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

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

#621

Post by wolfgang000 » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 5:21 PM UTC

Lio wrote: post #540

eertami wrote: post #410

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I too have an M1 MBP and XPS 13. I pretty much always use the XPS. Side by side, there is no noticeable difference in speed for my everyday work. The MBP is more efficient for sure, but I get 8+ hours of battery from the XPS which is good enough - and I can run Linux without jumping through hoops. Edit: Missed the 'z', sorry, possibly explains different experiences.

8 hours is amazingly good for an XPS13 in my experience. My XP13 9370 running Fedora lasts maybe 2 hours at a push. I'm actually considering moving back to a 14" MacBook Pro because of the battery life. Rumours of an imminent M2 upgrade are about the only thing stopping me now.

Same boat as you, waiting for the second generation, I don't event want to jump to the apple ecosystem but the battery life + performance at that price range makes it a almost a non-brainer for me

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

#622

Post by bodge5000 » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 5:23 PM UTC

rootusrootus wrote: post #597

bodge5000 wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The one big thing thats always deterred me from Macs is the poor ecosystem for gaming. I dont play a lot of games anymore, but its a pretty reliable way of getting some much needed socialising in so I probably wouldn't want to lose it completely. The problem is most workarounds I've seen are either to severly limit the games I can play or to get another computer/console for playing games, which just seems to be turni…

I use a console for gaming and a Mac for a daily driver. I never really got into PC gaming, though, I've always felt like the console experience was better. At least for the games I enjoy playing.

I'd love to get a console, it'd make things so much easier (pretty much any bog standard laptop would work for me otherwise), but none of my friends are on console

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

#623

Post by Darvon » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 5:23 PM UTC

CoolGuySteve wrote: post #293

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…

I have a Lenovo X13 Gen 2 with a 16 thread Ryzen 5850U and 32GB of RAM. It’s about the most powerful you can get while still having a power efficient CPU under load. I spend all day compiling with all cores and battery is still around 8-9 hours with a 90% charging cap set in the bios to preserve battery longevity. Linux works great on the AMD chipset but I had to replace the Wi-Fi card with an Intel AX220. After buyi…

x13 amd is just about perfect. linux or ltsc both work.

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

#624

Post by electroly » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 5:24 PM UTC

ad404b8a372f2b9 wrote: post #211

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…

It's every Ask HN thread, every time I want to ask a question here I give up because I find myself listing the obvious, requirement-breaking answers that I know will come but that I don't want to see. It's not like stack-overflow where often the users are beginners and don't know what they want and it's sometimes helpful to point out XY problems. Here people are technically literate and know what they want yet the re…

IMO it goes beyond Ask HN. If you make a post and you know people are going to make a particular reply, it doesn't matter if you preemptively address that reply right in your post; you're going to get that reply anyway. People skim, they don't read, and they don't think deeply about posts. They're just pattern matching on a couple words and slamming out a reply. The reply is practically locked and loaded before you even made the post.

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

#625

Post by princevegeta89 » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 5:24 PM UTC

swozey wrote: post #356

raxxorraxor wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use a Mac Book from time to time and the keyboard alone is special... I don't think Mac is a good universal machine for development to be honest. The devices overall are nice, out of the question, but a Linux machine is ultimately more powerful.

"Ultimately more powerful" As a previous BSD engineer please explain further, this entire thread is just horrendous and should be downvoted to oblivion. Nobody cares what laptop you decide to use, nor are you incapable of doing your own research. My grandmother calls me for laptop recommendations. My M1 Max 14" MBP has 64gb ram, mucho cores and is the fastest machine I've used. My gaming/dev desktop is a 12core ryzen…

How does M1 play with an external 4K monitor?

I have a 2020 Mac with the highest fucking configuration (32GB RAM and i7 8-core 10th gen) and the fans on it are always going off.

I figure a laptop with a discrete GPU can handle external screens and graphics much better than integrated, but was wondering what your take on the M1 mac for this would be.

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

#626

Post by ChuckNorris89 » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 5:25 PM UTC

gzer0 wrote: post #499

factorialboy wrote: post #396

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's part guilt. Doubting your expensive purchase, thus reinforcing it with this behavior. Apt comparison with religion, especially with recent converts. That's not to say all Apple products are bad.

> Doubting your expensive purchase Except, there is not a single Windows/Intel based laptop that can offer the same performance as say, for example, an M1 Macbook air ($750). There really is no comparison and there is nothing that comes close on the Windows side at that price point. If there is, please link me because I would love to know. M1 has made Macbooks not only superior in performance, but also more economica…

To provide a counter argument, the base spec M1 MacBook Air is 1130 Euros on Apple EU website, not $750, and that's with a pitiful 8Gigs of RAM and 256Gig SSD which, IMHO that SSD space is what phones come equipped with these days, and too low for a dev machine/daily driver computer, without needing to ductape a slower external USB SSD to your laptop, and 8Gigs of RAM is too low for the year 2022 + futureproofing a couple of years into the future (I had that amount of RAM on a PC from 2009).

Instead, I got a Ryzen 5800U based 13" machine for 780 Euros which came with a much more spacious 1TB NVME and 16Gigs of RAM for that added piece of mind when spinning up some VMs. That's much better value for me for a workhorse, plus it runs any linux flavor natively. The equivalently specked M1 Air would be 1820 Euros.

And best of all, the screen hinge rotates full 180 degrees, which for me was a must vs the screen on the Macbook and most other laptops that for some reason stick to 110 degrees and limits the positions I can use it from.

Sure, the Ryzen 5800U won't reach the same Geekbench scores as the M1, but the performance still puts it in the top percentile of CPUs on the market right now including the M1, and plus, CPU cycles are infinite while RAM and storage are finite.

As an added bonus I can also play nearly any game on Steam on it despite the device being barely thicker than the Type-C port.

Different strokes for different folks.

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

#627

Post by tmh88j » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 5:25 PM UTC

rootusrootus wrote: post #593

tmh88j wrote: post #566

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate the butterfly keyboard too, but most importantly the worthless touchbar is gone and the physical escape key is back.

Am I the only one who thinks the touchbar isn't that bad? I have a MBP that has the touchbar and a real escape key. I'm a little sad they ditched the touchbar, I wish they had kept it but put it above the row of function keys. There are some things for which it's handy.

I can't stand the touchbar. Aside from having to look down to know what I'm pressing and Monterey introducing bugs causing it to disappear forcing me to restart my computer, when it does work an entire row of keys shouldn't be able to "go to sleep". My media controls disappearing because I haven't touched my computer in 60 seconds or however long it takes is ridiculous. There's no way to disable it without hacking together a script[1]. It's one of the most frustrating designs of any product I've ever used.

1. https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/269174/disable-the...

edit - I just timed the sleep functionality. After 60 seconds it dims, and then 15 seconds later it goes to sleep completely....such a horrible implementation

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

#628

Post by swozey » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 5:27 PM UTC

princevegeta89 wrote: post #625

swozey wrote: post #356

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Ultimately more powerful" As a previous BSD engineer please explain further, this entire thread is just horrendous and should be downvoted to oblivion. Nobody cares what laptop you decide to use, nor are you incapable of doing your own research. My grandmother calls me for laptop recommendations. My M1 Max 14" MBP has 64gb ram, mucho cores and is the fastest machine I've used. My gaming/dev desktop is a 12core ryzen…

How does M1 play with an external 4K monitor? I have a 2020 Mac with the highest fucking configuration (32GB RAM and i7 8-core 10th gen) and the fans on it are always going off. I figure a laptop with a discrete GPU can handle external screens and graphics much better than integrated, but was wondering what your take on the M1 mac for this would be.

I use a 49" Samsung monitor that does 4k and like you mentioned my Intel work macbook pro is constantly spinning fans/hot. The M1 I honestly haven't noticed it making any noise while plugged into it. It also runs a lot better, less graphic glitches and weirdness. I don't like having to use my work mbp at all anymore.

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

#629

Post by swah » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 5:27 PM UTC

nicoburns wrote: post #600

anta40 wrote: post #582

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazing machines? I haven't tried extensively the M1, so my experience is still limited to the Intel Macs. They are OK. Not jaw droppingly good, just okay-ish. I work as a mobile app dev and unfortunately you can't avoid Mac for iOS dev :p

The new M1 Mac’s really are impressive. I suspect I might be similarly impressed by the latest AMD chips with 8 cores, but quite a lot of my everyday workloads are seeing 5x-10x performance increases over my previous 2015 MacBook.

Even the cheapest M1s?

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

#630

Post by smoldesu » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 5:28 PM UTC

tsuujin wrote: post #392

rmbyrro wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why Mac seems to attract so fanatic behavior? They seem to want to push everyone to use Mac, like religious fanatics try to push everyone to their "truth". I think this is a result of some marketing tactics Apple employed for decades, and it only pushes me away from this brand.

Fun fact: the windows and Linux communities are both equally bad at this. It’s not that apple users are fanatics, it’s that some people define their identity by their OS and will make absolutely certain you know.

At least people who proselytize for Linux or Windows aren't telling you to throw away your laptop so you can buy a new, $1,000+ replacement machine. Oh, you don't like it? That's because you didn't buy a $700 iPhone, and you didn't compliment it with your $300 Homepod. You didn't forget to buy a $400 Apple Watch, did you? That would almost be as ridiculous as forgetting to buy a $50 Magsafe charger! W-wait, you didn't buy that either? Good luck charging your phone, then... your Mac only ships with a USB-C cable.