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Ask HN: What’s a good laptop for software development at around $2k?

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Re: Ask HN: What’s a good laptop for software development at around $2k?

#241

Post by oauea »

emacs28 wrote: post #234
JabavuAdams wrote: post #200

** "I don't want to use a Mac" ** "I've had these problems with Mac" Reasonable response: Cool, use what works for you. EDIT> Here are some suggestions that match your constraints. Annoying response 1: You should reconsider because Mac works great for me. Annoying response 2: Your problems aren't real problems. Annoying response 3: Let's live debug your problems in this thread to see if they're real problems. Guys. I…

One thing that deters me a bit from using macOS is the slower docker performance compared to linux. Anyone here have workarounds for this?

> Anyone here have workarounds for this?

Sure, use Linux.

Re: Ask HN: What’s a good laptop for software development at around $2k?

#242

Post by cercatrova »

tacker2000 wrote: post #183
martibravo wrote: post #176

Asus TUF Dash Gaming 15 user here: I cannot recommend it enough. - Intel i7 H series processor (best mobile Intel chips) - Upgradeable RAM (currently at 24GB) - Intel Wifi 6 - Nvidia RTX 3060 - FullHD Screen with 144Hz - Comfortable keyboard with backlight - Two M.2 slots, laptop came with 500GB but added an extra 2TB. - Good connecticity: HDMI, Ethernet, 3 full-size USBA 3.1 ports, 1 Thunderbolt port. - Laptop runs…

Looks good but the deal breaker here is the screen. 1920x1080 is just not enough these days.

Laptops with greater than 1080p screens just take up battery for no discernable benefit at those screen sizes.

Re: Ask HN: What’s a good laptop for software development at around $2k?

#243

Post by inetknght »

I recommend System76 laptops. The Serval WS has full desktop class hardware in a laptop chassis (so battery life is a distant second -- my Serval WS lasts for about 40-90 minutes on battery depending on workload). Their other product offerings are pretty good too.

And, best of all, they provide first-class Linux support and provide their own Ubuntu-derived distribution, Pop!_OS.

Re: Ask HN: What’s a good laptop for software development at around $2k?

#244

Post by fullstop »

krageon wrote: post #236
amir734jj wrote: post #204

System76. They have great customer service and contribute to open source community. Support them.

This shop is very US-centric and it also appears that you cannot figure out what shipping will cost unless you create an account. This is not a good first impression.

Shipping for me (in 2020) was $35.32.

Re: Ask HN: What’s a good laptop for software development at around $2k?

#245

Post by cs702 »

As a longtime user of System76 servers, desktops, and laptops, I can recommend them.

* The hardware has always been "more than good enough." I mean, you can always nitpick about some or other detail, but the machines work, they work well out-of-the-box with Linux, and they last a long time. We still have eight-year-old machines that are humming along.

* Support has always been outstanding at everything from answering questions to sending replacement parts with detailed how-to instructions. On one occasion we sent them an older machine for fixing and shipping back, and they handled it flawlessly.

* Most importantly, I've always felt that everyone we've interacted with at System76 actually cares about me as a customer. They're not a charitable organization, so they need to make money, but I've always gotten the sense that doing right by customers is a higher priority.

Re: Ask HN: What’s a good laptop for software development at around $2k?

#246

Post by bluefirebrand »

cruano wrote: post #218
JabavuAdams wrote: post #200

** "I don't want to use a Mac" ** "I've had these problems with Mac" Reasonable response: Cool, use what works for you. EDIT> Here are some suggestions that match your constraints. Annoying response 1: You should reconsider because Mac works great for me. Annoying response 2: Your problems aren't real problems. Annoying response 3: Let's live debug your problems in this thread to see if they're real problems. Guys. I…

Should have put that on the title I mean, it's already kind of stupid to want to avoid something the whole industry uses, from big tech to startups. In particular, when you have a very hard set of requirements that historically no one gets right except for you know who.

> I mean, it's already kind of stupid to want to avoid something the whole industry uses, from big tech to startups

Windows still owns the market to a substantial degree, Macos is still a niche OS. Maybe you've seen a trend of software companies moving to Macos, but it's definitely not the standard by any means.

Re: Ask HN: What’s a good laptop for software development at around $2k?

#247

Post by synergy20 »

brobinson wrote: post #162
fy20 wrote: post #51

A few years ago I would have said ThinkPads but I think there are better options available now. At the end of last year I wanted to replace my T470, and wanted to upgrade to something with a more powerful (not U-series) CPU. The ThinkPad option that fitted my requirements was on back order for months, so I looked around... The ASUS ROG line of gaming laptops had exactly what I wanted, although they look a bit garish,…

Are you able to run X/Wayland off of the Intel GPU and leave the Nvidia GPU free for CUDA usage on that setup?

I never figured out how to toggle graphics between intel integrated and nvidia gpu as I also want to use nvidia gpu fully for CUDA algorithms, is there an app or something to do that?

Re: Ask HN: What’s a good laptop for software development at around $2k?

#248

Post by uberduper »

Avalaxy wrote: post #152
sirwitti wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having used 2 XPS13 (9343 and 9370) as my daily driver for years, this is simply not true in my experience. On my 9343 bluetooth did not work initially, and on the 9370 the fingerprint reader is not available (no driver available), but apart from that linux is just working - and I'm not particular fond of spending time on setting things up. Much more of an issue is that the xps, as every non apple computer does not s…

> Having used 2 XPS13 (9343 and 9370) as my daily driver for years, this is simply not true in my experience. That's good to hear for you, but I'm not just making this up. I have the XPS 13 9310 which mostly comes with the AX500 chip for wifi and bluetooth. - For about half a year it had NO support in Ubuntu (non-existent drivers) - Then it finally got drivers, but it was extremely unstable. After an automatic update…

I have a 9310 32gb model with the ax500. With a 5.17 kernel and the WLAN.HST.1.0.1-05266-QCAHSTSWPLZ_V2_TO_X86-1 ath11k firmware, the machine has been flawless. Well maybe not the fingerprint reader.. i installed some updates and that broke but I never really used it so I haven't bothered trying to fix it.

Oh and make sure you configure the nvme to AHCI in the bios. The intel raid stuff is trash and causes major battery / suspend issues in my experience.

https://github.com/kvalo/ath11k-firmware/tree/master/QCA6390

Re: Ask HN: What’s a good laptop for software development at around $2k?

#249

Post by oauea »

cruano wrote: post #218
JabavuAdams wrote: post #200

** "I don't want to use a Mac" ** "I've had these problems with Mac" Reasonable response: Cool, use what works for you. EDIT> Here are some suggestions that match your constraints. Annoying response 1: You should reconsider because Mac works great for me. Annoying response 2: Your problems aren't real problems. Annoying response 3: Let's live debug your problems in this thread to see if they're real problems. Guys. I…

Should have put that on the title I mean, it's already kind of stupid to want to avoid something the whole industry uses, from big tech to startups. In particular, when you have a very hard set of requirements that historically no one gets right except for you know who.

It's interesting how cult-like mac users are.

Re: Ask HN: What’s a good laptop for software development at around $2k?

#250

Post by akvadrako »

zamalek wrote: post #128

Just some general advice: > https://kfocus.org/order/order-m2.html NVIDIA gets really old, really fast. My personal laptop has an NVIDIA GPU and AMD iGPU, my desktop is AMD. For my laptop, a zen2 build of the kernel nets me about 15% more battery life and a snappier system. Unfortunately NVIDIA makes installing that kernel tedious, so I just run the regular kernel. I also have to install the proprietary drivers becau…

Unfortunately, the options with AMD dGPUs are very limited, I'd guess about 5% of what's out there with Nvidia.

The new ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 looks like a good option; my only concern is poor black levels.

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