On 12.07.23, In There is much debate over the right laptop for a programmer. What kind of programmer? I’m the type of programmers who want income rather than expenditure. So, The cheaper the price of the laptop that I got, but according to my programming needs, is better.
A year ago, I bought an HP Mini 210. I just needed a laptop for surfing the internet and making some posts to the blog and creating novels or short stories. In my spare time I played games from GameTop.com to entertain myself. gradually, my needs are growing. Now, I Often bring my works to be done anywhere. My HP Mini 210 is not comfortable for Delphi, Java, and virtual machine. I started searching new laptop/notebook for replacing it, of course, at low price.
At last, I chose HP 430. Why? I was pleased with the large hard drive, 500 Gb Serial ATA 5400 Rpm. Enough to install MySQL, SQLYog, Delphi, Java, Virtual machine, Free Games from GameTop, and other software that I need. Its design is so minimalist, not adventurous. Fortunately, I personally do not really pay attention to its design. As long as my needs are fulfilled, its design is not problem for me. keyboard keys are big enough for my fingers. It is one that I liked, because my fingers are large, so the small size of the keys cause a lot of typos.
My data is often lost in hard drive because the power goes out or the battery runs out, or because of shocks. Recovery data that is lost is so expensive for me, so, HP Recovery Manager is so important. My system operation once was corrupted. With this facility, I got back my data.
Common functions such as WIFI, Card Reader, LAN contained on this notebook. So I can access the Internet anywhere within the 14-inch monitor (1366 x 768) and its processor (Intel i3 2.10 GHz, Cache 3M) is enough for all my software. But don’t expect running Star Craft Wing Liberty here 
(. But HDMI port allows me to show a presentation on the TV screen.
There are some things that I do not like:
- I can not change the large of VGA memory. (very disappointed with this)
- HP LAN Card only runs 10 / 100 Mbps while my office LAN runs at 1 Gb (middle disappointed, )
- Audio with Altec brand is bad (for me), its sound looks like radio sound. I am disappointed with this, because I often listen to MP3 while working (disappointed but not problem for me).
- I can not distinguish between the mouse and its place. Same color!! (as well as the TouchPad)
- I have to download all drivers from internet. HP 430 has no CD/DVD drivers. For beginner user is very troublesome.
