What’s the best budget laptop for a CS student in 2021?

Last Updated on August 23, 2021 by Vinay Kharayat

Are you a computer science student looking for the best laptop for cs students? You must be wondering, “What’s the best laptop for a CS student?” This article won’t suggest laptops but will guide you on what features you should look for in a laptop if you are a student in the IT field. This includes students of Computer Application, IoT, or CS.

As myself being a student of CA, I always wondered or asked seniors, what are the minimum requirement we need in a laptop. So, read this article and learn the minimum requirements and buy yourself a perfect laptop!

You can also follow this guide if you are planning to buy a second-hand laptop.

Specification for the best laptop for a CS student:-

In my opinion, you should look for laptops that are not much powerful but should have decent battery life. Almost all IDEs will work perfectly with a budget laptop including Eclipse, Android Studio. Read the specifications below and find the best laptop for CS students!

Is 8gb ram enough for programming?

I think a minimum of 8 GB RAM is sufficient for all IDEs. Look for a laptop that has 8 GB of RAM and has 2 RAM slots. Just in case, if you need more RAM you can add another 4 GB making it a total of 12 GB, which is just perfect enough to run Firefox, Android Studio, GIMP together without lagging.

But a laptop with 8 GB RAM and Intel processor within ₹30,000 (USD $450) is hard to find, so you can buy a 4 GB RAM laptop with 2 RAM slots and buy another 8 GB RAM that will cost you hardly ₹4000 (USD $50). But you can find plenty of AMD Laptops within this range.

Is i3 good for programming?

If you are opting for Intel, Intel i3 processors can make it work without much problem. To be more accurate look for a processor with a processing speed of at least 2.40GHz or above. But if you’re looking for a bit of gaming you should consider i5, but I won’t recommend it because you will waste a lot of time in gaming.

Note: Intel Laptops are costly. So if your budget is strictly between ₹20,000-₹30,000 (USD $280-420) you have to consider AMD laptops.

AMD Ryzen for programming

If you are a fan of AMD you should consider laptops with AMD A6. I suggested this processor because we are looking for budget laptops that are strictly around ₹20,000-₹30,000 (USD $280-420) price range.

How much storage do I need for programming?

Now you must be wondering, “Do I need SSD or HDD?”. I think it doesn’t matter much. You are buying a laptop so you can’t have SSD and HDD both. I know about removing a disk reader trick but nowadays most laptops don’t come with a disk reader. So we won’t consider this option.

So if you need SSD make sure it’s at least 240 GB or up. There are two reasons for this:-

  • It will have more space than 120 GB, obviously?
  • It’s faster.

If you are considering HDD then 500 GB or up is sufficient.

Is graphic card important for programming?

Integrated Graphics are enough for programming if you are buying a budget laptop for a computer science student. Extra graphics are used to render 3D images or videos for gaming or animation. I won’t suggest you look for extra graphics for just programming. But if you are getting it within your price range then go for it.

Best laptop screen size for programming

The screen rarely matters for programming if you are a student. An extra inch won’t make any difference. 14-15 inches are good enough.

Best laptop brand for programming!

Almost all brands have their own good points like Customer service, durability, age, etc. Still, if you are looking for specific brands then Lenovo, HP, Dell, Asus are overall good brands for CS students.

Which operating system is good for programming?

It would be dumb to ask this. If you are pursuing an IT field then you must know you can change Operating System anytime. Although if you are not a computer science student and looking for the best laptop for a cs student who is your friend or family member, then, I would say Operating System doesn’t matter much and Linux variants are cheaper in comparison to Windows and you can change Linux to Windows later.

My Suggestions

These are some of my suggestions containing all the features I mentioned some feature above like 2 memory slots, 240 GB or up SSD etc. Go have a look and find your perfect match.

These links will work only for Indian users, please copy the name of the laptop and search it if you are not from India.

Intel:-

Dell Inspiron 3593 (~₹39,000) (HDD)

Dell Inspiron 3493 14-inch FHD Thin & Light Laptop (~₹38,000) (SSD)

AMD:-

Lenovo Ideapad S145 AMD A6-9225 (~₹28,000)(HDD)

Acer Aspire 3 A315-23 (~₹25,000) (HDD)

HP 15s eq0024au (~₹48,000) (SSD)

NameProcessorHard DiskRAMDisplayGraphicsPrice
Acer Aspire 3(Best)Intel 10th Gen Core i5-1035G1TB HDD8 GB of DDR415.6-inch FHD 1920 x 1080, high-brightness Acer ComfyView LEDbacklit TFT LCDIntel UHD Graphics₹42,990
Mi Notebook Horizon Edition 14Intel Core i7-10510U 10th Gen512GB SSD8GB DDR4 2666MHz RAM14-Inch FHD (1920X 1080 ) Anti-Glare ScreenNvidia MX350 2GB Graphics₹59,999

Dell Inspiron 3593
Intel 10th Gen Core i3-1005G11TB HDD8GB DDR4 RAM 2666MHz15.6-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) Anti-Glare LED-Backlit Non-touch DisplayIntel UHD 610 Graphics~₹40,000
Dell Inspiron 3493 14-inch FHD Thin & Light LaptopIntel 10th Gen i3-1005G1256GB SSD4 GB RAM DDR4 2666 MHz14.0-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) Anti-Glare LED-Backlit WVA DisplayIntel UHD 610 Graphics~₹40,000
Intel-Based Laptops
NameProcessorHard DiskRAMDisplayGraphicsPrice
Lenovo Ideapad S145 AMD A6-9225(Money Saver)AMD A6-92251 TB HDD4GB RAM DDR45.6″ HD (1366×768) | Anti-GlareINTEGRATED GFX₹26,951
Acer Aspire 3 A315-23AMD Athlon Silver 3050U1 TB HDD4GB DDR4 RAM15.6-inch screenAMD RadeonTM Graphics₹32,999
HP 15s eq0024auAMD Ryzen 5 3500U512 GB SSD8 GB DDR4 RAM15.6-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) SVA WLED DisplayAMD Radeon Vega 8 Graphics~₹48,000
AMD based laptops

If you know any other laptop within budget please write its full name with model name in the comments below to help a fellow reader!

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.