New to laptops need help finding one that fits my needs.

Jordannn15

Honorable
Jun 2, 2012
17
0
10,560
As the title says I am new to laptops but I know hardware and such but not which laptop brands are good, etc. This laptop is going to be for college (programming mostly) and not at all for gaming. Now I know I don't need a very powerful laptop for programming but I want it to be fast none the less and here are the things I want/need:

1. 6 - 8gb of ram
2. 1080p IPS screen
3. 128gb or bigger SSD
4. i5 quad core cpu (I assume I don't need an i7 just for programming)
5. 2 or more usb 2/3 ports, ethernet port, and a VGA (I know its pretty much outdated)/hdmi/display port
6. Windows 7 unless 8 is better somehow lol

If I forgot anything please let me know and I will answer it. Thanks in advance!
 

GoldenGrenadier

Estimable
Jun 25, 2014
1
0
4,510
Most if not all retail laptops come with windows 8 or 8.1 preinstalled on them so windows 7 is out of the question when buying a brand new laptop. If programming is going to be your area of study, it may not hurt to have a feel for the windows RT interface as being able to design apps for it may prove useful. Since laptops contain so much proprietary hardware, a custom build is completely out of the question. If anything the Gateway nv55c best meets your criteria. It even comes preinstalled with windows 7. Even though it has no ssd, it's not easy to find a laptop with an ssd installed by the manufacturer.