

Ask HN: Developer laptop under $500 - xux

What are your suggestions for a developer laptop?
I&#x27;ll mainly use it for web dev:<p>- html&#x2F;css&#x2F;js&#x2F;angularos editing<p>- need basic linux tools such as ssh<p>- need to be lightweight, long battery life, slim<p>My budget is $500
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aaren
Very recently I bought a Thinkpad X200s (12inch screen) from ebay (<£200). I
put in 8GB of RAM (£50) (max the chipset will support) and a 256GB SSD (OCZ
Octane, ~£120).

Total cost £370, which is just under $600. If you skip the extra ram and get a
lower capacity SSD, you can get this under $500.

I installed Crunchbang 64bit. I do lots of coding on this machine. My battery
lasts about 7 hours. Very lightweight. The Thinkpad keyboard is excellent.

I would consider the SSD essential for both speed and battery saving, but you
could make it cheaper still without.

You could go back another generation and get an X60/61\. These are even
cheaper. The Thinkpad build quality is excellent. I expect mine to last for at
least 5 years.

~~~
phaus
I just got a T430 with 8gb and a 256 SSD on the Lenovo Outlet for $449. They
have been clearing inventory lately to make space for the new models.

------
Samuel_Michon
For that budget, I’d suggest buying a second hand MacBook Air. Looking at the
listings on eBay, you could get a pristine one with 13" LED backlit screen,
1.7Ghz i5 with 128GB SSD, 4GB RAM, and with a fresh battery. The MacBook Air
is a slim laptop with long battery life, and using the standard OS, you can
run all the POSIX apps you could possibly want (or just install a GNU/Linux
distro, which the machine is very compatible with, drivers and everything.)
That generation has 7 hours of battery life, with WiFi turned on.

Otherwise, what you’re describing is an Ultrabook, and you won’t get a new one
for $500.

~~~
xux
I'm curious why everyone is recommending a Mac. Always been a PC guy. How easy
is it to get used to coding on a Mac / installing packages?

~~~
sejje
Especially when you have to get one with a 13" screen. I can't imagine that
for development.

You can pry my 18" linux rig from my cold, dead fingers.

~~~
Samuel_Michon
That must be fun to lug around. I have a 13" MacBook Air. At less than 3
pounds, I never have to choose whether I should pack it, I just take it
everywhere.

The 13" screen works great for development, but at home, I do connect a 27"
external display[1].

[1] [http://www.apple.com/displays/](http://www.apple.com/displays/)

------
MrMeker
Acer chromebook. I paid $199 for mine. They just released a new version so the
previous should be cheaper now.

With nitrous.io, you will be able to do everything you list. With an
installation of chrouton, you can do anything you want, locally and offline.
Another tool worth looking at is Caret, a great imitation of Sublime Text that
runs as a Chrome app and supports multiple cursors.

I get 3-4 hr battery life, but I have the stock battery. There are others
available with 150% the capacity of the original.

Speaking of upgrades, the Acer C7 is the most easily and possibly the only
upgradeable chromebook. It supports up to 16GB RAM and any size laptop hard
drive. Mine came with a 16GB SSD, of which 2.3GB is available with a full,
well used chrouton install. I am thinking of upgrading the RAM as 2GB is
getting tight with instances of chrome running under both operating systems.
Having a computer with a 1:1 ratio of RAM to hard storage would be kind of
strange.

Overall, the keyboard and screen are really nice. The touchpad is what could
be expected for $200.

~~~
stefcosma
Agreed. An Acer Chromebook would be a good choice if your're using it to web
dev. But I would suggest you try Koding
([http://koding.com](http://koding.com)) Mainly because it has a few notable
features that are perfect for a Chromebook.

A Chrome app
[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/terminal/kogcfmeen...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/terminal/kogcfmeennoidocadkgjhnbancebmlbf)

Free virtual machine (VM) with Ubuntu, root access, apt-get, and many commonly
used tools

Built-in Terminal with 256-color support

All languages, databases, and command-line tools are supported

Various file upload options such as Drag & Drop, Dropbox, Clone from Github,
FTP and the ability to access them using SSH

Real-time code and terminal collaboration with integrated chat abilities

Subdomains serve PHP, Perl, Python via Apache, and additional ports are
available for other web apps

So in my opinion that's your best choice. :)

------
autotravis
"My budget is $500" \+ "need to be lightweight, long battery life, slim"

good luck with that.

Chromebook or
[http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=Proper...](http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=Property&N=100020039&IsNodeId=1&PropertyCodeValue=34568%3A443034&bop=And&cm_sp=Ultra3090-_-VisNav-
_-Non-Touch%2CUltrabooks-_-VisNav-_-Non-Touch&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20) are my
suggestions.

~~~
autotravis
Actually, this looks interesting (IdeaPad U410):
[http://outlet.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/outlet_us/...](http://outlet.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/outlet_us/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:item.detail?GroupID=445&Code=59RF0458)

9 hr battery life, supposedly. And if it takes after thinkpads, then it
supports a native GNU/Linux pretty well.

~~~
codonaut
9hr battery life is not accurate at all. I bought one recently and while the
build quality is very nice, the battery life isn't as long as advertised, and
there have been issues connecting to wireless networks as well(need to
repeatedly sleep/wakeup to connect to a new network). Apparently the network
issues are widespread with this model, and while the newer ones(like I have)
don't suffer from low speed I'm still getting poor connectivity.

------
aespinoza
Acer Travelmate:

[http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834314...](http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834314193&nm_mc=KNC-
GoogleAdwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-All+Laptops+%2f+Notebooks-
_-N82E16834314193&gclid=COrqtN25l7oCFeU5Qgod5hQAkQ)

------
hzroot
you can just install Koding chrome app and you got free virtual machine, text
editor and all other you need to develop. also there are 2 koding chrome apps,
Terminal app : [http://bit.ly/GQtPh1](http://bit.ly/GQtPh1) and koding app
[http://bit.ly/17sCYmv](http://bit.ly/17sCYmv), you can also visit
[https://www.koding.com](https://www.koding.com) if you dont want to download
anything.

------
mehrdada
Get a used (prev. gen) MacBook Air off of Craigslist.

------
csense
A netbook (eee pc or the like). You're not going to get a great laptop display
at the low end, so I recommend an external monitor.

