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Laptop of choice for a Programmer, Need Help

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Re: Laptop of choice for a Programmer, Need Help

#11

Post by bprater »

alnayyir wrote: post #4
bprater wrote: post #2

I love my MBP 17" with 1900x resolution. It allows me to pack my screen full. It sounds like it isn't in your budget, but as a developer, you might think about screen real estate. I had a 15" but couldn't develop on it. Since I got this 17", I've used it 100% of the time, 10+ hours a day.

Eh, this needs to be a portable machine, and I fully expect to have an extra monitor available to plug into if I need the real estate for coding. I've simply never needed that much space while on the go. Can't say I'd mind the space, but it's not feasible with my budget. If the Dell Studio 15's were compatible with leopard, I'd go with that because there's a 1900x1200 resolution upgrade that is VERY reasonably priced…

I have a backpack and I take it everywhere. Not sometimes, but every single day I hit up a coffeeshop. So it's very portable.

If you regularly plug into a bigger screen, a smaller machine might be better. If the Dell isn't compatible yet, I'm sure it will be in the future. Darn hackers!

Re: Laptop of choice for a Programmer, Need Help

#15

Post by alnayyir »

gherlein wrote: post #7

I just got a Dell XPS 1530 - bigger than you probably want, but for me it's outstanding. 1920x1200 LCD, HDMI out, 4GB RAM, Core2 Duo, 320GB haard drive - for under $1500. A huge seling point for me was that it can be ordered with Ubuntu so it's fully linux compatable.

As soon as a windows laptop cracks 1k, it's macbook buying time I'm afraid.

Re: Laptop of choice for a Programmer, Need Help

#16

Post by alnayyir »

nanexcool wrote: post #10

I'd get a XPS M1330. I dual boot Windows 7 Beta and OS X 10.5.6 with no problems. Got 4 GB of RAM, and both OS fly. I've installed Ubuntu on it as well and everything works. Only things that don't work in OS X are Ethernet, Card Reader, and you have to manually press the Power button for 5 seconds to power down. Other than that, it's great.

Which graphics chip?

Re: Laptop of choice for a Programmer, Need Help

#17

Post by zackola »

tower10 wrote: post #3

Second hand (or refurbished), last gen 15" Macbook Pro. I use one of these for development, no complaints.

Agreed. Find a mac addict on craigslist who bought one right before the new ones came out. Spend 50 bucks at crucial to max out the memory to 4GB. Mmmm. Tasty memory.

Re: Laptop of choice for a Programmer, Need Help

#18

Post by alnayyir »

bprater wrote: post #11
alnayyir wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh, this needs to be a portable machine, and I fully expect to have an extra monitor available to plug into if I need the real estate for coding. I've simply never needed that much space while on the go. Can't say I'd mind the space, but it's not feasible with my budget. If the Dell Studio 15's were compatible with leopard, I'd go with that because there's a 1900x1200 resolution upgrade that is VERY reasonably priced…

I have a backpack and I take it everywhere. Not sometimes, but every single day I hit up a coffeeshop. So it's very portable. If you regularly plug into a bigger screen, a smaller machine might be better. If the Dell isn't compatible yet, I'm sure it will be in the future. Darn hackers!

It's not that simple. There just isn't a lot of people working on the OS X x86 situation. There was one guy making tons of progress single-handedly, but he disappeared.

There just isn't much in the way of progress. The only people out there making any (somewhat) progress is the macvidia team and they're still fundamentally reliant upon Apple's willingness to support a given chip for the Mac Pro.

It's not a matter of time if no one cares.

The problem is that people either already own a mac and don't care about people who can't afford one, or they don't care about using the OS.

I love the hardware, I really really do, but I'm not dumping that kind of money into a machine. It's not feasible on my income (meager).

Re: Laptop of choice for a Programmer, Need Help

#20

Post by jonknee »

alnayyir wrote: post #13
therubberduckie wrote: post #9

just wanted to say that Macbooks DO come with a DVD burner (SuperDrive) even the last gen ones.

For extra money (last gen ones). The $949 model I mentioned that is refurb has a DVD-Burner.

The last-gen $999 model for sale at the Apple Store right now contains a DVD burner. But I couldn't see getting the last-gen. $300 more and you get a big upgrade. If you keep it a while, you'll never go back and wish you had the $300.
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