I have a 15" Dell Inspiron 6400, given by my school for free 3 years ago.
1.6 GHz Centrino Duo
2gb ram
ubuntu 10.04
gnome+xmonad as window manager
internal hard disk space is absurdly low(80gb, I think), I have a 500gb external drive, though.
Ask HN: What's your computer setup?
141–150 of 180 posts
Re: Ask HN: What's your computer setup?
#142I basically buy everything Apple releases. So I've got an 8 core Mac Pro loaded to the hilt and.. it's sat in my shed unused for the past 9 months! Once the new 27" iMac came out, that was it. Perfect form factor, "fast enough", a far better screen than my 30" ACD.. so it turns out a machine half the price of my Mac Pro set up totally replaced it. And as there's no market for used Mac Pros, it seems, I now have a ful…
You're in England, yeah? Surely there's some music types around who would buy a used Mac Pro... here in Perth, Australia, I know a few Drum & Bass and Dubstep producers who are gagging for one, they're just more expensive here.
The problem, it seems, is that if you have the budget for a Mac Pro, you're the sort of person who'd just buy a new one.
The odd thing, though, is that the 8 core Mac Pro I have has held its value well in the sales I've seen because it's still faster than the current 4 core, yet was considered the entry level one at the time..
Re: Ask HN: What's your computer setup?
#143Re: Ask HN: What's your computer setup?
#144Time and again I find myself getting back to my Thinkpad X31. It's 2004 vintage, past its five-year extended warranty, and has an Intel processor from back when their top of the line was still branded as a Pentium. It's the size of a university notebook and weighs 1.6 kg. It's as good as I can expect from the form factor.
I have a Thinkpad T60p with a gorgeous UXGA IPS I'm looking to sell because it's too much computer. I have a Thinkpad R50p with a gorgeous UXGA IPS screen I'm going to use instead, but haven't gotten around to setting it up properly yet. I have a desktop with some low-end AMD dual-core, 4 GB of RAM, and a 23" Samsung 16:9 TN screen I've been trying to use as a VM and file server, but the process isn't quite done yet either. Yes, there is a pattern.
I have a couple of Nokia tablets (N800 and N810) I use when travelling. The N810 with Opera Mobile comes decently close to duplicating how I use my X31 (after obvious allowances for size difference), but it's been going through some software and perhaps hardware difficulties lately. Still, I was impressed — it got me through two weeks without an x86 machine pretty well.
I'm currently considering removing Windows 7 from the X31 (aided by its efforts to implode and steal my files) and replacing it with a basic Linux-based OS like easypeasy. 7 is pretty great when it isn't breaking, but it's almost too much OS for my use.
One of these days I'll build my laptop for the ages: a X61s loaded up with 4 or 8 GB of RAM, a nice SSD, and a 1400x1050 IPS screen swapped in. Not yet.
Re: Ask HN: What's your computer setup?
#145I basically buy everything Apple releases. So I've got an 8 core Mac Pro loaded to the hilt and.. it's sat in my shed unused for the past 9 months! Once the new 27" iMac came out, that was it. Perfect form factor, "fast enough", a far better screen than my 30" ACD.. so it turns out a machine half the price of my Mac Pro set up totally replaced it. And as there's no market for used Mac Pros, it seems, I now have a ful…
Surely somebody would give you a good price for it! How much are you asking?
I like to find successful eBay auctions to gauge value but they're highly variable since it's not commonly sold kit and I've upgraded it to 8GB of memory, more hard drives, and what not.
For an 8 core 2.8GHz Mac Pro with 8GB memory, I've seen everything from £1500ish to £2200 (which is more than it cost new!! - I suspect it's because the older 8 core Xeons are faster than the current 4 core ones that replaced them). Given that, I'd take £1500 for it.
On the 30" ACD front, it's as-new, little used over the last year, no dead pixels, the same as the current £1199 one basically. I think I'd take £700 for it just because it's taking up a lot of space.
On the 17" MBP, I haven't done my research yet - it's a stock 17" 2.66GHz unibody MBP with 4GB RAM, no dead pixels, heathly battery. Cost £1799 new, I think. No good auctions to watch on eBay it seems, someone has the same machine for £1439 BIN. If I had to stab in the dark, though, it's probably worth £1300.
Re: Ask HN: What's your computer setup?
#146I use a Dell Latitude D630 as my primary/only machine. It has a dual-core 2.4GHz Intel, with 4GB of memory. Serves my needs well - which include a lot of Chrome tabs open (around 30), development in
Eclipse with some decent size projects. I also develop using vim/gcc, but that's generally lighter-weight relative to Eclipse.
I like having only one system to do all my work. I don't have to sync across multiple machines. I do take backups every week and use external keyboard/monitor to round it off ergonomically.
Re: Ask HN: What's your computer setup?
#14715" Macbook Pro
Re: Ask HN: What's your computer setup?
#14815" MBP(2.8GHz core 2, 8GB ram, 500GB 7200RPM seagate) w/ 30" Dell Ultrasharp.
Magicmouse with magicprefs to allow for the middle mouse click.
USB adapter to PS/2 Natural Keyboard.
Sizeup and cinch for keyboard window management. (makes me feel like a robot, but in a good way.)
xGestures for mouse gesture support. I cannot live without this utility.
This is by far the best setup I have ever worked on.
Re: Ask HN: What's your computer setup?
#149I have a 15" Dell Inspiron 6400, given by my school for free 3 years ago. 1.6 GHz Centrino Duo 2gb ram ubuntu 10.04 gnome+xmonad as window manager internal hard disk space is absurdly low(80gb, I think), I have a 500gb external drive, though.
free with paid admission, that is ;)
Re: Ask HN: What's your computer setup?
#150A Macbook Air (Gen 2) with the SSD. Sometimes connected to a screen + bluetooth magic mouse & keyboard.
I sold my more powerful 15" MacBook Pro because it was too heavy. The Air is powerful enough for what the java dev and iphone + web app tinkering that I do.
I really love the freedom afforded by the light weight. It makes it much easier to program and procrastinate away from the desk (in bed, armchair ...). I just wish it didn't overheat so easily, especially in bed, but flashblock and click2flash help a lot.
I am trying to use a fixed height stand up desk, but I don't feel I have the correct height yet.