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Ask HN: Are there any reasonable alternatives to MacBook Pro for developer?

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Re: Ask HN: Are there any reasonable alternatives to MacBook Pro for developer?

#491

Post by donttrack »

donttrack wrote: post #207
mattlondon wrote: post #165

Yes, there are reasonable alternatives to MBP for developers. I know that I might be an outlier here, but I personally find using OS X to be a frustrating experience - the only positive I could personally see for developers vs windows was ( was - past tense!) the unix command line (linux has historically always been a struggle (drivers etc), so I personally steer clear). But now Win10 has a unix command line too so w…

How is the Windows Unix shell these days? I have a Macbook Pro, which I installed Windows on, since I couldn't get used to OSX for my daily use (little things like Windows management and keyboard shortcuts and other stuff that added up). Went back to OSX mainly due to the native Unix shell. On Windows I had some problems on and off with sockets and sometimes I would encounter a system call that hadn't been implemente…

And after updating to 10.13.4 my 3 days old new external DisplayLink dock is a brick sitting there on my table. Great!!!

Apparently this has been an issue since February and no fix in sight. I regret buying this Macbook so much!

And 10.13.4 breaks the boot camp keyboard drivers and the boot camp app itself. What a failure!

Re: Ask HN: Are there any reasonable alternatives to MacBook Pro for developer?

#492

Post by nottorp »

PerfectElement wrote: post #99
nottorp wrote: post #44

How about the touch pad? Is there any non Apple laptop where the touch pad works as well in Linux as the mbpro's in OS X? I'm spoiled and use my mbpro without a mouse ... because I can. I'd like to switch away from Apple when I need a new laptop because of the emoji keyboard. But I'd also like to keep using the laptop without a mouse. Is that possible these days?

The Surface Book 2 track pad is pretty decent and customizable.

But that only runs Windows. If i switch, I'll switch to something that runs Linux properly.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any reasonable alternatives to MacBook Pro for developer?

#493

Post by gormz »

sametmax wrote: post #159
jnwatson wrote: post #133

I recent got a 15 inch Dell Precision. I’m running a recent Ubuntu. I don’t recommend. It constantly throttles the CPI. I get lots of PCIe recoverable errors. The USB bus runs out of available throughout. Plugging anything Displaylink is a disaster. The camera/microphone is below the screen, which sucks more than I expected. It takes 2 hands to open the laptop. It is possible to plug in the power supply such that com…

I own a dell xps 15. Same, i don't recommand it. Autonomy is abysmal, usbc support very poor, the bios took a year to be stable and the sound died after some months. Not worth the price tag. Mind you, the xps 13 doesn't seem to have the same problems. I still love my old samsung 9 serie and wish the brand would have worked out the quirks and made a new one. My next try will be a thinkpad carbon since every owner arou…

:/ wow, I was about to sell my 2015 mbp and get a xps. If not an XPS I don't know what to get. I've tried out a few of the newwer thinkpads and I'm just not impressed. Maybe I'll check out the carbon though.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any reasonable alternatives to MacBook Pro for developer?

#494

Post by qume »

SlowBro wrote: post #51
qume wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm surrounded by fancy machines but the X220 just keeps on finding an excuse to be used. I would say I use it more than any other machine. The thing has a soul. I love it. I took > 20,000 photos today from a cessna using it's inbuilt ethernet port and four machine vision cameras. When you're paying for aircraft time and are bumping around a bit, having that thing on your lap makes you feel like you have a good wing…

> I took > 20,000 photos today from a cessna using it's inbuilt ethernet port and four machine vision cameras. That sounds like a cool project. What was the goal?

Aerial mapping of terrain using photogrammetry

Re: Ask HN: Are there any reasonable alternatives to MacBook Pro for developer?

#495

Post by caleblloyd »

sametmax wrote: post #439
caleblloyd wrote: post #418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have the Dell Precision M5520 developer edition which is the Linux version of the XPS 15 with Intel WiFi and I opted for only integrated graphics to avoid graphics drivers on Linux. It works flawlessly with Ubuntu 17.10. I have the UHD screen which looks great with 2x scaling. I do a lot of work with Docker and can work much faster on Linux than before when I was on a MBP and had to run a VM.

Do you manage to get the 11h hours of battery they promised when they first marketed the laptop ? Because I get 4h on a good day.

I probably get 5-6 when coding and browsing in Linux. I have the big battery that fills the hard drive bay.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any reasonable alternatives to MacBook Pro for developer?

#496

Post by Tunecrew »

blackdivine wrote: post #2

I'd say buy a new mid 2015 Macbook 15inches, some vendors might have it in stock. I recently got it for around $2000 USD in Pakistan. It's Core i7, 16GB RAM and 256GB SSD.

This is what I did when upgrading last year - bought a used one on eBay (which is a first for me - normally buy them new) - 2015 15" fully maxed out (fastest i7, 16GB, 1TB) and including the GPU, so it basically benchmarks only slightly slower than the top of the line current model.

I already had a TB2 hub and other TB2 peripherals and extra MagSafe 2 power supplies, so no additional investment in adapters, etc.

The kicker was the unit I bought has been purchased less than a year before I got it, so it was still eligible for AppleCare (you can check this w/ the serial number that most reputable eBay vendors provide). The time has probably passed for this, although you could still get a unit where someone else has already gotten it.

All in was US$ 2,050 including AppleCare

Re: Ask HN: Are there any reasonable alternatives to MacBook Pro for developer?

#498

Post by coatmatter »

chrischen wrote: post #180
noir_lord wrote: post #38

I went through this last year. I looked at Macbook Pro, Dell XPS15 and Thinkpad T470P. In the end I went for the T470P (i7-7700HQ (4 core/8 thread) w/ 2560x1440 screen, 16GB of RAM (upgraded myself to 32GB)) and the bigger battery (pretty much no optional with a 35W TDP processor). I tried the XPS15 but the keyboard was bad and the fit and finish wasn't awesome. I've had zero issues with linux support or the machine…

> I ruled out the Macbook Pro on price and the fact I couldn't put 32GB of RAM into it. Just curious, how has 32 GB ram on it affected battery life?

I think a couple of replies are missing one aspect to your question. If you have more RAM and you use it, you'll probably have more processes to drain the battery. I noticed this when my desktop went from 8GB to 16GB under Unity and extra Google Chrome/Vivaldi/Firefox tabs.

On the other hand, it encouraged me to buy a faster and more energy efficient graphics card, run i3wm, and buy an SSD. That fixed the problem.

So a laptop with 32GB RAM might mean you'll push it harder, but I guess it also opens up the opportunity to run VMs, etc. Regardless, highly-specced device is cheap, Apple or otherwise.

At the moment, I think my favoured approach is an ultrabook + desktop system. Laptops will never be desktop replacements so long as you can pack more punch per dollar into a desktop. As usual, it's horses for courses. I think ultrabooks are best used as devices of focus and for mobility. Putting the kitchen sink into them doesn't make a whole lot of sense, usually.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any reasonable alternatives to MacBook Pro for developer?

#499

Post by indemnity »

maxnoe wrote: post #426
indemnity wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone with a 2560x1440 (27”) display at work and a 5120x2880 (27”) display at home, the former is very much not HiDPI, not even close :)

DPI is Dots per inch. It's a density. As a matter of fact, 2560×1440 on a 14" notebook display is nearly identical to 5120×2880 on a 27" display.

I'm talking about 2560x1440 on 27", as is GP, and comparing that resolution at 27" to the pixel doubled resolution at 27"?

108 PPI for the former is not HiDPI, which is my point.

I'm quite aware of pixel density, but thanks for the Wikipedia definition.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any reasonable alternatives to MacBook Pro for developer?

#500

Post by dgacmu »

always_good wrote: post #161
ratsimihah wrote: post #95

I use both an MBP 2015 and an old Lenovo x220 running Arch Linux with i3. Both are equally outstanding to do front-end and back-end. But I can do native iOS on the MBP, play some games, and make music more easily than I could with the Linux Box. To each our own, but I moved away from Windows over a decade ago and never looked back.

Just know that you have the last MBP that I'd consider worthwhile. I bought a newer one and 2 keys have already popped off the new ultrathin keyboard. They didn't break, the C-clamps have just already worn out. This laptop is 5 months old. I type a lot. The keys now regularly come up with my fingers as I type. I'm traveling so I can't fix it. And this has happened to most of my friends in some way. Or constantly havi…

+this. I'm reading this thread 10 days after it was posted, on my purchased-in-December-2017 Macbook Pro, because I'm almost to the point of throwing it in the trash, and trying to figure out a better alternative. The keys keep getting stuck, the touchbar is too-touchy and gets phantom touches, and the increasing emphasis on locking down the OS has just utterly prevented me from getting the latest VirtualBox installed (until I get home, at least). I was on a 2013 MBP before and I miss it -- I deeply regret this purchase after four months of using it.
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