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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?

#671

Post by na85 »

zelphirkalt wrote: post #663
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.

I guess it is, because of the lock-in factor of all things Apple. People like some part of the products, but other parts suck, like having to carry around silly adapters for stuff. Maybe it is some subconscious kind of thing: "If everyone was using what I am using, I would have no issues with having to bring adapters." A bit like a snowball scheme, where you try to get more and more people to buy in and commit to it.…

Eh, I think the adaptor thing is overblown.

I use one at my desk because I want Ethernet and I use an external monitor, but when I take my laptop on the go I never bring dongles because I truthfully don't need them.

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

#672

Post by jackson1442 »

If you're already planning to use Linux daily, the Framework is a solid choice. I personally sent mine back (because of that "beta" feel), but it was more the software than the hardware- I am a Mac user and expected Linux desktop to just be a bit better than it is today.

The Framework hardware is easily my favorite laptop hardware (aside from Apple, but really they're a different category than Framework).

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

#673

Post by sitzkrieg »

rmbyrro wrote: post #326
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…

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.

they're expensive so people innately defend them despite being no better and worse in a lot of ways

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

#674

Post by drusepth »

eldaisfish wrote: post #500
falcolas wrote: post #434

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why Mac seems to attract so fanatic behavior? The same reason console wars exist. If there are multiple choices, and it's not practical to take/use/buy all the options, people feel the need to justify the choice that they did make. When someone's starting from a defensive position, unemotional rationality is uncommon. AKA, it's human nature.

it's really not the same as console wars. You touch and interact with a laptop far more often than a video game console. That alone makes the comparison invalid. While i am no apple fanatic, i will readily admit that much of their hardware is designed extremely well from an ergonomic standpoint. Barring obvious failures like their push to make things needlessly thin, a lot of their hardware is durable and holds its v…

>You touch and interact with a laptop far more often than a video game console.

While is this true, the number of console wars spawned from comparing physical controller feel might bring the parallel back on track.

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

#675

Post by lhl »

OJFord wrote: post #47

> I looked into the Framework laptops and so far it looks like they are still a bit beta. I'm not sure that's fair, (and it's pedantically wrong - they're in production - but I know what you mean) the hardware is the nicest I've seen besides Macbooks (I agree with you about macOS, but I do like the hardware, keen for Asahi one day but that is very much beta ( alpha actually I think)) and Linux is Linux? It works fine…

As of 3 days ago, from a thread started back in July 2021 (10 months ago), suspend in Linux still doesn't work properly: https://community.frame.work/t/high-battery-drain-during-sus...

I like the idea of Framework/what they're doing, but honestly, the lack of proper suspend is definitely an instant disqualifier, and their inability to fix it or even AFAICT properly acknowledge/address this after a year doesn't really inspire much confidence.

I get that they're a smaller company, but Framework is also much lower on my list because they're still selling their last-gen Tiger Lake 11th gen laptops, when 12th gen Alder Lake is a big improvement, and of course, that I (and I think many people) would much prefer AMD Ryzen 6000 (or heck, even 5000 series) that would give better perf/watt.

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

#676

Post by bduerst »

belthesar wrote: post #185
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…

I'm going to hard second this. The ease and stability I gained from switching off the Nvidia closed source drivers to the open source AMD drivers has been nothing short of stellar.

Third. NVidia drivers were the bane of my existence for a while, and became such a time suck when I wanted to be doing other things.

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

#677

Post by bluefirebrand »

cruano wrote: post #614
bluefirebrand wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Have you ever been to a FAANG office ? Or anything in San Francisco for that matter, in my time in PayPal only one dude in the whole office had a windows machine

Have you ever been to an office outside of the FAANG / Silicon Valley Startup Bubble?

You won't see a Mac almost anywhere.

The numbers don't lie. Windows is more widely used than MacOS right now, period. And it's not even close.

Maybe that is starting to change, maybe we're in for another round of companies going "This is what they do at Google" and playing follow the leader. Maybe. But that's not the conversation we're having.

If you want to have that conversation, make those points. Not this "but it's what FAANG uses" appeal to authority nonsense.

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

#678

Post by Saphyel »

I highly recommend Slimbook everyone I know they tried they loved.

It's built for linux (as others that you mentioned) and they contribute to KDE and others open source projects so as you can expect if you have any issue they will reply to your queries.

On the other hand purism probably is the worst you mentioned.

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

#680

Post by geoka9 »

kellogs_aran wrote: post #459
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.

I've had the 6th gen for a few years now. Overall, I like it. But these are my issues:

- Really wobbly USB-C port(s). The original power brick doesn't work reliably anymore (I have to play with the connection in order to get the laptop to charge)

- 16 GB RAM is limiting now and can't be expanded

- The keyboard... It's more of a general modern laptop issue, but whenever I pull out my old W520 with the original Thinkpad keyboard, I start dreaming of going back. Maybe I will.

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