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Ask HN: Best Laptop for Developer?

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Ask HN: Best Laptop for Developer?

#1
I am looking to buy a new laptop for web dev. I will be running Debian. Which laptop would you guys recommend? My main criteria is that it should be light and work without any hiccups with Debian based OS. And my budget is not much.

What are people using?

Thanks for your suggestions!

Re: Ask HN: Best Laptop for Developer?

#3
I use a Dell XPS 13 9570 with Ubuntu and I am absolutely smitten with it.

My last laptop was an XPS 13 9350, and I loved it too, but I did find it a bit too small for my liking so I ultimately ended up selling it and buying the 9570.

Let me know if you have any questions about this specific model, and I'll be happy to help as best I can.

Re: Ask HN: Best Laptop for Developer?

#7

Matebook x pro, try to get the 2018 one due to its higher performance (weirdly) than the 2019 one. Also linux works great on it, and build quality is a smigen under apple but very very close. Oh and the keyboard works :)

forgot to mention, the 16gb and core i7 version is mandatory

Re: Ask HN: Best Laptop for Developer?

#9
You can't go wrong with anything from the Thinkpad T or X lines (you might be able to find them refurbished/used for pretty reasonable price). The Dell XPS 13 is another decent option but can be pricy.

For my personal use i've been using the Huawei Matebook X pro since last year. Things i dislike: no linux driver for the fingerprint scanner, there wasn't an option for me to buy the model with 16GB ram without Nvidia (its not a problem if you plan to run Ubuntu, etc). Things i like about it: The screen (3:2 screen is growing on me), the built quality seems really nice, its light but feels very sturdy. Good port selection, It has two USB-C + 1 regular USB-A port. The battery life is really good.

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