I've lined up a consulting programming gig but they'd like me to work out of their office at least a few days a week to start. I haven't heard yet if they'll be providing a workstation or not, but I know at my last job, it was often assumed that contractors would use their own equipment.
I use a desktop PC at home. I have a chromebook, but it looks like I'll need a legit machine that can run windows and either a virtual machine software or a full WAMP stack. Despite not having any money, I'm thinking it wouldn't be the worst idea to buy a new laptop. I can at least get a tax deduction for it at the end of the year.
I don't think it would be my primary machine so I don't need a big touch screen or anything. The question is, can I get a way with a sub $300 machine off the shelf at a retail place and still do legit programming? I'd probably need to install photoshop and virtual box etc.
You can get a 15" dell or HP at best buy for $279. Some smaller ones are even closer to $200. They're all only 4GB ram and most have celeron processors. Obviously no SSD.
Thoughts?