Originally published on inspiredwebdev.com
Disclaimer: I am not a reviewer nor a tester, this are my opinions based on the reviews that I've read online
Disclaimer part 2: Amazon links are affiliate links, if you do not agree with that, you can copy the laptop name and search for it directly on Amazon or on your favorite store.
As a programmer, my need for a laptop is quite straightforward:
- good battery
- decent screen
- good keyboard + touch pad
- good amount of memory
I work with JavaScript so, as a full stack developer, I don't need strong GPU, huge storage or a touch screen.
This list takes into account the needs of similar developers, if you are a game developer I guess your needs will be a bit different than mine so you might find this list not very useful.
At the end of the article you can find a summary of all the laptops in this list.
If your budget is higher, don't worry! I'll soon release a list of laptop between 800 and 1500 dollar.
Asus Vivobook S15 - 700/800 USD
Read a full review here
The 2019 version just came out and uses Asus new ScreenPad 2.0 which transforms your touch pad in a 5 inches touch screen that you can use. The link I've put is for the 2018 version with a normal touch pad.
What I like:
- Beautiful design that makes it look more premium than the price tag
- Good performance
What I don't like:
- Poor color coverage of the display. Not such a big deal if you use your laptop only for programming and not multimedia use.
Huawei Matebook D14 - 700 USD
Read a full review here or here
What I like:
- Nice, simple design
- Great keyboard
What I don't like:
- Bad touch pad
- Average battery life
- Smaller display, 14 inches compared to 15.6 of other laptop in this list
Acer Swift 3 - 770 USD
Read a full review here or here.
What I like:
- Intel Core i7, 16GB ram
- Great keyboard and touch pad
What I don't like:
- Good but not amazing battery life
Lenovo Ideapad 530s - 700 USD
Read a full review here.
What I like:
- Good performance
- Nice Design
What I don't like:
- Average display
If you are not really concerned about carrying around a 2+ kgs laptop and would prefer to save more money by compromising on design or you would like to have a more performant GPU, these are some of my pics.
Acer Aspire E15 - 600 USD
Read a full review here
What I like:
- Insane battery life at over 10 hours
- Solid performance with i5 8th gen, 256GB SSD and 8GB ram
- Great price at only 600 USD
What I don't like:
- Design is not the best
Dell G5 - 700/800 USD
Read a full review here
What I like:
- It has an Intel H CPU instead of a low power U
- Dedicated GPU if you also want to game
- Good battery life
What I don't like:
- Bulky and Heavy
Summary
Note: the link to Amazon will redirect you to your local amazon store, where available. The products in your local store may not have the same specifications, I tried to find the same where possible but sometimes they were not available so read carefully the spec list in amazon!
| Model | Asus Vivobook S15 | Huawei Matebook D | Acer Swift 3 | Lenovo Ideapad 530s | Acer Aspire E15 | Dell G5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screen size (in) | 15.6 | 14 | 15.6 | 15.6 | 15.6 | 15.6 |
| CPU | Intel Core i7-8565u | AMD R5 | Intel Core i7-8550U | AMD R5 2500U | Intel Core i5-8250U | Intel Core i5 8300H |
| RAM (GB) | 8 | 8 | 16 | 16 | 8 | 8 |
| Storage SSD (GB) | 256 + 1TB HDD | 256 | 512 | 256 | 128 + 1TB HDD | |
| GPU | MX150 | AMD Radeon Vega 8 | Intel UHD Graphics 620 | AMD Radeon Vega 8 | MX150 | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti |
| Battery life (in hrs) | ~8 | ~4/5 | ~8 | ~7/8 | ~10 | ~8 |
| Weight (in kgs) | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 2.5 | 2.7 |
| Price | 799 | 699 | 770 | 699 | 599 | 790 |
| Link to Amazon | Amazon | Amazon | Amazon | Amazon | Amazon | Amazon |
Thank you very much for reading. Follow me on DevTo or on my blog at inspiredwebdev for more.
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