- Published on
Best laptops for programmer under 800 Dollars
- Authors
- Name
- Alberto Montalesi
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.
As a programmer, my need for a laptop are 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.
In this article I will show you what I think are the best laptops for programmers under 800 dollars. 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 |