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Ask HN: Developer Laptops

2 points by rel ↗ HN
Hey HN. I'm looking for a light, powerful developer laptop which I can use for android, robotics (FRC), java, and web development. I'm mainly a windows user so I naturally looked at some ultra books. The one laptop which really attracted me was the Thinkpad X1 Carbon. After looking into it, I went to place my order and found out that even if I ordered today, it would only ship out of their offices on the 27th of this month. I need a laptop before the 20th so I can use it in the robotics competition I am attending.

Looking around I found that the Mac Book Air had exactly the same specs as the thinkpad and cost slightly less.

My question is this: Should I get the MBA and make the switch to apple products (I've sparingly used them and have been a windows/android user my whole life), or should I look at alternatives in the windows ultra book area?

Any advice is greatly appreciated, Thank you.

5 comments

[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 25.3 ms ] thread
3327
Carbon X1 is a great laptop, I would recommend it over an air, mainly because of the 14inch vs 13inch screen. If urgency is an issue I guess thats something else. But I recently purchased one, its rock solid and well built. cheers
josephpmay
If you want to stick with Windows, go for the X1 Carbon, but if you can't find a way to purchase it in time, I would highly recommend the MacBook Air. I switched to Mac last year and don't have many regrets. If you find you dislike working in OSX, you can always install Windows 7 in bootcamp. Android, Java and web develop work great on OSX (though I have no idea about robotics). The only thing I would recommend is go for the upgraded RAM and SSD, as the MBA's hardware can't be upgraded at a later date, and from my experience, OSX kinda sucks at memory management (if you do a lot of multitasking).
runjake
I ordered the top end 13" MBA on Friday with 2-3 day shipping (an extra $13). It shipped last night with a scheduled delivery of this Wednesdaym two days away.

But it sounds like you want to look at the X1 Carbon as I don't see the need or benefit of you converting to Mac at this point, given your information.

Lenovo is always a slow ordering shipping process. It's never quick. Whenever I buy a Lenovo, I buy it off of eBay after carefully examining a seller's feedback and reputation.

rel
Yeah, I've never bought anything off ebay because i've been uncertain about trusting the sellers there. I think I may go with something off of ebay though. Thanks for your help :]