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Ask HN: Best Windows/Linux developer laptop in 2025

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Re: Ask HN: Best Windows/Linux developer laptop in 2025

#71

Post by antifa »

FlyingAvatar wrote: post #3

You have two requirements that are at odds: * Macbook is not an option * Want to be able to mess around with some local LLMs. Your choices for a Window laptop that can run a local LLM is either to get a large amount of system RAM and have it be abysmally slow, or to run a very tiny model on a discrete GPU which will (a) not be very good due to its small size and high quantization and (b) evaporate your battery life.…

I'm going to second this, hard. You're much better off doing anybody's $10/month github copilot/codey/cursor plan, spend less to get a laptop that does everything else better, then in a year or 2 ask again to see if localLLMs have gotten better or if x86 laptops have gotten better.

What I can do with localLLM on my MacBook is not worth paying extra for an x86 laptop that be heavier, hotter, louder, and less battery (especially if you're not going to play games).

Re: Ask HN: Best Windows/Linux developer laptop in 2025

#72

Post by virtualwhys »

gessha wrote: post #46
caleblloyd wrote: post #21

I just upgraded from a 7-year old XPS 15 - technically it was a Precision 5520 from when Dell still had a Developer Edition that would ship with Ubuntu but it was hands down the best Linux laptop I had. The things I loved about that one was: - 45W TDP processor - none of the U series 15W slowness - 4K screen that scaled to 1080P perfectly at 200% scaling - so X11 and XWayland apps still looked good. Also the screen q…

I have the same problem, trying to find a new laptop upgrading from a maxed out 9-year old XPS 15. I was hoping Dell would come through with their new lineup but it hasn’t even been released yet and honestly their website is garbage at marketing it. I might just bit the bullet and get a Mac but I’d hate the lock in. Alternatively, I can just stick with my current setup…

Same boat, @6 year old Dell Precision 5540 here and am looking to upgrade.

Dell's latest offerings aren't particulaly inspiring, especially wrt pricing (absurdly expensive for what you get). Seems that PC laptop manufacturers have taken a page out of Apple's playbook and charge through the nose for memory and SSD upgrades.

To put in context, I paid $1,100 USD for this machine in October, 2019, and around another $200 for 2 X 512GB SSD and 32 GB RAM. So, $1,300 all-in. These days you're looking at least double the price.

And if you're going to blow $3K on a laptop, might as well go with a MBP; at least there you're getting high end hardware. Giving up Linux after 15 years is a bitter pill, hopefully Asahi Linux will come out with M3/M4 support in the next year -- in the meantime I'll migrate my current machine to a Fedora VM on the Mac.

Re: Ask HN: Best Windows/Linux developer laptop in 2025

#73

Post by MRMsys »

mmh0000 wrote: post #47
tombh wrote: post #28

Why is Macbook not an option? Even if it's running Asahi Linux?

Please provide instructions on how to boot Windows on the MacBook. And, while I applaud all the efforts of the Asahi developers, many hardware components do not yet work(1) Macs are great if you can live happily within the confines of Apple’s expensive walled garden. But leave that garden and soon the moats, mines or sniper towers will get you. (1) https://asahilinux.org/docs/M2-Series-Feature-Support/#m2-pr...

Do you need to boot Windows? Have you run Windows in a VM on Mac before? It’s sad that the fastest Windows laptop these days is… a Mac. I just use Parallels to run windows whenever necessary. Yes it’s a $100/year subscription but it works flawlessly and comes with Parallels Toolbox apps for Mac, many of which are actually useful. So I’m willing to pay for that. Oh and Windows laptops still can’t do low power states right, so good luck taking it out of your backpack after two days and attempting to use it.

Re: Ask HN: Best Windows/Linux developer laptop in 2025

#74

Post by MRMsys »

LorenDB wrote: post #39
devilsdata wrote: post #35

Why is the Macbook not an option? They are the best at making laptop hardware, and to my knowledge you can run what you like on it. Mac OS is good, but I also like Fedora's Atomic distros, such as Bluefin-dx.

OP said Windows support is a requirement. Also, Macs have that stupid control/option/command keyboard layout thing.

Run Windows in Parallels, it’s actually faster than a real Windows based laptop. Sad really.
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