laptop choice for developers
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@lucas1 It looks more like a text editor with plugins, but I've only used it once or twice so I can't say that for sure.
Having said that, its languages are implemented as Sublime Text-style plugins.
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@powerlord well yes that is kinda the point, for most they are good enough.
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@Magus no you fuck it is a feature that is under development ;-)
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@DCRoss said in laptop choice for developers:
ASUS T100
I have one. It can't. Well not really.
I mean, you'll probably eat all the space on the "drive" installing it!!!
EDIT: Not to say I don't enjoy using the T100. It's not bad and the removable keyboard is nifty (even if that connector is shitty and comes loose all the freaking time)
But with 2 gigs of RAM? It's not gonna run a modern IDE anywhere near a speed that's remote usable.
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@lucas1 said in laptop choice for developers:
Just fucking give in and become a macfag. I have an ace laptop, I will just ignore the low numbers in my bank account.
I thought the proper way of going broke nowadays is via the Surface Book-route...
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@pydsigner said in laptop choice for developers:
for compiling software the HQ is mandatory
Depends on the language, and whether you can successfully make incremental builds work for you.
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@sloosecannon said in laptop choice for developers:
@DCRoss said in laptop choice for developers:
ASUS T100
I have one. It can't. Well not really.
Which is why I said
An ASUS T100 can (technically) run Visual Studio
Installing just the base VS filled the entire C drive. And, due to questionable architectural decisions made during VS's infancy, that's the only place you can put it. And since the alternative storage is SD or USB (depending on the exact model), that's the only place you'd want to put it. And the screen is all of 800 pixels high. However, VS does run.
But yeah, I wouldn't want to build or debug anything complicated on that kind of system, unless it was an emergency and I wasn't in a hurry for results.
This year's model, the T100HA, is still built around an Atom, but it's a Bay Trail model and is paired with up to 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB internal storage, making it slightly less painful for serious work. It's still the kind of thing I would prefer for sending email and remotely accessing real servers.
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Anyone try using a Core M for anything beyond just basic web browsing/facebook? I'm thinking about a new laptop. I used to feel I needed a gaming one for anything serious, but when I recently discovered an i5-3230M could play GW2 well on low graphics and even Minecraft reasonably well with the details turned down a bit, I realized just how much better integrated graphics are getting. I don't generally play stuff that requires a top-of-the-line GPU, so it occurs to me a $500ish laptop may work as well as an $800ish or $1000+ one.
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@Nick-Chan-Abdullah said in laptop choice for developers:
I have 2 choice, and not a lot of budget
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an i7-6700hq laptop, with 32GB RAM, and lousy battery (Lenovo Ideapad 700 with SSD and beautiful screen)
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an i7-6500u, with 8GB RAM, SSD - great battery life and lightweight. (Dell Inspiron 13 convertible )
with (1), I can load up 2 or 3 VMs, plus Android emulator like DuOS, put sql server tempdb in ramdisk. work, play and experiment. I could also load my VS project folder in ramdisk.
with (2), it gives me great mobility to do my work anywhere, just no VMs. just work. no play, no experiment
Which would you pick ? and Why? Will I see noticeable performance gain if I choose 6700hq over 6500u ? (visual studio finding text, compiling, starting iis express, debugging etc...)
See, this is the type of shit I don't get about devs with laptops...
What's the point of a laptop that can't be portable? Get a fucking desktop if you need something with horsepower!
I always run a desktop machine, and have a cheap laptop around just incase I need some mobility. You consider you can get a cheapy laptop for a few hundred bucks, and you can get a beefy desktop at a few hundred dollars less than a beefed up laptop... and you end up breaking even in cost but have TWO machines.
And hell, with your desktop, leave it on all the time, set up a VPN to your house, and you can connect to it from anywhere to get that extra oomph you might need when on the go.
You're a fucking developer, problem solve this shit!
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@lordofduct I've never owned a laptop. For actually doing stuff I prefer to get the most bang for my buck by building my own desktop. When I'm on the go, I rarely feel a need for more than my phone or tablet can provide
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@FrostCat A Core m processor has a TDP of 4.5w. A modern Core U has a TDP of 15w. Your 3230M has a TDP of 35w. I'll let you do the math. Yes, the Skylake processors are more efficient, but not that much more.
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@pydsigner And yet the few reviews I've seen of Core M laptops suggest they're pretty decent for relatively short-burst things. The highest-specced ones have a turbo of 2.7GHz. A lot of the compilation I do, for example, boils down to "read the next file of disk, then spend 4 seconds compiling it and write the object code back out." If the disk I/O time allows the CPU to cool back down--or if the compilation times aren't too dramatically slow--it could still be worth it. One review said that under certain circumstances (mainly bursty stuff) an M could outperform an I5.
I'm not going to be building Linux kernels on such a laptop. If I had one tomorrow, I'd use it for what I mentioned above, and Minecraft and GW2, and the latter two games, as I have said, are cromulent on an i3-2000 series.
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@FrostCat I went from an i5-4200U to an i7-6820HQ, and quickly found that compiling software isn't really SSD bound.
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@FrostCat said in laptop choice for developers:
Anyone try using a Core M for anything beyond just basic web browsing/facebook? I'm thinking about a new laptop. I used to feel I needed a gaming one for anything serious, but when I recently discovered an i5-3230M could play GW2 well on low graphics and even Minecraft reasonably well with the details turned down a bit, I realized just how much better integrated graphics are getting. I don't generally play stuff that requires a top-of-the-line GPU, so it occurs to me a $500ish laptop may work as well as an $800ish or $1000+ one.
Haven't you read this thread? You're obviously wrong. Intel integrated graphics obviously completely suck and can't do anything!
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@DCRoss said in laptop choice for developers:
This year's model, the T100HA, is still built around an Atom, but it's a Bay Trail model and is paired with up to 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB internal storage
Oh that's actually not too hateful
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You mentioned VM-s, and then later, working with VS + SQL Server. Which one is it?
If all you need is Windows dev, you don't need VM-s. Meaning 8GB of RAM is sufficient, meaning you can do with the portable one.
If you need to do serious work in VM (like load up a linux desktop environment), you'll want at least 16GB of RAM. If this is your primary machine, you'll have no choice but to go with the beefy laptop or desktop.
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@sloosecannon said in laptop choice for developers:
Haven't you read this thread? You're obviously wrong. Intel integrated graphics obviously completely suck and can't do anything!
I'm going to believe my lying eyes over you. :P. I can get 40+FPS on modded Minecraft at 1366x768 on an i5-3230m with a few performance tweaks.
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@FrostCat said in laptop choice for developers:
I was looking at laptops recently--good luck finding a decent yet inexpensive one that's not a tablet in that size range.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232802
It is a refurb, but there is a 13.3" Ultrabook with 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD and an i5 for $600.
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@lordofduct said in laptop choice for developers:
What's the point of a laptop that can't be portable? Get a fucking desktop if you need something with horsepower!
A mobile workstation is useful, I used to work in two offices regularly. I needed something that had some proper grunt, but didn't need a lot of battery life because once I plumbed it in at a desk it didn't move for 2 weeks.
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@lucas1 said in laptop choice for developers:
once I plumbed it in at a desk it didn't move for 2 weeks.
Yeah, but adjusting all that plumbing will probably rack up in costs eventually...
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@Tsaukpaetra said in laptop choice for developers:
Yeah, but adjusting all that plumbing will probably rack up in costs eventually...
He can earn it all back installing people's bathrooms.
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@lordofduct said in laptop choice for developers:
What's the point of a laptop that can't be portable? Get a fucking desktop if you need something with horsepower!
I spend a lot of time on the train, but the train has power sockets at the seat. A high-power laptop allows me to do real work. (Or it would if it wasn't for most of what I'm doing at the moment being behind a very tight firewall. But that's just the last year or so, and may well be changing soon…)
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@dkf said in laptop choice for developers:
He can earn it all back installing people's bathrooms
But only if he's Polish
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I would rate a polish plumber over my current companies IT support ... when doing IT.
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@dkf said in laptop choice for developers:
I spend a lot of time on the train, but the train has power sockets at the seat.
Trains here are packed in a way that you're compressed at other people bodies, worried if you'll be able to get out once it arrives at your destination.
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@fbmac said in laptop choice for developers:
Trains here are packed in a way that you're compressed at other people bodies, worried if you'll be able to get out once it arrives at your destination.
We've got those too, but I have ways of avoiding the worst. Such as avoiding a few trains at the worst times, and not needing some of the busiest routes.
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@lucas1 said in laptop choice for developers:
@lordofduct said in laptop choice for developers:
What's the point of a laptop that can't be portable? Get a fucking desktop if you need something with horsepower!
A mobile workstation is useful, I used to work in two offices regularly. I needed something that had some proper grunt, but didn't need a lot of battery life because once I plumbed it in at a desk it didn't move for 2 weeks.
Yeah, I worked with a guy who did that.
And it looked horrible.
But agreed, it's an exception to my statement.
@dkf said in laptop choice for developers:
@lordofduct said in laptop choice for developers:
What's the point of a laptop that can't be portable? Get a fucking desktop if you need something with horsepower!
I spend a lot of time on the train, but the train has power sockets at the seat. A high-power laptop allows me to do real work. (Or it would if it wasn't for most of what I'm doing at the moment being behind a very tight firewall. But that's just the last year or so, and may well be changing soon…)
How long are you on the train for?
Also, does the train have internet?
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@fbmac said in laptop choice for developers:
Trains here are
packed in a way that you're compressed at other people bodies, worried if you'll be able to get out once it arrives at your destinationfor other people.