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

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

#11

Post by infinitone »

kls wrote: post #9
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.

Same, but i can't seem to wait any longer! When is it coming out!?

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

#13

Post by jasomill »

Another vote for the 17" MacBook Pro (for mostly Windows development, no less), in particular, Sandy Bridge 17" with SSD (of course) and BTO matte display. For the home office, Apple's Thunderbolt "docking station"[1] is a convenient accessory.

[1] http://www.apple.com/displays/specs.html

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

#14

Post by pkamb »

freehunter wrote: post #6
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 th…

They actually moved to double-sized Delete (and Escape) key on their more recent models. I love it, much easier to hit.

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/i/z5/rv/2011/04/thinkpad_x220_2.jpg

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

#15

Post by rule30 »

pkamb wrote: post #14
freehunter wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 th…

They actually moved to double-sized Delete (and Escape) key on their more recent models. I love it, much easier to hit. http://www.zdnet.co.uk/i/z5/rv/2011/04/thinkpad_x220_2.jpg

it's a pleasure to hit them! but they are moving to island-style keyboards: http://www.wired.com/reviews/2012/06/lenovo-thinkpad-x230/

(btw i binded caps lock to ESC with `xmodmap -e 'clear Lock' -e 'keycode 0x42 = Escape'`, much better for VIM)

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

#16

Post by pkamb »

rule30 wrote: post #15
pkamb wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They actually moved to double-sized Delete (and Escape) key on their more recent models. I love it, much easier to hit. http://www.zdnet.co.uk/i/z5/rv/2011/04/thinkpad_x220_2.jpg

it's a pleasure to hit them! but they are moving to island-style keyboards: http://www.wired.com/reviews/2012/06/lenovo-thinkpad-x230/ (btw i binded caps lock to ESC with `xmodmap -e 'clear Lock' -e 'keycode 0x42 = Escape'`, much better for VIM)

I guess I can go either way on the chiclet keyboard. But why would they go back to the tiny delete key?

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

#18

Post by bobwaycott »

I am quite partial to my current 2012 15" MacBook Pro. Only Apple-supplied upgrades are the 2.5GHz i7 and the high-res screen.

Replaced default hard drive with Corsair Force3 SSD, purchased from Amazon (iirc).

Removed optical drive & placed default hard drive in its place with aftermarket drive bay kit.

Ignored Apple's RAM upgrade & bought 16GB RAM from third party (Apple only sells 8GB, even though 16GB is supported). Love the RAM.

It is a dream. Development has never felt better.

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

#20

Post by davesmylie »

I'm currently using a 13" MBA. It's a little bit tight on ram (only 4gig) but it runs plenty fast for rails development.

The real joy for me is that the size and sturdiness of it means I dont think twice about throwing it into my bag before I bike off . . . anywhere. It's always with me so it gets a lot more use than older chunkier laptops that I've owned in the past.

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