Laptop Suggestions for Uni

• 

  AceKiller97 on 16/06/2023 - 12:07

  +1

  But a MBP and an iPad as the second screen. Real software engineers use unix ;)

  • 

    AustriaBargain on 16/06/2023 - 12:09

    Both iPad and MacOS have a rock solid UNIX core.

  • 

    jruderwier on 16/06/2023 - 12:22

    +4

    Not opposed to it in the future, but the syllabus is very geared towards windows programs & Mac users are always having issues

    • 

      AceKiller97 on 16/06/2023 - 20:15

      I had that issue when I was going through engineering, it is a pain :/ using the uni VMs was a real pain!

• 

  Vancomycin 1000mg on 16/06/2023 - 12:20

  MacBook Air 15" and upgrade RAM to 16GB with external SSD.

  • 

    jruderwier on 16/06/2023 - 12:24

    Cheers but steering clear of Mac until I finish my degree, I have an iMac at home and love it, but need a PC laptop for uni

• 

  Gdsamp on 16/06/2023 - 12:30

  +3

  Use your student email to get a Lenovo Education account. Google 'Lenovo Education store'
  There is currently EOFY Sales. While lenovo does frequently put good discounts on its edu stuff, theres some better discounts atm
  ThinkPad P series with dedicated graphics (ThinkPad P is their workstation-tier laptop)
  Supports external docks over the USBC port (displayport out), but not thunderbolt for AMD version

  P15v Gen 3 AMD - customize your own (pick the windows one, but if youre so inclined you could save a couple $ and use your win11 edu licence applied on the linux version)
  Upgrade to Ryzen 7 6850H (Yes, this is previous gen, but still plenty capable)
  Upgrade RAM to 32GB (2x16GB) for dual channel memory. Note that this is upgradeable
  SSD upgrades via lenovo are stiff. $500 for 1TB SSD? there's any number of deals on OZB for decent 1TB SSDs for like $200 you can put in after purchase. Note that there are two SSD bays available. I've left this as is at 256GB
  Personally i'd splurge the extra $100 for 100% sRGB screen so it looks nicer.
  Theres a couple of graphics options, you may wish to go for the midrange T1200 over the included T600 but Im not too familliar with the choices

  Total Laptop Cost: $2421.56
  hwhat I would, however do, is add an extra couple year of on-site warranty, to a total of 3 years for an extra $99, that way it definitely gets you across the line with uni. and such that someone comes to you if something goes wrong. I've used mine a couple times.

  Godspeed

  • 

    jruderwier on 16/06/2023 - 12:35

    +1

    Thanks, very helpful.
    I have Lenovo edu and have checked out their sales, but hadn't thought of buying standard and upgrading to what I want

• 

  FoxJump on 16/06/2023 - 12:51

  +3

  crazy idea here

  get a beefy computer at home
  get a light weight, long battery, big sceeen laptop thats cheapish

  vpn/rdp to your beefy computer at home.

• 

  TRANCE on 16/06/2023 - 13:46

  +1

  Thinkpad

• 

  rumblytangara on 16/06/2023 - 15:15

  Not a specific suggestion as such.

  Thinkpad with a big screen. Probably P series. Easy to open and upgrade bits yourself (e.g. adding additional RAM and SSD). 3 year onsite warranty, rep for good build quality.

  a decent graphics card, I don't game but I have secured an internship at a VR/AR firm and I would want to have a laptop capable of anything expected of me

  Maybe check with the company first, if you're expected to do intensive work then I'd expect they'd provide the necessary hardware rather than expect interns to carry around huge amounts of computational power.

  14", it's too small and I've been lugging a portable monitor with me

  Bigger screen on a laptop sounds marginal TBH, I'd expect you'd still end up carrying a second screen anyway.

  • 

    raisinberry777 on 16/06/2023 - 17:23

    +1

    Maybe check with the company first, if you're expected to do intensive work then I'd expect they'd provide the necessary hardware rather than expect interns to carry around huge amounts of computational power.

    This is the main thing - and if they're not providing the hardware, then I would expect that they have pretty specific guidance. I would think in the AR/VR space there's likely to be a preference for specific hardware and there's little point in trying to second-guess what your employer might want.

    • 

      rumblytangara on 16/06/2023 - 17:35

      Yeah, I would expect a company that purely does VR/AV to have huge amounts of centralised computational power and not rely on laptops which regardless of what graphics cards are in them, will be like bringing a knife to a gunfight.