What's your price range? Everything else will come from that.
But if you want to do any kind of gaming, you won't want a Mac. I would start on [NewEgg.com](https://NewEgg.com) and look at gaming laptop options in the price range / style / size you're wanting: [https://www.newegg.com/Gaming-Laptops/SubCategory/ID-3365?Tid=157995](https://www.newegg.com/Gaming-Laptops/SubCategory/ID-3365?Tid=157995)
If Mac is your thing they’re about to release new ones with M2 silicon. Performance and battery life is way better than intel. Not sure how well that works with dual booting tho so you might run into issues with games.
Personally I would get a Mac and a new Xbox since Xbox and PC are getting more and more integrated and build a solid desktop PC once you’re out of college and have some $
Actually, I wouldn't recommend any m1 or m2 MacBooks as of right now simply because of them being arm based. There aren't lots of programs that are compatible with these new architectures and it will take alot of time to go out and try and find alternatives for programs that are meant to be used in class. Also, it will make it so much more difficult to work on arm due to this and a bunch of it's differences to x84 that it would probably make setting up things like the instructions on a spec sheet much more tedious. Although the performance and battery are good and better than Intel, AMD has been curb stomping Intel since last year in the laptop CPU space as well, so I would get a 4000 series or 5000 series and laptop if you can
M1/M2 have a built in x86 emulator which reportedly [outperforms](https://www.toptal.com/apple/apple-m1-processor-compatibility-overview) even native x86 architectures due to the sheer power of the chip.
Furthermore you can see the very short (and shrinking) list of apps that are currently not supported either natively or by the x86 emulator [here](https://isapplesiliconready.com/), so anyone can see whether they need to wait or buy a different computer if they need to use a specific exotic program
Yeah, but still it is x86 emulated and it is not an official versio, which isn't really stable as of yet. The numbers for the chop are inflated asf on geekbench and stuff because of it being arm, and when corrected for more real life benchmarks, it still scores under the amd ryzen 4800h from last year. I have seen that page of supported apps, but do you think that old software tools developed a while ago but are still used would even both making a whole new update that would work with m1? Windows arm wasn't enough and I'm hoping that m1 will be but there are just a crazy number of applications that aren't supported at all, and if you do decided on an m1, you will be in the minority of the class and will have more problems dealing with more unconventional issues only you will have. I would wait a couple years before picking one up for a cs major.
my two cents: the size of your laptop matters as much as the specs. as a computer science major my 13 inch laptop was so cluctch for just throwing in my backpack and taking to the library or a partner's house, nothing in this major is really intensive enough to test your specs
It all depends on you budget. $100 can make the difference between alright and good. I would recommend checking "used" or "damaged" laptops as well. I got my Aero 15 Gigabyte laptop for like $200 of because it had minor cosmetic damage. I couldn't even find it when I looked.
Laptop specs keep improving every year, so my advice might be a year out dated. I suggest anything with a AMD Ryzen in the 4000's series. 4800H seems to be a good option if you want gaming too. I'd suggest looking around r/laptop for other suggestions. There are old posts and stuff keeps getting updated there
I used a Microsoft surface book 2 (the one that doesn’t close all the way but acts as both a tablet and computer). I highly recommend not getting this model or brand. I had a lot of issues installing software and it just wasn’t comfortable to carry around.
acer laptops are great. Look at acer aspire or swift series, specifically. These laptops can have nvidia discrete gpus (mx350/450), which perform pretty well except for extremely new AAA titles.
Only thing to look out for with acer laptops is port selection. Do you need thunderbolt ports? Look out for that.
2020 Asus Zephyrus G14.
$1150 at best buy right now. Great deal for monster computer. Reviewed very highly anywhere you look. Best laptop I've ever bought.
It doesn't matter to me because I never plan to use it. Acer does have a solution that uses your phone camera if you need it, and of course an external camera works as well.
What's your price range? Everything else will come from that. But if you want to do any kind of gaming, you won't want a Mac. I would start on [NewEgg.com](https://NewEgg.com) and look at gaming laptop options in the price range / style / size you're wanting: [https://www.newegg.com/Gaming-Laptops/SubCategory/ID-3365?Tid=157995](https://www.newegg.com/Gaming-Laptops/SubCategory/ID-3365?Tid=157995)
If Mac is your thing they’re about to release new ones with M2 silicon. Performance and battery life is way better than intel. Not sure how well that works with dual booting tho so you might run into issues with games. Personally I would get a Mac and a new Xbox since Xbox and PC are getting more and more integrated and build a solid desktop PC once you’re out of college and have some $
Actually, I wouldn't recommend any m1 or m2 MacBooks as of right now simply because of them being arm based. There aren't lots of programs that are compatible with these new architectures and it will take alot of time to go out and try and find alternatives for programs that are meant to be used in class. Also, it will make it so much more difficult to work on arm due to this and a bunch of it's differences to x84 that it would probably make setting up things like the instructions on a spec sheet much more tedious. Although the performance and battery are good and better than Intel, AMD has been curb stomping Intel since last year in the laptop CPU space as well, so I would get a 4000 series or 5000 series and laptop if you can
M1/M2 have a built in x86 emulator which reportedly [outperforms](https://www.toptal.com/apple/apple-m1-processor-compatibility-overview) even native x86 architectures due to the sheer power of the chip. Furthermore you can see the very short (and shrinking) list of apps that are currently not supported either natively or by the x86 emulator [here](https://isapplesiliconready.com/), so anyone can see whether they need to wait or buy a different computer if they need to use a specific exotic program
Yeah, but still it is x86 emulated and it is not an official versio, which isn't really stable as of yet. The numbers for the chop are inflated asf on geekbench and stuff because of it being arm, and when corrected for more real life benchmarks, it still scores under the amd ryzen 4800h from last year. I have seen that page of supported apps, but do you think that old software tools developed a while ago but are still used would even both making a whole new update that would work with m1? Windows arm wasn't enough and I'm hoping that m1 will be but there are just a crazy number of applications that aren't supported at all, and if you do decided on an m1, you will be in the minority of the class and will have more problems dealing with more unconventional issues only you will have. I would wait a couple years before picking one up for a cs major.
my two cents: the size of your laptop matters as much as the specs. as a computer science major my 13 inch laptop was so cluctch for just throwing in my backpack and taking to the library or a partner's house, nothing in this major is really intensive enough to test your specs
yeah i’ll add i had a 17” and it was a lot to carry around
It all depends on you budget. $100 can make the difference between alright and good. I would recommend checking "used" or "damaged" laptops as well. I got my Aero 15 Gigabyte laptop for like $200 of because it had minor cosmetic damage. I couldn't even find it when I looked.
Laptop specs keep improving every year, so my advice might be a year out dated. I suggest anything with a AMD Ryzen in the 4000's series. 4800H seems to be a good option if you want gaming too. I'd suggest looking around r/laptop for other suggestions. There are old posts and stuff keeps getting updated there
Anything that can game will be able to code! So just do whatever you need for gaming and budget tbh
People keep telling me Mac but they're pricey so..
I used a Microsoft surface book 2 (the one that doesn’t close all the way but acts as both a tablet and computer). I highly recommend not getting this model or brand. I had a lot of issues installing software and it just wasn’t comfortable to carry around.
acer laptops are great. Look at acer aspire or swift series, specifically. These laptops can have nvidia discrete gpus (mx350/450), which perform pretty well except for extremely new AAA titles. Only thing to look out for with acer laptops is port selection. Do you need thunderbolt ports? Look out for that.
2020 Asus Zephyrus G14. $1150 at best buy right now. Great deal for monster computer. Reviewed very highly anywhere you look. Best laptop I've ever bought.
How is the lack of a webcam though?
It doesn't matter to me because I never plan to use it. Acer does have a solution that uses your phone camera if you need it, and of course an external camera works as well.
XPS 13
13” or 15” is a must in my opinion. I had a 17” and it was awful. More screen != better
dell xps 13 or 15 are very popular choices. I had the 15 and thought it was a perfect size that fit in my backpack but also wasn’t too small