
Ask HN: Best Laptop for Developers Right Now? - InInteraction
I get to choose a new laptop for work (data processing, data visualization, deep learning). I&#x27;d like to switch to Linux 
(probably PureOS) as I think it can do what a Mac does, and it&#x27;s better at some things. What are people using?
======
nabilt
I bought the Dell XPS 13 (9650) about 8 months ago. It comes preloaded with
Ubuntu so you don't have spend too much time debugging drivers. This was my
main concern since I was going to be running Linux as my only OS. I've only
had a few problems with wifi drivers and ethernet over USB C so far. Costco
occasionally has the high end model (preloaded with windows of course) on sale
for $400 less than the dell site which is a great deal.

Resources:

1\.
[http://www.dell.com/ca/p/xps-13-9350-laptop/pd](http://www.dell.com/ca/p/xps-13-9350-laptop/pd)

2\.
[https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dell_XPS_13_(9350)](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dell_XPS_13_\(9350\))

------
git-pull
Lenovo Thinkpads are top tier. Shoot for X and T series for best build
quality.

You want high resolutions, so customize it to the highest you can get. Some
people may say it makes stuff look too small, but software will continually
will improve to handle HDPI scaling, but that's easier than trying to switch
out a screen yourself. Remember you'll at least have an editor and docs on the
screen at the same time.

You said you want to do deep learning / big data stuff, Tensorflow can work
with CUDA. Feel free to go for the NVIDIA laptops (T and P series), which can
fall back on intel integrated graphics for power savings. NVIDIA's Linux and
FreeBSD drivers are nice.

These laptops work well with Linux and FreeBSD.

On FreeBSD, newer intel chipsets graphics and wifi may have issues. If there's
an issue with wifi support, consider a USB wifi like "ASUS (USB-N10)
wireless-N USB Adapter" or "TP-LINK TL-WN725N Wireless N Nano USB Adapter",
which have chipsets that are supported on FreeBSD and Linux very well.

Consider outlet.lenovo.com for deals on these laptops. Older generation
laptops work well

Steer clear of anything with *40 at the end. T440, X240, etc. are the scourge
of the Thinkpad line. They removed the physical keys from the buttons in the
mouse and the trackpad itself is horribly poor quality.
[http://www.laptopmag.com/images/uploads/4020/g/lenovo-
thinkp...](http://www.laptopmag.com/images/uploads/4020/g/lenovo-
thinkpad-x240-g15.jpg) is bad. [http://www.laptopreleasedate.com/wp-
content/uploads/2016/01/...](http://www.laptopreleasedate.com/wp-
content/uploads/2016/01/Lenovo-ThinkPad-X260-Intel-Skylake-3.jpg) is good.

You can go for X series and grab an external monitor / base station to plug
into. This gives you may portability. But I still advise you go for 1080p
resolution, if you compromise for less, it may be too squished to program in.

~~~
dreistdreist
Please don't give Lenovo any of your money after all the shady stuff that they
have done.

~~~
ponyous
My personal experience with them is also really bad. I bought one of their
laptops several years ago. It had wifi problems, that were supposedly fixed if
you bought a laptop after $DATE. I did it and it was still fucked up.

I sent it back so they would fix the issue, but I got another broken laptop.
After I wrote them another email or two I stopped receiving responses from
them... I was just straight out ignored. I was also a teenager that needed a
laptop so I just lived with shitty wifi (speeds up to 1Mbps, wifi range
<10m)... Not to mention trackpad was really shitty as well - Touch with
another finger by mistake? OOOOPS your cursor has gone somewhere.

TLDR: \- They were saying problems were fixed when they weren't

\- They didn't even try to fix my laptop when they said they will

\- They ignored me after I complained for the 2nd time

\- Shittiest laptop I ever had would not recommend (mid-range Lenovo ultrabook
of 2011 - I think)

Question: Did I just had bad luck and should my experience not affect my
future purchases?

Edit: I know you were probably referring to spyware they were installing, but
I just wanted to put my experience somewhere because it cost me too many
nerves

------
crudbug
I am using Thinkpad T series. Waiting for Thinkpad P51 [0]

[0] -
[http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/p-series/p51/](http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/p-series/p51/)

~~~
tmccrmck
The T470 and the new X1 Carbon both look pretty good this year too.

------
BoysenberryPi
I'm a firm believer that all laptops below the 2000 range are terrible so just
pick one that has enough RAM and solid build quality. Probably Dell XPS or a
Thinkpad

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brudgers
Laptops embody engineering tradeoffs.

If |deep learning| implies a discreet GPU then battery life will suffer. It
will particularly suffer under Linux because the GPU and CPU manufacturers
don't have not created Linux drivers that allow dynamic switching between the
GPU and CPU graphics core when running the display. The CPU graphics cores
generally use less power than the GPU and the switching provides longer
durations running on battery power.

A similar tradeoff comes in terms of processing power versus weight and bulk.
Fast multicore processors need to dissipate more heat. Heat sinks add weight.
Fans require passages to move air and add bulk.

If portability and light weight is the killer feature then there are one set
of alternatives. If 64GB of ECC; two teraflop of GPU; and a quad core Xeon are
killer features then there are another set of alternatives.

~~~
infinii
Why even bother doing ML on a laptop? Use Amazon's Machine Learning cloud to
conserve your battery.

~~~
brudgers
There's a tradeoff to using the Amazon just as with everything else and other
tasks that are computationally intensive: yesterday, I had 16 16bit
16megapixel TIFFS stitching with Hugin for about thirty minutes flat out.

------
cdnsteve
From what I've read you want a good Nvidia GPU for machine learning so you can
run cuda. Now you can rent GPU instances from AWS but it's probably cheaper to
buy your own system if you are doing it often enough. As others said you may
want to consider a more powerful desktop machine with 2x Nvidia GPU and just
network that up to your laptop to offload workloads.

Personally I'm going to try AWS route first to see how much I enjoy the
machine learning route. Then I can make a better decision without dropping a
few thousand first.

I'm running MacBook pro 15 with touch bar. I prefer the older models that
still have real USB ports. I also really dislike the new keyboard and giant
mousepad. Never use the touch bar but that's just me. One last note... On new
macs the hardware is impossible to modify. Hard drive and ram are soldered
into the boards...

------
gargravarr
Generally a ThinkPad (T or X-series), or if you want power, go for a System76
machine. Either will kick a MacBook Pro out of the ring.

------
EduardMe
For me its also a MacBook Pro 15". It's beautiful, durable hardware. You can
use it for many years and sell it afterwards for a good price, if you want to
upgrade. The OS combines the best of Linux and Windows, but looks better. The
terminal practically takes the same commands as in linux, very powerful. The
OS is well thought through as opposed to the mess you see with Windows
sometimes.

~~~
nickpeterson
I really think resale value on macs isn't highlighted enough in these
discussions. If you upgrade your laptop every 2-3 years, Macs becomes
significantly cheaper since they generally fetch a reasonable resale value
compared to high-end dell's and lenovo's. A 1500 PC that you sell for 400
dollars 3 years later isn't more much more than a 2000 dollar laptop that
later resales for 800 (1100 vs 1200).

Not to mention, most truly decent PC laptops are within a few hundred dollars
of their macbook equivalent. I suppose the opposite argument can be made
though, that if you want to buy used hardware PC's a way better deal.

------
bradstewart
I currently use a Dell E7470 running Linux (elementaryOS specifically), and a
Razer Blade running Windows 10.

Really like both. The Dell has a great range of ports built in (including
ethernet), so no carrying around a bunch of dongles.

The Razer has a faster CPU (quad core vs dual core) and the best keyboard
(laptop or not) I have ever used.

------
thesignal
Dell XPS 13, 9360. Can ship with Linux preinstalled, and you can of course
install your distribution of choice. I run Debian unstable on it and use it as
my main development machine. Works with the Display-Link USB 3.0 dell docking
station (haven't tried the Type C Usb yet). Even supports dual-head. But you
have to install the drivers from the display link homepage. It is not a beast
when you need performance. At the office my boss provides me a Dell XPS 15,
with i7, 16gig and nvidia graphics card, works with the docking station too.

------
skyisblue
I recently purchased a 2016 Macbook. Reasoning is, they last longer.

My sony vaio stopped turning on after 2 years and my dell xps didn't even last
1.5 years. My 2009 Macbook still runs today, but it's no longer powerful
enough.

------
tabeth
I'd go with a Dell Precision M6800 or M4800, depending on your desired size.
It can run linux natively, has a full sized keyboard, and all components are
replaceable (even the CPU is a pretty doable replacement).

------
ezoe
My ideal laptop I haven't found it yet.

Major latest GNU/Linux distributions works out of box(I usually had to
configure something manually to make it work)

Decent CPU, Memory, Storage(This is the easiest requirements to satisfy
because my work is mostly relies on CLI tools and web browsers)

No power hungry GPUs(especially nVidia's)

15 inches builtin 4k display(this is hard. I can find 12 inches with no
dedicated GPU or 15 with dedicated GPU laptop)

DisplayPort(Most laptops only have HDMI port) Ethernet(I don't want to carry
USB-Ethernet adaptor) 4 USB ports(I don't want to carry USB hub.)

------
chatmasta
If you ever want to develop iOS apps, you pretty much have to get an Apple
laptop unless you're willing to spend ages messing with hackintosh and
trailing behind Xcode updates.

Not sure why all the hate for MacBooks. You can triple boot OS X, Linux and
windows if you want. And since so many people use macs, there's plenty of
community support for getting Linux to work.

------
edimaudo
ANy laptop with enough memory, great ram and good design is great.

------
TurboHaskal
This year's Thinkpad X1 Carbon.

~~~
InInteraction
Do you use it? What do you think about its touchpad vs Mac?

------
d--b
The Dell XPS 13 has a great screen size / weight ratio, which is really what I
am looking for in a laptop. Works out of the box with Ubuntu.

------
maremmano
what about this one: [http://www.dell.com/en-
us/shop/productdetails/xps-15-9560-la...](http://www.dell.com/en-
us/shop/productdetails/xps-15-9560-laptop/dncwxb1609s)

The new XPS 15 with 32GB RAM. I'm just worried about battery time since more
RAM mean less battery time.

Any one have this? Impressions?

------
NetStrikeForce
Thinkpad P series, Dell XPS or Precision series are good choices outside Apple
for mobile workstations (non-"U" CPUs)

------
TaliaNa
I looked around for alternatives, but I haven't seen anything else more
compelling than a MacBook Pro.

------
imb
A laptop is probably not the best idea for deep learning, but you can
certainly use one as a terminal to connect to a much more powerful gpu-
optimized server. I'm curious to hear what others are using for their deep
learning setup.

~~~
InInteraction
Here is a good article: Hardware for Deep Learning
[https://medium.com/towards-data-science/hardware-for-deep-
le...](https://medium.com/towards-data-science/hardware-for-deep-
learning-8d9b03df41a#.ickt87i1r)

------
krjachkov
Lenovo ThinkPad T460 (see HN discussion
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13299585](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13299585))

------
threepadstack
[https://twitter.com/swennocorp](https://twitter.com/swennocorp)

------
account9
Thinkpad T-series which I bought 5 years ago for $2K.

I am amazed how it still holds under a daily heavy use at home and in the
office.

Hope the new ones are as reliable.

------
singularity2001
that would be the new MacBook Pro [http://www.apple.com/macbook-
pro/](http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/) released 20 minutes ago
[http://www.apple.com/mac/](http://www.apple.com/mac/)

Although "for work" I'd recommend getting a desktop computer, especially if
you wanted to do deep learning.

~~~
1123581321
Hi, where are you seeing that a new model was released today?

