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Ask HN: X1 Carbon or MacBook Pro?

2 points by jason_slack ↗ HN
X1 Carbon, souped up or a MacBook Pro? Developers chime in!

I have a MacBook Pro now and I am used to the macOS. I primarily prefer a terminal for most things. Some various editors like Atom, etc. I am moving from games to algo trading, quant, financial development in C++. I also have interest in some AI so I would like to support an eGPU.

I want to run linux on it if it can support sleep/wake and most of the hardware. I could run Windows and Windows Services For Linux too, perhaps.

18 comments

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blind_boy_grunt
Unless you've already eliminated them, I would also consider the XPS 13 and Asus ZenBook 3. Both are similar products and both run linux very well.
jason_slack
Thanks. I will take a look. I hadn't considered either, actually.
crsv
Based on your requirements and the change in your environment needs I'm not sure why you're considering a MBP - at least not until the next iteration potentially addresses the keyboard issue and comes with a spec bump. Seems like the X1 would be a far superior fit in this specific context.
jason_slack
I guess because I have been Mac based for so long and I usually don't experience many issues. They are a lot more expensive for what you get hardware wise.
taylodl
Given what you're doing and how you use your machine I think the X1 Carbon or Dell XPS would better suit you - and this coming from a guy who loves Macs!!!
jason_slack
I have been so Mac based for so long that switching seems like a huge task. I'm sort of nervous about it. Switching to Linux might actually ease my pain. I reply on sleep/wake a lot and I know this is/can be problematic.
tomxor
MacBook Pros used to be good linux machines (i'm using a 10yr old one as a linux only machine and hardware support is excellent), but the recent models have been reported to have extremely poor hardware support in linux [1]. So unless you are going for a 4-5 year old MBP and you need linux... don't buy Apple.

Conversely X1 have a pretty good following, lots of arch users use X1s, I can't speak from first hand experience but I have considered this laptop due to the good linux support. Also the thinkpad x240-x280 has a healthy following, the more recent models are often described as being basically a smaller cheaper X1. (For both of these models see Arch wiki for lots of exact-model specific support details and tweaks - even if you dont use arch, because it will give you an idea of how well supported the hardware is in general).

I've also been eying up the recent Huawei Matebook Pro (not the matebook non-pro), because it has a 3:2 screen and looks like a serious contender for dell XPS 13 (one of the No.1 Linux laptops in-case you didn't know), but I've seen no linux attempts yet. This of course is a super thin super minimal bezel category, so the thinkpad will likely outperform it if you care more about that, but i'm mainly after the 3:2 display - I hope this becomes a trend in the future, i'm sure developers will flock to them.

[1] https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=mbp2016-...

FWIW I don't consider windows subsystem for linux to be a good replacement, I hate windows in general but I am saying this from the perspective of helping my colleagues and seeing the mess it is and it's awful performance, obviously it's going to be slower because it's running through an ABI translation layer not the actual linux kernel, but this additionally brings the weaknesses of the windows kernel... some things in particular are orders of magnitude slower for some reason like spawning child processes.

bsenftner
You say you prefer a terminal; from your additional interests sounds like you're on the wrong type of hardware. Now, bare with me for a moment, as we are currently seeing some pretty significantly low prices for people like us. I work remotely, and have a nice workstation in my home office. I've found it really easy to have a keyboard, mouse & monitor at my frequent destinations, and I just carry an Intel Compute Stick in my pocket.

1920x1080 monitors are being pushed out, and are available for $70-$120. Add a keyboard and mouse for an additional $20.

The Compute Sticks start at $99, and are perfectly able to drive a 4K monitor if need be, surf fine, Teamviewer/Remote Desktop into my real workstation. If I have actual work at my remote, I can take a Nuc, a $350 4"x2" box, that runs complete development suites, and any OS ya want.

For the expense of either of your options above, you could have 3 monitor/muse/key setups, a Compute Stick & and more than one Nuc.

jason_slack
Interesting approach. I try and travel around a lot to work in a new place. Perhaps if I was more stationary this would be good. The idea sounds like it could work for me.
xamarinthrw
Can you recommend some good monitors?
bsenftner
Well, at my local Fry's they have 5 different 22" 1920x1080 monitors for $99. I seem to have a wealth of monitors, as I keep my eye on clearance events, and have managed to pick up four 4K monitors over the last year, each for a price between $199 and $230. They are Samsung and LG branded and work fine. Note - I code, lots of graphics, but I don't game. So issues such as refresh rate I ignore.
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towndrunk
Razer?

https://www.razer.com/gaming-laptops/razer-blade

jason_slack
Thanks. I hadn't cosidered Razer either. They look pretty nice and a bit cheaper than the X1 Carbon that I spec'd out.

Do you have any idea about their reliability, Linux support, eGPU support, etc? I do see they have the Desktop dock, not sure how it compares to others like Akito Node, etc.

neeksHN
I've been using an X1 Gen 4 w Arch as my daily driver for the past 2 years. It's an extremely reliable machine minus a few annoying KMS/Xorg issues I've encountered -- to be fair though they weren't really "issues", but rather determining whether or not I needed to install/uninstall Intel's video drivers for proper multi-monitor functionality (you do need them installed at the moment with the latest changes in xorg-server-1.20)

While I love the matte screen, 4k will be of way more importance to me in the future -- those KMS/Xorg "issues" wouldn't have been so annoying if I didn't have to deal with fractional scaling via xrandr due to mixed DPIs in multi-monitor setups.

The aesthetics could be a little more fanciful on the X1, but that's subjective. I'm actually planning on getting a new Precision 5530 whenever Dell releases the Developer edition without Windows.