
Ask HN: Best development laptop? - bhhaskin
Title kinda says it all, but in the market for a development laptop. Anyone have any recommendations?<p>Thanks!
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pimeys
I bought the 25th anniversary ThinkPad when they still had them and this, for
sure, is the best laptop I've ever used in my life. And I've had several
Macbooks, Zenbooks and ThinkPads, but this here has a few things that make it
stand out:

* The perfect keyboard. Seven rows, feels perfect when writing code.

* 14" FHD screen is just the optimal size and resolution for a laptop.

* Works perfectly with Linux.

* Two batteries, both replaceable. With the larger battery you get about 13-14 hours of work before a need to recharge. And of course you can replace the other battery to a charged one easily.

* Enormously extendable. Two free memory slots. Easy to open and service. Lenovo gives video instructions on their service site. Almost everything is replaceable.

* Sturdy quality design.

Now this laptop is not available anymore, but the T470 and soon the upcoming
T480 still have the same chassis and all the other bullet points. The new six
row chiclet keyboard is still the best keyboard of its kind and if you to use
the trackpoint, you don't need to move your hands off from the keyboard.

------
atmosx
If you can live with 8GB RAM and a dual-core i5 at 1.8Ghz, I'd argue that the
MBA is one of the best laptops to work with. The selling points for me are:

* OSX - still the best all around OS to work with.

* Lightweight, it is a laptop that weights ~ 3 pounds

* Battery life is decent

* Build quality is above average

I believe that it's an excellent choice for web development.

~~~
otalp
I second this. If you're not into intensive video editing etc. it's probably
the best laptop for the price. Battery life being "decent" is underselling it
- it has the best battery life of any mainstream laptop, easily lasts 19-20
hours under light workload and 12-13 under intensive work. And for a laptop
imo battery life is a very crucial factor.

~~~
tga
Are you serious about the _20 hours_ battery life? So far I haven't seen a
laptop that would break 10+ hours on the login screen.

~~~
mercer
I can't confirm the 20 hours, but I can say that I've never, _ever_ thought
about battery life on my MBA. And I'm a lazy fuck who spends at least half-
days on the couch with no power outlet regularly.

------
sitepodmatt
A few months ago I would of said a new Asus zenbook with ubuntu LTS 16.04 as
everything works out the box and 10hr battery life with Linux, however I had
to take to service center recently so they could hard reset it because I
switched it off and on too quickly (my taxi arrived just as I switched it on,
so immediately held button down again) and it never switch on since. Service
center being a bunch of idiots wanted to book it in for 2 weeks, I pleaded
(with some profanity laced in as they pushed me beyond frustration with their
robotics responses) with them to do a hard reset there and then (they needs
opening to remove the bios battery), they caved, and surprise surprise 10mins
later I have a working laptop again. I probably wouldn't buy Asus again
because service centers are truely shit and obviously there is a race
condition with the on switch and bios or whatever that isn't fully tested. In
fact I bought some torx screwdrivers to do it myself next time.

Dell XPS next I think.

~~~
hdhzy
I wouldn't recommend XPS. I have version 9350 and it constantly have one
problem after another. In no particular order: slow boot time (it can take 7
seconds to see dell logo after pressing power button), coil whine, a firmware
update killed the laptop once. I don't know how much of these problems can be
attributed to Intel but I fear hardware manufacturers have adopted "release
early fix later through firmware" mind-set. Good things about Dell: next
business day warranty where a guy will come and replace the motherboard in
case the update renders it useless.

~~~
chrisbennet
I have a 2017 XPS 15 (9560) and it has been pretty good with the exception of
a 1-2 second pause about once a day. I use it for Windows development.

~~~
sitepodmatt
Could it be some SSD firmware issue? I could live with a few second pause a
day.

~~~
chrisbennet
I’d heard that some had fixed the problem by updating the intel graphics
driver. I did a Dell “update everything including the BIOS” and it made my QT
development IDE and my application have bad rendering problems so I did a
system restore.

The “pause” is a complete lock up, mouse and keyboard stop responding.

------
zcam
Happy Dell XPS 13 user here. I have been using it for the past 3 years without
any issue. In the same timespan many of my coworkers had to replace/return
macbooks (kb glitches, screen issues, battery problems etc).

I was a thinkpad only person before that, but the quality went downhill.

I am tempted to buy a pixelbook and use linux on it next, the
specs/price/quality seem just right.

~~~
hdhzy
Out of curiosity which version do you have?

~~~
marklyon
I've got the 9343 and am happy with it as well.

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JazCE
I bought an i7-6600U Lenovo Carbon X1 thinkpad earlier this year and
absolutely love it. excellent keyboard, the screen is pretty great, battery
life isn't bad and I can upgrade the memory. It's stupidly lightweight. Sure
it doesn't have a HQ processor, but the U is getting me by perfectly well.

~~~
pimeys
If I'd need to carry my laptop around, this would be my choice too. It's just
a very nice laptop, small and the keyboard is the best in class as with all
business ThinkPads.

But I mostly use my laptop at home, so having a T-series gives a bit better
performance and upgradeability in a still small package.

------
vanekjar
I have recently bought a refurbished Lenovo ThinkPad X220 for about $200. For
that price it is the best machine you can have. It can be upgraded up to 16 GB
RAM, I use two disks (SSD in mSATA slot + bigger HDD), awesome connectivity (3
USBs, DisplayPort, Ethernet, docking station, SD card reader). Runs Linux
smoothly.

Of course it it weights slightly more then MBP and the display is not Retina,
but I'd rather buy 10 of these than one MBP (which I also own so I can
compare) for the same price.

------
senorsmile
I recently upgraded to a Lenovo Thinkpad p51s with a 1TB SSD and 32GB ram. It
is basically a t570 with a better graphics stack. Runs Linux beautifully.

------
schappim
Marco has an opinion on this: [http://marco.org/2017/11/14/best-laptop-
ever](http://marco.org/2017/11/14/best-laptop-ever)

~~~
copperx
And he's not wrong. I've been holding to this 2012 rMBP because I can't
stomach paying $1600+ for a downgrade. I would just be getting more RAM,
better CPU and GPU (but who cares if you don't game), but the same screen,
worse connectivity, worse keyboard, no F-keys, no Esc key, no Magsafe.

When this 2012 breaks I hope Apple has either come up with a pro laptop worth
upgrading to, or I'll jump ship to an ugly, heavy, unsightly PC laptop; but at
least I trust will be functional.

~~~
derwiki
I had a 2013 MBP and just upgraded to 2017 when I took a contract that
required a more powerful dev env. I don’t miss function or escape keys, and
Touch ID to unlock/auth 1Password is fantastic. I really don’t understand the
dislike of the new models, but YMMV and you’re certainly entitled to your
opinion.

------
pmoriarty
Purism Librem, to minimize the amount of proprietary crap and spyware on my
laptop. Unfortunately, even it has a vulnerable Intel processor. You can't
have everything... yet.

------
dragosmocrii
Check out the System76 laptops. I have the GazelleP6 from 2011 and it still
runs perfectly fine, although I upgraded to 16gb snd a SSD

------
singularity2001
the best development laptop is NO development laptop. under all circumstances
work at an ergonomic workplace whenever possible.

~~~
mjlee
This is still achievable with a laptop. I have a good quality keyboard,
monitor and mouse at home and at work, along with a proper desk and chair.

With a lightweight laptop that I don't mind carrying this means I have the
exact same development environment when working from home or the office.

I'll agree I have to compromise on computing resources, but I find that to be
less of a problem with a good internet connection and the existence of very
cheap servers.

------
geocar
I'm happy with the 16GB i7 1.4ghz (turbo to 3.6ghz) Macbook.

It's retina. It's less than 1kg (2 lbs.). It has between 7-10hrs battery; I
can work the entire long haul London to NYC/PHL no problem.

I can load a big data set into memory and crunch; I can work on a web app in
all the different browsers that I need to (Parallels is brilliant). I have
docker. I have Powerpoint.

I close the laptop, it goes to sleep. I open the laptop it's awake. I didn't
even realise this was still a problem in 2017 until I tried some Windows
laptops for a few months (a dell XPS and an HP EliteBook).

WiFi kicks on fast; easily within a second of opening the laptop. If I choose
my phone from the WiFi menu, it turns on the tethering. If I disconnect, it
turns it off.

The low travel on the keyword feels weird, but it doesn't affect my typing
speed. Each key feels distinct, unlike the squishy feeling I get on the HP or
even my older Macbook Air.

~~~
amelius
> If I choose my phone from the WiFi menu, it turns on the tethering.

I wonder why we still can't put a Sim card into a laptop.

~~~
askvictor
You can, but got need to get the right laptop.

------
2bluesc
Dell Precision 15" with 4k and 97Wh battery. One of the few laptops that ship
with Ubuntu if that's your thing.

I personally own a Precision 5510 and use a 5520 everyday for work. Both run
Arch with no issues other then minor display scaling issues that can be blamed
on the state of Linux desktop environments, not the laptop.

~~~
ibizaman
About those scaling issues, is it when using an external monitor? If so I got
those too. Switching from DP to HDMI helped and fiddling with xrandr settings
like scale and dpi helped also. For some apps like android studio I change dpi
before launching it then reset dpi after launch.

------
nunez
I am loving my Surface Pro. Great build quality, extremely portable, 8+ hours
of battery life, detachable, writable screen, Windows 10 is pretty good,
especially with Ubuntu built in (or VirtualBox if you need Docker).

------
mamon
If you can wait 3 months then wait. In Q1 2018 we should see first laptops
with Coffe Lake processors, like Dell XPS 15 refresh and Thinkpad T480p. If
you can't wait then go with current versions of those.

------
einrealist
I use a Thinkpad T460p maxed out with a Core i7 HQ and 32GB RAM. Its the
perfect workstation for me at 14“. I run Ubuntu on it.

I suggest you look at the new T470p.

------
otalp
B&H has a big discount of a few hundred dollars on late 2016 MBP if you're
interested. For the price drop it's worth the price.

------
gcoda
I have msi phantom. Not the best Linux support. It works, and I can have some
fun with GPU. Depends on what you developing, having some fun with CUDA is
beneficial for me.

2kg. 14inch. Not nerfed CPU with lots of RAM and small battery.

I am thinking now of getting Microsoft Surface, to have a more portable
alternative, But Termux on Android is enough for now

------
vzaliva
Thinkpad X260.

~~~
jniles
I really wanted to like the x260, but we equipped a team of 6 programmers with
the x260 and not one was without fault. The build construction or QA must have
been on the fritz with our batch because half of them would crash when even
the slightest pressure was applied to the bottom left corner of the laptop. I
cannot recommend it in good faith.

~~~
vzaliva
Sounds weird. Applying pressure to plastics case covering aluminum frame
should not crash anything. Have you tried calling support?

Since we are sharing anecdotal evidence here's mine: I traveled 5 countries
with my Thinkpad in last year. Carried it thought and worked on it in
airports, hotels, cafes. I also bike with it year long in any weather in my
backpack. Works great.

------
orliesaurus
Dell XPS last time i checked

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Roritharr
If you need lots of ram in a small formfactor: Toshiba Portege x30. Extremely
Happy with it, i'd just wish it already had an 8th gen 8550u quad-core instead
the 7500u dual-core.

------
rookie101
I'm a happy Asus zenbook 3 user. I setup arch on it and it's been great so
far. Only problem with it is it's crappy audio

------
lifeisstillgood
The one you install from scratch with your own scripts. confidence on where
you are standing beats screen resolution or anything

~~~
tga
It's not like your CPU isn't backdooring your custom scripts anyway.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Management_Engine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Management_Engine)

------
deadcoder0904
Just go with Macbook Pro 2016 without touchpad. Its cheap & if u change your
mind on developing for MAC or IPHONE then you can do it. If you don't buy a
MAC you won't be able to build apps for MAC or IPHONE. So buy it now & you'll
use it for 3 years until you have a big fat salary to buy a new one.

------
holydude
I would also make sure you know that you need laptop. I made the mistake
thinking I would commute with my laptop (or have BYOD) setup at work but at
the end I did not. I spent shitloads of money on a portable device that I
never take out of my desk.

Get a proper desktop if you can and a pair of good monitors. And if you need /
want your portable daily driver can be macbook or mba or chromebook.

