The laptop that I was using to code and test the games I’ve been working on has died, may it RIP. As such I’m looking into buying a new one primarily for developmemt, not much hardcore gaming per se. I’m interested to know what hardware I should prioritise when purchasing this laptop.
My current belief is that I should get a high quality and clocked CPU, high clocked RAM, decent storage space (a terabyte is probably the most I’ll use) with a lightning fast SSD to minimise load times (NVEA compatible, preferably).
I’m unsure whether a beefy graphics card is ‘required’, as I’ll primarily be testing in low-res maps. I’m guessing a 4K display is handy to future-proof in case I work on a larger, quality project but would that also require a ridiculous graphics card?
If anyone has ideas for something I’ve missed, feel free to say so.
I agree to everything that you’ve said when it comes on getting a gaming laptop. I’m a gamer too and I really love playing games especially if the game gives good feedback. Currently, I have Acer Aspire V17 Laptop and specs are below:
You’ll want the best video card you can afford when developing on a laptop. If price is the concern get a desktop as they are much less expensive for greater performance.
Are you sensitive to weight? The Razer Blade is the lightest-weight, still-ok-graphics, laptop you can get (similar to a MacBook Pro, but with much better graphics!)
And you don’t want to separate “storage” from “SSD” – you can get a 1 TB SSD for a few hundred, and no need to use a spinny disk at all.
Main limitation is only 16 GB of RAM, but it’s OK for the work I do (running VMWare virtual machines for work, and some lightweight level building in Unreal Engine) as well as running games.
If you’re OK with a heavier laptop, you can save money by going with an Asus or MSI or somesuch. This would be a fine MSI laptop workstation.
Stay away from the MacBooks – they have super crummy graphics.
Finally, it’s impossible to make a better recommendation until you tell us: