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Ask HN: Programming laptops 2018

What are best laptops out there currently for someone just getting into programming?

sirjaz 9y ago
Depends on how much you want to spend. If money is no object I would either go with a surface book2 or an HP ZBook x2 Detachable Workstation. If you have a budget I would recommend a Lenovo Flex 5. You can get one with 16GB of ram and a TB drive for $999.
- thejustinreyes 9y ago
  Thanks for recommendations! I just purchased the Lenovo Flex 5. 16GB and a TB drive for $999 was a steal.
  - bbimbop 9y ago
    how is it?
rbanffy 9y ago
It really depends on what language that person will start with. For Java or anything front-end, I'd suggest a beefy laptop, with 8 or 16 GB or RAM. For Python, Ruby or other back-end stuff, a smaller machine is probably good enough. I'd also suggest using Linux, either Fedora 27 or Ubuntu 17.10. It helps when your workstation thinks like the server that'd run your code and the person would learn a bit about how to manage servers in the meantime.
- stephenr 9y ago
  > It helps when your workstation thinks like the server that'd run your code This is what virtualisation is for. Youre not going to be able to run exactly the same environment directly on your dev machine regardless of the OS family, so use the OS you're most productive in, and virtualise for projects. Vagrant works quite well for this role, particularly if you don't just use the "standard" setup of virtualbox.
  - rbanffy 9y ago
    But then you'll need a beefier, heavier laptop, possibly with shorter battery life.
    - stephenr 9y ago
      I've used Vagrant VM's on my wife's 2012 MacBook Air with 4GB of RAM. It's not ideal, but it worked. Any developer-capable real (i.e. not something running glorified chrome browser) laptop in 2018 will be fine for developer VMs.
taylodl 9y ago
A Dell XPS 15 is a good bet. You can run Windows and/or Linux on it. At a minimum, get the SSD. Technically you can get by with 8 Gb of RAM, but 16 Gb would also handle whatever else you want to do with the laptop. Likewise, whatever else you want to do with the laptop would determine whether you want to go with an i5 or i7 processor. If you want to do any Mac OS or iOS development then the same concerns apply but now you'll be looking at a MacBook Air/Standard/Pro.

What are best laptops out there currently for someone just getting into programming?

Depends on how much you want to spend. If money is no object I would either go with a surface book2 or an HP ZBook x2 Detachable Workstation. If you have a budget I would recommend a Lenovo Flex 5. You can get one with 16GB of ram and a TB drive for $999.

thejustinreyes 9y ago
Thanks for recommendations! I just purchased the Lenovo Flex 5. 16GB and a TB drive for $999 was a steal.
- bbimbop 9y ago
  how is it?

rbanffy 9y ago

It really depends on what language that person will start with. For Java or anything front-end, I'd suggest a beefy laptop, with 8 or 16 GB or RAM. For Python, Ruby or other back-end stuff, a smaller machine is probably good enough. I'd also suggest using Linux, either Fedora 27 or Ubuntu 17.10. It helps when your workstation thinks like the server that'd run your code and the person would learn a bit about how to manage servers in the meantime.

stephenr 9y ago
> It helps when your workstation thinks like the server that'd run your code This is what virtualisation is for. Youre not going to be able to run exactly the same environment directly on your dev machine regardless of the OS family, so use the OS you're most productive in, and virtualise for projects. Vagrant works quite well for this role, particularly if you don't just use the "standard" setup of virtualbox.
- rbanffy 9y ago
  But then you'll need a beefier, heavier laptop, possibly with shorter battery life.
  - stephenr 9y ago
    I've used Vagrant VM's on my wife's 2012 MacBook Air with 4GB of RAM. It's not ideal, but it worked. Any developer-capable real (i.e. not something running glorified chrome browser) laptop in 2018 will be fine for developer VMs.

taylodl 9y ago

A Dell XPS 15 is a good bet. You can run Windows and/or Linux on it. At a minimum, get the SSD. Technically you can get by with 8 Gb of RAM, but 16 Gb would also handle whatever else you want to do with the laptop. Likewise, whatever else you want to do with the laptop would determine whether you want to go with an i5 or i7 processor. If you want to do any Mac OS or iOS development then the same concerns apply but now you'll be looking at a MacBook Air/Standard/Pro.