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Ask HN: MacBook Pro still preferred laptop for non-MS development?

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Ask HN: MacBook Pro still preferred laptop for non-MS development?

#1

Post by andyouthink »

At work I've used a MacBook Pro for the past several years, and I'm planning to get another laptop soon for home development use. Is it still the tool of choice, or are the changes towards Mac App Store making it less friendly towards development? Is the extra money worth the value for a serious developer? I'm leaning towards a MBP with 15" matte screen with SSD, but I've heard aftermarket SSDs can be better quality than what Apple provides, but I hear they were Kingston drives in the 2011 MBPs, and Kingston's not terrible, is it? I know Crucial and OCZ make decent ones, too, and Tom's hardware said previously that Intel were the best.

I'm ok using Linux too, but I'd rather spend more time developing and less time messing with driver issues and a crappier user experience like I tend to in Linux. Although, I recently put Lubuntu on a x100e and love it as a fast and modern lightweight OS, though the package manager isn't the easiest to use, but it is much less buggy than the Unity one with the screenshots and icons.

Windows imo is usually not well supported enough for development tools and languages, unless you're using it for .Net/MS development. You end up spending too much time fixing issues that another developer using OS X/*nix didn't test in Windows.

Re: Ask HN: MacBook Pro still preferred laptop for non-MS development?

#2

Post by jorgenhorstink »

I think it's quite a personal choice. I've stopped using Windows six years ago, because I'm only working on webapplications that run in the browser. I also believe there will be a great shift from installed software to webapplications the next years.

If the software is going to be in the browser, you have to look for the tools that make it as easy as possible to do so.

Personally I love Apple products. Indeed, you pay a premium, but my 4 year old MacbookPro is still very fast, and makes no sounds. Second, Node.js, Eclipse, Redis, etc, have great support for MacOS, and I've the feeling Windows is not that much supported.

It is true Apple does not always uses the very best hardware components. For half the price of a MacBook Pro, you can buy an ASUS with the same hardware configuration. But what is important for me: how does the system perform with the hardware it has?

So my prefered choice is a MacBook Pro indeed. But if you don't want to spent the premium, you can also buy a less expensive notebook and install whatever Linux distribution you like.

If you want to buy a new MacBook Pro, I'd wait if I were you, the current model is almost at the end of the life cycle, and I'm waiting for the new release... If you can wait a couple of months more, I'd wait.

Re: Ask HN: MacBook Pro still preferred laptop for non-MS development?

#3

Post by Fizzadar »

An Apple laptop is definitely the way to go - my dev laptop is an Air (late 2010) and it's still insanely fast (despite the out of date hardware). In many ways this is thanks to the SSD drive (which is an Apple one).

The premium is definitely worth it, Apple products seem to last (and stay fast) for years after their Windows equivalents. The other advantage if you're developing webapplications is OSX, which makes it very easy to replicate a Linux server (nginx, apache, RoR, node, php, mysql, redis, etc, etc all run flawlessly).

Re: Ask HN: MacBook Pro still preferred laptop for non-MS development?

#6

Post by davecap1 »

I've been working with a 15" MBP for the past couple of years. I recently swapped out the standard hard drive for a Kingston HyperX SSD (it was about $200 for 120 gigs) and it has literally changed my life. I finally have a responsive computer :) Maybe Kingston SSDs aren't the most performant, but I can't imagine anything better at this point.

Re: Ask HN: MacBook Pro still preferred laptop for non-MS development?

#8

Post by jboggan »

jorgenhorstink wrote: post #2

I think it's quite a personal choice. I've stopped using Windows six years ago, because I'm only working on webapplications that run in the browser. I also believe there will be a great shift from installed software to webapplications the next years. If the software is going to be in the browser, you have to look for the tools that make it as easy as possible to do so. Personally I love Apple products. Indeed, you pa…

On the other hand, the current MacBook Pro line is quite mature which translates to stability and lack of grievous hardware or firmware issues. I'm still wary of buying a first generation Mac product after my experience purchasing a newly-unveiled Macbook (white body) in June 2006. Between the dirty-looking discoloration of the plastic and the random auto-shutdown firmware bug that bricked my new laptop in the middle of the firmware update to remedy aforementioned bug I was very unhappy with my early experience. It turned out to be a great computer after the bugs were ironed out, but I'd still rather avoid repeating the experience.

Is there any innovation expected in the MacBook Pro line that will be that much of a leapfrog over the current incarnations? I'm wanting to buy a new development laptop in the next two months as well and I can't see anything other than a better form factor coming out of the next generation.

Re: Ask HN: MacBook Pro still preferred laptop for non-MS development?

#10

Post by stevejalim »

kenneth_reitz wrote: post #5

Stay away from Crucial SSDs. I've had one for almost two years now — I've had lots of trouble. I just ordered an Intel 520 to replace it. I've heard great things.

I've had my Crucial M4 for almost a year and it's been rock solid. YMMV
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