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

From your post it doesn't sound like you need it. What do you need it for?

Apple have to consider themselves lucky Huawei isn't having an easy time in the US. In my opinion they are better than Apple in design and hardware. I wonder how much lobbying Apple does against Huawei in the mobile market.

I tried to switch to XPS 13 from MBP a couple months ago.

My main focus was to use WSL but it’s so freaking slow on disk access that sometimes “git status” on a repo would take 10-15 seconds while it’s I went to Ubuntu and decided life is too short to use a crippled touchpad.

Went back to MBP.

Not a hardware req, but I've recently become quite enamored with Win 10 + WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) after years of using a Mac. WSL lets you run a lightweight Linux shell (Ubuntu, SUSE, Kali are supported atm) without a VM. It's purely for command-line purposes, no X, but that's fine for me. Windows for UI, then I can run all my bash in the Ubuntu shell almost seamlessly. You can run the shell directly from start menu or just type 'bash' from cmd or powershell so it can easily work in the embedded terminal for Android Studio.

I switched from a 2014 13" Retina MBP to a 2018 Thinkpad X1 Carbon (6th gen) and I'm extremely happy with it.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-ThinkPad-X1-Carbon-2018... is the most objective/detailed review I've seen.

One of my biggest anxieties was the fear of "upgrading" to an inferior device after a decade of being on Apple devices. Thankfully, that has not been the case.

- The 14" WQHD HDR screen is remarkably more vibrant with similar DPI.

- The battery life is almost double what I had before.

- It runs cooler, faster, and quieter than my rMBP.

- It's more than half a pound lighter than my 13" rMBP and is smaller despite having a larger screen.

- The keyboard is just amaaaazing, I forgot what a good keyboard feels like. It's a joy to type on.

- The build is excellent, still has that "Thinkpad" feel to it--like I could use it as a sledgehammer if I had to, despite looking quite slick.

- Everything works on Linux except the fingerprint reader and S3 suspend required an easy tweak before working properly (add a boot flag).

- I added a 4 year warranty for $140 USD, fair bit cheaper than Apple's. You don't get the Genius Bar experience but the Thinkpad brand is strong world-wide and there are certified local repair centres pretty much everywhere. (Fun fact: IBM still has a repair contract with Lenovo for the Thinkpad brand). In general, the machines are very serviceable with standard screws/components/etc. For every MBP I've owned, I've averaged bringing it in for repairs about 2-4 times per MBP. I've never had to repair the Thinkpad I had before that, and I hope this one holds up as well.

I bought it the week it was released, so only the maximum spec version was available for about $2000 USD. (Lenovo perks sites or discount coupons usually get you 15-20% off the retail price, or buy from Costco.)

My second choice was the 13" Dell XPS with 4K, but the deciding factor was the build quality and 4K is a bit too much (the battery/perf penalty wasn't worth the DPI gain over what the X1 Carbon offered). In general, it seems the Thinkpad build quality is much more consistent than Dell's.

If budget was really tight for me, I'd strongly consider getting an older Thinkpad and replacing the internals. The Thinkpad modding community is very active, it's kind of remarkable.