content: update laptop buying guidance

src/content/docs/useful-information/laptop-buying-advice.md

@@ -1,47 +1,46 @@
 ---
 title: Laptop Buying Advice
-description: Historical laptop-buying guidance for DKE students.
+description: Practical laptop-buying guidance for DACS students.
 ---
 
-:::caution[Historical information]
+MSV Incognito often receives questions from prospective students about the hardware needed for their studies. You do not need the most expensive laptop, but choosing a balanced machine will make computer labs, group projects, and longer programming tasks much more comfortable.
-This information originated in the previous wiki and may be outdated. Prices, Windows versions, hardware capacities, and processor availability below are historical and must be verified before making a purchase.
-:::
 
-MSV Incognito often received questions from prospective students about the hardware required to follow a programme in our studies. To streamline things, we created this short page.
+## Recommended baseline for a new laptop
+
+- **Memory:** At least 16 GB RAM.
+- **Storage:** At least a 512 GB SSD.
+- **Processor:** A mid-range Core i5-class or equivalent processor, such as an Intel Core i5 or AMD Ryzen 5.
+- **Operating system:** Windows, Linux, and M-series Macs can all be suitable. Confirm course-specific software compatibility before purchasing.
+- **Data Science and AI workloads:** An Nvidia GPU is useful when coursework or personal projects use CUDA, but it is not required for every course.
 
 ## Is a laptop required?
 
-Having a laptop is required for computer labs in certain courses. It is also very handy for group projects. You will need a laptop to write, compile, and run Java, Python, and C code. This will, of course, take longer on low-end laptops.
+A laptop is required for computer labs in certain courses and is useful for group projects. You will use it to write, compile, and run software in languages such as Java, Python, and C. Lower-end hardware may still work, but compilation, data processing, simulations, and machine-learning workloads can take longer.
 
-Guidelines from the previous wiki:
+Chromebooks are generally not recommended because some required development tools and course applications may be difficult or impossible to install. A laptop that runs Windows, Linux, or macOS gives you more flexibility.
 
-- No Chromebook. The laptop must run Windows, Linux, or macOS. This guide only covers Windows laptops, because that is what companies sell and new MacBooks are generally powerful enough anyway.
+## Practical considerations
-- AMD Ryzen or modern Intel processors are both fine. Please note that AMD Ryzen CPUs were only recently becoming available in laptops when this guidance was written.
-- A 15.6-inch laptop is the most commonly used size. A 14-inch laptop is still fine, depending on your preferences, but anything smaller can make it difficult to type a lot of code (keyboard size) and read code (screen size and resolution). Seventeen-inch laptops are rather large to transport. However, this is down to personal preference.
-- Make sure you get a laptop with the keyboard layout you are used to: probably QWERTY for Dutch students, QWERTZ for Germans, AZERTY for French and some Belgian students.
 
-## Laptop tiers
+### Screen and portability
 
-To be blunt: everything that could run Windows 10 or a recent Linux variant properly should suffice. In theory, you could manage your studies on a laptop with a low-power Intel or AMD processor, 2 GB RAM, and 16 GB flash memory. But that would lead to annoyances and is not something we recommend. On the other hand, everything would also run on a laptop with a high-end multi-core AMD or Intel processor, 32 GB RAM, and a 1 TB SSD. Depending on your budget, you could even add a dedicated graphics card.
+A 14- or 15-inch laptop is a common compromise between readable code, a comfortable keyboard, and portability. Smaller screens can feel cramped during programming work, while 17-inch laptops are heavier to carry. Screen quality and resolution matter when you spend many hours reading code and documents.
 
-The prices below are historical indications. Many other factors, such as screen quality, battery life, and build quality, influence the price. There are many websites that provide quality reviews to inform you about specific laptop models. Consider finding the right laptop as a small precursor to doing academic research for the projects during your studies.
+### Keyboard layout
 
-### Approximately €200
+Choose the keyboard layout you already use comfortably—for example, QWERTY, QWERTZ, or AZERTY. Changing layouts while learning to program adds unnecessary friction.
 
-This is the “it runs” category: the territory of an Intel Atom or Celeron processor, 2 GB RAM, and 16 GB storage. We do not recommend this, but as long as it runs Windows or Linux, it is technically possible to finish the tasks required for the study.
+### Battery life and build quality
 
-### Approximately €400
+Battery life, weight, keyboard quality, cooling, and repairability can matter more in daily student life than a small difference in processor speed. Read independent reviews of the exact model you are considering, since laptops with similar specifications can differ substantially in these areas.
 
-This territory is suitable for a student with a limited budget. Laptops with a recent Intel Core i3 or AMD Ryzen 3, 4 GB RAM, and a 128 GB SSD were available.
+### Graphics hardware
 
-### Approximately €600
+A dedicated graphics card is not necessary for ordinary programming, writing, or most mathematics courses. It becomes more valuable for gaming, computer vision, deep learning, 3D work, or other GPU-accelerated tasks. For CUDA-based software, an Nvidia GPU offers the broadest compatibility.
 
-The best price-to-performance ratio was around this price range. A recent Intel Core i5 or AMD Ryzen 5, 8 GB RAM, and a 256 GB SSD was a good laptop configuration and would run anything required for your studies without problems.
+## Choosing within your budget
 
-### Approximately €800
+Prioritize enough memory and storage before paying for a small processor upgrade. A balanced laptop with 16 GB RAM, a 512 GB SSD, a recent mid-range processor, a good keyboard, and dependable battery life is usually a better student machine than a faster processor paired with too little memory or storage.
 
-If you had a bigger budget, a laptop with a recent Intel Core i7 or AMD Ryzen 7, 8 GB RAM, and a 256 GB SSD would give a minor speed boost over the previous tier. This was also the range where laptops gained something resembling gaming-capable graphics cards.
+If your budget is tight, consider a well-maintained refurbished business laptop with upgradeable storage or memory. Check the battery condition, warranty, charger, keyboard layout, and whether replacement parts are available before buying.
 
-### Gaming
+Gaming laptops can provide powerful CPUs and GPUs, but they are often heavier, louder, and shorter-lived on battery. Only pay that portability cost if you expect to use the additional graphics performance.
-
-If you wanted your laptop to run games beyond League of Legends or other light games, the options generally started around €900. There were laptops in that category with an AMD or Nvidia GPU capable of running most games. Medium- and high-end gaming laptops were €1,000–€3,000. However, that is outside the scope of this page, since it is not needed for your studies.

tests/content-audit.test.mjs

@@ -349,14 +349,15 @@ for (const file of [
   test(`${file} contains clean migrated Markdown`, async () => {
     const content = await readFile(file, 'utf8');
     assert.match(content, /^---\n[\s\S]*title:/);
+    if (file !== 'src/content/docs/useful-information/laptop-buying-advice.md') {
       assert.match(content, /This information originated in the previous wiki and may be outdated\./);
+    }
     for (const pattern of forbidden) assert.doesNotMatch(content, pattern);
   });
 }
 
 for (const file of [
   'src/content/docs/useful-information/it-services.md',
-  'src/content/docs/useful-information/laptop-buying-advice.md',
 ]) {
   test(`${file} prominently identifies historical guidance`, async () => {
     const content = await readFile(file, 'utf8');

tests/useful-guides.test.mjs

@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+import assert from 'node:assert/strict';
+import { readFile } from 'node:fs/promises';
+import test from 'node:test';
+
+const docsRoot = 'src/content/docs/useful-information';
+
+test('Laptop Buying Advice publishes the newer hardware baseline without a dated warning', async () => {
+  const content = await readFile(`${docsRoot}/laptop-buying-advice.md`, 'utf8');
+
+  assert.match(content, /16 GB/);
+  assert.match(content, /512 GB/);
+  assert.match(content, /Core i5-class or equivalent/i);
+  assert.match(content, /M-series Mac/i);
+  assert.match(content, /Nvidia[\s\S]*CUDA/i);
+  assert.doesNotMatch(content, /:::caution\[Historical information\]/);
+});