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Ask HN: What’s a good laptop for software development at around $2k?

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Re: Ask HN: What’s a good laptop for software development at around $2k?

#281

Post by Freaken »

resonious wrote: post #86
OJFord wrote: post #47

> I looked into the Framework laptops and so far it looks like they are still a bit beta. I'm not sure that's fair, (and it's pedantically wrong - they're in production - but I know what you mean) the hardware is the nicest I've seen besides Macbooks (I agree with you about macOS, but I do like the hardware, keen for Asahi one day but that is very much beta ( alpha actually I think)) and Linux is Linux? It works fine…

I use a Framework and it's been fantastic. Even the fingerprint works "out of the box" (in quotes because in Arch Linux nothing is really out of the box... I just had to install the right package). The only particularly disappointing thing is that the battery drains mega fast while suspended. This is something I might be able to tinker away, of course. And for what it's worth, non-functional suspend is basically par…

Just make it hibernate after X time (2 hours for me). There a repo of scripts on github (https://github.com/lightrush/framework-laptop-formula) where you might find information on how to do it. I'm sure it's not a 1 to 1 port to Arch, but it might get you started. Just note I had to disable secure boot for hibernate to work.

Re: Ask HN: What’s a good laptop for software development at around $2k?

#282

Post by bodge5000 »

JabavuAdams wrote: post #200

** "I don't want to use a Mac" ** "I've had these problems with Mac" Reasonable response: Cool, use what works for you. EDIT> Here are some suggestions that match your constraints. Annoying response 1: You should reconsider because Mac works great for me. Annoying response 2: Your problems aren't real problems. Annoying response 3: Let's live debug your problems in this thread to see if they're real problems. Guys. I…

The one big thing thats always deterred me from Macs is the poor ecosystem for gaming. I dont play a lot of games anymore, but its a pretty reliable way of getting some much needed socialising in so I probably wouldn't want to lose it completely.

The problem is most workarounds I've seen are either to severly limit the games I can play or to get another computer/console for playing games, which just seems to be turning one problem into two. You can't even dualboot anymore, now that we have M1.

Re: Ask HN: What’s a good laptop for software development at around $2k?

#283

Post by horsawlarway »

talentedcoin wrote: post #266
icharters wrote: post #127

Quoted post unavailable.

What a ridiculous comment. Which is the "statement", the MacBook or a Linux laptop??? If you want to run Linux, why pay the Apple tax (not to mention all the aggravation), unless you really want the form factor or the hardware?

I'll give you one guess which is the "statement"

hint - it's the one that spends an outrageous amount on marketing, SO MUCH SPEND that they stopped revealing how much they were spending in 2015, after the marketing budget grew above 1.8 billion USD.

That one - I can absolutely promise you that that one is the "statement" computer.

Re: Ask HN: What’s a good laptop for software development at around $2k?

#284

Post by kibwen »

oauea wrote: post #249
cruano wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should have put that on the title I mean, it's already kind of stupid to want to avoid something the whole industry uses, from big tech to startups. In particular, when you have a very hard set of requirements that historically no one gets right except for you know who.

It's interesting how cult-like mac users are.

Apple is a luxury fashion company and Apple hardware is a way for people to express social status, which means convincing as many other people as possible that Apple is desirable in order to elevate the effectiveness of their social status signaling. It's the same as any other luxury fashion brand, e.g. Louis Vuitton. The value is not in the function of the product itself, but in the perception of status that it engenders.

Re: Ask HN: What’s a good laptop for software development at around $2k?

#285

Post by FillardMillmore »

jdavis703 wrote: post #177
icharters wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Random freezes, slowdowns and crashes? Care to elaborate? What languages and tooling are you using that is giving that sort of grief? That is completely counter my experience.

Sounds like the poster is having power management issues. Could be a dirty fan or a bad chip. I’ve dealt with the latter and it was fixed under warranty.

I've been using a MacBook Pro 2015 for a while now for my personal stuff - it's been nothing but reliable for everything from programming to surfing the web to DJ mixing. Just recently, the battery cycles exceeded normal usage and I got a notification from the system that the 'Battery should be replaced soon' - almost as soon as this happened, I experienced random slowdowns, freezing, etc just doing low-intensity tasks like browsing this site. Open up Activity Monitor and find that the 'kernel_task' is absolutely throttling my CPU. Long story short, this particular MacBook Pro had a battery recall and Apple replaced mine for free - worked just like new after that, which I'm grateful for since it's basically the best laptop I've ever used.

Re: Ask HN: What’s a good laptop for software development at around $2k?

#286

Post by raxxorraxor »

selfmodruntime wrote: post #258
c0mptonFP wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dude, operating system is one of the most fundamental things to consider when getting a dev machine. MacOS is literally useless for me, because I depend on the Linux kernel.

You can still install Linux on a mac (which is what I did) and still get a powerful and beautiful machine, if you so desire.

I use a Mac Book from time to time and the keyboard alone is special... I don't think Mac is a good universal machine for development to be honest. The devices overall are nice, out of the question, but a Linux machine is ultimately more powerful.

Re: Ask HN: What’s a good laptop for software development at around $2k?

#287

Post by bo1024 »

Purism Librem 14

Is my daily driver currently running Linux mint.

- overall very happy with it for my uses. I don’t do a lot of intense workloads on the laptop, mostly stuff like text editing and latex compiling.

- battery is great. With screen brightness reasonably low and working on low intensity tasks, I could get 8 hours I think pretty easily. Probably 3 hours of video calls.

- durability is good so far. My librem 13 lasted about 4 years before succumbing to a hinge issue which I believe has been addressed for the 14s

- ergonomics are good for me, trackpad keyboard etc. are great especially once you get used to them.

- expect some challenges if you’re going to run a different distro. Be prepared to put in some effort. Things are probably better now it’s been out longer.

- due to foss requirements the wifi range isn’t the greatest. You can easily and cheaply switch out the card if you want.

- One issue I had was plugging in a certain external dock to the usb c port and the entire computer shuts off immediately.

- not sure how it fares for intense compute tasks. I rarely get any fan noise but sometimes it will kick in noticeably.

I also echo others that, depending on the battery life situation, take another look at framework. I haven’t put a ton of hours on it yet but a very pleasant machine.

Re: Ask HN: What’s a good laptop for software development at around $2k?

#288

Post by omginternets »

selfmodruntime wrote: post #258
c0mptonFP wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dude, operating system is one of the most fundamental things to consider when getting a dev machine. MacOS is literally useless for me, because I depend on the Linux kernel.

You can still install Linux on a mac (which is what I did) and still get a powerful and beautiful machine, if you so desire.

Right, but the parent poster is presumably going to spend most of his time under linux, at which point a native linux box seems like the reasonable choice.

Re: Ask HN: What’s a good laptop for software development at around $2k?

#289

Post by [deleted] »

JabavuAdams wrote: post #200

** "I don't want to use a Mac" ** "I've had these problems with Mac" Reasonable response: Cool, use what works for you. EDIT> Here are some suggestions that match your constraints. Annoying response 1: You should reconsider because Mac works great for me. Annoying response 2: Your problems aren't real problems. Annoying response 3: Let's live debug your problems in this thread to see if they're real problems. Guys. I…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What’s a good laptop for software development at around $2k?

#290

Post by tasuki »

tacker2000 wrote: post #183
martibravo wrote: post #176

Asus TUF Dash Gaming 15 user here: I cannot recommend it enough. - Intel i7 H series processor (best mobile Intel chips) - Upgradeable RAM (currently at 24GB) - Intel Wifi 6 - Nvidia RTX 3060 - FullHD Screen with 144Hz - Comfortable keyboard with backlight - Two M.2 slots, laptop came with 500GB but added an extra 2TB. - Good connecticity: HDMI, Ethernet, 3 full-size USBA 3.1 ports, 1 Thunderbolt port. - Laptop runs…

Looks good but the deal breaker here is the screen. 1920x1080 is just not enough these days.

That's just your opinion...

I have good eyesight, yet prefer 1920x1080 in my laptops:

- Larger resolutions are a significant battery drain.

- Larger resolutions are more GPU intensive, taking away precious system resources.

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