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Ask HN: Your ideal laptop?

7 points by chrisrickard ↗ HN
Your "perfect" laptop? Want some opinions.

I run a web dev company - currently run a 13" 2012 macbook pro. totally comfortable moving to linux (will keep macbook for iOS dev), and spend most of my time in the console - virtual box/vagrant etc.. Also like to keep my machine in my backpack...

thoughts?

14 comments

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andrewfong
Things that I'm currently looking for (from more important to less important):

  * 8 hours battery life (while coding)
  * Not scorching hot (the Powerbooks and Macbooks circa   2007 or so were infamous for this)
  * Haswell / 4th gen Intel processor
  * 8GB+ RAM
  * 128GB+ SSD
  * Warranty covers spill damage (this happens to me quite a bit)
  * Trackpoint / nub (I got acquainted with the nub afer spilling coffee on my trackpad)
  * Convertible to tablet with pen (I do a fair amount of illustration)
  * Discreet graphics card
  * Backlit keyboard
I think my love of the trackpoint limits me to Thinkpads, but I'm always on the lookout.
replax
actually i have seen a considerable number of hp laptops which also have a trackpoint. not sure they compare to thinkpads on other accounts though. but they didn't look bad..
phaus
Quit drinking around your computer already!

Or drink your coffee out of one of those thermal cups with a built-in straw.

KurtMueller
I love my macbook pro for many reasons but for me, the most important one is their magic trackpad. Their trackpads are just awesome and I haven't found any other trackpad nearly as slick. I would love to get a Linux-only laptop, but the regular mouse just kills my hand (and my productivity).
jasonkester
The Retina Macbook pro 13", with the keyboard from a ThinkPad X60.

Seriously, the only thing stopping me from switching to a macbook for everything I do is the lack of an intact ins/del/home/end/pgup/pgdn block sitting above the backspace key. Every one of those keys has an equivalent, but every one requires two hands to do. Since you usually (in windows at least) chord those keys with a second hand anyway, you have to make the mother of all hand contortions to do something as simple as a ctrl+home to get to the top of a document.

It's a shame. They make such good laptops, but their keyboard scheme is just a frustration bomb.

Second place: A ThinkPad X60 with this year's CPU, memory capacity and SSD.

Third place (and thus, fallback): A ThinkPad X60 for $150 of eBay, with maxed (4gb) memory and 512gb SSD.

jmspring
I'm ok with the MBP keyboard, I'd like something in the 13" MB Air footprint w/ retina, 16gig ram, and 512gig ssd. But I'd settle for the 13" Retina MBP with 16gig -- I currently have two gens older w/ 8gig.

Unfortunately, I don't want to put up with the size of a laptop that would have a keyboard comparable to the IBM Model M keyboard. So, when at the office/home, das Keyboard is my goto keyboard solution. Love the mechanical switches.

hvass
I finally made the switch this summer to a Macbook Pro 13" Retina and it has been an incredible change from the Dell/Lenovos I used to have. The thing is blazing fast, the screen is amazing (especially for Lightroom/Photoshop) and is much lighter. I really can't ask for anything else. I wish it had an Ethernet port though.
phaus
>I wish it had an Ethernet port though.

You may already be aware of this, but just in case you're not, you can buy an adapter for Ethernet for $20-$30.

Lots of people don't think Ethernet ports are important anymore, but I've been to quite a few hotels that still have wired internet.

hvass
Thanks, I absolutely had no clue.
rst
I'm twiddling my thumbs waiting for Lenovo to update the X1 Carbon to Haswell. (Presuming that doesn't somehow mess up Linux support!)
sejje
I have an Asus gaming laptop that I run Ubuntu on. I seem to have about the same use-case as you. Mine is large so it barely fits in my backpack, but it does.

My ideal laptop would be this one with an infinite battery life.

RexRollman
I basically want a Macbook Air-like computer, Haswell processor, but not from Apple. 8GB of RAM, 128GB SSD, and absolutely NO touchscreen!
joeldidit
I like everything about the 13" laptops, but the screens are too small. So I'd go with the 15" MacBook Pro with Retina Display. Those laptops ended up being too expensive, and I couldn't wait for the Haswell versions to come out, so I ended up with a Samsung Chronos 7 780z5e (which after some tweaking is pretty good all things considered).