What is a good IDE for Java programming on a low end laptop?

Question

i have to work away from my desktop computer from time to time (for instance on trips). It is a low end laptop. I can use Eclipse but it is awfully slow.

Is there a better choice? If possible not something like vi oder emacs.

Laptop:
512 MB DDR RAM
Intel Pentium M 760 2.0 GHz
Windows XP SP3

There is no possibility to add more RAM

Solution 1

How low end is it? I used to use IntelliJ Idea and loved, it also ran faster than eclipse for me. DrJava is also very small and light weight. But personally I prefer vim + javac the best. :)

Solution 2

I actually don't consider that a "low end" machine.

I've used Eclipse and NetBeans on a P3 1.2 Ghz 512M RAM laptop, and they both run. They are a bit sluggish, but usable. Between the 2 I'd say NetBeans was less sluggish, probably because there aren't as many UI elements and frames all over.

My primary home laptop is a Toshiba 512M Pentium M 2 Ghz, and Eclipse runs fine on it (So does Visual Studio 2008).

It seems with these big IDEs, RAM > CPU at influencing speed.

Edit: it may be worth noting that my P3 1.2 Ghz laptop is running Ubuntu and my Pentium M 2 Ghz is running Win XP.

Eclipse is noticably faster in Linux. I once tested large project build times in:

WinXP running Eclipse -vs- WinXP Running VMWare Workstation Running Ubunty Running Eclipse

Suprisingly, Ubuntu in VMWare was consistently much faster, about 30-sec faster over what was a 7-minute build process on Windows.

Solution 3

Netbeans is a little less sluggish than Eclipse, but it's a huge memory hog.

Emacs is always a fine choice too.

Solution 4

I guess it is the JCreator Pro.. The free version, JCreator lite is OK but have limited capabilities.

Solution 5

You Could try JEdit, while it is not a true IDE, it does support a ton of Java centric functions like source formatting, syntax highlighting, and a java debugger, and bunch of other functions all of which can be added/subtracted via a plugin system. I've used it in the past when I wanted something with more power than notepad, but less bulky than Eclipse.

It's all open source and free, and portable to most systems since it is written in Java.

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Comments

[John T]

It feels the other way around for me, Eclipse feels a lot faster (and should be) since it's using SWT correct?

[user1568901]

Might be the hardware. Historically, I always felt Eclipse was faster. However, the latest version on Netbeans on new hardware feels faster than Eclipse on the same machine.

[Bill K]

BlueJ is awesome. Not sure it will perform a ton better though.

[Chathuranga Chandrasekara]

yes, I also have used InteliJ idea on 256 or 512MB RAM and the performance was acceptable.

[Burkhard]

I agree. It is nice. Maybe you can help me with my other problem? stackoverflow.com/questions/646117/…

[Burkhard]

I agree. It is nice. Maybe you can help me with my other problem? stackoverflow.com/questions/646117/…

[theycallmemorty]

Sorry, as I said I only used JCreator 'back in the day'. Its been years since I used it and the only reason I mentioned it was because I remember it not getting in my way when I was just learning java. :)

[Birdman]

+1 for including the environment!