

Ask HN: A good notebook for web development? - notastartup

What&#x27;s a good notebook to be used mainly for web development, coding.<p>I&#x27;m guessing that screen estate is important so 17 inch should do it.<p>Just curious what everyone is using and where they got good deals from.
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richbradshaw
Retina Macbook Pro. You can run it at a variety of resolutions that all look
very sharp - 1920 x 1200 is very usable, but you can bump it way up to stupid
high resolutions if you want screen space.

I've found it's awesome because I can effectively go from web browsing on a
1440 x 900 laptop to working on the equivalent of an iMac (2560 x 1440) or
even higher (2880 x 1800) without losing sharpness.

If you then want extra space, you can plugin in an external monitor, but to be
honest, I ended up selling the two externals I used to use (they were 1080p,
and seemed small and blurry in comparison).

Using OSX, you also get the benefits that it's very unixy/linuxy, so you get
bash, ssh, openssl, grep, sed, ruby, python, php, apache etc as part of the
system. With Xcode you get other tools like git. Configuring an acceptable dev
environment for web dev can be done without downloading anything extra. (Of
course, to get an awesome dev environment does require a bit more work, but
arguably much less than the equivalent on Windows).

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tabakd
Currently using a Thinkpad X230i with Arch Linux + DWM. The ultra-portability
is great and it's been a great machine for all around development.

I Bought it "used" for $500. (i3, 500gb ssd, 4gb ram)

[http://www.ktgee.net/post/49423737148/thinkpad-
guide](http://www.ktgee.net/post/49423737148/thinkpad-guide)

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izolate
If you really need screen estate, get an external monitor. I've used a 15 inch
MBP since 2008 and before today I couldn't have imagined downgrading. I bought
a used 11 inch MBA off gumtree today and have surprisingly found it more than
adequate for the job. In particular I'm enjoying the prospect of truly mobile
computing.

Personally, I think the most ideal web development machine is the 13 inch Dell
XPS Developer Edition with Ubuntu.

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jamesjguthrie
I'm using an HP Chromebook 14 running Ubuntu. I've got an external monitor for
when I need it - hardly ever. Current resolution is 1776 x 999.

Some of the best things about it are the built in 3G modem with 2 years free
internet, how light it is, how cheap it was even though it really looks very
nice, and how quickly it boots.

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ShaneOG
I use a Macbook Air, sometimes connected to a Dell 24" monitor. My next laptop
will be Macbook Pro Retina.

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adam_klein
I cannot fail MacBook Pro 13" with Retina display. The 15" variant is a bit
too bulky for travelling. I also use Dell 24" external monitor when working
from the office.

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mskobe
Macbook pro with Retina, and a Dell 24" monitor.

