Are you looking for a way to get a laptop for your CS classes or your self learning journey? Do you not care about such gimmicks like working hinges and HDMI 1.4 ports that only can output 1080p 60hz? You are in the right place my friend. Today, we will build a computer (buy a laptop) and an accompanying setup for not more than 600 Euros (including a monitor and a keyboard) 😼

Why Tho

Well, who doesn’t like saving money? And we know CS major memes becoming a reality. Wages are in an all time low and employement rates are plummeting. SWE’s don’t have their previous shiny lifestyle stereotypes (and their realities).

Criterias and What to get for starters

A laptop that has:

A 12th Gen or newer Intel processor, minimum an i5 (or a similar powered AMD one) *
15.6 inches or a bigger screen (It will be your only computer, you can’t afford to get a smaller screen, they’re a pain in the ass for coding sometimes)
8 GB Ram with upgradable ram (or just get 16GB directly, it’s really matter of which one is cheaper)
512 NVME SSD *

Extras:

An extra SATA SSD (At least 512 GB) *
A pen drive, minimum 32 GB *
Stickers (for swag)

* Required

Why those?

Well, you need a dev computer, not a fancy gaming setup. We are trying to maximize the processing power we get for our money. As for the choices, I know some of these are somewhat debatable. For example, some people don’t think 16 GB is enough these days. Some of the sections are personal preferences, such as screen size, RAM, SSD and such. Do what you think is the best.

Buying our device

So, we choosed some criterias and we’re going to buy a laptop that will accompany us for many years (if you don’t grind leetcode and send 30 applications per day). Here are some tips and useful stuff I’ve learned from my journey of using a cheap laptop:

- Be careful, you probably won’t have a laptop that will have an aluminum chassis. Build quality you will get for this money is often bad. But if you’re careful enough, you can make it work. Search your laptop + hinge + reddit for some user comments and reviews.

- Check your screen’s quality. If you can, see the laptop in real life first. If you can’t, search your laptop + reddit + screen. It will give you some results

- Check disassembly videos if you’re not sure whether or not your laptop has upgradeable SSD or RAM

- Read the product page. I know this sounds really easy and normal but some of the laptops you see has some weird gimmicks. For example, my Dell Vostro 3520 has an HDMI 1.4 port that can only output 1080p 60hz. It’s not the end of the world, especially with the 1080p 120hz IPS screen I get by default, but I would’ve liked to make my choice after knowing that.

- Get a FreeDOS or a Linux computer if you can. Especially for tight budgets, it can make a difference. Windows licenses are often expensive.

Get a laptop while having these in mind. I will recommend Dell Vostros or Inspirons in this price range, but you really can pick anything you want. Just be careful with your budget. I bought mine for ~370 EUR. It’s a humble Dell Vostro 3520, as I mentioned. It has i5 1235U, 512GB SSD, 16 GB RAM, 1080p 120hz screen and an empty SATA port that I filled with a 1 TB SSD.

As for the second hand laptops

If you can find a good deal, sure. But you won’t be able to find a good 2nd hand laptops that are somewhat new. Because people don’t really sell their budget laptops and when they do, the price doesn’t really justify the risks you are taking (possible abuse etc.).

Game Plan

So, you finally got your laptop for a great price, bonus points if you could get other accompanying stuff such as SSD, RAM and stickers 😼. Now, it’s the game plan time. You’re a developer, or you will be. You need two operating systems; Windows and Linux. For installing Windows, create a USB with a friends computer using rufus, its pretty straightforward and you’re not going to change much. Update your system once a week if you don’t use Windows regularly.

As for linux, you have TONS of options but I suggest Ubuntu, Fedora or Linux Mint. I am using Void Linux, but that’s really because I am really familiar with it. I don’t really recommend using it for dev. If I could seamlessly switch to Fedora, I probably would. Being familiar with a distro that has systemd and used regularly by tech companies is a plus. In my opinion; also don’t really touch to Arch, Gentoo and such. Stick to something that works and won’t give you a headache randomly.

Accompanying Software

For Windows, get Visual Studio, VSCode and other IDE stuff you want. Don’t forget to install Docker and WSL too. It’s really just your needs at that point.

For Linux, I REALLY recommend installing a tiling window manager. With those, you can get the most productivity with one (or two) monitors. I am using BSPWM but be free to choose anything you want. But also have a stable DE first. I suggest GNOME for it, I never really loved using KDE but again, it is your computer and you should do whatever you like with it.

Also, install AutoCPUFreq, it makes a HUGE difference for your battery life on linux. For 12th gen Intel, I get better battery life with Linux compared to Windows. Microsoft really messed up Windows for developers and casual users. The only reason they can still have this market share is because of gamers and other software not really being accessible for linux.

For installing Windows, for some sweet reason, it doesn’t contain 12th Gen Intel drivers as of now. Wifi didn’t work ootb. Also, I couldn’t find the disk to install, because they didn’t included some weird driver for saving a bit power. If you google it, you will find the solution. It’s just a BIOS setting.

Accomanying Hardware

So, we got a sweet computer that can run any dev task for 400 euros. Laptops have their own advantages and limitations. Their ability to be able to a usable computer interface at any given time and space makes them lack some luxuries like a big screen and a good keyboard when we’re home. I am going to say this for my own laptop but you can do else for yours. For this budget range, you can usually get one display output. Sometimes, it will be capped to 1080p 60hz. Because of that, I recommend getting a 24 inch 1080p monitor. If you’re not capped by that limit, you can save some money and go for 27 inch 2k or 32 inch 4k. As for the keyboard, I wanna get an HHKB Hybrid Type S but I don’t want to spend that much for it. If you wanna change this situation, you can send a donation to the crypto addresses I have at the end of this post and my home page. Don’t send too much tho, I want to still to be relatable 😌 For the best result for a cheap mechanical keyboard, get a cheap hotswap board and get switches yourself. You can add a cheap set of keycaps too, personally I prefer XDA profile. You really don’t need a mouse. If you’re gaming, get a controller anyway. You will be working anyway, no time to play competitive FPS games 😔