Computer science majors, programmers, and app developers need a good personal laptop to help them do their important work. However, how to choose the right one for your needs? This depends on what kind of work you do, and on what platform. This article will help you decide, as we present to you 5 of the best laptops for work in computer science.
1. Acer Aspire E 15 – Most Affordable, Great Battery
5.27 lbs. | i5-8250U | MX150 | 8GB RAM | 256 GB SSD | 15.6″ 1920 x 1080 | 15 hours | Win10 Home
This is the most affordable laptop for computer science students currently on the market. It has everything you need for your studies. It comes with a mid-range 8th gen Intel Core i5-8250U processor, a powerful enough unit that consumes less power. The laptop can last you 15 hours while browsing the web, which is plenty of time.
Memory wise, it has 8GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage, more than enough for an average user, but you will have to keep your data somewhere else if you have a lot of it.
Despite being a budget laptop, it has a full HD 15.6 Inch IPS panel, great for work and watching movies. Since it has that big battery capacity, it is quite heavy and you might be fatigued while carrying it in your backpack all day. The dedicated MX150 graphics chip is not very powerful, but it will allow you some lightweight gaming.
Overall, Acer Aspire E 15 is an inexpensive laptop that has good battery life and performance, enough for computer science majors.
2. ASUS VivoBook – Affordable, Slim and Beautiful
3.7 lbs. | i5 8250U | UHD 620 | 8GB RAM | 128GB | SSD + 1TB HDD | 15.6″ 1920 x 1080 | 5 hours | Win 10
This is an entry-level laptop from ASUS. It has loads of better storage, as well as a 128GB SSD for performance and quicker load times and setups.
The computer runs on an Intel Core i5 processor and is backed up by 8GB of DDR4 RAM, enough for most of the programming tasks. A 15.6-inch full HD IPS display is pleasant to look at and work on.
This laptop looks amazing when aesthetics are in question because of its compact body and thin bezel. However, the battery life is only 5 hours while web browsing. Another potentially bad side is the lack of a dedicated GPU, so graphics-intensive applications will have problems on it.
From the weight and design aspect though, it is a good deal. It is easy to carry and fits with any style. Moreover, it is affordable, and hence a great choice for students.
3. HP Spectre x360 – Most Portable and Convertible
3.28 lbs. | i7-8550U | UHD 620 | 16 GB | 512 NVMe | 12-inch Touch 1920 x 1080 | 16-hours 45-min | Win 10
This is the most unique laptop on the list, mostly because it offers both great portability and decent performance. Its main highlights are the design and neat 17-hour battery life.
Moving on, the laptop also has a 13.3-inch full HD IPS screen that looks great and allows you to operate with touch options. The convertible design is extremely useful for taking notes as you can flip it around, which also works miracles with watching movies.
Performance-wise, the convertible laptop has an Intel latest i7-8550U processor as its heart, 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage space. These pretty good specs, enough for computer science tasks without any problems or hassle.
As mentioned, the battery life is unreal and stands at 16 hours and 45 minutes while on the web browsing.
Read Also: Best Laptops For AutoCAD
4. Microsoft Surface Pro 6 (Overall Best Windows Laptop for CS)
1.73 lbs. | i7-8650U @4.20 GHz | UHD 620 | 16GB RAM | 1TB NVMe | 12.3-inch touch 2736 x 1824 | 13.5-hours | Win 10 Pro
4.2 lbs. | i7-8650U @4.20 GHz | GTX 1060 | 16 GB RAM| 1TB NVMe | 15-inch Touch 3260×2160 | 17-hours | Win 10 Pro
There are many upgrades on this laptop when compared to its previous issue. It has a better, 8th generation Intel Core i7 processor, which operates on 4.20GHz of clock rate. Furthermore, there is 1TB of storage and 16 GB of RAM, great for smooth operations while working.
The display quality is magnificent on its 12.3-inch Pixel Sense Display with a 2736 x 1824 resolution. This screen delivers accurate colors and great brightness.
The detachable keyboard design is a trademark for this laptop. It is a very useful gadget for taking notes in class, and on the go. Most students prefer SurfaceBook laptops because of this neat feature.
Those who prefer bigger screens need to go with Microsoft Surface Book 2 however, which is also a great laptop for computer science.
The amazing thing with the Surface series is the customization option, meaning you can assemble your machine according to your needs. You can choose between i5 and i7 CPUs, and pick how much storage and memory you need.
This latest model can survive 13.5 hours on battery with video playback. It also has an enhanced camera performance for the richest video calling experience you have seen. The 5MP front and 8MP back cameras both support full HD video format.
5. Apple 15″ MacBook Pro 6 – Overall Best Mac
1.06 lbs. | I7-7820HQ | Radeon Pro 560 | 16GB RAM| 512 GB SSD | 15-inch 2880×1800 | 10-hours | MAC OS X
Apple products are considered the most reliable and high-performance machines on the market, which is almost always the case. Their Mac OS X has lacks some applications when compared to Microsoft Windows, but MacBook offers the best options for programmers.
The MacBook Pro 15 is equipped with an Intel Core I7-7820HQ processor with 3.90 GHz, 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB SSD storage that offers outstanding performance and speed.
Durability and reliability are what Apple products steam for, and this laptop also is made from a durable aluminum unibody, designed for performance. The screen is a 2880×1800 retina display, with an amazing viewing experience and the richest and most accurate color quality.
Radeon Pro 560 is in charge of the graphics department, which has 4GB of its own vRAM. This will allow you to perform most of the graphics related task with utter ease.
For computer science majors dealing with Mac OS, this is the best choice for a work laptop. An average MacBook can last you for more than 5 years without any problems, so although expensive, they are a great investment.
Watch the following video for tips on how to choose the right laptop for computer science:
Check out some other models available on Amazon:
- AMD A12-9720P 2 7 GHz Upto 3 6GHz Quad-Core Processor 8GB DDR4 Memory 128GB SSD
- 15 6" Anti-glare Full HD (1920 x 1080) WideView Display AMD Radeon R7 Graphics
- 802_11_AC Bluetooth 4 0 Card Reader HD Audio with Stereo Speakers Webcam Fingerprint Reader
- 1 x USB 3 1 Type-C 1 x USB 3 0 2 x USB 2 0 1 x Integrated Speaker/ Microphone 1 x HDMI
- Ergonomic Chiclet Keyboard Windows 10 Home 64-bit 42WHr 3-cell lithium_ion 3 7lb Silver
- Windows 10 Home; Intel® Celeron® N4000 processor; 11. 6" display; 4GB memory; 64GB eMMC Flash Memory; Bluetooth; outdoor screen; HDMI output; DVD/CD drive not included
- 【Memory & Storage】Memory is 16GB high-bandwidth RAM to smoothly run multiple applications and browser tabs all at once. Hard Drive is 1TB SATA M.2 Solid State Drive which allows to fast bootup and...
- 【Processor】AMD Athlon Silver 3050U 2.30GHz Dual-Core Processor (1MB Cache, up to 3.20GHz), AMD Radeon Graphics
- 【Screen】14" HD SVA Anti-glare Micro-edge WLED-backlit Widescreen (1366 x 768) Display
- 【Ports】2 x USB 3.1, 1 x USB 3.1 Type-C, 1 x HDMI, 1 x Combination Audio Jack, 1 x Multi-format SD Media Card Reader; Wireless-AC and Bluetooth 4.2 Combo
- 【Operating System】Windows 11 Home
