Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Why are Macbook Pros so common in the developer/hacker community?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 32 posts

Re: Ask HN: Why are Macbook Pros so common in the developer/hacker community?

#21

Post by sixtofour »

rbanffy wrote: post #13
zimpenfish wrote: post #5

Close the lid, it goes to sleep. Open the lid, it wakes up. Windows and Linux have yet to master this simple task.

The late 90's want their Linux back. Seriously, I never had this kind of problem with Linux. I am having them now, but I have nobody to blame but myself for running a beta OS (Ubuntu 11.10)

I almost consider 11.04 to be beta. Alt-tab to switch between windows is driving me nuts (I'm using the classic interface), the new window gets some kind of focus (titlebar changes) but the keyboard focus doesn't reliably follow. And Ubuntu has jumped on the minimalist, hide previously easily found configuration settings bandwagon.

Harumph!

(But I still like Ubuntu, overall.)

Re: Ask HN: Why are Macbook Pros so common in the developer/hacker community?

#22

Post by igor_evsukov »

ameen wrote: post #14
samarudge wrote: post #3

99.999% of the software we can run on our servers can be run on a Mac, it's (arguably) more user friendly than Linux. They're also pretty decent spec'd computers that take a while to go out of date (My 4 year old MBP runs Lion with no problems).

I heard that Lion was shipped with a few issues and have heard a few people wishing to go back to Snow Leopard. Is Lion a step backwards?

New software will always be shipped with bugs. If You haven't urgent need for Lion I encourage You to wait until 10.7.2

Re: Ask HN: Why are Macbook Pros so common in the developer/hacker community?

#23

Post by samarudge »

ameen wrote: post #14
samarudge wrote: post #3

99.999% of the software we can run on our servers can be run on a Mac, it's (arguably) more user friendly than Linux. They're also pretty decent spec'd computers that take a while to go out of date (My 4 year old MBP runs Lion with no problems).

I heard that Lion was shipped with a few issues and have heard a few people wishing to go back to Snow Leopard. Is Lion a step backwards?

There are a few issues, particularly with LDAP, but that wasn't what I meant. Lion is the latest version and it's running fine (minus the bugs present on every system) on 4 year old hardware.

Re: Ask HN: Why are Macbook Pros so common in the developer/hacker community?

#24

Post by jfb »

ameen wrote: post #19
deskamess wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do not have a MBP, but the multi OS capability is what makes it a candidate for my next purchase. You can develop iphone/ipad/OSX apps, android apps, windows apps (via VMWare) without having to buy another machine.

That is a major reason why I'm considering it (or the Macbook Air) for my next notebook. Also, I believe Windows can be natively installed on Macs.

OS/X ships with very good support for repartitioning and installing Windows, if that's the way you swing.

Re: Ask HN: Why are Macbook Pros so common in the developer/hacker community?

#25

Post by todojunkie »

For me, it's so very nice to have the full power of a unix shell underneath a very elegant GUI.

I know some people will argue they can get the same GUI (or even better) in other environments, and I also know some people will argue they can get the full power of unix in other environments (ex: cygwin). For me, Apple comes with this setup out of the box, I don't waste copious amounts of time configuring it, it just works (for the most part).

Re: Ask HN: Why are Macbook Pros so common in the developer/hacker community?

#26

Post by tmckd »

It runs pretty much whatever you want to run. Unixy underpinnings along with MS Office, Adobe Creative Suite and you can run Windows/Linux in VMs if you want. The MBP will run pretty much any tool you need for whatever job you have. Also the hardware is attractive. What's not to like other than the price?

Re: Ask HN: Why are Macbook Pros so common in the developer/hacker community?

#27

Post by 13rules »

It's cliche, but mainly it's because they just work. The notebook itself is well designed, things rarely crash and if they do it is normally just that application, not the entire system.

Hook up a monitor and it just works. Plug in a printer and it's recognized and you'll be printing in minutes. Same thing with keyboards and mice, etc. No configuration, diagnostics, downloading drivers from all sorts of different sites.

With VMWare (or Parallels if you prefer) you can run anything you need to in Windows ... with my SSD it now feels like Windows is native - it's super fast. Great for testing web development.

I switched 5-6 years ago and started to get my family and friends to switch. My mom and dad and sister are converts ... bonus there is that I NEVER have to give them tech support. It just works like it's supposed to -- and those that never want to access a command line don't have to, but for those that do it's there when you want it.

Re: Ask HN: Why are Macbook Pros so common in the developer/hacker community?

#28

Post by kitsune_ »

ameen wrote: post #12
kitsune_ wrote: post #10

I guess the main reason is that it gives you access to the Linux development stack without having to use Linux :) I personally use a Lenovo x220 with Linux on it.

Which distro do you use? I'm looking to sink myself fully into Linux.

I use Arch on this laptop... if you're a beginner I wouldn't recommend it however. Ubuntu, even with Unity, is a good choice in my opinion.

Re: Ask HN: Why are Macbook Pros so common in the developer/hacker community?

#29

Post by seb_z_lite »

ameen wrote: post #20
sixtofour wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"a developer who is starting out." Lots of people will say "this distro for that reason," etc. None are hands down better than all the rest, and all of them are reasonable. Ubuntu is very popular, and it doesn't require too much knowledge to get started. After you've used Linux for awhile, you'll develop your own preferences and you can switch to whatever you prefer. If you want a slightly easier way to enable media,…

Thank you. I've tried Ubuntu before, so I guess I'll have to check out Mint as well. It was recommended by a few of my friends as well.

the new Mint Debian with Xfce is awesome and really user friendly.

Re: Ask HN: Why are Macbook Pros so common in the developer/hacker community?

#30

Post by rbanffy »

sixtofour wrote: post #21
rbanffy wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The late 90's want their Linux back. Seriously, I never had this kind of problem with Linux. I am having them now, but I have nobody to blame but myself for running a beta OS (Ubuntu 11.10)

I almost consider 11.04 to be beta. Alt-tab to switch between windows is driving me nuts (I'm using the classic interface), the new window gets some kind of focus (titlebar changes) but the keyboard focus doesn't reliably follow. And Ubuntu has jumped on the minimalist, hide previously easily found configuration settings bandwagon. Harumph! (But I still like Ubuntu, overall.)

I have been using 11.04 on my home machine and it feels very solid if rough around the edges. Only problem I had was with FontForge crashing under Unity and working fine with Gnome classic.
Post reply on HN