

Macbook air Or Macbook pro - steven_info

I want to learn programming. i'm interested in C/C++, which macbook should i choose?
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dilithiumH3
Coming from a person who has owned both. I can say for sure that it just
doesn't matter. Some will say that the pro has more ports and is more of a
power beast, but given all that let me ask you the following. 1\. You are
starting to program, consider yourself at least a few months out till you get
into a world where you will start programming device drivers. 2\. When was the
last time you actually used a dvd drive? Everything is on the internet or
wirelessly available.

Most of the work that I have done, ranging from device drivers to now,
distributed systems, my macbook air sufficed. Programming has never 'required'
me to have a retina display. If you asked the question with the context of
media or photo editing, my answer would be different.

My setup is as follows: 1\. Macbook air 11" (portability is the key) 2\. Apple
wireless keyboard and mouse 3\. Apple 27" display connected via thunderbolt.
(wired network). You may substitute with any other good monitor.

The desktop setup is just a plain must. Anyone who says 11" or 13" or even 15"
is enough for working, has just never worked on a big screen long enough. It
just increases your productivity by an order of magnitude. Imagine the time
saved by having multiple windows/terminals and documentation right in front of
you and not having to switch between the two.

So, to end it all. Get a decent compact machine that you can take with you,
and use on the go. And get yourself a good desktop setup when you want to get
serious stuff done. Also, the desktop setup (personally) focuses you into a
simple and distraction free zone, allowing you to be more productive.

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UnoriginalGuy
You need to give us more to go on. You can program C/C++ on a Raspberry Pi
without issue.

So clearly you aren't buying either machine to learn to program C/C++ on. Any
PC or computer made in the last thirty years would be equally good for that.

So tell us your real requirements (e.g. gaming, DVDs, digital video, etc) and
what you really do day to day (e.g. mobile users, "workstation replacement,"
etc)?

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factorialboy
I don't want to be seen as a troll, but for a development laptop System76
provide high quality but reasonably priced Ubuntu laptops.

You'll come to thank the Ubuntu / Debian package manager when it comes to
setting up the dev env.. ;-)

<http://www.system76.com>

You could also of course run Ubuntu on IBM, Lenovo, Dell, Apple or any other
manufacturers box.

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japhyr
I was happy with a System 76 pangolin a few years ago. Only problem was the
battery life. I looked at their newer offerings, and they look nice. Does
anyone have experience with System 76's newer models?

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mcabral
Depends on how much you want to spend. The Macbook Pro models generally have
faster CPUs so you'll see a benefit there in terms of compilation time and
general snappiness.

The MBP gives you the option of the Retina display though. My personal opinion
is that that in and of itself is worth the extra cost :P. If you're going for
the 13", be aware of the fact that it can be a little bit laggy when you're
trying to something graphically intensive. Depending on your use case, you
might be better off getting the standard MBP if that bothers you.

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infinii
The new 13" Pro w/ Retina is probably the most perfect incarnation of a laptop
available now. Apple finally did away with the rarely used optical drive which
means it weights only slightly more than the Air. The resolution of the retina
is great. I've used several 15" MBP's and the 1440x900 was never satisfying.

It basically comes down to high resolution vs half a pound in weight. Almost
all developers I've worked with, prefer higher resolutions so the choice is
simple for me.

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ishbits
I think if you have to ask, the Air (with memory maxed) will be fine. The Pro
is a safe bet to.

Something to think about - if you are doing the majority of your work on the
laptop screen, I do find its nice to have a 15".

I have a quad-core Linux desktop with 12gb of RAM. And an 11" Air with 4gb of
RAM. For Java development I find them both adequate, unless I'm working with
an 8gb dataset - but that might fall more into the testing category.

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_rmurillo
Both laptops will be fine to learn programming in C/C++, the decision should
be taken by other features or needs. The macbook pro offers more processing
power, but if you want portability choose macbook air. If your only interest
is learn to program I would recommend you to buy the macbook air.

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jamesjguthrie
If you don't need to use any Mac OS specific software then you could get a
Windows laptop, the hardware is generally cheaper.

If it must be an Apple then the Air is more than suitable for a bit of coding.

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jetti
"If it must be an Apple then the Air is more than suitable for a bit of
coding."

Why? I'm looking into getting an Apple laptop and don't know which to get. I'm
leaning towards the MBP just because I'm getting into music production and the
extra hard drive space would be nice to have but I would also use it for
programming as well.

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jamesjguthrie
Like I said, the Air is more than suitable for coding however it might not be
suited to music production, for that you might want a beefier machine.

~~~
jetti
I apologize. After re-reading that I definitely missed something when I made
the post. I thought that you were saying that an Air would be better for
programming.

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eduardordm
Given that you are learning, mobility could help you going to meetups, friends
houses, et al, to learn. That said, the lighter the better. Go with a macbook
air.

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niico
After using an AIR the Pro feels super heavy. I believe the Air is just
perfect considering I use lots of design softwares.

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w009adg
probably doesn't matter too much. I like a pro because you can upgrade the HDD
and ram on your own and avoid apple's insane upgrade prices

edit: the standard MBP, I've heard terrible things about the retina pros being
generally laggy

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cyphersanctus
Macbook air works perfectly fine for me.

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pdog
Get the 13.3" MacBook Air.

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jezfromfuture
pro.

