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

Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

331–340 of 538 posts

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#331

Post by Green_man »

criddell wrote: post #291
ajvs wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since at least the 2019 model Dell XPS 13s no longer have S3 sleep mode and instead uses Microsoft's "Modern Standby" (s0ix)[1], which consumes tons of power whilst in "sleep" in order to have slightly quicker wake times. [1] https://www.dell.com/community/XPS/XPS-15-9570-BIOS-1-3-0-sl...

I found this with my ThinkPad. If I don't remember to completely power it down, I'll pull it out of my bag and it will be hot.

On my Thinkpad x13 there was an option to use "Linux sleep" or something like that in the uefi (bios?) Settings. I think this just gives it the normal sleep behavior, and definitely reduced how often my laptop would come out of my backpack hot and on low battery (running Linux)

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#332

Post by regretMSIbad »

lazerl0rd wrote: post #256

I'd give the MSI Creator Z16 a look. Albeit, battery life is not amazing on [most] x86 platforms (compared to ARM platforms) though it should last notably longer on Linux.

I recently bought a Z16 and was extremely disappointed with it.

Constant BSOD, terrible bloatware. MSI drivers are required for basic laptop functionality, however installing them conflicts with NVIDIA...

The laptop does not charge over USB-C by design. Terrible waste of money. I wish I could get my money back.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#333

Post by digitalsushi »

hu3 wrote: post #280
djbusby wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In 2000 I spilled grape juice on my Dell Inspiron laptop, while 1000 miles from home. They were out fixing it the next day. It's not a new play for Dell.

In 2001 I fried a Dell desktop motherboard and processor while toying with overclocking. They flown someone with brand new parts to my home, more than a 1000km away, and replaced it all no question asked. It's surreal.

In May 2020, my wife's Dell laptop blipped out during her morning coffee from an over-weekend break, and by noon there was a Dell technician sitting at a card table in our garage, 32F/0C degrees, socially isolating from any germs we could have, and he swapped motherboards inside of an hour. Incredible.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#335

Post by samatman »

snarfy wrote: post #311
samatman wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Portability is the first thing I look for in a work machine, personally. I have a nice desktop setup, 5k2k, keeb, trackball, stream deck, my laptop runs it without making any noise, slowing down, or otherwise misbehaving. I can easily drive to the manufacturer's authorized retail outlet in the event that it has problems, which has indeed happened twice over the nine laptops I've owned from this manufacturer in the la…

Where are you going with your computer to do real work? I've never used a laptop to get real work done where I need to sit for 4+ hours that wasn't a nice desk with ergonomic chair and large monitors. The only thing I ever did with my laptops when it wasn't plugged into a docking station at a desk was surf the web, and I can do that from my phone.

I have a standing desk, gamer-style ergo chair, a Lay-Z-boy, a bed, a table and chair outside, and a cafe nearby I'm fond of. The laptop can go to all of those places.

I can't work in bed for hours. But I can for a half hour after lunch, take a nap, then set back up at the desk as I am now.

I lived without a monitor for several years, you get the hang of it. I did have to bump up from 13" to 16" so I can use it without reading glasses for a few more years.

I'm definitely more efficient with more real estate, but not in a way that holds me back most of the time.

I've also trained myself to type on a laptop in a way that's hard to describe but: left hand V to Q, right hand N to P/[, so at a natural angle for my wrists. I've been using a split keyboard for long enough that twisting my wrists to accommodate a narrow keyboard isn't something I was willing to keep doing. This lets me get paragraphs/pages written without pain, whether I'm at the desk or not.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#336

Post by simonebrunozzi »

Apple has a great opportunity to compete with Dell (and their XPS laptops) to re-conquer the mindshare of prosumers and IT professionals.

The Apple hardware is IMHO superior (in particular their trackpad), but the customer support is generally pretty bad, even when you live next to a physical Apple store.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#337

Post by ModernMech »

I have a surface studio laptop and it’s great. Keyboard has good travel, trackpad has a nice click to it, build quality is sturdy, battery life gets me through the day, performance is great, and it has a pen/touch display to boot that folds down. I also have a MacBook Pro, and I much prefer the surface.

As far as support, I bought an extended support contract from Microsoft that I haven’t had to use yet, but I’ve gone through the replacement process with them in the past and it has been seamless. Highly recommended.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#338

Post by gmokki »

camgunz wrote: post #272

I bought an MBP 14" (Max, 32 core GPU, 32GB RAM, 2TB SSD) which I mostly don't regret. The things that give me pause are the battery life is only (only, haha) 9 hours or so, the resolution isn't ideal (the integer scaling options are either tiny or gigantic) and it was... $3,700? If I'd bumped down to the pro I would've saved money and gotten better battery life. When I made this decision, I was between the Framework…

I got T14s AMD gen2 a year ago, with 4k display, 32GB. Swapped the wifi card to Intel ax210, since back then year ago the realtek was not yet supported by kernel. Since end of mast year, after few bios updates, it has worked flawlessly. Battery lasts long with 5850U while using and suspend works properly and can last many days when not used. The new models with Ryzen 6000 series look to be na excellent upgrade with usb4 support.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#340

Post by shp0ngle »

ktpsns wrote: post #318

Thinkpad X1 (Yoga/Carbon) do great for heavy use developer laptops. I use them since the first generation, with Linux as operating system. Never had serious issues with drivers, even wacom, digitizer and auto display rotation are working nowadays, not to speak of USB-3, fingerprint sensors, etc. The whole device is a no-brainer and just works.

I have looked at Thinkpad x1 carbon, and they are so expensive! People complain about Apple Tax, but the x1 Carbon is so much more expensive for what it does.
Post reply on HN