Thread: Buying a new laptop, software engineer student.

This is entirely up to personal preference. There is no "best operating system" for programming, especially programming in Java.

You should get whatever you're comfortable using.

Personally, I wouldn't get an Apple for programming, especially if you are used to Windows. I found setting up a fully operation dev environment on a Mac to be extremely unpleasant. But, this is coming from someone who is accustomed to Windows. I'm sure it's not too bad after you get used to the system, but I don't want that sort of learning curve and frustration when I just want to hit the ground running and start programming.

For non-Mac brands, I usually recommend either HP or Toshiba if you are looking for the best bang for your buck. Once again, very subjective, but that's my opinion. A HP or Toshiba laptop for around $800-$1000 (US) should be more than capable of letting you run several VMs, dev environments, watch movies, play video games, ect. without much trouble. And as much as I dislike Windows 8, I hear MS will be offering a free (or extremely discounted) upgrade to Windows 9 when they release it next year. So, I would probably be inclined to get a Windows 8 over a Windows 7, myself.

I actually did a breakdown the other day for my dad. Here are 3 we looked at for each brand (the links might not work):

Toshiba Direct | 15" - 16" Laptops & Notebook Computers
Toshiba Satellite P50-BBT2N22 Laptop (Toshiba Satellite P50-BBT2N22 Laptop)
Price: $699.99
Processor: i5
Touchscreen: No (optional: yes for +$100)
Screen Size: 15.6" 1920x1080
Memory: 8GB
Hard Drive: 1TB
Wireless: 300Mbps (optional: Dual-band 867Mbps for +$25, I recommend)

Toshiba Satellite P50-BBT2G22 Laptop (Toshiba Satellite P50-BBT2G22 Laptop)
Price: $899.99
Processor: i7
Touchscreen: No (optional: yes for +$100)
Screen Size: 15.6" 1920x1080
Memory: 8GB
Hard Drive: 1TB
Wireless: 300Mbps (optional: Dual-band 867Mbps for +$25, I recommend)
Why more expensive: More advanced processor

Toshiba Satellite S70-BBT2N23 Laptop (Toshiba Satellite S70-BBT2N23 Laptop | Toshiba Laptops)
Price: $899.99
Processor: i7
Touchscreen: No (optional: yes for +$120)
Screen Size: 17.3" 1600x900 (optional: 17.3" 1920x1080 for +$100)
Memory: 6GB (optional: 8GB for +$50)
Hard Drive: 750GB (optional: 1TB for +$30)
Wireless: WiFi Wireless 802.11b/g/n (optional: Dual-band 867Mbps for +$25, I recommend)
Why more expensive: larger screen size (actual cost for larger screen size would be: +$180)

HP ENVY x360 - 15t Touch Laptop (HP ENVY x360 - 15t Touch Laptop | HP Official Store)
Price: $679.99
Processor: i5 (optional i7 for +$130)
Touchscreen: Yes
Screen Size: 15.6" 1366x768 (optional: 15.6" 1920x1080 for +$50)
Memory: 6GB (optional: 8GB for +$40)
Hard Drive: 500GB (optional: 750GB for +$40 and 1TB for +$65)
Wireless: WiFi Wireless 802.11b/g/n (optional: 802.11ac 2x2 for +$30)
NOTE: **no DVD or CD drive**

HP ENVY - 17t (HP ENVY - 17t Laptop | HP Official Store)
Price: $729.99
Processor: i7 with chipset (optional: i7 with dedicated graphics for +$140)
Touchscreen: Yes
Screen Size: 17.3" 1600x900 (optional: 17.3" 1920x1080 for +$100)
Memory: 12GB
Hard Drive: 1TB (optional: 1TB Hybrid for +$40 or 1.5TB for +$90)
Wireless: WiFi Wireless 802.11b/g/n (optional: 802.11ac 2x2 for +$40)
Why more expensive: more memory, hard drive space, and built-in optical drive

HP Pavilion - 15t Touch (http://shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-of...lion-15t-Touch)
Price: $749.99
Processor: i5 with chipset (optional: i7 with dedicated graphics for +$140)
Touchscreen: Yes
Screen Size: 15.6" 1366x768 (optional: 15.6" 1920x1080 for +$50)
Memory: 8GB (optional: 12GB for +$110, not worth it)
Hard Drive: 750GB (optional: 1TB for +$30 or 1TB hybrid for +$80)
Wireless: WiFi Wireless 802.11b/g/n (optional: 802.11ac 2x2 for +$30)
Why more expensive: more memory, hard drive space, and built-in optical drive

HP ENVY - 15t Touch (HP ENVY - 15t Touch Laptop | HP Official Store)
Price: $779.99
Processor: i7 Quad with chipset (optional: i7 Dual with dedicated graphics for +$70 or +$140)
Touchscreen: Yes
Screen Size: 15.6" 1366x768 (optional: 15.6" 1920x1080 for +$50)
Memory: 8GB (optional: 12GB for +$75)
Hard Drive: 1.5TB
Wireless: WiFi Wireless 802.11b/g/n (optional: 802.11ac 2x2 for +$30)
Why more expensive: more advanced processor, larger harddrive

Definitely personal preference comes into play, but also take into consideration the type of programming you intend to do. Scripting? Desktop applications? Cluster computing? Mobile applications? There are a vast number of different types of programming...and some are more feasible than others in different environments. I personally prefer 'nix based operating systems. Why? Very stable, very secure, isn't prone to issues common on Windows (eg malware, necessity to defragment the disk, etc...), comes standard with a whole slew of useful programming languages (perl, python, java, etc...) and tools (grep, awk, etc...). Downside is that there is a learning curve. Upside to the downside is that Mac is unix based, throwing an easy learning curve on top of a powerful OS (my experience with programming on a mac has been much different from aussiemcgr's). This being said, if you've used Windows for years, moving over can be a challenge (perhaps try to get your hands on a mac to play with it for a few days and see how you like it).