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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?

#451

Post by rxhernandez »

jotm wrote: post #257
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…

I mean, if the hardware runs Linux well, it's not that ridiculous to recommend it. Forget the Apple software part.

It doesn't run linux anywhere near as well as a X1 Carbon. I get daily crashes on a fresh install on a M1 Mac after only a couple weeks of having it. My X1 Carbon has been running strong for nearly a year with no memorable crashes during that time period.

There's software I can't even install because there aren't arm versions of it available.

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

#452

Post by mekster »

c0mptonFP wrote: post #226
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…

Dude, operating system is one of the most fundamental things to consider when getting a dev machine. MacOS is literally useless for me, because I depend on the Linux kernel.

Doesn't feel right.

Any OS can virtualize Linux, so the host doesn't really matter.

Besides, it's usually the software that matters and not the OS.

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

#453

Post by sergiosgc »

ta4948474637272 wrote: post #66
jll29 wrote: post #24

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 or X1 Nano are my favorites. Small, light, but powerful. Before I used the ThinkPad X230 and DELL Latitude 7270, each for many years and bought second hand. The DELL was particularly sturdy. All of these are Ubuntu LTS friendly boxes. Avoid Microsoft Surface Laptops, which require patches to run Linux, Microsoft doesn't offer an Image ready to burn on a stick. And although I'm writing this on an M1…

How are the keyboards on recent X1 Carbons and X1 Nanos? I have a 6th gen X1 Carbon (bought 2017) and I am in love with it. It just survived nasty a 4ft drop with only cosmetic damage. However, I've heard that the keyboards on the recent models are not as good. It's the only thing stopping me from getting a Nano... Edit: Linux support is stellar on the X1 Carbon, which is no surprise since RedHat issues its employees…

7th gen keyboard is the best in the X1 Carbon history, 8th gen had reliability problems, and the current generation (9th) is very very good, if you are ok with the reduced key travel. I happen to like it, but it is really a matter of personal preference.

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

#454

Post by kibwen »

matwood wrote: post #365
kibwen wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple is a luxury fashion company and Apple hardware is a way for people to express social status, which means convincing as many other people as possible that Apple is desirable in order to elevate the effectiveness of their social status signaling. It's the same as any other luxury fashion brand, e.g. Louis Vuitton. The value is not in the function of the product itself, but in the perception of status that it enge…

> social status signaling The same way you're attempting to social signal by putting Apple down as a luxury fashion company?

There are many ways to signal social status, and we'd all be better off if people favored ones with positive externalities (e.g. volunteering and donating to charity) rather than ones with negative externalities (e.g. lining the pockets of executives of the world's richest company while they endeavor to reduce computers to unrepairable appliances and destroy general-purpose computing).

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

#455

Post by outcoldman »

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…

Second this.

If you want a laptop for development - get MacBook. I used to be a die-hard Windows guy about 10 years ago. After that switched to Linux on my Desktop and used it for a year. When I switched job they gave me MBP 2011 model, I hated it. The OS, but not the laptop. The new 2015 MBP were complete garbage, but I got used to macOS. The M1 laptops are the only laptops I would suggest to anybody. The battery life is so amazing, no overheating issues, I love it.

My work also depends on Linux, I have my own company, that provides tools for monitoring Kubernetes, OpenShift and Docker. Only OpenShift is sketchy on arm64, everything else works great. https://github.com/lima-vm/lima is a great tool to run Linux VM. Also Docker for Mac and Rancher Desktop both work perfectly!

But switching to Mac could be a challenge. I was always big fun of Thinkpad laptops, especially X1 Carbon. My wife uses it (she is Windows geek). But obviously this laptop is a laptop, not a computing machine. If you need computing power, just go to Costco and get yourself a gaming laptop with good video card (3060 would be in your price range). Read this https://www.reddit.com/r/GamingLaptops/comments/srxtrx/gamin... to see which laptop provides enough power to the graphics card. But of course those gaming laptops are more like desktops you can easily move. The power bricks are huge, and laptops are heavy.

Another option to consider is to get a Desktop, you can buy used Workstations/Servers from companies like https://tekboost.com/ I got from them 2 x Nvidia Quadro M4000 8GB, Dual Xeon E5-2680V4 2.4GHz 14C, 256GB RAM for about 4k. For 2k I am sure you can find something that can fit your budget.

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

#456

Post by rxhernandez »

neogodless wrote: post #297
jotm wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, if the hardware runs Linux well, it's not that ridiculous to recommend it. Forget the Apple software part.

Can everyone that has spent at least one month using Linux on an M1 as a daily driver please respond with their experiences, so we know that this "Linux on an M1" recommendation is valid?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31094361#31098178

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

#457

Post by chociej »

mekster wrote: post #452
c0mptonFP wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dude, operating system is one of the most fundamental things to consider when getting a dev machine. MacOS is literally useless for me, because I depend on the Linux kernel.

Doesn't feel right. Any OS can virtualize Linux, so the host doesn't really matter. Besides, it's usually the software that matters and not the OS.

Virtualization is a far cry, performance and experience wise, from running the OS natively.

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

#458

Post by lupire »

jlokier wrote: post #312
jbverschoor wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

67GB won't help your 32GB machine either. The problem is that many websites are full of memory leaks. I had similar issues about 5-7 years ago. I then installed "the great suspender" to suspend tabs that weren't really used. That became spyware or something.. But chrome is pretty good at handling all the tabs. I'm on M1 since it came out and couldn't be happier

It's unlikely to be website memory leaks. If it was, on "memory flush" it wouldn't drop to about the same amount every time that fits comfortably in RAM, with no visible effect except the pause. This event does not unload tabs. With the numbers I'm seeing, think it's too risky to commit to 16GB non-upgradeable RAM for a laptop that must last many years to justify the cost. The ask HN author wants their sub-$2000 lapt…

Client memory usage has plateaued, now that everything is a web/cloud app.

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

#459

Post by kellogs_aran »

jwalton wrote: post #223

Lenovo has some pretty good sales on thinkpad X1s (at least they do in Canada - didn't check the US site). But, if you're in Canada, I just bought this: https://www.newegg.ca/p/N82E16834233446?Description=gigabyte... It's got a gorgeous 4K OLED screen, a quite decent CPU and GPU, and it's currently $350 off + a $300 mail in rebate (there was an additional $350 off over the easter weekend, too). The track pad is not m…

Hi. OP here. Thanks to everyone who's shared their experiences with the Thinkpad X series in this thread. Will add them to my list of laptops to review.

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

#460

Post by mmis1000 »

bluefirebrand wrote: post #246
cruano wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Mac is probably a good dev machine. But for production and service…? I don't think so. It is currently the most unstable system I ever met. I need to reboot it due to completely un-addressable memory leak and lag (the cpu is idle, the memory isn't starved, disk don't really have much io and it still lags) from time to time if I keep it on for a long time.
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