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Discussion on: Taking suggestions for new laptop

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Charles D. Villard

This has to be one of the most frequently discussed topics here, and not without good reason. Now I don't know what you plan on working on, but the 2015 MacBook Pros are no slouches by any means. Mine probably has some different specs, but it keeps up with 12 active applications and a Windows VM running multiple Visual Studio solutions, being pushed to a 22" screen via DisplayPort all day.

I say this only to discourage you from getting rid of it (though I'll gladly consider taking it off your hands.) If you feel you really need something more powerful, here are the commonalities that seem to keep popping up in specs today:

  • A CPU at most two generations old (i.e.: 6th-generation Intel i5 or i7)
  • At least 8GB of RAM, and more from there if you plan on anything power-intensive
  • At least 256GB of drive space, and more from there if you're dealing with larger files and datasets
  • Any graphics card will do for code, unless you're working with graphics or design applications.
  • Whatever operating system you're most comfortable with working in.

The truth is that it all depends on what you're developing. Front-end web developers technically don't even need what I've prescribed above, but that doesn't mean it's not nice to have.

Also, beware planned obscelescence. Many Big Box store machines are basically built around this.