Looking for good laptop for Computer Science student

[EoghanG]

I'm planning on doing computer science in university in september however I really don't know exactly what laptop would be best for a computer science course(on a students budget).I am hoping that someone viewing this has done a computer science related course and can recommend a suitable laptop.

[kalniel]

Cheapest Dell you can find, possibly one with a bigger battery pack.

Unless your course tells you otherwise, there aren't any particular demands for a computer science, so just get something you can use comfortably for as long as possible.

[GeorgeStorm]

As far as I'm aware there's nothing 'special' you'll need for Computer Science, almost any laptop would be fine, it's the non course things that are more likely to dictate what you want

[kidLink]

As the others have said, you don't need anything fancy. Whatever you go for though make sure it has a 1080p screen (you'll appreciate the real estate when you are writing code) and look for a good battery. Having a good battery life means you are set for long days with lots of lectures.

EDIT: remember to see if any student discounts are available, I got 10% off from Sony this way.

[kalniel]

As the others have said, you don't need anything fancy. Whatever you go for though make sure it has a 1080p screen (you'll appreciate the real estate when you are writing code)

I wouldn't be so fussed about 1080p - we seemed to cope fine for many years on lower resolution, and text on 1080 laptops tends to be so small you start bumping font size anyway, negating the real estate advantage. By going for lower resolution you often get better battery life as well from the same cells.

[Bagnaj97]

Battery life and low fan noise if you're planning to take it to lectures. I know from experience that a loud fan spinning up can be embarrassing and if you've got a couple of lectures back to back you'll be thankful for the battery life.

It's probably also worth getting an external monitor so check what outputs the laptop has. Code on one screen and reference material/documentation/APIs on the other will make assignments much easier!

[kidLink]

I wouldn't be so fussed about 1080p - we seemed to cope fine for many years on lower resolution, and text on 1080 laptops tends to be so small you start bumping font size anyway, negating the real estate advantage. By going for lower resolution you often get better battery life as well from the same cells.

I guess its just preference then, my eye sight's not very bad but I don't really feel the need to up the font size on a 15".