A laptop for programming.

Question

I probably will work on summer and I'll earn some money. I'm thinking with that money to buy a laptop. I think it will be useful for me as I will finish school next year and then I will study computer science. My question is should I buy a Linux or Windows laptop? As I know Linux is an OS that is used much in programming. And if I will buy a Windows one how can I double boot Linux?

Answer 1

Naturally Windows.
Laptop with Linux OS preinstalled are very rare to found... but, Linux is free and if you want to install a Distro you can do it whenever you want.
- You can programming with any OS. -
My advice is: If you are a beginner with Linux, test some distro in "Live Mode" or in Virtual Machine (VirtualBox or VmWare), if you like it... install it in dual boot!
Trust me, if you are a beginner, don't install distro Linux just for fun, i did this error in past and my laptop was in assistence for 1 month. =^=
Now i have many distro in a USB with persistence, because i don't want to damage my hard disk. ~_~
For dual boot don't worry, many distro Linux permitted dual boot without manually partition.
For example in Ubuntu you can partitioning your hard disk in a simple way.
Anyway, the process can be hard sometimes, so... search on Google. :)
I made a code dedicated to Linux lovers, if you want to read about some distro or download directly from here, try it:
https://code.sololearn.com/WtumUw0uan4h/?ref=app

Answer 2

Probably I will buy a Windows laptop and then double boot Linux. Like having Windows for browsing, social, music production and Linux for programming.

Answer 3

buy laptop with no system installed. Bill Gates is rich enough.

Answer 4

My advice is if you are ok with windows then use it. Don't use something just because others do.
However if you want dual boot anyway, here's the guide:
https://www.lifewire.com/ultimate-windows-7-ubuntu-linux-dual-boot-guide-2200653

Answer 5

And what about characteristics of the laptop (RAM, CPU and stuff)?

Answer 6

Something like i7 8gb RAM and SSD?

Answer 7

As I said I want it for music production too. And if I will have money to buy a high-end laptop why don't do it. It will be a tool which I will use it for years.

Answer 8

You're better off buying a used laptop even older than a Centrino and install some lightweight Linux Distro on it like Lubuntu. This way with 30-60$/€ you can start learning/practicing right away.. you don't need latest i7 like they tell you as you're not gonna build 3D games or work with animation or even video editing...

Answer 9

You asked for a programming laptop and I told you the fastest, cheapest and most convenient way to begin coding even tomorrow...If that's your intention... for a general purpose one then I suggest a Thinkpad, powerful, professional and nice build. and don't worry about OS you'll just install whatever you want whenever you want...

Answer 10

I think I am with everyone else. Get yourself a windows computer because you can choose any distribution at little to no cost. If you decide to have a a Linux computer out of the box it will cost a lot more to get Windows later. As for your music production having a high end mixing board is more important than having a high end laptop. Keep in mind that laptops are used and abused. Don't expect it to last forever. If you never plan to move it get a desktop because you get more bang for your buck!

Answer 11

I'm working only with PC, without any hardware. In future I want to buy an audio interface (external sound card for music production) and that's it.

Answer 12

And believe me you need a good laptop otherwise you have to freeze every track to work and even then maybe you will have problem. You need a good RAM to have the ability having many tracks and plugins in the same project and a good CPU to have the ability playing many plugins at the same time. (Live audio demands amount of CPU, much more than an audio file).

Answer 13

check out the recommended requirements not the minimum requirements to run your software. and make sure you buy a minimum of 10% better than what it requires. Except hard drives. Hard drives are always better bigger when editing video, and audio expecially in the raw format.

Answer 14

In music production is important the single-core performance of a CPU and it must and 4 cores at least. So you need at least an i5 and of course an i7 is better.

Answer 15

What FL Studio support says:
Search for your CPU's performance score on CPU Benchmark. Here's how we grade multi-core scores for CPUs with 6 or less cores - Weak: Less than 3,999. Medium: 4000 to 6,999. Strong: 7000 to 9,999. Very strong more than 10,000. HOWEVER fast single-core performance is still key when audio processing. So you should look for the fastest single-core performance scores, in a package with at least 4 or more physical cores. For example: An 8 core CPU (14,400) with a single core score of 1800 is less well suited to music production than a 4 core CPU (12,000) with a single core score of 2600, since much of what happens with audio-processing can't be computed in parallel.

Answer 16

Then a better approach would be to build your own Desktop PC with an external audio interface as sound card..then for 50€ get a used laptop for programming and university stuff...Just maybe wait for Intel's response to the latest Ryzen CPU's.

Answer 17

Fran I'm thinking to buy a good laptop, an audio interface and headphones so I will have a mini portable studio. Also I can program in that laptop. And I will be safe in a situation I want to work on a big project. Robert I want Windows so I can work with FL Studio.

Answer 18

Ok man good luck hope you find what you're looking for

Answer 19

Thanks

Answer 20

Yeah but with a weapon like Ryzen maybe they want to raise prices.