Ask HN: What machine will you use next for development?

5 points by j4pe 9y ago ↗ HN

The 2014 Macbook Air was my development dream machine - powerful enough with upgrades to drive my setup at work, and small enough that I didn't need a second machine to carry around. OSX is conveniently Unix-based for dev work, but unlike Linux it's homogenous enough that software is broadly available and trivial to install/maintain.

I don't want to leave, but after today's updates I'm left without a clue where to look for a system that's powerful, portable, and Unix.

What are other developers planning to do?

5 comments

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billconan 9y ago ↗

My next may be a dell xps 15 developer edition. I like its frameless design and they have ubuntu preinstalled (means that they tested linux compatibility.)

If linux can improve 2 small things, I will ditch mac.

1. better touchpad support. support 3 finger gestures, allow using 3 fingers to move windows.

2. better retina display support.

j4pe 9y ago ↗

Didn't know they produced a developer edition. What languages do you work with? Are you mostly .NET?

billconan 9y ago ↗

c++ on linux or on mac or windows.

I checked the website, it seems that the developer edition is only 13 inch?

http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/555/campaigns/xps-linux-lapt...

the 15 inch one is not a xps.

stephenr 9y ago ↗

What about today's announcements makes you want to "leave"?

dvdhnt 9y ago ↗

I can't speak for OP, but personally, I've been mulling a switch. I'm not locked into macOS at work as I never touch our iOS apps.

As far as what about yesterday makes me consider switching, honestly, it's just the price points. Specifically, the high cost of internal upgrades.

Obviously, MBP solid state drives require custom form factors, etc., but it's still crazy to see such large gaps between consumer drives on Amazon and the upgrade options for MBPs. Again, I know it's not a perfect comparison, but the price differences are just hard to stomach, even if they "just work".