Programmers often have the option to work from home. A laptop for them is an important working tool, the choice of which should be approached very responsibly.
We studied a number of devices that may be suitable for their parameters, and made a rating taking into account their shortcomings and advantages, based on customer reviews. How to choose the best laptop for hacking (ethical) in terms of price / quality ratio?
Choosing laptop for hacker
Do you want to become a hacker? The first thing to do is decide what you will be working on. In this article, we will tell you how to choose a computer and OS. Ethical hacking and penetration testing, information security. In this part, I want to talk about choosing hardware and choosing an OS for a hacker. Immediately about the OS – I will talk about the choice between Linux and Windows, I will not talk about Linux distributions. As for the hardware, I am not a big hardware specialist, I will only share with you some observations that have been formed on the basis of practice.
CPU
Two companies are engaged in the production of processors: AMD and Intel. If you select stones for a programmer, it is recommended to use the fifth, seventh and ninth series from the Ryzen lines from red and Core from blue.
It is preferable that the chips belong to the latest generation, since in this case, manufacturers have already taken into account the mistakes of the past, reduced power consumption and increased frequency overclocking.
Video card
Video cards are:
- built-in – the graphics core of the processor for everyday tasks;
- discrete – powerful cards for demanding programs and games that require 3D graphics;
- built-in + discrete – a great option to take the load off both the system and the cooling. The discrete card is activated as needed; during normal operation, the built-in core is enough.
The amount of RAM
Programming requires speed and stability of the system, so experts recommend not buying a working laptop with less than 12 GB of RAM.
If at the moment this is not possible, then you can choose 8 GB, but only if the manufacturer left the buyer the right to increase the required amount of GB if necessary.
Display Matrix
At the moment, several types of matrix are used:
- TN – gradually fades into the shadow of IPS, but is still relevant for gaming laptops, as it has the shortest response time, but small viewing angles;
- IPS – the most popular, with a large number of transmitted colors, but a little slower in response than the view described above;
- VA is something in between the other two options, has several modifications, MVA – wide viewing angles, PVA – balanced contrast, and A-MVA – short response time.
Screen diagonal
According to the recommendations of experts, when buying a laptop, you should pay special attention to the diagonal of the screen:
- 13 and 14 inches – for devices that are taken with you on a regular basis, as they are very light and compact;
- 15 or 16 inches – for working with visual content, texts, graphics;
- 17 inches – game screens, which are also used in video editing, video processing.
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SSD or HDD
Currently, three types of data storage are used:
- HHD – slow access to files, the risk of damaging the hard drive when hitting or shaking on the road, but there is always a lot of space:
- SSD – less space, but access to files is almost instantaneous, plus the drive is not so afraid of mechanical damage.
- HHD+SSD – The most frequently used files are stored on a fast solid state drive, and those documents that are opened infrequently are stored on the hard drive, which allows you to optimize system performance.