How to choose a laptop for programming: features, useful tips

Programming involves the use of reliable and powerful equipment. That's why both beginners and experienced specialists need a laptop with certain characteristics. Manufacturers offer a wide range of models. It is easier and faster to choose the only right option if you initially know the optimal parameters of the laptop for convenient and efficient work.

Weight, size and battery of a laptop for a programmer

A significant number of programmers do not work in one place. Often it is necessary to solve tasks on the road or on the client's territory, so when choosing a device are of great importance:

• The weight of the laptop.
• Screen diagonal.
• Battery capacity.

If the specialist is often on the road, it is best to prefer a technique weighing no more than 3 kg. Ultraportable laptop weighs even less, namely 1.3 kg. Naturally, its dimensions will also be smaller than the standard.

Diagonal less than 15 inches will suit those programmers who work in the field. Travelers are most often interested in 13-14 inch laptops due to their low weight and compact dimensions.

Writing code takes a lot of time, and programmers need a device that runs for long periods of time on battery power. It is ideal when the battery holds a charge for up to 10 hours. For home and office, this indicator is not so important.

Properties of the laptop screen

An important requirement for the monitor remains the quality of the image. Full HD 1920 x 1080 in modern realities is not even discussed, otherwise the load on the eyes will be significant.

As for the picture, displays with an IPS matrix allow you to see the screen at any angle equally well. Liquid crystal matrix TN provides a smaller viewing angle, has insufficient contrast and demonstrates an incomplete gamut of colors.

Laptop RAM and memory

Programs and virtual machines are very demanding on resources, in particular, on the amount of memory. Especially the lack of memory is noticeable when running several programs at once. The minimum amount of RAM is 8 GB, but for developers of game applications this will not be enough. Often such solutions require at least 12 GB. Acceptable hard disk storage is 1 TB or more.

As an alternative to a hard disk drive, professionals use SSDs, which are digitally accessible and operate on the USB principle. They offer excellent performance, and the OS and applications load faster. A 512GB SSD drive is sufficient.

Laptop graphics card

The graphics card is not the most important element in the laptop structure for a programmer. The built-in graphics chip is suitable for both codes and games. If we are talking about an external graphics card, then 2 GB of memory will be enough for standard tasks, and for gaming - 4 GB.

Laptop processor for a programmer

Everything depends on the processor in programming. Intel Core i7 is considered to be the gold standard. AMD and its Ryzen 5 or Ryzen 7 models have proved to be a good choice. With a limited budget, Intel Core i5 is allowed. In turn, Intel Core i3 and older processors are suitable only for office applications.