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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?

#51

Post by utx00 »

utx00 wrote: post #47
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 wa…

incidentally, if anyone is interested i found this script to turn all my files from elmx into mbox (and eventually maildir). well written. works like a charm.

http://www.jwz.org/hacks/emlx.pl

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

#52

Post by kirubakaran »

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…

I like to code in the bus. I have a 1 year $4.75 bus pass with which I can go anywhere around here (Seattle). I can sit by the window and code.

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

#53

Post by jey »

davidw wrote: post #34
jey wrote: post #10

Because it's the best desktop unix machine available. Where else can you find true unix with a great user experience and full hardware and software support? I don't use Linux because I no longer enjoy doing sysadmin crap. I also like the MacOS UI.

I don't think it's as good a desktop experience as OSX, but for a hacker, Ubuntu isn't half bad, and continues to improve by leaps and bounds. Less and less 'sysadmin crap' is necessary these days. And you can get an Ubuntu machine from Dell that is very well supported. I wouldn't recommend it to my parents, just yet (they're happy with OSX), but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Dell+Ubuntu to people here. It might n…

Yeah, if I was optimizing on price I would just get a Dell laptop and throw Ubuntu on it. (Although I would make sure that all the hardware is well-supported first. I have spent far too many hours patching kernels and adjusting parameters when using Linux with brand new hardware.)

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

#54

Post by mixmax »

utx00 wrote: post #47
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 wa…

It's interesting to hear a coder having some of the same experiences. And btw I had the exact same problem with porting mails, except it took me around three days to get working.

I'm actually dual booting w. windows and Ubuntu to try it out. And I like it.

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

#56

Post by davidw »

jey wrote: post #53
davidw wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's as good a desktop experience as OSX, but for a hacker, Ubuntu isn't half bad, and continues to improve by leaps and bounds. Less and less 'sysadmin crap' is necessary these days. And you can get an Ubuntu machine from Dell that is very well supported. I wouldn't recommend it to my parents, just yet (they're happy with OSX), but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Dell+Ubuntu to people here. It might n…

Yeah, if I was optimizing on price I would just get a Dell laptop and throw Ubuntu on it. (Although I would make sure that all the hardware is well-supported first. I have spent far too many hours patching kernels and adjusting parameters when using Linux with brand new hardware.)

You can buy Dells with Ubuntu on them:

http://www.dell.com/ubuntu

It was pretty cool to get it, open it up, and see it boot Ubuntu. I admit I did have to tweak it just a bit (about 15 minutes of googling and config files), but I think it was one of the first ones, hopefully they've gotten even better. I chatted with some of the guys working on it at OSCON last year, and they wrote down a few of the bugs I had found.

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

#57

Post by curi »

for the GUI, macs are the best, it's not close

for the unixy stuff, macs do a good job, but they don't blow linux away

macs make lots of stuff more convenient. customizing is no problem for anything especially important. you can also download stuff to change, say, the builtin Dock, if you want.

i strongly recommend a mac. but consider a macbook (not pro) if you're worried about price. pro only has a certain limited set of advantages you might not need.

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

#58

Post by tx »

I switch between Macbook and Thinkpad/Ubuntu almost daily. Why? Because I get bored on either of them fairly quickly :-)

I love both of them, but my vote goes towards Ubuntu/Linux (and I mainly code on ThinkPad) for three reasons:

1. Most hackers' software is native on Linux, although nearly all of it exists for OS X. But nothing beats Debian/Ubuntu's aptitude: nearly everything imaginable is a few keystrokes away: can installed and pre-configured in seconds. And guaranteed to "just work".

2. Apple's hardware is no match to IBM's. UltraNav combo kicks ass, and I feel crippled and slowed down when using a touchpad of other laptops, including Apple's.

3. Linux is more flexible. It's not the "sysadmin carp" that some people from the 90s complain about, it's genuine flexibility that comes with choice. There are many more different terminal apps, different ways to manage workspaces, various window management plug-ins, screensavers even! OS X is more commercialized.

Besides, I dislike some of Apple's software. iTunes is number one on my hate-list. :-)

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

#59

Post by curi »

comatose_kid wrote: post #24

The keyboard feels great on the macbook pros. The downside is the lame insistence on a single mouse button.

mac programs avoid using right-click context menus as a primary interface approach. so what do you need it for?

for gaming you need to plug in a mouse anyway. otherwise occasional ctrl-clicking isn't hard, nor is the 2 finger thing.

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