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Ask HN: Are there any reasonable alternatives to MacBook Pro for developer?

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Re: Ask HN: Are there any reasonable alternatives to MacBook Pro for developer?

#381
post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do your co-workers not have issues with HiDPI support on Linux? I've heard it's not the best experience and can require quite some fiddling to get working correctly.

The biggest problem in linux is not directly HiDPI. HiDPI works (mostly). However if you can't use wayland you will have a problem when you need the following: Multiple monitors with different screen resultions. Lets say your laptop has 4k and you use two external monitors with 1080p than it gets tricky with older wayland or x.org. However on later stable/edge channels most things are probably better than when I test…

If you have a good GPU you can use the xrandr commandline tool to set up display scaling, so your secondary low-DPI screen is rendered at high DPI and scaled down. Then you only need one DPI setting for your DE.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any reasonable alternatives to MacBook Pro for developer?

#382
post #357

My two cents, biased against Mac: Mac is not a reasonable choice for developers. Reasonable choice is an open source system, configured to suit your needs. As a developer, you want to be in control of the system, not the other way around. Well, at least, with Linux, you're much more in control, and have ways to be more efficient in your work. Regarding the constraints you mentioned: * cost: it's often posible to find…

Your statements here are pretty ridiculous. SO many developers use a Mac because it’s a wonderful environment. I feel like you’ve never used a Mac based on your comments.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any reasonable alternatives to MacBook Pro for developer?

#383

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK, so I guess the problem comes from trying to fuse everything into one screen? In the old days, we would run X with separate screen numbers to get multiple outputs via multiple graphics cards. You could slide your mouse between screens, but you couldn't drag a window across or have a window spanning the two screens. Each window remained confined to one screen, and only a few apps knew how to open windows on more th…

> In the old days, we would run X with separate screen numbers to get multiple outputs via multiple graphics cards Those days are gone. No matter how hard you try - either you are simply not runing on current hardware, have very modest expectations or close your eyes to realize that the Linux desktop in this regard is at least two years behind, minimum!

I am not arguing, I am genuinely wondering what you guys want. I have read multiple assertions that Linux is broken but no clear explanation of what it should be doing differently.

For reference, I have been using Linux continuously on all sorts of hardware since 1994. What I lack is any practical experience using modern Windows or Mac OS, so I have no idea what implicit expectations you may be bringing from those. The last time I ran Windows directly on hardware was before Windows 95 was released, and similarly my only real Mac experience was on monochrome classic Macs before OS X existed.

Over the years, I have used just about every sort of display hardware with Linux, ranging from serial terminals, Hercules monochrome graphics, 800x600 through 1600x1200 CRTs, the first wave of DVI-based LCDs, various HDTVs, the first DLP projectors, and my current dual 4K monitors. I was also involved in the early testing and deployment of 2D and 3D accelerators on Linux, as well as things like clusters driving arrays of projectors. We even had one of those IBM "Big Bertha" displays in our lab at one point, which was one of the first 300 DPI LCD monitors available. Just about the only thing I haven't used with Linux is head-mounted displays nor stereo glasses. My last involvement with VR was 20 years ago when SGI Onyx-based CAVE systems were prevalent in academia, combining head-tracking, active shutters, and multiple wall projectors.

But, to be honest, I have no use case to combine different DPI monitors into a single graphical screen or desktop. If I connect a laptop to a projector or display panel for presentations, I tend to just want to duplicate the presentation view on the internal screen. Otherwise, I use the laptop to be mobile and I use workstations with their dedicated displays.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any reasonable alternatives to MacBook Pro for developer?

#384

I recent got a 15 inch Dell Precision. I’m running a recent Ubuntu. I don’t recommend. It constantly throttles the CPI. I get lots of PCIe recoverable errors. The USB bus runs out of available throughout. Plugging anything Displaylink is a disaster. The camera/microphone is below the screen, which sucks more than I expected. It takes 2 hands to open the laptop. It is possible to plug in the power supply such that com…

Yah, dell seems to be returning to their early 2000's level of quality. I purchased a dell notebook a little over a year ago. Exactly 13 months in the motherboard died, although thanks to the fact that I purchased it from a 3rd party reseller that apparently didn't report the sold date properly dell repaired it for free. I've had a number of associates who told me similar stories about their recently purchased dell's, so its common enough that purchasing a dell as anything other than a throw away machine is probably not a good plan.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any reasonable alternatives to MacBook Pro for developer?

#385

I recently migrated from a mid-2013 MBP, primarily because I was increasingly disgusted with the lack of control over my own system. I knew (more or less) what I was getting into when I bought it, but that choice grated as it needed work. The battery had pretty much gone, and not only wasn't something I could fix, but the Apple stores I visited didn't carry the part. Turns out it's not just the glued-in battery, but…

The real kicker is that the P51 with a Xeon E3-1535M v6, 64GB ECC RAM, Quadro M2200, 1TB SSD, and 4K screen costs about $500 less than the 15" MBP with 1TB storage. The weight difference compared to "thin and light" 15 inch models isn't even that dramatic, it's all of one and a half pounds heavier than the MBP or one pound heavier than the XPS 15.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any reasonable alternatives to MacBook Pro for developer?

#387
post #87

Not a hardware req, but I've recently become quite enamored with Win 10 + WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) after years of using a Mac. WSL lets you run a lightweight Linux shell (Ubuntu, SUSE, Kali are supported atm) without a VM. It's purely for command-line purposes, no X, but that's fine for me. Windows for UI, then I can run all my bash in the Ubuntu shell almost seamlessly. You can run the shell directly from s…

It is a pretty nice trick, and I use the same i3 config between my laptop & Windows desktop so everything comes up the same.

The filesystem is slow though, for e.g. Rails work you will feel the difference between WSL & normal Linux.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any reasonable alternatives to MacBook Pro for developer?

#388

You maybe need to step back and look at the bigger picture you seem to need to run many vm/ docker instances - and need a lot or RAM a CPU cores. would not a decent whitebox system using ryzen or threadripper be better suited? Do you really need to work on a laptop? it sounds like you'd be better off with a bigger desktop and a dual monitor set up - don't get caught up in the glamor of the apple brand.

I'm going to second this. Monitor real estate is one of the most important machine productivity metrics in my experience (the other being build/test turnaround time). Its seems there are always trade-offs when trying to drive a lot of pixels even on the most displayport/MST devices.

Besides that, building large projects is one of the areas where multicore systems really shine. The projects I work on have hour plus build times on the 2-4 core class machine one generally finds in a laptop. Those times can be shrunk to Basically, I would reverse it, get the best desktop class machine possible, and a fairly low end laptop with a decent screen. Put the desktop wherever you do the most work, and then remote into it with the laptop. If your stuck on a plane/etc, work on a presentation or whatever..

Re: Ask HN: Are there any reasonable alternatives to MacBook Pro for developer?

#389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Friendly reminder that Lenovo made a deliberate choice to ship malware payloads to its customers from the factory [0] by preinstalling an SSL MITM proxy configuration from an adware vendor. This is not some suspicious technology with legitimate uses like Intel Management Engine. This is not concerns about the second-order implications of your voluntary uploads to Facebook and Google. It's not even an agency with a re…

Friendly reminder that nobody cares.

I have a collection of old ThinkPads going back to the R31. I loved ThinkPad -- Linux compatible, nice keyboard, trackpoint, the well thought out work light you could activate in the dark. But Lenovo lost my trust and have done nothing to regain it. I'm not buying another ThinkPad.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any reasonable alternatives to MacBook Pro for developer?

#390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thinkpads weren't affected [source] ( https://support.lenovo.com/lu/en/product_security/superfish ). You're welcome to boycott the company, but the corporate models are protected.

One might boycott a restaurant because they don't like its political activism, labor and sourcing practices, etc. This is much simpler than that. Lenovo served poisoned food. Not as a food-safety oversight, but as a matter of policy. The fact that they only did it for some menu items is irrelevant.

A better comparison might be that they stole your credit card number. Lenovo did not kill anyone or endanger their lives
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