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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?

#21

Post by SlowBro »

meschi wrote: post #15
SlowBro wrote: post #5

Lots of people love the Lenovo X220, which can be upgraded with simple screwdrivers to the latest and greatest processors and motherboards using fan-made motherboards. (That’s how popular they are, fans are making newer motherboards for them. I don’t know the experience, I’m using a very old Toughbook to devel since my needs aren’t great.) What’s with the hinges? I’ve never had one fail. Granted, I’m no road warrior.

Whoa, that sounds amazing. Do you have any links to the new mainboards?

These should get you started.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16572201

https://hackaday.com/tag/x220/

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

#23

Post by xab9 »

robotmay wrote: post #10

I use a 13" ThinkPad X250 when I'm not at my desk and I've been pretty impressed by it. I picked it up second-hand for I'm not sure what the newer and bigger models are like, however, so maybe someone else would have more experience there. The other guys at work have all opted for XPS 13" machines. They haven't arrived yet, but I'm curious as to what they'll be like.

Now that you mention it on my X230, IPS panel, impermanent burn in is visible too, mostly with gray or dark wallpapers. I got used to it during the years though.

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

#24

Post by Protostome »

I have been using ASUS Zenbook UX301L + Ubuntu for 3 years now, and I'm pretty happy with it.

Having said that, I think the system requirements of a 2018 developer are quite different than a 2012 developer. Today you can accomplish vast majority of development tasks on a remote instance on the cloud. I haven't compiled or ran a program locally for ages (except for a browser/terminal/spotify/etc).

I have a cheap EC2 instance that I use for coding and those sorts of things, when I need to run some more data intensive jobs (e.g. compilation, data crunching, etc) I just launch some more robust instances to take care of that for me.

Therefore, in my opinion, a proper setup of a cloud environment that autoscales with respect to your needs is much more cost effective than a powerful laptop.

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

#26

Post by metafex »

meschi wrote: post #15
SlowBro wrote: post #5

Lots of people love the Lenovo X220, which can be upgraded with simple screwdrivers to the latest and greatest processors and motherboards using fan-made motherboards. (That’s how popular they are, fans are making newer motherboards for them. I don’t know the experience, I’m using a very old Toughbook to devel since my needs aren’t great.) What’s with the hinges? I’ve never had one fail. Granted, I’m no road warrior.

Whoa, that sounds amazing. Do you have any links to the new mainboards?

Link to the fb group: https://facebook.com/lcdfans/

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

#28

Post by vasilakisfil »

I have owned a MacBook Pro for many years (I think it was a late 2012 model as well) given by my employer in which I always run Linux in it. I was disgusted with the hardware support on Linux (especially on Wifi/Bluetooth) so I got a new XPS 15 inch (again from my employer), specifically the 9550 (from 2016), the non-touch screen (with FHD resolution). I can tell you that it runs Ubuntu very smoothly and has great battery life etc and I really like this laptop.

But to be honest Dell comes nowhere close with Apple regarding quality of build. Although I truly believe the XPS is probably the best bet for a developer that wants Linux, it's probably like that because if I put everything in the basket (slimness, battery life, speed, hardware, linux support etc), there isn't any other better option outhere. I wish Dell was building better laptops but it isn't.

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

#29

Post by AndrewOMartin »

Maybe it's possible to develop in a more modular fashion which will reduce your compiler demands.

This may not apply to you as you're doing Android dev, and I'm doing theoretical computer science, but when I adapted so that 99% of what my computer does is manipulate and store UTF-8 I found I could work perfectly well with the resources of an approximately £170 Chromebook running crouton.

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