# Best Dev Laptop



## inferno10681 (Dec 27, 2011)

What're your guys' set-ups?

I'm looking to buy a budget dev laptop ($500-$700ish) - is that too little or is it good? Looking to make this my daily driver, so capable of running both Windows 7 and Ubuntu smoothly. I can upgrade RAM on my own, so needs at least capacity for 8GB, 1TB HDD/SSD (not sure which is better for building), and an upgradeable graphics card.

If building my own would be cheaper/better, let me know.

Used to a 2010 MacBook Pro right now.

Thanks guys.


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## KeithN (Aug 4, 2011)

Looks like you are looking for a desktop. You'd get more for your money that way and it probably be a better choice if your laptop still fits your needs other than that. A SSD would be better because in general they have have better read and write speeds.


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## inferno10681 (Dec 27, 2011)

I would build a desktop, but I need it to be portable. Any suggestions (guides, parts, brands, etc.) on building a laptop?


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## KeithN (Aug 4, 2011)

I'm not sure about building, but usually looking at pre built compared to customized will save you some money. Looking on newegg quickly you can probably find a quad for that much, and I'd recommend staying away from intel graphics, go with ATI/AMD or Nvidia if you want to have a better graphic processing(as these are pretty much never upgradable). That said it's always a good idea to narrow it down to a few in your price range with what you are looking for and compare the hardware.


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## inferno10681 (Dec 27, 2011)

KeithN said:


> I'm not sure about building, but usually looking at pre built compared to customized will save you some money. Looking on newegg quickly you can probably find a quad for that much, and I'd recommend staying away from intel graphics, go with ATI/AMD or Nvidia if you want to have a better graphic processing(as these are pretty much never upgradable). That said it's always a good idea to narrow it down to a few in your price range with what you are looking for and compare the hardware.


Alright, thanks for the suggestions - any brands in particular you'd recommend?


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## KeithN (Aug 4, 2011)

As far as specific brands I can't say for sure, I've really only had this one Dell for the past couple of years. I'd look around online for reviews of the specific models you end up looking at, online store usually have reviews too.


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## Mellen_hed (Aug 11, 2011)

I'm not a dev, but I absolutely love my ASUS laptop


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## dstreng (Nov 26, 2011)

Staples has a decent i7 dv7 for 699.... got one today









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## Dr. Hax (Sep 24, 2011)

That DV7 most likely has shitel graphics..... which means its kinda a waste of money for a developer...


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## kendon (Jan 11, 2012)

not sure where you'd need graphics performance in software development...

@op: ssd is out of the game with that budget i'd say. graphic cards are usually not upgradeable in laptops. otherwise you want to have as much processor power and ram as possible, if you're looking at compiling aosp for example. a good screen in terms of resolution also helps, personally i hate this 1368x768 crap or whatever it is that is standard these days. might wanna check that linux/ubuntu doesn't have too much issues with the hardware, as that can be a major PITA, and there isn't really a way around linux for compiling aosp. just got myself a thinkpad w520 which is a beast in terms of power, but that's way out your league budget-wise...


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## gflam (Aug 27, 2011)

Been looking around a lot lately since i really like to shop laptops just dreaming right now as college is expensive and need to get myself a car but here are the links of the machines i'd personally get

http://www.xoticpc.com/force-pbl21-compal-pbl21-p-3086.html?wconfigure=yes

http://www.malibal.com/boutique/pc/configurePrd.asp?idProduct=285

http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/cdetland.to?poid=2000016420

http://www.powernotebooks.com/configure.php?special=1125

http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np3250-clevo-w251hnq-p-3064.html?wconfigure=yes

http://www.system76.com/laptops/model/pangolin

http://www.msimobile.com/level3_productpage.aspx?cid=4&id=322

http://www.msimobile.com/level3_productpage.aspx?cid=6&id=305

http://www.msimobile.com/level3_productpage.aspx?cid=6&id=329

http://us.toshiba.com/computers/laptops/qosmio/X770/X775-Q7387/

http://www.superwarehouse.com/Toshiba_Satellite_P755-S5385_Notebook/PSAY1U-02E027/p/1667319

All great specs but just reread your post and these may be a bit pricey for you they are for me but they're what i'd be looking to get


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## android01 (Jan 12, 2012)

Asus g74 gaming laptop

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## JBirdVegas (Jun 11, 2011)

Dev laptop? If you building the source the you want lots of cores (hyper threaded if possible), lots of ram and an ssd not a big deal how big it is but as long as it can handle ~60gb for aosp, Linux and real computer usage apps. Also you may want to look into a usb3 connected external ssd, by keeping the out dir on a separate ssd you will have faster builds.

However if you are wanting to do app development then that old 386 you have been using for bb gun target practice will be just fkne

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## yarly (Jun 22, 2011)

I prefer a desktop for development (core i5/i7, decent GPU, 16-24gb of ram, ssd drive, some quiet fans and a monitors). A very powerful desktop is going to run you half of what a similar laptop would. A laptop that powerful would also sound like a helicopter taking off and weigh as much as a tank. I can't even hear my desktop until all the cores hit 100% and/or the GPU is hitting around the same.

I recommend finding parts on Newegg or Amazon and build your own. I never have to upgrade my entire setup at once after that. I just swap out a part here and there as something significantly better comes out. Things like your case + fans + dvd drive + hard drives you'll never have to change so that's a good chunk you save right away. Finding parts and putting together a PC is nowhere near as hard as you think if you have not done it before. If you have no done it before, consider it a learning experience that will teach you more about your PC.

Reason for a decent GPU? Multiple high resolution monitors need a decent amount of texture memory (I have 3 1920x1200 monitors). The emulator uses it now for android. Also, apps like photoshop and other graphical apps (especially 3d rendering ones) use it. Sometimes a little stress relief is helpful so a little gaming doesn't hurt either 

Then for a laptop, I just get a cheaper lightweight one to do things when I can't be at home. Mostly the laptop sits and collects dust though. You start to hate the smallness of laptop without multiple monitors for development once you try it.


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## nicentral (Dec 30, 2011)

I'm just curious why you couldn't just use the MBP you've already got. I've been doing Android development on my 2007 MBP and other than having to wait a while for a large compile, it's been as good as my Core i7 extreme edition Precision Mobile workstation.

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