machines or going in
the cloud and renting
out compute power. But
if you want to avoid
that and then keep
those few things in
mind. So what I'm going
to now is just show you
a few laptops that I
found on Amazon and
just browsing the web,
the look to me to be
decent value. Now, keep
in mind that I have not
used any of these
laptops, and I'm very
hesitant to recommend
them simply because I
don't have them in
front of me and I'm not
actually able to test
and try them out.
But these are just ones
that I saw that looked
to be decent value. So
I figured I'd show you
and you can kind of get
an idea of the price
range of these machines
and what I would
consider purchasing.
Um, had I not already
had my own laptop. So
first I'll tell you
guys, I use a Mac book
pro 16 inches. My main
laptop is a very
expensive laptop for me
and Canadian dollars.
It was just over
$3,000. I'm not
recommending that to
anyone, but I just
wanted a very high end
laptop. And that's what
I've used. But in the
past, I've used laptops
that were $200, $300,
$500. And honestly,
most of them have been
perfectly fine for a
lot of the stuff that I
needed to do related to
program. Anyways, the
first machine that I
found here on Amazon is
coming in at 879
Canadian dollars.
I think that's probably
somewhere around 600,
six 50 us dollars. And
this is the Lenovo idea
pad flex five 14 inch
laptop. So this is a
touch panel as well. So
it actually folds all
the way over into a
tablet, eight gigabytes
of DDR, four Ram. It
has an I five quad core
processor, 128 gig S S
D runs full windows 10.
And that's pretty much
all it's showing me
right here in the
listing. This looks
like a great machine.
It's got a Lenovo
keyboard, which are
known to be really
good. And this is
something that I would
definitely think would
be good value. Just,
you know, quickly
looking at the ratings
here, five and four
star looks to be a fine
machine and something
that I think would be
perfect for people with
kind of a mid range
budget. So next I have
a bit of a higher end
laptop.
This one is Lenovo
Legion. Five is a 15.6
inch gaming laptop. Uh,
the main difference
here when it says
gaming, I believe is
that it has a high
refresh rate display.
You don't need to look
for this for
programming at all, but
120 Hertz display just
means that the pixels
refresh faster. So if
you're gaming, it's a
better experience. This
has a rise in seven
processor in it, eight
gigabytes of Ram, 512
gigabyte SSD, and a
graphics card with four
gigabytes V Ram. And
this is coming in at
1,029 Canadian dollars,
which is probably about
700 5,800 us dollars.
So again, this looks
like a great machine.
If you had a bit of a
bigger budget, this
would be something I
would recommend has the
graphics card. So you
could do a little
machine learning a
little game in content
creation. It was a very
fast processor, eight
gigs of Ram in that
higher refresh rate
display of course is
nice.
Next I have something
that's a little bit
cheaper. Again. This is
the HP envy X three 62
in one laptop. So this
is a tablet as well. It
comes with 15.6 inch
display rise and five
processor, eight
gigabytes of memory,
256 gigabyte SSD. Uh,
it has a backlit
keyboard and it runs
full windows 10 again,
good reviews. And these
are the kind of laptops
that I would be looking
for. And that I would
personally recommend in
kind of that mid tier
range. Of course,
there's definitely
lower end laptops. I
don't know much about
the kind of low end
spectrum, so I'm not
going to recommend any
specific machines in
that range. But I do
know that following the
recommendations I made
earlier, you can
probably find something
that was about 400, 500
Canadian dollars. So
maybe like 300 us, that
will be perfectly fine
for programming,
especially if you're
just getting started
and not doing anything
crazy. So what are ways
that has been this
video? I would love to
hear from you guys,
what you would
recommend, any specific
models, what machine
you started to learn
programming on, and if
you found any mistakes
in this video, of
course, leave them down
below with that being
said, if you enjoyed,
make sure you like
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see you all in another
YouTube video.
