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Others have suggested SSD.
TOMZ_KV
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Tomz_KV wrote: Others have suggested SSD.
Ya, that's what I'm going to get on my next one. 
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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I have a core2duo laptop with 8 gb ram and an ssd (some custom parts) and do fine with basic c# development. I run both vs 2013 and 2010, again not doing anything graphic intensive, just some basic business front ends using winforms or sometimes wpf.
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The largest ram I can see so far is 16. I assume this should be enough. My current laptop also has 8.
TOMZ_KV
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That pretty much summarizes my experience. Unless you can spend $3000+ on a laptop, you'll get much better bang for your buck with a desktop.
I usually have at least one powerful desktop, which usually runs me CAD 1000-1500, and a less powerful laptop (under CAD 1000) that can still run VS and all the dev goodies.
Currently you can get an XPS 8700 i7 with 32GB RAM for CAD 1100-1500 depending on the other goodies you want.
I built my last system (Shuttle XPC, i7-2600K, 16GB, 128GB SSD, and the usual stuff) for CAD 1000 over three years ago and it is still my daily driver.
I need a new one because I need quad-monitor support and I'm debating whether to go with 4th gen i7 (possibly the XPS 8700) or 5th gen i7 (LGA2011).
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Rest of the spec looks good, but throw in a dedicated SSD for OS and as build drive. "Hybrid" helps but doesn't cut the cheese.
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No. It's a folded box...He need to develop it until it becomes a true box!
Skipper: We'll fix it.
Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this?
Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
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TOMZ_KV
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I generally recommend avoiding the 17" form factor unless you're doing something that needs more power than can be practically packed into a smaller chassis. At the desk you're better off using external IO anyway (which is why I'd recommend a Latitude; the docking station makes un/connecting it all so much easier), so the built in screen size doesn't really matter. On the go, a smaller laptop is easier to carry and can be used in places where a 17" behemoth can't, eg the tray table in a standard cattleveal class airline seat.
As for general specs go; unless you're doing 3d or OpenCL development, the money spent on the GeForce would give better returns if put into an SSD.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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Thanks for the suggestion. I'll look into it.
TOMZ_KV
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I'm seconding Dan Neely's suggestion to have a look at Latitude instead.
But most important, make sure you have an SSD instead of a normal HDD. It makes a huge difference for Visual Studio.
I'm sitting with a Latitude E7440 and a dual screen docking station, and I'm quite satisfied with it.
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I took a look at Dell site. The max SSD for Latitude is 512G. I wish it could be bigger but is still ok if I keep more contents on network.
TOMZ_KV
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Not overly surprising, 1 TB SSDs run $400-700ish at retail; even without the Dell upgrade markup that's rather pricy. Also, AFAIK only 2.5" SSDs come in the 1TB capacity; most laptop SSDs are m.2 sticks, which in the PCIe version can be significantly faster than a SATA drive, that are space limited to 512GB until the next generation of denser flash chips come out.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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So there is no possibility for anything bigger than 512G for a while.
TOMZ_KV
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Flash chips have been doing something closer to a capacity doubling/year vs the one die shrink/two years of the CPU world. This is partly die shrinks, which had been coming faster than one/two years (admittedly a lot of this was flash catching up from being behind, but the development of 3d chips should allow another few years of this); and partly from figuring out how to stack more dies into a single package (although this more of just a density boost than a price drop). I'd expect a 1TB M.2 stick sometime this year. If you actually need a TB on your laptop now (as opposed to just wanting to match the space of an HD for the sake of doing it); I'd go with either 2xSSD and reinstall the OS if the laptop vendor RAID0's them (all the gaming laptop vendors do this; claiming their market research says that their customers want 4 way RAID0 data bombs  ); or SSD+HDD. Both of those combos probably will require a 15"+ chassis if you do it from the factory. A 14" Latitude with an adapter to put an HDD in the optical drive bay's a DIY option though. (Do you really need a DVD drive on the go...)
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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Interesting to see Latitude 14 (rugged) with 512 SSD is much more expensive. DVD drive is probably not needed anymore. I do not even remember what was the last time I used it on my current laptop.
TOMZ_KV
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Ruggedization itself is several hundred dollars extra on top of Latitudes having a higher base price for being built with magnesium instead of plastic for the chassis. Unless you normally bust your laptops or are planning on doing a lot of rough fieldwork with it, the rugged models are almost certainly more than you need.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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I seem to've spoken too soon. Dell's offering at least one model with a 1TB mSATA drive. It's the same approximate size as M.2; but using the slower sata bus instead of (optionally) PCIe.
http://anandtech.com/show/8934/dell-updates-ultrabook-thin-m3800-mobile-workstation-with-4k-display[^]
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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Thanks for the info. I have decided to go with this model. Unfortunately, budget does not allow me to have a SSD which would be $700 more.
TOMZ_KV
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AMEN! SSD has done more for PC performance than anything I can remember, and I've been playing with these things for 30+ years
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I can second that too.
Yvan Rodrigues wrote: 30+ years
Who's that on your profile picture?
Or do you have a secret to share?
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That's me... circa 2012.
I'm a '74 model.
Good genes.
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I have a (refurbished) Dell Precision M6500. They make versions of this through i7 and even my bottom-of-the-line has two HHD's and a lovely 17" screen. They're more or less referred to as a portable work station.
It's only flaw (if 8.5lbs doesn't count) is that it sucks the batteries at an amazing rate. On the other hand, the charge will refill them pretty quickly, too.
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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A laptop and a work station are good idea to consider.
TOMZ_KV
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I generally use an MSI G70 Steath laptop with all SSD drives (1.5TB) for travel (rollaround computer case), and a Gigabyte Brix Pro attached to the back of a monitor with 1.5TB SSDs for desk top work. Both of which are somewhat pricey.
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