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

Use a developer desktop setup instead of a laptop

theserverside.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 50 posts

Re: Use a developer desktop setup instead of a laptop

#11

Post by Grustaf »

For a lot of people, speed just isn't relevant. An M1 or M2 macbook air, even the old intel MBA, is plenty fast for lots of developers.

Cost is also often a non-issue. Let's say a desktop can save you $500 or so, or even $1000. That's at most $2.5 a day if you keep it for two years, it just isn't relevant to a developer making 50, 100 or 200 k a year.

When it comes to screens and ergonomics, that's largely subjective. For some tasks, I do prefer a large screen, for others it doesn't matter. But I always prefer a macbook keyboard with the built-in trackpad, super convenient.

Re: Use a developer desktop setup instead of a laptop

#12

Post by rad_gruchalski »

gumby wrote: post #9

Article makes a bizarre assertion that a mouse is more productive than a trackpad. Anything that moves my hand from the home row reduces productivity. I can use my thumbs on the trackpad in most cases were a mouse action is absolutely required. Well, I suppose the assertion could be true of non-apple trackpads.

If it works for you, that’s okay. I used various macbooks for over 10 years and their trackpads are great.

However, two years ago, after switching to an external keyboard (hello, butterfly keyboard…), I started using an external gaming mouse with a large gaming pad.

On a work laptop I use the magic trackpad.

The mouse is such an ergonomy upgrade. Bonus point, no more wrist problems.

Re: Use a developer desktop setup instead of a laptop

#13

Post by asddubs »

Grustaf wrote: post #11

For a lot of people, speed just isn't relevant. An M1 or M2 macbook air, even the old intel MBA, is plenty fast for lots of developers. Cost is also often a non-issue. Let's say a desktop can save you $500 or so, or even $1000. That's at most $2.5 a day if you keep it for two years, it just isn't relevant to a developer making 50, 100 or 200 k a year. When it comes to screens and ergonomics, that's largely subjective…

I develop and test on a machine that's nearly a decade old (with a newer graphics card though). I don't do a lot of huge compilation jobs, so it's not annoying to develop on for my use case, and I like it because it makes potential performance pitfalls more obvious and ensures things I build work reasonably on older hardware. I could certainly afford to upgrade my machine, but I'll hold off as long as I can.

Re: Use a developer desktop setup instead of a laptop

#14

Post by blacksmith_tb »

xupybd wrote: post #7
blacksmith_tb wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of the appeal of a desktop is future upgrade-ability, which (unless work buys you a Framework) is pretty poor in most laptops (slightly better in some non-Apple machines, maybe you can at least add ram or a new / different SSD). I think for personal use desktops are pretty great, not that you couldn't get some of that out of using servers elsewhere (or even at home).

I've found desktop upgrades to be poor as well. For gaming it's great, you can upgrade to the latest graphics card and get a huge boost but for work not so great. By the time I want a new CPU I'm going to need a new motherboard to allow the next series of CPU. I find I end up replacing so much that buying a new PC is not much more expensive.

Hmm, AMD's AM4 socket mobos can take kind of a lot of different Ryzens (though to be fair you might need a bigger PSU I guess). I guess maybe it would be more precise to say that most laptops aren't very futureproof because they've become increasingly everything-soldered, so it isn't even just a question of not being able to drop in a better CPU or GPU at some point, but of not being able to replace a bad SSD at all?

Re: Use a developer desktop setup instead of a laptop

#15

Post by kbelder »

I'm surprised most of the comments here are in favor of laptops. I find them deficient in almost every way outside of portability (which, admittedly, is a huge positive). The best laptop keyboards are worse than a cheap desktop keyboard, the trackpads are always worse than a mouse, the monitor is deficient, they have no expandability, the ergonomics are horrible, and so on. I've always felt my productivity was way down on a laptop.

Re: Use a developer desktop setup instead of a laptop

#16

Post by Leimi »

I'd agree on the upgrades and repair arguments.

From an ergonomic/setup side, of course using laptops doesn't prevent you from using a dock, with external monitors, external keyboard and all. In fact a docked laptop that you can pick up in seconds when needed is way easier to deal with than two machines.

About the cost, do like we nerds do: buy refurbished thinkpads. For most software dev, having the latest i9 is not necessary. Old thinkpad workstations are perfect as desktop replacement machines and are somewhat upgradeable. I'm sure this doesn't scale that much but small-scale companies can do this without any trouble. Worked perfectly in a previous company I worked for. People were actually pretty happy we didn't buy 2000€ new stuff while 700€ already-on-the-planet stuff was more than enough.

Re: Use a developer desktop setup instead of a laptop

#18

Post by solraph »

I think this was true ten years ago when laptops could not effectively drive two monitors, and had some serious deficiencies in the processor/ram/HDD space. I would put up with the duplicate desktop/portable system so that I had sufficient power when writing code.

These days, my work laptop happily drives a pair of QuadHD monitors, and even suffices for light gaming. I have yet to max out all the cores and ram. On top of that, I no longer have to deal with having two systems and all the data shenanigans that goes along with that.

Re: Use a developer desktop setup instead of a laptop

#19

Post by Leimi »

kbelder wrote: post #15

I'm surprised most of the comments here are in favor of laptops. I find them deficient in almost every way outside of portability (which, admittedly, is a huge positive). The best laptop keyboards are worse than a cheap desktop keyboard, the trackpads are always worse than a mouse, the monitor is deficient, they have no expandability, the ergonomics are horrible, and so on. I've always felt my productivity was way do…

I'd agree with you if the argument was "full desktop setup" vs "just a laptop". I sometimes envy people who can spend all day using only their laptop. After a few hours bent to look at my 12 inch screen, my neck and back scream.

But when using a laptop with a dock, a big external monitor, external keyboard, mouse etc, I don't see the point in using a desktop machine anymore.

Re: Use a developer desktop setup instead of a laptop

#20

Post by gregjor »

I value mobility over a trendy mechanical keyboard and loud speakers. Working from wherever I want, carrying a nice laptop anywhere, that beats any of the questionable advantages of a desktop. What do real “developers” do that they need the equivalent of a 747? I just need ssh to a decent server.
Post reply on HN