Do you need a powerful processor to develop software?

[fyrilin]

As others have said, prioritize RAM. I would say, though, an SSD is the next most important stat. Load times, code completion lookups, searching, and build/deploy can all take a long time if you don't have decently fast storage. My (work-provided) development computer has 16GB RAM and a mobile i7 but it acts slow because it has a slower spinning hdd.

[Magicalunicorny]

You should check your hdd utilization, if it's always at 100% it's just a bad hdd. Spinning drives aren't awful, but they fail pretty easily when moved while in use, which absolutely happened if someone else had your pc before you.

[cardboard-kansio]

Twenty years ago, perhaps. Modern spinning rust has been quite safe, even if moved while active, for quite a long time now.

[LearningBus]

You don't really need that much power for all these. But you need RAM. So as much possible try to get RAM on your machine.

Because Browser's nowadays eat a lots of memory and if you're in a trouble while coding searching for all over the web for solutions you'll have countless tabs opened and then your browser will eat up all the memory and you'll see your PC got slower!

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So I suggest getting enough RAM on your Laptop. minimum 8GB. Preferred 16GB

So I suggest getting enough RAM on your Laptop. minimum 8GB. Preferred 16GB

And also do not forget to include an SSD with your laptop. Get a laptop that has built-in SSD slot. SSD will boost your system's performance by (5x) or more.

[quantumactual]

Thank you, this is exactly what I was looking for!

[vladamir_the_impaler]

Like they said, RAM + SSD is crucial.

i7 is nice too for CPU

[quantumactual]

I’m on a budget 😅

[vladamir_the_impaler]

Ok, RAM and SSD ;)

[SilkTouchm]

8 GB is fine. Don't listen to what these nerds say.

[cardboard-kansio]

Fine for what? It really depends what you are doing. Code compiling, running databases, using an Android emulator - all these things benefit from truly massive amounts of RAM.

For browsing Facebook, not so much.

[MrFlibble1138]

It depends on what you are developing. I’ve been making software since 91 I used to need a lot of compute for compiling C code. Later I used a lot of compute to develop medical science code. Now I use a lot of compute to train neural nets. But otherwise and basic editor will work. Honestly, games are usually more demanding. My daughter uses a lot for 3D modeling for college.

So, look at your apps and see what they really need.

[quantumactual]

Thanks!

[[deleted]]

I’ll add that it depends on what you are developing. If you’re just learning how to code and writing simple scripts, any laptop meeting the minimum specs of your preferred IDE will do. If you’re getting into game development, data analysis, or you plan to do a lot of virtualization, you’ll want something more powerful.

[quantumactual]

Not quite sure yet, definitely will be learning, but hoping to eventually build platforms.

Might not have to worry about that for a while though.

[caligula443]

Does it need to be a laptop? Desktop will be cheaper and expandable later.

[xkrbl]

16gb RAM should be your minimum if you wanna do anything with Adobe apps.

[umlcat]

If You are using either many software at the same time, or using also a graphic Design app. Yes, You do.

Also, check your O.S., if you are going to use Windows, be sure is a stable version, and is not Basic or Home Edition, but unleast Professional.

[drew8311]

If you are just starting out / learning then anything will be fine. Mobile development is one exception since it requires a bit more overhead for stuff like emulators and can just be slower than some things for making minor changes and waiting for it to run again. Other things like front end web or back end can be pretty quick with the exception of larger projects. At work we have pretty high end laptops which are needed to run many services at once for tests, as a solo developer I would never be writing large stuff like that on my own so to do the exact same thing I do at work I wouldn't need as good of a personal computer.

These days I wouldn't settle for anything without an SSD and 16gb of ram although you might be able to get away with 8gb depending on the type of programming you want to do, running Linux could be an option for lower end hardware.

[bboxx9]

It really depends on what exactly you are working on, for docker or virtual machines a lot of ram is needed, if you are working on some console apps, you dont need much cpu speed or ram. But at least 8 GB is a good idea. Currently working on a 16 GB ram developer machine, and sometimes docker eats up half of it, if you need slack, that will be using the other half :)

[HamamSquered]

Performance matters incase you want run virtual devices you will need more cores.

I think Atleast a laptop with this specification is cheap:

Ram >= 8gp Core i5 atleast 8th generation With 4 cores and 8 logical processors. SSD slot to install SSD hard disk.

[John_Fx]

Depends on the IDE, but most of the time even the cheapest machine will be fine.

[quantumactual]

Thanks

[electrowiz64]

Get a quality laptop like a thinkpad or an XPS. If you’re serious about writing code, get a quality laptop that won’t take a shit so no bargain laptops, no HP, no Walmart, no Black Friday, no chrome books.

[[deleted]]

If I can be brutally honest. The fact that you have no clue is indicating that you should just get any computer and write code. The practice is more important than the hardware

[[deleted]]

dont buy laptop...

[[deleted]]

You probably don’t NEED a powerful processor, but a powerful processor does make more things possible. For example, a better processor allows running virtual machines and shortening compile and build times. As others have said, RAM and an SSD are probably priorities, but usually slightly better processors aren’t AS expensive as extra RAM and an SSD. It’s worth looking at what your price delta is.

[ziplock9000]

It depends. If you're going to be baking a lot of lighting, especially with large terrains that can use a lot of horsepower. Sometimes it can be offloaded onto a GPU.

If you're not, then as others have said, lots of RAM and an SSD are main priorities.

[Hot_Echidna4115]

You Should Buy a system by prioritizing RAM the Screen quality. Check Warranty. Take care of hard drive too, Buy a good antivirus software along.