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Ask HN: Ultrabook for programming?

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Re: Ask HN: Ultrabook for programming?

#101

Post by hedora »

woodrowbarlow wrote: post #59
tronje wrote: post #25

I'd recommend Lenovo laptops. I have a Thinkpad T460s, which is awesome. If you really want the tablet/laptop hybrid, maybe a Thinkpad X1 Yoga, or something from the 'regular' Yoga series will work for you. Yoga-series laptops start at around $500, whereas the premium X1 Yoga starts at something like $1.400 I believe. Edit: Linux support on Lenovo laptops is pretty good overall, and if you're a Windows person, they s…

if you want ultra-cheap, the lenovo ideapad 100s is a good candidate. i bought it specifically to be taken to places where theft or damage are likely. as a performance benchmark: running visual studio by itself is snappy, but add firefox with a few tabs into the mix and you start to notice the lag. i usually run (without lag) atom, firefox (~10 tabs), 2 ssh sessions, and xampp localhost http server. it's $180 new, an…

If you want to go this route, go with the acer cloudbook 11" instead. Model: AO1-131-C9PM

I am running linux on it, but getting it up and running was a bit of a chore (you have to futz with the bios, close lid to suspend does not work, resume from suspend only works 90% of the time).

However, Acer rates it for 8 hours under windows 10. With "sudo powertop --auto-tune" it consistenttly exceeds that under linux.

The screen is passible for a low res tft, and there is no fan. Keyboard is fine (unlike most ultrabooks I have used). The touchpad really wants you to set up libinput instead of the synaptics drivers (palm detection isn't great under synaptics, but even with that, the touchpad is better than many ultrabooks I have used)

It is based on a braswell soc, which is probably why the Linux compatibility is so good (most of the peripherals are in one standardized chip...)

However it is a netbook. I'm not sure how android emulation would perform.

Re: Ask HN: Ultrabook for programming?

#102

Post by nix0n »

I used an Atom-based netbook as my primary dev machine for a while as a student, and it was ... okay, but not recommended. I used GUIs, but not full IDEs. (I highly recommend KDE's Kate text editor.)

I've since upgraded to an Intel i3-based system which is much better (for a total budget of $450 including doing my own SSD upgrade). Both machines are Asus.

If you want to use an IDE, make sure you also get a big enough screen for it.

If all you need from Linux is Bash, Cygwin will be enough.

Re: Ask HN: Ultrabook for programming?

#103

Post by NetStrikeForce »

hedora wrote: post #101
woodrowbarlow wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if you want ultra-cheap, the lenovo ideapad 100s is a good candidate. i bought it specifically to be taken to places where theft or damage are likely. as a performance benchmark: running visual studio by itself is snappy, but add firefox with a few tabs into the mix and you start to notice the lag. i usually run (without lag) atom, firefox (~10 tabs), 2 ssh sessions, and xampp localhost http server. it's $180 new, an…

If you want to go this route, go with the acer cloudbook 11" instead. Model: AO1-131-C9PM I am running linux on it, but getting it up and running was a bit of a chore (you have to futz with the bios, close lid to suspend does not work, resume from suspend only works 90% of the time). However, Acer rates it for 8 hours under windows 10. With "sudo powertop --auto-tune" it consistenttly exceeds that under linux. The sc…

Is the keyboard backlit?

Re: Ask HN: Ultrabook for programming?

#104

Post by deathanatos »

lcnmrn wrote: post #80

New MacBook Pro 13" sans Touch Bar is the best for what you need.

I just got a new MBP 13", without the touchbar.

The keyboard is terrible, IMO, compared to prior models. The keys are shallower, and give less; compared to e.g., a Lenovo Thinkpad (I also bought recently), it's like typing on the desk itself. No give. My "a" key gets stuck, and it's not two weeks old. Before you buy one, go by an Apple store and type on one for yourself.

The adapter situation is nuts. the MBP 13" w/o touchbar has two USB-C ports — that's it. You're effectively using one for power, leaving you with a single port that basically won't plug into anything you have. If you have a pre-existing dual monitor setup, AFAICT you're expected to sink ~$200 into adapters and hubs. (Note that most hubs seem to come with a USB-C port, so you can get a USB-C hub that will add several USB-A ports, w/o losing any USB-C ports.)

Otherwise, it seems like a MBP. Apple did finally start putting a decent amount of RAM in them. This one has 16GB compared to my last MBP's 8GB (which Chrome just devours…)

It ironically has a headphone jack though.

Re: Ask HN: Ultrabook for programming?

#105

Post by vosper »

johngalt wrote: post #56

Considering your goals and price range. I'd recommend shopping the refurb market. Specifically business laptops that are off lease. Bigcorp IT departments tend to cycle their hardware every 3-4 years and flood the market with used cheap/good used laptops. They won't be 'ultrabooks' but they will be cheap, reliable and easy to maintain. Something like a Dell E6430 would be a good bet. https://www.dellrefurbished.com/l…

I'm currently traveling around the world (8 months, 12 countries so far) carrying a refurb MacBook Air from 2013 (I think). It's great, and I especially like that the all-metal chassis makes it really quite rugged. It fits perfectly down the back of an REI Trail 40 backpack, along with the rest of my stuff (great backpack for traveling light, BTW). If it breaks down there are Apple stores or repair shops in lots of places (though it may not be a cheap fix...) and if I'd bought AppleCare I think that would cover me all over the world.

Edit: We're also carrying an iPad, and it's the least-used piece of electronics we have. For planning our trip, booking, programming, email etc the laptop is way better, and for everything else we use our phones. Unless you're sure you want a tablet you might just want a normal laptop. Also, weight matters a lot (this might be an argument back in favor of the Teclast)

Re: Ask HN: Ultrabook for programming?

#106

Post by scholia »

> decent 4 core Cherry Trail Z8300 CPU

None of the Atom chips is decent for anything that requires heavy lifting. You really need a Core processor.

> 4Gb of RAM, 64 Gb of ROM

4GB is workable but 8GB is obviously better. However, I think you mean 64GB of storage. This is usually in the form of an eMMC chip soldered to the motherboard. The performance is similar to an ordinary SD card. It's nowhere near the performance of an SSD.

If you want the tablet functions, your best bets are a second hand Surface Pro 2, one of the Lenovo Yoga's, or an Asus ZenBook -- they're all available with SSDs and 8GB or more RAM.

The Surface Pro 2 keyboard isn't good and the touchpad is awful, but you can get a nice portable Microsoft Bluetooth mouse instead.

If you can live without the tablet functions, go for a refurbished ex-corporate ThinkPad X range with an i5 or i7, and fit your own SSD. The X220 was the last model with a "real" keyboard, but the newer keyboards are not too bad. (Most of the alternatives are worse.)

Battery life isn't great but look for a model where you can buy a second extended battery. I spent many years with a ThinkPad X and two extended (9-cell) batteries and I could outlast anybody ;-)

I shared your doubts about Lenovo products but you should get over it: I've bought three in the past 18 months and they've been fine. It's the highest-volume PC manufacturer today and nobody else is competitive at the really cheap end of the market. Also, you can often pick up sale bargains when it's clearing out overstocks, which is what I've done.

Re: Ask HN: Ultrabook for programming?

#108

Post by _delirium »

johngalt wrote: post #56

Considering your goals and price range. I'd recommend shopping the refurb market. Specifically business laptops that are off lease. Bigcorp IT departments tend to cycle their hardware every 3-4 years and flood the market with used cheap/good used laptops. They won't be 'ultrabooks' but they will be cheap, reliable and easy to maintain. Something like a Dell E6430 would be a good bet. https://www.dellrefurbished.com/l…

One caveat is that the battery life on used or refurb laptops tends to be quite poor, because they don't usually replace the battery with a new one. All they guarantee is that it's tested/working, which can mean battery life as short as 15-20 minutes, just so long as it holds enough of a charge to turn on and run for a few minutes unplugged. Sometimes you get lucky and it might be hours, but I wouldn't expect anything like 6+ hours. So I usually add on the cost of a new battery when comparing, unless you're planning to use it as a "luggable" that's mostly plugged in.

Re: Ask HN: Ultrabook for programming?

#109

Post by eustar »

bostand wrote: post #44
grigio wrote: post #20

Xiaomi Notebook Air 12.5 is a good ultrabook, it has a good build quality and Linux support https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9xqJK2Hlb3U

It is very hard to get hold of one in west for anything close to the original price.

There're two Chinese online shops doing quite sophisticated shipping to EU countries via UK. This seems to be legal and you get it for the Chinese price.

Re: Ask HN: Ultrabook for programming?

#110

Post by eustar »

bpicolo wrote: post #88
bostand wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is very hard to get hold of one in west for anything close to the original price.

Seems to be purchasable on their site? http://xiaomi-mi.com/notebooks/xiaomi-mi-notebook-air-125-si... With this disclaimer: Please pay attention: both versions of Mi Notebook Air will be run on Windows 10 Home Chinese Edition

This is no problem. You can get a Windows key on ebay or Amazon for 20 bucks and reinstall an English version or as I did Linux (Arch).
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