HP Probook 470 G5 has great specs and great compatibility with Linux. My previous computer was a Macbook Pro, and this is superior is specs and Linux compatibility. So I'd say it's superior in every way that matters to me. And it seems you have similar preferences. Also, it cost about $1100. And it has a 17 inch screen!
Ask HN: Are there any reasonable alternatives to MacBook Pro for developer?
151–160 of 502 posts
Re: Ask HN: Are there any reasonable alternatives to MacBook Pro for developer?
#152I'm running on a Dell Inspiron 7000 2-in-1 here. It's running circles around my (relatively recent) MacBook Pro, even considering the 1TB SSD on the MacBookPro and no SSD on the Dell (yet).
Running Ubuntu 17.10 - it's working decent. keyboard takes a bit of getting used to though, having home/end/pgup/pgdn only through function+key is a bit of a curve. I prefer full keyboards.
Re: Ask HN: Are there any reasonable alternatives to MacBook Pro for developer?
#153Earlier quoted context omitted.
Indeed, I love WSL, and find win10 to be a better interface than OS X. Updates for OS X just move things around and change the looks, Windows 10 adds great new things - like new options for Linux distros under WSL.
With frequent bad reports regarding windows hardware, what’s the hardware to run wsl? I really did not like my experience with the XPS13
Wsl is no virtualization it is more like docker. Therefore, you do not need a extra beefy system to handle wsl.
Re: Ask HN: Are there any reasonable alternatives to MacBook Pro for developer?
#154A warning about Dell XPS (13") screens: if you take the matte display and like coding with dark color schemes it's horrible (but there might be a fix). It does loose all contrast on dark images. Saving battery they brighten the displayed image and lower the back light. This lowers 100% white to maybe a 80% white and makes for horrible contrast. For those affected: - you can test if you have this issue here: http://ty…
> A warning about Dell XPS (13") screens: if you take the matte display and like coding with dark color schemes it's horrible (but there might be a fix).
i have a kaby lake FHD xps 13, which i love, but this is a valid complaint. that said, i am using the An Old Hope theme with vscode and it works fine. you just need to try out a bunch of dark themes before you find one that pops.
Re: Ask HN: Are there any reasonable alternatives to MacBook Pro for developer?
#155A warning about Dell XPS (13") screens: if you take the matte display and like coding with dark color schemes it's horrible (but there might be a fix). It does loose all contrast on dark images. Saving battery they brighten the displayed image and lower the back light. This lowers 100% white to maybe a 80% white and makes for horrible contrast. For those affected: - you can test if you have this issue here: http://ty…
There was a similar issue on my Asus laptop. It made me crazy. After lots of searching online, I found that the issue is with Intel HD Graphics settings, not the laptop. I had to disable "Display Power Saving Technology" in Intel HD Graphics Control Panel and it solved the issue.
I manually installed the OS and drivers. I can't find a good reason why Intel enabled this horrible option by default.
Re: Ask HN: Are there any reasonable alternatives to MacBook Pro for developer?
#156Earlier quoted context omitted.
What version of Linux would people recommend for this machine ? 2018 Thinkpad X1 Carbon (6th gen)
If you want something practical and productive right out of the box then just go with Ubuntu for any hardware. Thinkpads are popular in the Arch community (and vice versa), so there's discussion and documentation available if that's your cup of tea.
Do you have link for the Arch community where I can read more about what you are referring to., I am not familiar with that... Thank you !
Re: Ask HN: Are there any reasonable alternatives to MacBook Pro for developer?
#157Not 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 s…
I have numerous shell scripts which connect to open GUI apps via Apple Script. I feel like having a hard line separation between the two would be prettty limiting in usability.
Re: Ask HN: Are there any reasonable alternatives to MacBook Pro for developer?
#158I went through this last year. I looked at Macbook Pro, Dell XPS15 and Thinkpad T470P. In the end I went for the T470P (i7-7700HQ (4 core/8 thread) w/ 2560x1440 screen, 16GB of RAM (upgraded myself to 32GB)) and the bigger battery (pretty much no optional with a 35W TDP processor). I tried the XPS15 but the keyboard was bad and the fit and finish wasn't awesome. I've had zero issues with linux support or the machine…
What version of Linux are you running where you have had zero issues, Thank you...
Re: Ask HN: Are there any reasonable alternatives to MacBook Pro for developer?
#159I recent got a 15 inch Dell Precision. I’m running a recent Ubuntu. I don’t recommend. It constantly throttles the CPI. I get lots of PCIe recoverable errors. The USB bus runs out of available throughout. Plugging anything Displaylink is a disaster. The camera/microphone is below the screen, which sucks more than I expected. It takes 2 hands to open the laptop. It is possible to plug in the power supply such that com…
I own a dell xps 15. Same, i don't recommand it. Autonomy is abysmal, usbc support very poor, the bios took a year to be stable and the sound died after some months. Not worth the price tag. Mind you, the xps 13 doesn't seem to have the same problems.
I still love my old samsung 9 serie and wish the brand would have worked out the quirks and made a new one.
My next try will be a thinkpad carbon since every owner around me are very happy.
Re: Ask HN: Are there any reasonable alternatives to MacBook Pro for developer?
#160The Lenovo X1 Carbon is great and the Costco deal mentioned below made me really think about it, but 1080p screen is just not great these days and really constrains working screen real estate. Have you considered Google Pixelbook? 16GB RAM, 512GB drive, 7th gen i7 and a beautiful design for ~$1700. I’ve used crouton on an older Pixel and loved it.
For ChromeOS / Pixelbook, keep an eye on Crostini as well[0][1][2]. It looks to allow running Ubuntu (or anything it seems) as a container in stock ChromeOS. Also looks like it may have gotten graphical support recently[3].
[0] https://www.reddit.com/r/PixelBook/comments/7zxz57/howto_boo...
[1] https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/platform/crosvm...
[2] https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/platform2/+/HEA...
[3] https://www.reddit.com/r/PixelBook/comments/89oq8o/just_laun...
EDIT: screenshot of Android Studio on a Pixelbook: https://imgur.com/a/vRU8l