T520 for programing?

Hey guys I just netted my first programming job, we'll its more of a contract to hire but I was looking into getting a new laptop to carry around. I was looking at the t520 with the fhd screen (I want the biggest real estate ).

What do you guys think? I want to stick with Lenovo because I love the keyboard. I've had the t410 but sold it because the screen was so grain even with the higher res upgrade.

 

The T520 with FHD screen should make a great development notebook. I don't think you need the discrete graphics card. Depending on what you do, bumping the RAM to full 16GB is possible. Also, you can organize 3 drives, as needed: mSATA SSD, main bay and UltraBay.

Yeah, last generation with the "classic" keyboard.

 

Congrats on the new gig. ThinkPads are great for programming, the pointing stick allows for fast navigation without having to lift hands and keyboard feel is the best out there. A Full HD screen is the way to go, more lines of code on the screen means you can see more logic flow and thus be more efficient and potentially avoid bugs. It's just too bad that screens are so squat these days. The new keyboard on the T530 doesn't both me with the changes, I actually like the keyboard backlight and personally would go with that. I do understand why so many differ and prefer the T520 though.

 

It's a tragedy really.

 

I've heard the fhd screen is gorgeous but I was wondering if the resolution is too high for a 15" and would be tiring to the eyes of long hour use since the text will be small?

 

"Will the text be too small?" I come across this question all the time. As with anything related to perception, you are the only person who can decide this for yourself. I refrain from adding a "FUD" factor into your purchasing process.

(Typing this on a T520 with FHD.)

 

I've owned a 17" MacBook pro with 1920x1200 Res and it didn't bother me. I think I'm going to go with this laptop. Of course I have to see what they will provide me with first before ordering. I havent even met the other two developers yet!

Also if anyone programs for a living, do you find that working on the work desktop and just taking your work with you via USB stick is effective?

Thanks guys.

 

15.6" 1080p is bit smaller than 17", however I believe windows DPI work fine for most text editor. (not sure about linux)

Don't people cloud (dropbox or w.e) everything nowadays ? losing a USB is like leaking all your work.

 

Your right, I should just setup a drop box instead.

 

That tragedy part is that a 15" UXGA screen has a pixel density of 133, which is quite usable, a 15" SXGA+ is 117, but a 15" FHD is 140+ and texts starts to get very small, though some do like it.

 

As mentioned before, there are people who like FHD on a 15.6", and some might not. Myself, I love the FHD on my W520, and it makes for an excellent pairing for programming (the FHD and especially the traditional keyboard, imo). Never used anything close to a ~140 PPI display before this laptop, and it did take a day or two to adjust (I was coming from a 768p, 15.6" laptop and 1440 * 900 21.5" desktop display), but once I changed the DPI from the default 125% to 100% (smaller), I grew to it and now I wouldn't ever go back to anything below FHD on a 15.6" display again.

 

Anyone who programs for a living, and is allowed to have source code on a personal laptop, uses a source control solution. If you see a software development company that does not use a source control solution, run

1920x1080 is a great resolution for modern IDEs such as visual studio. Yes, 15" is a tiny screen, and the text IS small, but it's usable for short periods and if you must be mobile and productive, you can. Still, if you spend a significant part of the day behind a dedicated desk, by all means, get a decent matte 22"+ monitor or, better, two and a dedicated external keyboard (Lenovo's own 55Y9053 is particularly nicely paired with T520). 2 Dell Ultrasharps 22-24" will cost less than $500 when on sale, will offer about 5-6 times as large screen space, and keyboard not attached to the monitor will permit a proper and convenient posture.

 

16:9 is so bad that I usually put 2 windows side by side on them...

Thumb up if you miss your old ThinkPad with 2048x1536 QXGA.

+1

 

I've had no issue using 16:9, and actually like having two windows side-by-side (have a code windows on one side, and maybe some reference document on the other). So long as you have high resolution, I don't see much on an issue.

Yes, you loose 120 vertical pixels (or 10%) from 1920 * 1200 to 1920 * 1080. But that's still only 10%.