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Ask YC: Why do you recommend a Macbook?

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Ask YC: Why do you recommend a Macbook?

#41

Post by kingkongrevenge »

jmtulloss wrote: post #38
kingkongrevenge wrote: post #36

> 'budding hackers' nowadays coding on a Macbook Why hack on a laptop? Why not use a desktop that's much cheaper, much more powerful, much more reliable, and easy to fix in one day? You can get two for the price of a new laptop. If you're on the road with sufficient frequency that you actually need a laptop to work then you're probably a salesman or manager, not a hacker. I can get to all my data from any machine: ev…

To work with other people wherever they end up. We're not working in some cubicle day in and day out, we need to go to our co-workers and sit there next to them hacking on problems. I prefer hacking on my desktop too, but I could not operate without the ability to take my work with me.

> sit there next to them hacking on problems

This is high level design, no? It works fine on paper/white-board. You sit alone to refine it and do any implementation. You pair program on one machine if someone is clueless and being ramped up.

Re: Ask YC: Why do you recommend a Macbook?

#42

Post by hollerith »

ibgeek wrote: post #16

You shouldn't make decisions like this based on hype or other people's opinions. It's personal thing. You are the one who has to be happy and productive on the platform -- no one else -- so why let someone else determine what you use?

Uh, he's asking for advice now before he spends $2000 or so on a MBP. Of course, if he buys it and hates it, he'll go back to what he is using now.

Re: Ask YC: Why do you recommend a Macbook?

#46

Post by albertcardona »

I used a PowerBook Ti 3.5 1Ghz for 4 years and I loved it. But since most of my programming is in java (whatever), I _had_ to switch. The last year I simply run ubuntu-ppc.

IMO:

The best of apple laptops: (1) long battery life, (2) bright screens, (3) very comfortable keyboards -if you remap the apple keys to control.

The worst of apple laptops: (1) they get burning hot -even new macbook pros; (2) the spinning beachball (of death) can get to your nerves -too much swapping; (3) their sharp edge will hurt your wrists -as opposed to a smoothened, curvy Thinkpad T60 (my current).

Re: Ask YC: Why do you recommend a Macbook?

#47

Post by utx00 »

mixmax wrote: post #28

I tried to switch over to a mac a year ago. It didn't work, so I switched back after three months. I found that a lot of little things were annoying, and made me spend more time than I needed on doing trivial things sucha as resizing of windows. On mac it can only be done from one corner, on windows from all four. There are lots of these little things that mean you have to spend three clicks instead of two. I see why…

I code. I had the exact same experience.

This is two years ago and things might have improved. But the ports system did not have that much software, I didn't like the feel of the keyboard, it's a huge heat sink (and then in cold NY mornings it would be cold to the touch when I started it), I didn't like the anti-alising, I didn't like the default terminal program (and couldn't be bothered to get a new one ... that was the point of getting a powerbook in the first place - all the supposedly annoying sysadmin things I wouldn't have to do). java support was horrible too (that might be better - and besides this is not a java crowd)

I didn't like all the proprietary formats for iphoto, and itunes either.

oh and yeah. I have a lot of mail. The import into Mail.app took days. It was ok after that. But once again, the mail files use a proprietary tagging system to know when mail is read and what not. It wasn't fun porting that back to maildir.

try ubuntu. you might like.

Re: Ask YC: Why do you recommend a Macbook?

#48

Post by jdavid »

i almost bought a macbook pro for the screen. mac makes it easy for you to get a non glossy high def display. you can now even get LED backlit which should give brighter whites, better contrast, and longer backlight life.

the rest of the manufactures are behind mac in display tech.

i ended up going with a dell precision because of dells support for ubuntu, and i could get better hardware than the mac for $1000 less, with a 3 accident warranty. So basically for $2500 i have a machine that is faster, and will be replaced for free in the 3 years of its useful life, for $1k less than a mac book pro. in the end i could not justify spending $1k for an operating system. $250 maybe.

Re: Ask YC: Why do you recommend a Macbook?

#49

Post by stcredzero »

utx00 wrote: post #33
darjen wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost all of my coworkers use Thinkpads. I started off on a T43, and have recently been upagraded to T60. Would never trade it in for a mac.

Good for you. I started out on a T20 (I'm old). Still have it. Still love it. One of these days I'll move up to a T60 or whatever. For now, T42 still kicks a$$.

I still have a T22 with Libranet (Debian) Linux on it. The keyboard light was great! (Much cheaper than a backlit-keyboard, and accomplished the same thing. But I do everything nowadays on my old G4 Powerbook.

Re: Ask YC: Why do you recommend a Macbook?

#50

Post by stcredzero »

kingkongrevenge wrote: post #41
jmtulloss wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To work with other people wherever they end up. We're not working in some cubicle day in and day out, we need to go to our co-workers and sit there next to them hacking on problems. I prefer hacking on my desktop too, but I could not operate without the ability to take my work with me.

> sit there next to them hacking on problems This is high level design, no? It works fine on paper/white-board. You sit alone to refine it and do any implementation. You pair program on one machine if someone is clueless and being ramped up.

There are times with a sufficiently high level dynamic language, where you can usefully and quickly pair program your high level design. The ideal platform for this is a desktop on a table (not a concave cublicle desk, just a flat table) with a wireless keyboard.
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