Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#191

Post by allisdust » Mon, Aug 29, 2022, 10:44 AM UTC

pizza234 wrote: post #135

colordrops wrote: post #75

Switch to Linux. Using MacOS locks you into proprietary hardware. By focusing on the software rather than the hardware, you can switch hardware manufactures as they oscillate in quality. Going with something like NixOS would make this even easier as your operating system setup could easily be migrated to another machine when the time comes.

Switching to Linux is a move that must be extremely carefully considered, due to compatibility. I'm positive about this because I've been working 10+ years exclusively on it, and compatibility is "not great". In the past, Linux compatibility was not great because the desktop userbase was considerably smaller. Today, compatiblity is not great because hardware got considerably more complex. It's possible that some hard…

> Dell XPS compatibility with Linux is a half-scam

How so? I'm using one with ubuntu 22. 04 and it works great. Haven't seen a laptop that properly sleeps and wakes up with Linux before so it has been a pleasant experience. Only thing that doesn't work out of the box is the fingerprint reader.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#192

Post by weberer » Mon, Aug 29, 2022, 10:45 AM UTC

begueradj wrote: post #190

Quoted post unavailable.

>Wow ! It took you 10 years of suffering? This sounds suspicious to me.

You'd be amazed by the amount of people still using Windows in 2022, and cursing it every single day while doing so.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#193

Post by brtkdotse » Mon, Aug 29, 2022, 10:46 AM UTC

adisbladis wrote: post #93

Lenovo's paid warranty has been fantastic for me in the multiple countries where I've used it (Sweden, Hong Kong and Mexico). In all three they sent out a local service technician that fixed the problem on-site. Once it was a a worn out SSD that was replaced with one twice as big as that was the only thing they had in stock (Sweden), another time it was a broken connector on the motherboard (Hong Kong) and the third…

I bought a P14s a few months ago and got an offer for 3 years of premium on-site support for €1 :D

Note that you have to purchase it as a company to get access to the premium support.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#194

Post by 2muchcoffeeman » Mon, Aug 29, 2022, 10:47 AM UTC

enlyth wrote: post #74

2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #66

What country is this? People are suggesting Frame Work laptops but if you don’t have official Apple support, it’s even less likely Frame Work ships to this country and if you managed to get one you’d have no support. I imagine you need to go the Dell XPS or Lenovo route.

The XPS are pretty decent machines, I just wish they didn't get so damn hot. This is probably Intel's fault? Can't have the laptop on your lap because it will burn through your legs and it's loud af since the fans spin at a million RPM trying to cool it down. Aiming to sell my 13" XPS and replace it with an M2 Macbook Air, after work gave me an M1 16" Pro and it's just so unbelievably efficient and never gets hot, pl…

I use my XPS for work. But I've got a M2 Air coming for personal projects.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#195

Post by napier » Mon, Aug 29, 2022, 10:47 AM UTC

All I want is a laptop with mac quality case and components, magsafe equivalent and most of all... a direct sunlight readable screen (transreflective or something new and exotic). But honestly would happily take just about anything with a sunlight readable screen. Not trapped in an office, would like not to be trapped indoors when it's bright out.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#196

Post by blueflow » Mon, Aug 29, 2022, 10:48 AM UTC

A few years ago i invested a full month's wage into buying leasing return thinkpads from ebay. Its basically pre-selected business hardware for few bucks. The hardware is from around 2010, so its fine for everything except gaming and electron apps.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#197

Post by jonahbenton » Mon, Aug 29, 2022, 10:48 AM UTC

Fedora works beautifully on Thinkpads. And Lenovo next day support plans, in the numerous geographies in which they are available, really are that.

Fedora is quite different from MacOS, to be sure. But if you use package management, the terminal, and VSCode- those bits are pretty much the same.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#198

Post by aerique » Mon, Aug 29, 2022, 10:48 AM UTC

zivkovicp wrote: post #137

Please excuse the long-winded answer... I have also given up on Apple, but mostly because I can't see the value in it anymore, otherwise my experience with them has been satisfactory (Intel CPU models). For the past few years I used a Microsoft Surface Pro because it seemed to have good build quality and high screen resolution, but despite this I have had to replace it as part of a recall due to a graphics hardware i…

Due to Lenovo shortages I could pick an MSI gaming laptop (GS66 Stealth) to replace my broken work laptop.

It's awesome. Happily been running Guix on it for the past six months. (As expected, since it is Linux on an unsupported machine, I had to put in some time to get it running smoothly but the person after me does not have to do that anymore.)

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#199

Post by juicypt » Mon, Aug 29, 2022, 10:51 AM UTC

This is tangential to the discussion, but are there any laptops that won't heat up your legs/groin when used on your lap?

I remember owning an Asus UL30VT [1] 10 or 15 years ago, and I could have it on my lap for hours without feeling any heat regardless of the CPU load. It was a bit crappy in other ways, but a joy to use on the go!

It seems like nowadays all manufacturers try to keep the components cool, but don't care much about the external chassis temperature. Even laptops that use ultra low voltage CPUs usually go for fanless setups instead of trying to improve external temperatures.

[1] https://www.notebookcheck.net/Asus-UL30VT.27130.0.html

Re: Ask HN: Is there a developer laptop that does not suck and is not a Mac in 2022?

#200

Post by dagw » Mon, Aug 29, 2022, 10:53 AM UTC

tymm wrote: post #186

jgb1984 wrote: post #162

Laptops are all together awful. I can't imagine working on one for more than a few hours. My self built desktop blows any laptop out of the water in speed, comfort, reliability, upgrade / repair potential and ergonomics (obviously ignoring portability).

In terms of speed, at least when we look at mostly single-threaded work load (like most dev work is), a M2 Macbook Air is faster than every Desktop PC. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Eh. The 12900k still has the edge in most single threaded benchmarks, and the latest Threadripper Pro will easily crush it on multithreaded loads (all while drawing close to an order of magnitude more power). Also your MacBook Air will thermal throttle if under load for too long, while a desktop computer offers a lot more options for cooling. Further more a desktop computer gives you the option to use faster storage and more and faster RAM which might be very relevant in some scenarios. Plus there is the whole GPU/CUDA side of things which may or may not be relevant to you.

All that being said, I'm typing this on an M1 MBP and the perceived day to day performance is better than any desktop computer I've owned, even if it will no doubt lose out a 'real' workstation when it comes to running 24 hour CFD simulations.