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

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

#411

Post by teg4n_ » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 2:52 PM UTC

factorialboy wrote: post #396

rmbyrro wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why Mac seems to attract so fanatic behavior? They seem to want to push everyone to use Mac, like religious fanatics try to push everyone to their "truth". I think this is a result of some marketing tactics Apple employed for decades, and it only pushes me away from this brand.

It's part guilt. Doubting your expensive purchase, thus reinforcing it with this behavior. Apt comparison with religion, especially with recent converts. That's not to say all Apple products are bad.

Nah. I get to choose a dev machine for work and I still choose a mac. It’s free to me so no doubts there!

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

#412

Post by ta_456235602 » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 2:53 PM UTC

icharters wrote: post #386

ta_456235602 wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I normally don't participate in these type of discussions on this one I will make an exception. Macs are extremely bad in terms of thermal management in the long run. Yes sure, they will work absolutely fine in the store but they will slow down with your dev environment installed. 1. The Apple store is cooler and has better airflow than your cubicle/desk/room. 2. The vanilla operating system runs fast on any computer…

I owned an Intel Mac and now own an M1 Max. The Intel and M1 are completely different beasts. My Intel would die in an hour and was always hot with the fan running. The battery life on my M1 is ridiculous. Hours and hours. I don't even know if it has a fan. It's silent and runs cool.

I'm VERY happy for you, I hope it stays the same.

I have returned all my macs and I am a happy Windows 11 user now. No fan noise, no thermal problems.

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

#413

Post by iguessthislldo » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 2:53 PM UTC

mcv wrote: post #274

fy20 wrote: post #51

A few years ago I would have said ThinkPads but I think there are better options available now. At the end of last year I wanted to replace my T470, and wanted to upgrade to something with a more powerful (not U-series) CPU. The ThinkPad option that fitted my requirements was on back order for months, so I looked around... The ASUS ROG line of gaming laptops had exactly what I wanted, although they look a bit garish,…

If you're going for a Thinkpad, the T480 from a couple of years ago seems to be the gold standard. The current successor of that model is the T14, but I have no idea if it's as good. I got an X1 Extreme, which is a gorgeous machine, and very powerful, but it eats through its power like no laptop I've seen before. Battery charge rarely lasts more than 2 hours. One big advantage of the high-end Thinkpads: they're spill…

I have a 2021 T14, upgraded from a T460p. It's a bit underwhelming if I'm being honest. Ubuntu seems to have more problems with it than with the T460p:

- Crashes more than before. This has only been 2 or 3 times, but it's still 2 or 3 times for than it should.

- Has random issues, like graphical glitches, with builtin and external 4K displays. Right now I keep the resolution at 1080 because it's annoying.

- Has more issues going into and out of sleep.

Those are all probably Ubuntu's issues though. Physically I don't have a gripe besides maybe the speakers are a bit quiet and it would be nice if there was a USB C port on the right side so I could charge from either side.

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

#414

Post by xbar » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 2:54 PM UTC

2143 wrote: post #408

Since you were seeking laptops I imagine you're fine with the computing power laptops usually offer. I recently purchased a ThinkPad E14 gen 3. It has a 6 core 12 thread Ryzen 5 5600U, with 24 GB of memory (8 GB soldered + 16 GB I installed later). I run Linux exclusively. No Windows or dual boot or anything like that. I currently run the latest Fedora 36 Beta. On this particular OS I have none of the usual Linux pro…

Sidebar: do you have an opinion about which ThinkPad series currently has the best material quality, disregarding weight as a factor of such quality?

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

#415

Post by smoldesu » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 2:54 PM UTC

swozey wrote: post #356

raxxorraxor wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

"Ultimately more powerful" As a previous BSD engineer please explain further, this entire thread is just horrendous and should be downvoted to oblivion. Nobody cares what laptop you decide to use, nor are you incapable of doing your own research. My grandmother calls me for laptop recommendations. My M1 Max 14" MBP has 64gb ram, mucho cores and is the fastest machine I've used. My gaming/dev desktop is a 12core ryzen…

Different strokes for different folks. My Macbook collects dust whenever I'm home because I'd vastly prefer to do my work on a desktop Linux box. I don't have to spend my time updating coreutils, fighting Homebrew, fixing my screen sharing permissions for the 6th time this month, or really much of anything. My desktop and the systems we deploy to have almost complete parity.

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

#416

Post by synergy20 » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 2:54 PM UTC

unpixer wrote: post #394

synergy20 wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never figured out how to toggle graphics between intel integrated and nvidia gpu as I also want to use nvidia gpu fully for CUDA algorithms, is there an app or something to do that?

I don't know if this is what you're looking for, but I use the system76-power extension ( https://github.com/pop-os/system76-power ) to toggle between the integrated Intel Xe unit and the dedicated Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 in my Galago Pro. While at first glance it might seem that it's a System76 utility for a System76 distribution on System76 hardware, I'm currently using it on Fedora, and the hardware itself should…

great, looking into them now.

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

#417

Post by packetlost » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 2:55 PM UTC

I've been very happy with my Dell XPS 13 (a bit small, but my work laptop is also an XPS 15 which is a good size for daily use IMO). I recommend the developer editions for better network driver support (they use an intel one iirc).

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

#418

Post by swozey » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 2:55 PM UTC

eertami wrote: post #410

swozey wrote: post #356

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Ultimately more powerful" As a previous BSD engineer please explain further, this entire thread is just horrendous and should be downvoted to oblivion. Nobody cares what laptop you decide to use, nor are you incapable of doing your own research. My grandmother calls me for laptop recommendations. My M1 Max 14" MBP has 64gb ram, mucho cores and is the fastest machine I've used. My gaming/dev desktop is a 12core ryzen…

I too have an M1 MBP and XPS 13. I pretty much always use the XPS. Side by side, there is no noticeable difference in speed for my everyday work. The MBP is more efficient for sure, but I get 8+ hours of battery from the XPS which is good enough - and I can run Linux without jumping through hoops. Edit: Missed the 'z', sorry, possibly explains different experiences.

Mine is the ultrabook, the XPS 13z 2n1. It throttles nonstop, I've even gone so far to rip it open and attempted to re-paste everything inside of it. Unfortunately the ultrabook CPU can't be de-lidded and pasted without breaking things, I was actually the first person on /r/dell to rip this laptop open..

The XPS 13 is a much larger device (better cooling). The 13z ruined me ever buying another Dell. I really wanted to love that laptop and NOT buy a $3k macbook. I really want the 2n1 feature.

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

#419

Post by camgunz » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 2:55 PM UTC

I ended up buying an MBP 14" because of the apps, but I very very nearly bought a ThinkPad P14s G2 [0]. It's fast, cheap (wait for a deal) has good battery life (for a non MacBook Air), has a great, bright, matte 4k screen, and an Ethernet port. If I could afford to be Linux only like I have been in the past I would've definitely gone this route.

[0]: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-ThinkPad-P14s-G2-AMD-la...

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

#420

Post by asciimov » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 2:56 PM UTC

Do you actually need a laptop as your main development machine?

A few years back, I switched off of using a laptop for my main machine. This allows me to spend my money on hardware with more cores, more ram, better gpu, better linux support, bigger screens, and upgrade paths. $2000 will buy you a lot of desktop computer.

Further, if you don't spend all of your $2k on fancy cases and overpriced gpus, you will have enough money leftover for a cheap but decent laptop. This laptop can then remote in to your workstation anytime you actually need the high end computing power.