Laptop requirements for programming

Look for a Lenovo Thinkpad. They work very well on Linux. In terms of which Linux distro to use, I recommend Ubuntu because it's very user-friendly, the updates are frequent, and it's just easier to find tutorials targeted at that distro since it's so popular.

I purchased an LG Gram in January [$1,000 on Amazon] and removed the Windows OS and installed Ubuntu 18.04. I used Ubuntu for two years before that and have always loved it. The person who recommended the laptop to me uses it with Windows and doesnt have any issues. Its one of the lightest laptops you can get with the specs it has. It feels like its half the weight of a MacBook Pro I just got for work.

I primarily do security tool development and contribute to a couple of open source projects. That said, I do a good amount of work on my Samsung Chromebook Plus since it has a built-in Linux distro while I'm commuting into work or sitting on the couch.

Hey, ya'll have some great recommendations! I wasn't expecting so much pro-Linux support, but I'm glad to see it, I guess my thinking in that direction is correct. I will continue looking and let you guys know what I actually do buy. Thanks so much!

Dual boot is your friend when developing cross-platform. Doing SCSI pass through calls on a OSX machine is near impossible. Static Library compilation in Windows is treacherous. Every OS had its benefits. Don't choose wisely, just don't choose.

Hey Angela, there are already really good recommendations here! If I had to buy a new laptop today I'd look into some of these:

• Dell XPS 13 [They come with pre-installed Ubuntu and work reeeally good]
• Thinkpad [Like Erika Heidi recommended you].
• System76 laptops. They have their own Linux flavor preinstalled too. Very nice machinnes with a really nice range of affordable options.
• Oh I also forgot to mention Tuxedo! Another Linux computer retailer [from Germany]. They have really good laptops too with preinstalled linux.

As for the distro, Ubuntu, Mint [Ubuntu based, very user friendly] or Fedora are probably you best bets. System76 machines come with PoP!_os also Ubuntu based and very user friendly.

Important to mention, if you are not going to use Windows 10, choosing a pre-installed linux option means that you are saving around 100$ in a software license you are not going to use, which can translate into a better SSD or more RAM.

Good luck!

For coding needs you can go fine with a laptop with an ssd [at least 256gb], lots of ram [at least 8gb] and a good cpu [intel i5 or ryzen 5 or higher]. Rog laptops tend to be expensive because of the gpu which u dont actually need unless you gonna do game development. As for os, its a matter of preference unless you gonna do mobile development then you definitely need a mac for making iphone builds

Whatever you pick up, make sure it has ample amounts of RAM [16+ GB] and an NVMe drive. Those two things make your computing experience all around swift and lag free, and having only NVMe drives will help your battery life.

Personally I picked up an MSI GS65 Stealth Thin, beatiful aesthetics married with a beastly i7 8750H and an RTX2070 for light on the go gaming. :]

Go for Linux [Ubuntu or CentOS] or MacOS. A laptop with 8gb, i5 or i7 [if you want to run heavy software like android studio or IntelliJ idea] and at least 256 GB of SSD will be enough. Right now, I am working with the latest MacBook Air and it has been great so far.

In my honest opinion, if you're going to spend $1k, you might as well just get a MacBook, or at least a laptop that is hackintosh compitable. The reason is because the Mac OS probably is going to give you the most enjoyable experience since all the videos and articles you read will be based on Mac OS. I want to also point out, Mac OS is not Linux. They are very different operating systems. So if you have the cash to drop, then drop it on a Mac, if you're looking for a cheaper option, then Windows is pretty much all you get, i3 processor is the minimum and and i5 is more than enough. If you use a rich heavy text editor like Jet Brains then perhaps i5 with at least 8GB DDR4 of ram would give you a pleasent experience. Best bang for your buck is Hackintosh, if you're ready to get tech savvy [But I'm sure you wouldn't ask this question if you knew]. But it all comes down how much you want to use in learning tech. If you want to only focus on code, then go the Mac.

Well, if you're into design and development then it's best to have mac or windows because of illustrator, photoshop.
But if you are into solo development, then I would prefer giving a try to linux. I have worked with linux environment for about 6 months. It's great.
A laptop with 8gb ram, i7 most probably and with 256 SSD will work like charm for you setup. :]

Get an ultrabook by Asus which can be quite affordable these days with tons of battery life to write code and lightweight.