
Ask HN: What's the Best Non-Apple Web Dev Computer? - okwme
My last two computers over the last 10 years were both macbook airs and did their job gloriously. I&#x27;ve just bought the new 2018 model with 16GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage for $1,800. I&#x27;m a week in and the fans get just as loud as my previous 5.5 year old 2013 model and the chasis gets even hotter when having a video call. The front end camera is terrible quality and all of these seem to be known issues.<p>My question: what is the best alternative? I&#x27;ve heard the MBP has similar heat issues and the touch bar is a waste imo. I&#x27;ve tried the 2nd gen chrome pixelbook and it worked with ubuntu crouton but it wasn&#x27;t a great experience. I work with linux servers sometimes but would rather not do too much manual configuration. I do mostly web development with occasional design work in the adobe suite. I&#x27;m in the command line a lot (not VIM) but also various IDEs and webcam calls. I am doing more software dev that requires compiling and very occasionally do video editing. I use an iPhone, mostly because iMessage is where my friends live. chrome, vscode, 1password, spotify, slack, keybase, zoom and plex are my most used apps.<p>TLDR: What machine &amp; OS would be best suited to a long time mac user with medium to high processing requirements and a soft spot for good design but ready to move away from Apple?
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ktpsns
Notorious answer: Try a ThinkPad. Considering your need for the Adobe suite,
you probably want to test whether Windows is something for you. However,
thinkpads also go great with Linux. I had a t420 in 2011 and a X1 Yoga in
2016, both 1-2kEUR machines and they are great.

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oblib
I don't think you have a lot of options.

My own preference is to work on a desktop mac and I've not bought a laptop
since Apple made the clamshell iBook.

Sucks to hear your report on the macbook though. I feel for you.

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ctrlaltdev
I'm really pleased with the Dell XPS line - and in term of OS I would
recommend Fedora or Debian.

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russianator
Another vote for the XPS, I have a 9360 with bare metal Ubuntu.

Works flawlessly and the screen is very nice.

