These are the hardware requirements by Windows for Visual Studio 2015 express
I suggest you look at the "Community Edition.
It will give you all the features of the Pro version for free as long as you have 5 or less people working on the project IIRC.
Any reasonably modern PC -- basically anything built in the last decade -- can meet those specs.
Thinking on it, it would actually be an expensive trip to museum-type stores specializing in old hardware in order to build something that DIDN'T meet those specs.
Actually, there has recently been an upswing in really cheap hybrids (as in tablets with keyboards) with very low specs. They focus more on battery time, low price and low weight, and can easily drop below those requirements. I bought one for my mom with 1.44GHz cpu, 2GB ram and 32GB storage for ~$150, including attachable keyboard and Windows 10 license.
I bought one for my mom with 1.44GHz cpu, 2GB ram and 32GB storage
I bought one for my mom with 1.44GHz cpu, 2GB ram and 32GB storage
Why do you hate your mom so much?
:lol:
She wanted a tablet and had an extremely limited budget. Apple stuff is 3-4x that price, at least over here, so that was pretty much ruled out. Then there are lots and lots of different Android based tablets/hybrids, but they typically rely on manufacturer for updates and stuff which means you'll want to stick with a known brand. Those are also in the upper price range. Then there are the Windows based ones with a familiar interface and familiar applications, that I can properly support (I'm an all in MS guy), for a really low price, with rather good support/maintainance from MS. As someone who has owned and used a Windows 8.1/10 tablet for years now, I can honestly say it's a pretty nice platform. The one I got for my mom is probably gonna be a bit slow, but not sure anything else would be better in the same price range, and she's a very casual user so. I guess time will tell though, she got it very recently.
I hope this page can stay here, I need your opinion.
I was going to purchase an Acer Aspire E5-575-72L3 sold only at Walmart online ($469) :
This is a link to a datasheet:
http://www.acer.com/datasheets/2016/4876/E5-575/NX.GE6AA.010.html
And then someone recommended the Acer ES1-572-357C ($345) because it is less cost, here are the specs:
http://acer.com/ac/en/US/content/model/NX.GD0AA.001
It looks like I might need to buy a monitor adapter for the second purchase.
I want a really nice experience, no lag, etc.
Thank you,
JoshuaE
I would use an external SSD with either.
It was said to get the most ram and processing power for my money so thats what I tried to do. However now I'm looking at the i3s and the money is less and the display is 17" and beyond.
What do you all recommend is the larger screen still much better or is the smaller laptop screen (15.6 ") just what's used now, and just as good for amount viewed?
I want a really nice experience, no lag, etc.
I would use an external SSD with either.
It was said to get the most ram and processing power for my money so thats what I tried to do. However now I'm looking at the i3s and the money is less and the display is 17" and beyond.
What do you all recommend is the larger screen still much better or is the smaller laptop screen (15.6 ") just what's used now, and just as good for amount viewed?
Honestly, you're going to have to make some compromises at the price-point you seem to be targeting, you can get a pretty decent computer experience out of a $350-$400 laptop these days, but its not going to be the nicest experience.
The machines you linked to have low-resolution displays -- 1366x768, and that's really too low to be very productive with Visual Studio or other productivity tools, and the pixels will be quite chunky on a 15.6 inch screen. Plus, its not screen size alone that gives you usable real-estate, its having a balance of screen size and resolution -- I find that you really want 1920x1080 or better, and that its a good fit for most screen sizes (though, its too many pixels for anything smaller than 13.3 inches, and even that is stretching it) -- 1600x900 is a good resolution for a 13.3" screen too, though I'd say its the bare minimum resolution for on-the-go productivity. Screen quality and viewing angles are also important considerations for your comfort and ergonomics.
You also want an internal SSD. You can get some pretty speedy external SSDs, but they're not inexpensive and you could have an internal SSD for the same price. Try to find a laptop with a 128GB SSD inside or larger; or get one with a mechanical drive that you can easily change yourself without voiding your warranty -- and then buy an SSD and install it yourself -- afterwards, you can put the mechanical drive in an external USB enclosure and use it for extra space and backups. Be aware that if you install your own SSD this way, you'll need to jump through a couple hoops to get your OS on it, but its doable.
In a laptop, screen-size also directly affects portability. A 17" inch screen sounds good at first, but you might not feel that way after lugging the thing around for a day. If its too heavy or bulky that you never want to move the thing, you might as well have built/gotten a desktop instead, since you'll usually get more computer for the same money and have more options to expand and upgrade. If you're going to pay the laptop premium, it needs to be portable in practice, not just portable in theory.
Also, depending on where you live and whether you can wait on a good deal, you can really get a lot of bang-for-your buck. At least in the US, late fall seems to be a great time to get a good deal, because computer sellers are blowing out old stock before the late-fall hardware refresh cycle. If you can wait, consider that, but don't hold yourself back if you can't. Sales typically start around a month before school starts back up, and again after thanksgiving/black Friday.
Lenovo seems to always have pretty great deals around that time, and makes excellent machines.
Well its been awhile but I did end up buying the Acer. Its pretty quick and I use a large eighteen inch monitor for the debugging (vga.) I'm happy with everything. It also has the two usb 3 ports which is nice.
I like the old time monitors better anyhow they are taller which is better for debugging. They use more power though which is true.
Oh, and the screen on the laptop is high definition so I didn't notice to much pixelation except the blue circle cursor that goes around and around had some.
Well that's the update, thank you all for your help,
JoshuaE
