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

Ask HN: What is the best Laptop you have ever used for development?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

1–10 of 25 posts

Ask HN: What is the best Laptop you have ever used for development?

#1

Post by agscala »

Regardless of price, what is the best portable machine that you have ever done programming/development on?

I'm going to be looking into purchasing a new machine for development soon and I'm curious what other HNewsers think is best. I've been looking at the Lenovo T4xx series and they seem promising so far.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best Laptop you have ever used for development?

#2

Post by rule30 »

I'm on a Lenovo T420s, it's a pretty solid machine. This is my first ThinkPad and I really love the screen resolution and the feeling with the keyboard, the keys are just amazing and if you are a developer I think this is one of the most important features. I oned a MacBook (the white and cheap one) and an iBook, but the "physicity" of this laptop is really good. Moreover you have 2 USB 2.0 and 1 USB 3.0 that you cannot find on an Apple product.

I'm using it with Fedora 17, everything works pretty well but you need some tweaking to optimize the power consumption while on battery.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best Laptop you have ever used for development?

#3

Post by b0o »

I've used dells (3 years), lenovos (3 years), acers(2 years), HP(2 years), msi(couple of months) and alienware(1 year)

Rating on price, durability, performance, size, quality I also recommend lenovos. I used The T61 for a couple years before until it died, and now I'm on the R400. Bought them used for cheap (~$300). Great laptop.

The others are either too expensive, not durable at all and performance issues. Lenovos have always stood out above the rest.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best Laptop you have ever used for development?

#6

Post by freehunter »

rule30 wrote: post #2

I'm on a Lenovo T420s, it's a pretty solid machine. This is my first ThinkPad and I really love the screen resolution and the feeling with the keyboard, the keys are just amazing and if you are a developer I think this is one of the most important features. I oned a MacBook (the white and cheap one) and an iBook, but the "physicity" of this laptop is really good. Moreover you have 2 USB 2.0 and 1 USB 3.0 that you can…

Thinkpads in general are pretty great for "get down to business" use. They're nothing flashy, they don't have to build to a consumer market that demands "thin, light, strong, cheap, beautiful". Lenovo/IBM seems to understand that when someone is using a Thinkpad, they're doing so because there's real, hard work going on. They might be boring to look at with a thickness and weight straight out of 2001, but they get the job done. Standardized hardware without the rush to adopt the latest and greatest flash really helps with the Linux compatibility. Dell Latitude is a close second in that market.

Best thing about every Thinkpad I've used at work is, the Insert/Home/PgUp

Delete/End/PgDn

Always in that order, always in that configuration. I don't want to have to use Fn keys to access things that a consumer might not use, but a power user needs constantly. Only complaint on my current T500 is the lack of a number pad.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best Laptop you have ever used for development?

#8

Post by bitwize »

My current one -- a 2010 Lenovo ThinkPad T510. A high-end, rock-solid machine with an insanely durable battery (they claim up to 8 hours on a charge, realistically I can pull about 5 or 6). Compared to a MacBook, it looks like the Tumbler Batmobile from Batman Begins, but it was about $1000 cheaper than a similarly specced Mac at the time of purchase; the keyboard is much better (not full travel, but good tactile action and nice concavities on the top that make them feel like real keys); and it runs Linux absolutely beautifully.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best Laptop you have ever used for development?

#9

Post by kls »

kevinherron wrote: post #5

My 4 year old 15" MacBook Pro is still working great; though I can't deny I'm yearning for something with more power at this point. If the rumors are true then next week I'll be able to lust after a new model.

Yeah I am on the 17" MBP, the generation before the current one. I have 8GB of ram in it, and in the last year I have started to feel that it needs a little more. The virtuals I run are what is killing it. I am going to refresh with this update. It's been a good machine and I like it for development.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best Laptop you have ever used for development?

#10

Post by agscala »

bitwize wrote: post #8

My current one -- a 2010 Lenovo ThinkPad T510. A high-end, rock-solid machine with an insanely durable battery (they claim up to 8 hours on a charge, realistically I can pull about 5 or 6). Compared to a MacBook, it looks like the Tumbler Batmobile from Batman Begins , but it was about $1000 cheaper than a similarly specced Mac at the time of purchase; the keyboard is much better (not full travel, but good tactile ac…

Extremely tempted to pick up a T520 off of lenovo's outlet store. They're only $1100 for 1080p, 8gb ram, SSD, and a dedicated video card. Whoahhhh
Post reply on HN