Laptop recommendations for ASP.NET development

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sasha
  • Start date Start date
S

Sasha

Hi,

I am going to buy laptop to do ASP.NET development on it. Do you have any
recommendations for me? Brand name and/or specs?

Thank you,
Sasha
 
Hi Sasha,

For ASP.NET, you would require the following environment:
Windows (preferably a Professional or Server edition)
IIS
Visual Studio .NET (or ASP.NET WebMatrix)
Microsoft .NET Framework
Internet Explorer 6.0

Since the above applications are processor/memory intensive - especially if you switch on debugging, etc. - a safe configuration would be:

Processor: (Minimum: PIII) AMD 2400+ or P4.
RAM: Min. 128MB. Ideally: 256 MB or higher.
HDD: Min. 10 GB. Ideally: 20-40 GB.

Would suggest a branded one like Dell, IBM or Compaq/HP which are designed to run Windows XP professional or the like.

Regards

Pandurang
 
=?Utf-8?B?UGFuZHVyYW5nIE5heWFr?=
For ASP.NET, you would require the following environment:
Windows (preferably a Professional or Server edition)
Click to expand...

You will need to special order your laptop. Most laptops come with XP Home,
and most vendors do not eaisly make all drivers available separately.


--
Chad Z. Hower (a.k.a. Kudzu) - http://www.hower.org/Kudzu/
"Programming is an art form that fights back"

Get your ASP.NET in gear with IntraWeb!
http://www.atozed.com/IntraWeb/
 
Chad Z. Hower aka Kudzu said:
=?Utf-8?B?UGFuZHVyYW5nIE5heWFr?=


You will need to special order your laptop. Most laptops come with XP Home,
and most vendors do not eaisly make all drivers available separately.
Click to expand...

Most vendors are reasonably happy to supply XP Pro installed instead -
and any vendor worth their salt *will* have latest drivers available on
their website, as the drivers will change over time.

Personally I'm very happy with my Dell Inspiron 5150. It's got a lovely
hi-res (1600x1200) screen (I'm a nut for screen real estate), a fast-
enough P4 3GHz processor, 1Gb of memory, a 60Gb disk, and the batteries
last for about 4 hours (of non-intensive stuff, anyway). Came pretty
cheaply, too...
 
You don't necessarily need a special order, just make sure you get XP Professional. It's not as common and usually only comes with higher end laptops, which is what you likely want for development anyway. I would say try to get at least 512MB RAM. More RAM is more important than the processor speed.

Simon.
 
Jon Skeet said:
Most vendors are reasonably happy to supply XP Pro installed instead -
Click to expand...

As a special order. To get Pro you have to order direct from the vendor in
most cases. Walk into any shop and its rare to find a laptop with Pro. This
is why Im stuck with Home. (And I cannot upgrade because the system AVs on
boot after upgrade. Its a common problem with many brands as Google will
show)
and any vendor worth their salt *will* have latest drivers available on
their website, as the drivers will change over time.
Click to expand...

Yes and no. Under new licensing agreements with MS vendors are not allowed to
ship XP disks, or drivers separately. Recovery disks must be system images,
and vendors are only allowed to ship updates to drivers on their website, not
originals. So you have to wait for every crticial driver to be patched first.

I've been round and round with 3 laptop vendors about this and they all told
me the same thing.
Personally I'm very happy with my Dell Inspiron 5150. It's got a lovely
hi-res (1600x1200) screen (I'm a nut for screen real estate), a fast-
enough P4 3GHz processor, 1Gb of memory, a 60Gb disk, and the batteries
last for about 4 hours (of non-intensive stuff, anyway). Came pretty
cheaply, too...
Click to expand...

If you are looking for a portable Desktop its a good choice. But if you are
truly a traveller its quite bulky and not a good choice.




--
Chad Z. Hower (a.k.a. Kudzu) - http://www.hower.org/Kudzu/
"Programming is an art form that fights back"

Make your ASP.NET applications run faster
http://www.atozed.com/IntraWeb/
 
=?Utf-8?B?U2ltb24gV2FsbGlz?= said:
You don't necessarily need a special order, just make sure you get XP
Professional. It's not as common and usually only comes with higher end
laptops, which is what you likely want for development anyway. I would
say try to get at least 512MB RAM. More RAM is more important than the
processor speed.
Click to expand...

How many stores have you seen that stock XP Pro versions on laptops? YEs all
teh high end ones have it as an OPTION but most stores do not stock it.

512 yes, but Id recommend 1G.


--
Chad Z. Hower (a.k.a. Kudzu) - http://www.hower.org/Kudzu/
"Programming is an art form that fights back"

Develop ASP.NET applications easier and in less time:
http://www.atozed.com/IntraWeb/
 
Chad Z. Hower aka Kudzu said:
As a special order. To get Pro you have to order direct from the vendor in
most cases. Walk into any shop and its rare to find a laptop with Pro. This
is why Im stuck with Home. (And I cannot upgrade because the system AVs on
boot after upgrade. Its a common problem with many brands as Google will
show)
Click to expand...

I would very rarely consider buying a laptop from a "bricks and
mortar" shop - I'd pretty much *always* go online.
Yes and no. Under new licensing agreements with MS vendors are not allowed to
ship XP disks, or drivers separately. Recovery disks must be system images,
and vendors are only allowed to ship updates to drivers on their website, not
originals. So you have to wait for every crticial driver to be patched first.
Click to expand...

I don't see how MS can stop a vendor from publishing drivers for their
own hardware - and certainly that doesn't seem to stop Dell. How they
distribute XP itself is a different matter, but hardware drivers should
be fine.
I've been round and round with 3 laptop vendors about this and they all told
me the same thing.
Click to expand...

Try Dell then - there are *loads* of drivers on their website...
If you are looking for a portable Desktop its a good choice. But if you are
truly a traveller its quite bulky and not a good choice.
Click to expand...

Indeed - but I suspect getting a light laptop which is really suitable
for serious development is very difficult.
 
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