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Ask HN: Why are Macbook Pros so common in the developer/hacker community?

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11–20 of 32 posts

Re: Ask HN: Why are Macbook Pros so common in the developer/hacker community?

#12

I guess the main reason is that it gives you access to the Linux development stack without having to use Linux :) I personally use a Lenovo x220 with Linux on it.

Which distro do you use? I'm looking to sink myself fully into Linux.

Re: Ask HN: Why are Macbook Pros so common in the developer/hacker community?

#13

Close the lid, it goes to sleep. Open the lid, it wakes up. Windows and Linux have yet to master this simple task.

The late 90's want their Linux back.

Seriously, I never had this kind of problem with Linux. I am having them now, but I have nobody to blame but myself for running a beta OS (Ubuntu 11.10)

Re: Ask HN: Why are Macbook Pros so common in the developer/hacker community?

#14

99.999% of the software we can run on our servers can be run on a Mac, it's (arguably) more user friendly than Linux. They're also pretty decent spec'd computers that take a while to go out of date (My 4 year old MBP runs Lion with no problems).

I heard that Lion was shipped with a few issues and have heard a few people wishing to go back to Snow Leopard. Is Lion a step backwards?

Re: Ask HN: Why are Macbook Pros so common in the developer/hacker community?

#15

actually, the answer to your question is "Baaa Baa"--the sound of sheep following other sheep. i am going to offer a dissent here. there is no intellectual rationale for the mac worship.i think linux as as easy to work with as any mac os (and are we talking dvlpr or enduser?). & um, when was the last time you built an Apple machine customized to your needs? last i checked steve jobs didn't know--or understand--what m…

I'm talking developer usage. And which distro do you suggest to a developer who is starting out.

Re: Ask HN: Why are Macbook Pros so common in the developer/hacker community?

#16

Close the lid, it goes to sleep. Open the lid, it wakes up. Windows and Linux have yet to master this simple task.

I think Windows Sleep/Hibernate works good provided the h/w support exists (I've seen a few windows boxes without the hibernate option, wonder why that is though)

Re: Ask HN: Why are Macbook Pros so common in the developer/hacker community?

#17
post #6

They're brilliantly designed, well made, price competitive, and offer the opportunity to run OS/X along with Windows and Linux. Also, there's a point at which spec'ing out machines is an exercise in tedium, and with Apple, you pick the screen size, RAM, HDD/SSD, and sometimes processor, and you're done. That's really nice.

I do not have a MBP, but the multi OS capability is what makes it a candidate for my next purchase. You can develop iphone/ipad/OSX apps, android apps, windows apps (via VMWare) without having to buy another machine.

Re: Ask HN: Why are Macbook Pros so common in the developer/hacker community?

#18
post #15

actually, the answer to your question is "Baaa Baa"--the sound of sheep following other sheep. i am going to offer a dissent here. there is no intellectual rationale for the mac worship.i think linux as as easy to work with as any mac os (and are we talking dvlpr or enduser?). & um, when was the last time you built an Apple machine customized to your needs? last i checked steve jobs didn't know--or understand--what m…

I'm talking developer usage. And which distro do you suggest to a developer who is starting out.

"a developer who is starting out."

Lots of people will say "this distro for that reason," etc. None are hands down better than all the rest, and all of them are reasonable.

Ubuntu is very popular, and it doesn't require too much knowledge to get started. After you've used Linux for awhile, you'll develop your own preferences and you can switch to whatever you prefer. If you want a slightly easier way to enable media, you could go with Mint, which is based on Ubuntu.

http://distrowatch.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_distribution#Popular_dist...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_distributions

The timeline graphic of that last one is interesting, it shows how each distro is derived from its parents.

EDIT: It doesn't matter overly much, just start somewhere.

Re: Ask HN: Why are Macbook Pros so common in the developer/hacker community?

#19
post #6

They're brilliantly designed, well made, price competitive, and offer the opportunity to run OS/X along with Windows and Linux. Also, there's a point at which spec'ing out machines is an exercise in tedium, and with Apple, you pick the screen size, RAM, HDD/SSD, and sometimes processor, and you're done. That's really nice.

I do not have a MBP, but the multi OS capability is what makes it a candidate for my next purchase. You can develop iphone/ipad/OSX apps, android apps, windows apps (via VMWare) without having to buy another machine.

That is a major reason why I'm considering it (or the Macbook Air) for my next notebook. Also, I believe Windows can be natively installed on Macs.

Re: Ask HN: Why are Macbook Pros so common in the developer/hacker community?

#20
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm talking developer usage. And which distro do you suggest to a developer who is starting out.

"a developer who is starting out." Lots of people will say "this distro for that reason," etc. None are hands down better than all the rest, and all of them are reasonable. Ubuntu is very popular, and it doesn't require too much knowledge to get started. After you've used Linux for awhile, you'll develop your own preferences and you can switch to whatever you prefer. If you want a slightly easier way to enable media,…

Thank you. I've tried Ubuntu before, so I guess I'll have to check out Mint as well. It was recommended by a few of my friends as well.
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