So I started messing around with Unity around half a year ago without any previous knowledge of coding or development in general and have since gotten a bit better at both while having a lot of fun. I’m planning on buying a laptop this summer and would like it to be able to run Unity (and Visual Studio) without many problems while not spending much over USD 1000.
I don’t really think this is the best place to ask for HW advice, so the main question I’ll be asking will be: Does performance in Unity while developing depend more on the GPU or the CPU? And which (laptop) models of these are the most ideal?
This depends on the games you will be making. 4GB ram is plenty, but 8GB should be a minimum to allow for multi tasking (e.g. music, web browser, unity). If you are looking to do anything with complex lighting or detailed shadows then you will need a desktop grade GPU, yes they do come in laptops, maybe something like a 1070.
Developing a game requires similar specs to playing your game, but possibly without some optimizations and at the highest quality level. It’s impossible to say what you will need, just get the best you can. I would recommend a Desktop as you get more bang for your buck.