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Ask HN: Best development laptop?

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Re: Ask HN: Best development laptop?

#21

Post by dxhdr »

atmosx wrote: post #5

If you can live with 8GB RAM and a dual-core i5 at 1.8Ghz, I'd argue that the MBA is one of the best laptops to work with. The selling points for me are: * OSX - still the best all around OS to work with. * Lightweight, it is a laptop that weights ~ 3 pounds * Battery life is decent * Build quality is above average I believe that it's an excellent choice for web development.

Macs have good build quality but you really can't beat a ThinkPad keyboard.

Re: Ask HN: Best development laptop?

#22

Post by JazCE »

I bought an i7-6600U Lenovo Carbon X1 thinkpad earlier this year and absolutely love it. excellent keyboard, the screen is pretty great, battery life isn't bad and I can upgrade the memory. It's stupidly lightweight. Sure it doesn't have a HQ processor, but the U is getting me by perfectly well.

Re: Ask HN: Best development laptop?

#25

Post by pimeys »

JazCE wrote: post #22

I bought an i7-6600U Lenovo Carbon X1 thinkpad earlier this year and absolutely love it. excellent keyboard, the screen is pretty great, battery life isn't bad and I can upgrade the memory. It's stupidly lightweight. Sure it doesn't have a HQ processor, but the U is getting me by perfectly well.

If I'd need to carry my laptop around, this would be my choice too. It's just a very nice laptop, small and the keyboard is the best in class as with all business ThinkPads.

But I mostly use my laptop at home, so having a T-series gives a bit better performance and upgradeability in a still small package.

Re: Ask HN: Best development laptop?

#26

Post by zcam »

Happy Dell XPS 13 user here. I have been using it for the past 3 years without any issue. In the same timespan many of my coworkers had to replace/return macbooks (kb glitches, screen issues, battery problems etc).

I was a thinkpad only person before that, but the quality went downhill.

I am tempted to buy a pixelbook and use linux on it next, the specs/price/quality seem just right.

Re: Ask HN: Best development laptop?

#27

Post by deadcoder0904 »

Just go with Macbook Pro 2016 without touchpad. Its cheap & if u change your mind on developing for MAC or IPHONE then you can do it. If you don't buy a MAC you won't be able to build apps for MAC or IPHONE. So buy it now & you'll use it for 3 years until you have a big fat salary to buy a new one.

Re: Ask HN: Best development laptop?

#28

Post by mamon »

If you can wait 3 months then wait. In Q1 2018 we should see first laptops with Coffe Lake processors, like Dell XPS 15 refresh and Thinkpad T480p. If you can't wait then go with current versions of those.

Re: Ask HN: Best development laptop?

#29

Post by gcoda »

I have msi phantom. Not the best Linux support. It works, and I can have some fun with GPU. Depends on what you developing, having some fun with CUDA is beneficial for me.

2kg. 14inch. Not nerfed CPU with lots of RAM and small battery.

I am thinking now of getting Microsoft Surface, to have a more portable alternative, But Termux on Android is enough for now

Re: Ask HN: Best development laptop?

#30

Post by holydude »

I would also make sure you know that you need laptop. I made the mistake thinking I would commute with my laptop (or have BYOD) setup at work but at the end I did not. I spent shitloads of money on a portable device that I never take out of my desk.

Get a proper desktop if you can and a pair of good monitors. And if you need / want your portable daily driver can be macbook or mba or chromebook.

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