Definitely go with a MacBook. Seems perfect for you
Thanks for the suggestion, it's just financially painful compared to a natively compatible hackbook or other idea.
Laptop of choice for a Programmer, Need Help
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Re: Laptop of choice for a Programmer, Need Help
#32This may not be popular, but, I use HP laptops almost exclusively, I'm a Python and PHP mostly programmer (I have been learning Java for about a year), and I have three HP laptops. A dv2300 pavilion, an HDX 16, and an older one, can't remember series, that still works. They all dual boot windows and linux (sorry, no OSX, just doesn't appeal to me). As long as you can easily add ram and HDD's (one of the reasons apple…
Re: Laptop of choice for a Programmer, Need Help
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks for the suggestion, it's just financially painful compared to a natively compatible hackbook or other idea.
If you're a student (it doesn't sounds like you are, but...) you can get the student discount, which can be around ~$200 for most laptops that apple sells. Maybe you know a student who can actually make the purchase for you? Just a thought.
Re: Laptop of choice for a Programmer, Need Help
#3415.4" Lenovo Thinkpad with the WUXGA+ display really really provides valuable screen real estate for code
Well over the mac price point. Nice machines, but not as well built as they used to be.
I don't think Macbook could ever compare to Thinkpad T61/T500 for some serious development. Ever.
Macbook Pro is another story, with another price tag too :)
Re: Laptop of choice for a Programmer, Need Help
#35Sounds like you really want a MacBook - you'll find a way to amortize the couple of hundred bucks extra it'll cost. As for me, I use a 1st gen black MacBook w/Leopard, added a bigger HDD and aftermarket RAM to 2GB. I use a Logitech V470 bluetooth mouse which I carry everywhere, and I've got a couple of bluetooth apple keyboards (shorties without the num pad) - one for the office and one at home. For external monitors…
How's fusion?
If you want to comparison shop, Parallels and VirtualBox are also options. Others I know have been happy with both, but I haven't played much with either.
Re: Laptop of choice for a Programmer, Need Help
#36It's $1229.99 (1179.99 after $50 rebate) at Amazon.
Re: Laptop of choice for a Programmer, Need Help
#37Sounds like you really want a MacBook - you'll find a way to amortize the couple of hundred bucks extra it'll cost. As for me, I use a 1st gen black MacBook w/Leopard, added a bigger HDD and aftermarket RAM to 2GB. I use a Logitech V470 bluetooth mouse which I carry everywhere, and I've got a couple of bluetooth apple keyboards (shorties without the num pad) - one for the office and one at home. For external monitors…
How's fusion?
Re: Laptop of choice for a Programmer, Need Help
#38I highly recommend the last gen macbooks. I have a second to last gen one and it's a great computer besides the fact that it can only address 3gb of ram. I've recently upgraded to the new unibody macbook which is an amazing machine, but a little beyond your price point of $1000
Most are recommending that I either get a lastgen mac or the current-gen. The current-gen is quite an upgrade, and it seems that I might just sell off some stuff to make up the difference and get a current-gen. There's just too much great software on OS X for me to pass up.
Re: Laptop of choice for a Programmer, Need Help
#39I highly recommend the last gen macbooks. I have a second to last gen one and it's a great computer besides the fact that it can only address 3gb of ram. I've recently upgraded to the new unibody macbook which is an amazing machine, but a little beyond your price point of $1000
The new ones are still too new to know if they'll be similarly problematic. I was disappointed with the new model not supporting firewire or more than 4 GB of RAM though, so I probably won't upgrade any time soon.
Re: Laptop of choice for a Programmer, Need Help
#40Second 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.