Core i3 is an entry-level processor and good enough for programming. If you are a college-going student pursuing programming and software engineering and have a tight budget, then i3 processor is just fine for you. But if You are a professional programmer then i3 processor is not meant for you as it will take longer to process lengthy blocks of code. Compressing, compiling, and sorting tasks take too much time to complete with an i3 processor. If your work involves multiple applications running simultaneously or you do a lot of multitasking, then don’t opt i3 processor. You should choose i5, i7 or i9.