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Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

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Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#161

Post by Theodores »

chaosbutters314 wrote: post #27

regardless of what you buy, I have a 1tb Linux/Ubuntu drive attached to my laptop through USB -c I dual boot into for certain projects. great for gaming/personal on windows and then doing work on the Linux drive. I share files via cloud services if needed and it works seemlessly

I like your solution. However, I took it a little further by getting two machines and connecting them together via the Thunderbolt USB ports. I can access my files at native speed with the cable plugged in, or in go-slow mode over wifi or in super-slow mode over the internet, with my wifi router configured accordingly.

There was nothing online about how to do this. I just had to plug the Thunderbolt 4 cable in and it worked perfectly. No instructions needed, it configured itself and I was instantly in a new world of network file speeds.

I use Barrier KVM too.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#162

Post by jgb1984 »

Laptops are all together awful. I can't imagine working on one for more than a few hours. My self built desktop blows any laptop out of the water in speed, comfort, reliability, upgrade / repair potential and ergonomics (obviously ignoring portability).

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#163

Post by adrian_b »

ur-whale wrote: post #151
cranium wrote: post #119

I'm a happy owner of a Dell Precision 5520 that is already 5 years old. It shipped with a Ubuntu LTS by default and I took a 3-year next day repair warranty that I used once for a swollen battery. I cannot express how happy I was to have my laptop repaired in less than an hour in my kitchen by a Dell certified technician. Given how dependent I am on my computer for work, if I had to send it I would have lost at least…

> For my next laptop, I'm waiting for Framework Can the Framework laptop be powered via USB-C or are they still using power jacks like in the 20th century?

Actually I strongly hate the laptops that can be powered only via USB-C, blocking thus a very useful I/O port, unless you also carry with you a docking station.

Powering via USB-C would be OK only on laptops with at least 4 or 5 USB-C/Thunderbolt ports, but such laptops are non-existent.

Laptops with only 2 USB-C ports, where 1 is blocked by the charger, are useless for me. When I have access to a power plug, I usually also want to use an external SSD and an external DisplayPort monitor, which need 2 USB-C ports.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#164

Post by jyrkesh »

chriotte wrote: post #125
jraph wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand this comment. I'm a programmer and my X1 Carbon is the finest computer I've ever used. I don't have any noise issue with it. I can hear the CPU in a very quiet room but I've never used a computer that didn't have it, and I'm quite sensitive to noises too. Many people in my company have Lenovo X machines. And why marketing types should not care about comfort / noise? Is this a "Real men [...]" thing…

He is probably referring to x1 extreme. I have a 3rd gen and it’s like a jet engine and space heather had a baby. Even after undervolting in bios, limiting cpu frequency in windows and only using it for very light jobs it’s super noisy. Not to mention the max 5 hour battery life… This chassis with an AMD cpu and no dedicated GPU would be perfect, but I’ve had enough and a M2 MacBook Air is on its way from Apple.

Nah, I had an older X1 Carbon as a PM for work, 2nd or 3rd gen. It one of the periods that Intel was screwing up thermal management: between the fan, the coil whine, and the CPU clock throttling, it was a _terrible_ laptop. And by no means did I need a hardcore machine, (too) much of my job was email, docs, spreadsheets, and GitHub. So it really had no excuse.

It also coincided with some _terrible_ decisions that Lenovo made as a half-assed response to the touch bar, among other things. The "touch bar" was essentially just backlit capacitive buttons hardcoded to a couple different functions, they nerfed the red mouse pointer thing in the middle to the point that it was too squishy to use with any accuracy; and they merged the click buttons into the touchpad and used terrible software heuristics to try and figure out what you wanted. Oh, and it would wake up and burn its battery out for no reason.

BUT I played with a 5th-ish gen a couple years later, and they'd rolled everything back. The owner really liked it, I expect in large part because Intel tocked back to a CPU that wasn't overheating by design.

On paper, they're spec'd out pretty well, but if you need the "real juice" I still know people that swear by their older T series. But I don't know how much the newer ones have sacrificed the vision.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#165

Post by z9znz »

Gatsky wrote: post #149
cranium wrote: post #119

I'm a happy owner of a Dell Precision 5520 that is already 5 years old. It shipped with a Ubuntu LTS by default and I took a 3-year next day repair warranty that I used once for a swollen battery. I cannot express how happy I was to have my laptop repaired in less than an hour in my kitchen by a Dell certified technician. Given how dependent I am on my computer for work, if I had to send it I would have lost at least…

Not sure I want a new laptop where the battery swells up within 3 years.

This can happen to any device if there's a one-off manufacturing problem somewhere (esp in the battery).

I don't see it very often, but I've seen it on a Surface Pro (the store display model!... I had to point it out to the staff and suggest they replace it before it caught fire and hurt a shopper), on my 2014 MBP after 4 years, and some other device I now forget about.

Unless lots of people are reporting this for a given device, it's probably just a fluke. It can happen, but it usually doesn't.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#167

Post by teekert »

I listen to a lot of Jupiter Broadcasting podcasts [0], their content is Linux related. I hear a lot of positive things about the HP Dev One [1]. JB's Coder Radio is a nice podcast about Linux and Software Development [2], although they really like their macs (which to me shows they are pragmatic and realistic), they indeed highly issues with the m.X chip based macs and what good alternatives are.

[0]: https://new.jupiterbroadcasting.com/

[1]: https://hpdevone.com/

[2]: https://new.jupiterbroadcasting.com/show/coder-radio/480/ Note, I'm, linking to their new websites which are in beta but hey, lets stress-test them a bit ;)

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#168

Post by z9znz »

adrian_b wrote: post #163
ur-whale wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For my next laptop, I'm waiting for Framework Can the Framework laptop be powered via USB-C or are they still using power jacks like in the 20th century?

Actually I strongly hate the laptops that can be powered only via USB-C, blocking thus a very useful I/O port, unless you also carry with you a docking station. Powering via USB-C would be OK only on laptops with at least 4 or 5 USB-C/Thunderbolt ports, but such laptops are non-existent. Laptops with only 2 USB-C ports, where 1 is blocked by the charger, are useless for me. When I have access to a power plug, I usual…

It's a tradeoff for reduced laptop size (portability). If you're at home and need to connect to many things, you usually have a dock or expansion dongle. On the road, you often only need 2 ports - one for charging and one for whatever momentary things you need to plug in briefly.

My Macbook Air M1 with only two USB-C ports has been just fine. I have a small but effective Anker "hub" which adds SD, HDMI, USB, and USB-C. Usually I don't need it, so it stays in my primary bag while my nice and portable laptop goes everywhere.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#169

Post by geraldwhen »

sofixa wrote: post #156
ur-whale wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For 2022 I decided to buy a "gaming" laptop and switch to 100% Linux. I researched this option before opting for an LG gram. I might research it again soon. Would you care to share exactly what gaming laptop you picked?

Not OP, but I've heard great things about the Asus ROG Zephyrus line, and that's what I'll probably get when i refresh my current Asus laptop which id approaching 8 years.

Asus rog laptops have high pitched, loud fans that run while idle.

The trackpad is also terrible.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#170

Post by devilkin »

teekert wrote: post #167

I listen to a lot of Jupiter Broadcasting podcasts [0], their content is Linux related. I hear a lot of positive things about the HP Dev One [1]. JB's Coder Radio is a nice podcast about Linux and Software Development [2], although they really like their macs (which to me shows they are pragmatic and realistic), they indeed highly issues with the m.X chip based macs and what good alternatives are. [0]: https://new.ju…

Not available outside of the us, though
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