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9 Budget Laptops For Cloud Engineering With Corei7

There are so many laptops out there that finding budget laptops for cloud engineering is difficult. When you’re into development, you are most concerned with how much power your computer can give regarding the number of processes you’d be running on your computer. Cloud engineers need as much as they can get from their laptops. if you are a start-up cloud engineer, we’ve compiled a list of low-budget laptops with core i7 processors. They would suit your needs for the main time as you rack up more money to afford a better one.

Criteria of laptops to watch for

Cloud engineers don’t need every feature that comes with the laptop. Hence, you wouldn’t be interested in things like the speakers, Casing(optional), optical disk, etc. In this article, we would be looking at laptop features most important to cloud engineers.

Display

As a developer and a cloud engineer, you’d be steering at your screen for hours on the go- looking at small fonts of code you’re wishing would just fit into the display. For display, the brightness, and pixel density of the laptop screen are important if you’re going to be doing lots of development.

Processor speed

Development requires a little above speed for running and debugging programming codes. Cloud engineers build cloud platforms and need multiple cores with hyper-threading capabilities to be able to perform cloud development operations smoothly.

Some Low Budget laptops For Cloud Engineering Students

We’ve searched for readily available systems with upgradeable components. Here is our list of great-performing budget laptops for cloud engineering students.

1. Hp Elitebook 840 G3

Budget laptops for cloud engineering

The Hp Elitebook was a beast of its time. It was Hp’s notable entry into the competitive world of ultrabooks. It is important to note that the Hp Elitebook 840 G3 also has another variant that packs a core i3 processor. We don’t want that and be careful to avoid buying them.

The Elitebook 840 G3 features a 14-inch display screen with a 16:9 aspect ratio. it is also equipped with a 2560×1440 pixel which supports full HD. There are more expensive alternatives to the G3 that feature a WQHD screen, but we are trying to stick to the budget here so we’d stick to the FHD screen.

Brightness is another important feature of a display screen of any budget laptop for cloud engineering. The EliteBook provides a decent amount of brightness as compared to its competitor, the Lenovo T450s(see below).

So what about the processing power? The G3 feature a core i7-6500U CPU, what this means is that it has a 6th-generation core i7 CPU. For cloud computing,  a 6th generation is decent but far from the best. Alongside the CPU is 256GB SSD, and 8GB of expandable RAM. This is quite good for beginner and mid-level cloud computing tasks. Most Importantly, the CPU is clocked at speeds of 3.1GHz. That’s pretty great considering you’d be running multi-core and threaded programs.

2. Dell latitude 7490

Budget Laptops for Cloud engineers
Dell Latitude 7490

For good reason, Dell’s Latitude laptops are popular among businesses and government agencies. Year after year, the line continually performs well in our tests, thanks to its high build quality, good input devices, and wide range of connectivity and security choices.

Dell’s business line now has Intel’s new 8th generation U-class CPUs in the Latitude 7490. The processor is a quad-core processor with a 4.2GHz processing speed rate. The 8th generation is more costly than the 6th and 7th generations but brings more processing power to the table.

On the display, the Latitude 7490 has a standard 14-inch screen with FHD. According to notebookcheck.net, the <q>Contrast is good, and the screen is vibrant overall.</p>The screen brightness of 305 is however not as vibrant as the EliteBooks 840G3. This means that you’d have trouble viewing your computing codes under direct sunlight. I guess it’s an office laptop and not an under-the-sun laptop.

The quad-core processor is a plus for cloud engineers looking to buy a budget laptop with enough power.

3. Apple MacBook Pro(2015)

Budget Laptops for Cloud engineers

The distinctive feature of the MacBook Pro on this list of budget laptops for cloud engineers is the 13.3-inch retina screen display. It has a brightness of 389nits which is considered very bright by many reviewers.  The display screen is 2560 x 1600 pixels, coupled with its sharp contrast and pixel density, it outmatches other competitors on this list.

So the display is good, but how about the performance? The Macbook features a 2.5-GHz processor sitting on an Intel Corei7 processor. The downside is that it features a 4th-generation processor which might not be on par with others on the list. However, it does deliver with regards to performance, and may out compute some laptops of other brands with 5th to 6th generation.

The MacBook  Pro features 16GB of RAM which would boost the speed and endurance of the system. Having large RAMs is important for Cloud engineers and is an important feature to be on the lookout for if you’re hunting for a budget laptop.

The MacBook pro according to laptopmag.com, can transmit a file of 4.97GB in 8 seconds. Thanks to the 512GB of SSD space installed on the beast.

4. Hp EliteBook 840 G5

Hp Elitebook 840 G5
Hp Elitebook 840 G5

The display of the EliteBook isn’t as bright as some of the competitors on this list. However, it does feature a 1920×1080 display which would produce vibrant colors under good circumstances. It does also have a keyboard backlight which would come in handy when you intend to do some cloud computing overnight.

The performance of the Elitebook 840 is on par with our top contenders on our list of budget laptops for cloud engineers. It comes loaded with a quad-core core i7 processor. Even better, is that the processor is an 8th generation processor supporter by UHD graphic 620.

You wouldn’t need to worry about multi-tasking because it has an expandable memory slot that comes with 16GB of RAM pre-installed. The 512GB SSD on which the OS is installed does an amazing job of speeding up the laptop. Aside from the display which might not produce comforting colors, and maybe too dim during the day, everything else checks the box.

5. Apple MacBook Air (2017)

Budget Laptops for Cloud engineers

MacBooks are famous for their deep contrasting display which produces enticing colours. But, compared to the contenders on this list, Apple would need to do more than just bring up quality displays. To a cloud engineer, having a laptop with great and dependable processing power always comes first.

The MacBook Air 2017, comes with a 5th generation intel corei7 processor. The processor has a dual-core setting, so it might be tempting to kick it off our budget list of laptops for cloud engineers. However, it brings something new to the table. The core set of the processor is different from what we are used to. Each core of the dual-core setting is completely independent of the other. Each core is mounted on a separate chip on the motherboard. The processor also supports Hyper-threading.

The Macbook pro-2017 also has another downside, it has a fixed ram size of 8GB. This means that the RAM cannot be upgraded. But, if you’re into Apple products, you can still get this one. It fits into the budget easily and is good enough for beginner cloud engineers.

It features a display of 1440×900, it would seem Apple slashed down the specs of this laptop to make it affordable. Accompanying the CPU is an Intel HD Graphics 6000 which is pretty decent for your day to day activities as a cloud developer.

6. Dell Latitude 7480 14

Budget laptops for cloud engineering

Dell Latitude 7480 14 is probably one of the best picks on this list even though it is more costly. It comes with an FHD with a 1366×768 resolution display. The display might not be entertaining since it has a poor resolution compared to others on our list. However, you could upgrade this to a 2,560 x 1440 screen with QHD. The full HD screen is bright enough though, you’re not just going to enjoy the deep contrast display as seen on other devices on our list. upgrading to the QHD would cost you more if you want to enjoy 4k resolution videos.

The processor comes with an Intel HD Graphics 620, although the GPU is not important when you’re looking for a cheap laptop for cloud computing. The processor features a 7th-generation Intel processor. It is better than the Apple MacBook Pro(2017). A budget laptop with such specs would be perfect for cloud computing. It features a keyboard backlight as well, that’s a bonus.

7. Dell Latitude 5480 HD

Dell Latitude 5480

The display on this laptop is not at all bad, it comes with a 1920 x 1080 pixel touch screen. According to reviews on Laptopmag.com, it fails to meet the expectation of producing rich colours. But, it is not the worst out there. We are on a budget anyway, we aren’t looking to buy the best laptop on the market for our cloud engineering practice.

The touch screen may be useful but not important for cloud computing. Thank goodness the touch screen is optional, you should get the non-touchscreen to save as much money as possible.

The keypad is also excellent, for cloud development, or any development for that matter, we would need the keyboard to be as comfortable and efficient as can be. So how does the Dell Latitude 5480 perform? The Latitude 5480 comes equipped with an Intel-core i7 7th generation processor.

The Latitude 5480 performed very well in the GeekBench 3 general performance test according to laptopmag.com. To support the powerful processor, the laptop comes with an Intel HD 620 Graphics. It comes with an expandable 8GBs of RAM. 8GB may be average for cloud developers and engineers, luckily multiple slots can allow you to upgrade the machine to 16GB.

8. Lenovo ThinkPad X220( Corei3 – Corei7)

Budget laptops for cloud engineering

ThinkPad notebooks from Lenovo are a must-have for every serious businessperson. The company has demonstrated time and time again that it can design and manufacture laptops that meet the needs of on-the-go professionals, so it’s no surprise that many huge enterprises, as well as private businesses, have chosen to work with them.

That isn’t the only enhancement: Lenovo has included top-of-the-line hardware in its current model. So the X220 comes with an Intel Core i7-2620M processor, USB 3.0 interface, internal UMTS, mSata SSD, and a great battery life of 23 hours. In a nutshell, it’s a dream come true for professionals who demand results.

The Lenovo Thinkpad does have a cheaper alternative to the core i7 machine. You could also get the Core i5 variant of the same but would have to sacrifice performance and extra features like the USB 3.0 interface.

The display on this machine is brilliant, all variants come with an HD premium IPS display. It has a resolution of 136×768 pixels but average brightness of 300nits. The viewing angles are great though.

This machine may be a little underperformed when compared to the other devices on this list however, its battery life is unmatched. Its battery-a 28Wh capacity can be upgraded to a 63 Wh capacity which according to Notebookcheck.net, can last for about 23 hours on average use.

9. Lenovo ThinkPad x250

Budget laptops for cloud engineering

Let’s start with the display, the ThinkPad features a display screen similar to those in its price range.  Although like its predecessor, it comes in several display options; the classy and better display is that with the IPS 1920 x 1080 non-touch and touch displays, 1366 x 768 without IPS, and 1366 x 768 with IPS.

For a cloud developer looking to get a budget laptop for cloud engineering, I would advise you to opt for the variant with the 1920 x 1080 display. The average brightness of the display units measures 387 nits. Having a quality display is important if you’re going to be on the computer screen all day.

Another important feature that would help boost the overall performance of the system is the SSD drive. It also has decent graphics. With its 2.3 GHz processor, not the best on the list but it compensates for that with the expandable RAM. It has two RAM slots which can take a maximum of 4GIG each.

Bottom Line

If you’re looking for a laptop that can deliver with regards to performance and is affordable then the machines on this list would suit you perfectly. Cloud engineers need laptops that have average battery life, awesome keyboard, brilliant display, and most importantly, a multi-core processor. The core i7 fits the description, the laptops on this list require minimal budget and are fit for people who are just venturing into the world of cloud engineering or cloud development.

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About Author

Samuel Afolabi is a lazy tech-savvy that loves writing almost all tech-related kinds of stuff. He is the Editor-in-Chief of TechVaz. You can connect with him socially :)