Laptop for software development

Hey there Level1Techs!

As a student in Computer Sciences I do a lot of programming and I bring my laptop every time I go to the university. Because my current laptop is getting way too old and cannot really keep up with the software that I use anymore, I decided it is time for a new one. The problem, which you probably can guess by now, is which one should I buy or what should I look for :D.

Because I am an owner of a pretty beafy desktop PC, I do not plan to use the laptop as my main system. Therefore I do not really care too much about very high-end specs like the latest technologies of graphics cards or CPUs. What I do care about is being able to run applications like Visual Studio without too many slowdowns, is not too heavy so that I can carry it in my bag easily, has a decent battery life, and does not have a glossy screen with a resolution of 1920x1080. I am trying to go for a laptop that I can buy for around 500-600 bucks.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

I'd browse Lenovo or Dell's website to see what they have in the Thinkpad and Latitude lines. Windows Signature store might be a good option too.

One thing you should consider is whether you need the ability to run VMs or even Linux natively. If you want native support, consider driver compatibility for things like ethernet and wifi (Intel = good, Broadcom = bad). For a VM you will need a CPU with a lot of cores and a decent amount of RAM (no less than 16GB). Small thin/light laptops typically have Ultrabook CPUs in them which don't compare to something with a 6700HQ CPU.

Also i'd suggest buying ASAP as there may still be some Black Friday sales going on.