MacBook Air is enough for a work machine • Hacker News Board

Re: MacBook Air is enough for a work machine

#21

Post by mark_l_watson » Thu, Apr 28, 2011, 2:47 PM UTC

My MBA is my favorite computer also: for running IntelliJ, Emacs+Lisp, Rails development, etc., it is great to use. I do still use a MBP for one customer's work because I need a ton of services running during development.

Re: MacBook Air is enough for a work machine

#22

Post by bergie » Thu, Apr 28, 2011, 2:47 PM UTC

jonhohle wrote: post #18

bergie wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm the only one in our company not using any external monitors. The added screen real estate would be nice, but the downside is that then you have a different setup in the office and on the road. I rather get used to a single screen I always have with me.

You can plug in an external screen into your laptop. Sometimes I use just an external display with my laptop; sometimes I use it as a second (primary) monitor.

I know I can, but I want to keep the working setup exactly same regardless of whether I'm at my desk or in a train

Re: MacBook Air is enough for a work machine

#23

Post by uggedal » Thu, Apr 28, 2011, 2:50 PM UTC

bergie wrote: post #2

Also my personal notes on the same, running Ubuntu instead of OS X: http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/11-macbook_air-the_best_computer_i...

I'm also thrilled with my MacBook Air 11" running Debian. The installation and configuration took some time though. Since I manage it all in Puppet it's easy to reproduce.

Here is the high level Puppet code to configure everything to my liking: http://paste.pocoo.org/show/379663/

Re: MacBook Air is enough for a work machine

#24

Post by nwomack » Thu, Apr 28, 2011, 2:50 PM UTC

It's really too bad there is not a matte option for it. I agonized over the MBA vs MBP decision for about a year, and finally got the High-End 15" 2011 MBP model with the matte screen upgrade. Couldn't be happier. Yeah, it's a big hulking beast, but the extra real estate and matte screen are really nice. I don't think I can go back to glossy ever again...

Re: MacBook Air is enough for a work machine

#25

Post by devinfoley » Thu, Apr 28, 2011, 2:50 PM UTC

bergie wrote: post #14

chime wrote: post #12

I use MBA (4GB RAM upgrade, 128GB SSD) for doing a lot of XCode development. XCode4 runs very smoothly and I've never had any speed issues with running the iOS Simulator. It's light, doesn't heat up, and is very stable. I gave up my http://chir.ag/stuff/5lcd.jpg setup for a single MBA and I couldn't be happier (my electric bill went down by $125/month). From personal experience I know that I'm more productive on 5 LC…

I'm the only one in our company not using any external monitors. The added screen real estate would be nice, but the downside is that then you have a different setup in the office and on the road. I rather get used to a single screen I always have with me.

I've thought of ditching my monitor for this reason many times.

Re: MacBook Air is enough for a work machine

#26

Post by baudehlo » Thu, Apr 28, 2011, 2:51 PM UTC

_Fil_ wrote: post #8

The only thing that stops me from buying one is the 10/100 lan adapter. I transfer every day large files between my mac and my pc or NAS and the transfer rate would kill me.

This. In a corporate environment wifi just isn't allowed. We have it in our office but it is stunted beyond reproach. You need to be plugged in to access stuff.

Re: MacBook Air is enough for a work machine

#27

Post by bergie » Thu, Apr 28, 2011, 2:52 PM UTC

uggedal wrote: post #23

bergie wrote: post #2

Also my personal notes on the same, running Ubuntu instead of OS X: http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/11-macbook_air-the_best_computer_i...

I'm also thrilled with my MacBook Air 11" running Debian. The installation and configuration took some time though. Since I manage it all in Puppet it's easy to reproduce. Here is the high level Puppet code to configure everything to my liking: http://paste.pocoo.org/show/379663/

Using Puppet for setting up your laptop: love the idea

Re: MacBook Air is enough for a work machine

#28

Post by bergie » Thu, Apr 28, 2011, 2:55 PM UTC

baudehlo wrote: post #26

_Fil_ wrote: post #8

The only thing that stops me from buying one is the 10/100 lan adapter. I transfer every day large files between my mac and my pc or NAS and the transfer rate would kill me.

This. In a corporate environment wifi just isn't allowed. We have it in our office but it is stunted beyond reproach. You need to be plugged in to access stuff.

Makes me happy not to work for a large corporation. Our company has been WiFi-only since 2001

Re: MacBook Air is enough for a work machine

#29

Post by calebhicks » Thu, Apr 28, 2011, 2:55 PM UTC

I use a 13" MBP with 8GB RAM and an Intel SSD. I could have gone with the MBA, but didn't like the thought of another Core 2 Duo.

I have a 24" monitor at my office, and a 27" iMac (my wife's) that I use as a second display for my MBP.

Best of both worlds. Speed, mobility, and big screens when I need 'em.

Re: MacBook Air is enough for a work machine

#30

Post by dmauro » Thu, Apr 28, 2011, 2:55 PM UTC

I'm using my MBA (no upgrades, lowest end model) for my daily routine as a designer, and it's holding up perfectly well. I am mostly just running Photoshop, Illustrator, Textmate, and a few browsers. Hell, I was even able to play Portal 2 on this thing. It's definitely the best $1,000 I've ever spent on tech, and I'm a Windows guy.

The only downsides are if I have a bunch of large files open in Photoshop and Illustrator, I might have to save and close some to keep things running smooth. When I'm plugged into a 27" display, some things are not quite as smooth.

So yeah, I'd rather be working on a faster desktop system (though the benefits would be minimal), but I can close this, bring it home, and continue working with the same workspace.

And the monitor is better than my Dell 22" I have at home.