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"if we can comfortably do development without a MacBook"? What kind of premise is that for a question? You think this forum consists only of devs using Macbook

"if we can comfortably do development without a MacBook"? What kind of premise is that for a question? You think this forum consists only of devs using Macbooks?

simooooo 8y ago
That's his point. He isn't saying that. He is saying "can I do it without a MacBook" i.e. a full fledged machine
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
simonbarker87 8y ago
In OPs defence: if they work in one of the main tech hubs then pretty much all they will likely see people using is MacBooks. I guess a better way to have phrased the question is “do development on a laptop with a cloud based operating system rather than a traditional OS”
- yani 8y ago
  Thinkpads are very popular
- pimeys 8y ago
  Last time I attended a developer meetup here in Berlin I saw more ThinkPads than Macbooks...
  - wink 8y ago
    Yeah, I think in Germany it's more like 50/50 for small companies with a big trend to 90% Apple with freelancers and 90% Thinkpad/Dell for bigger companies.
- hungerstrike 8y ago
  > if they work in one of the main tech hubs... In Silicon Valley. Everyone else uses Windows.
  - simonbarker87 8y ago
    You should pop to London sometime
    - hungerstrike 8y ago
      And you should look at market share numbers and maybe visit every other place in the world sometime.
k1ns 8y ago
I'm so conflicted about my favorite development machine. I use Windows/HP laptop at work, but I own a Mac at home. I love them both equally it feels like. Windows seems to have universally more tooling available for download, while the Mac just feels smoother and has nice tooling built-in (such as access to a decent terminal from the start).
dmihal 8y ago
Windows is out of the question for a lot of devs that live in the Unix shell. Sure, I could run a Linux VM or dual boot, but those aren't very pleasant experience.
- cpach 8y ago
  FYI, Windows 10 also has WSL https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10
  - O_H_E 8y ago
    Yeah, but it is insanely slow https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=wsl-february-2018&num=1 https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=wsl-febr... https://www.reddit.com/r/bashonubuntuonwindows/comments/7knl03/is_wsl_very_slow_for_anyone_else/ https://www.reddit.com/r/bashonubuntuonwindows/comments/7knl...
    - cpach 8y ago
      Strange. I’ve never noticed that.
      - ajross 8y ago
        It's fine for casual use and CPU- or network-bound tasks. But anything involving lots of filesystem operations (like, heh, building software) is just a mess. The project I'm working on right now is a biggish C tree using cmake/ninja that still builds in 3-20 seconds (depending on configuration) on my dual core laptop but takes 90+ on a quad core skylake under WSL. But for the simple case of "I need to ssh around or pull some files with curl or check something out from github or whatever and I don't have my linux box" it works great.
- Can_Not 8y ago
  Just full-screening a VMware or Virtual box with your favorite Linux distro is a much better experience than what else has been mentioned so far, and I still hate it. I wish stable Linux laptops were a thing. Currently I have to use a bash script to detect headphones, turn brightness up/down, and my suspend/lock has inconsistent and strange behavior. On the other hand, it's still a whole world better than the shitware and random unannounced update restarts windows 10 forces you though.
purple-again 8y ago
I'm so deeply confused right now that I thought this thread was a joke but now I'm thinking its not. I'm in the state that shall not be named on the other side of the world from California but when I go to tech meet ups, 90% of the room is running Ubuntu/Linux Mint or some other variety with a sprinkling of Macbooks. Is it seriously that different? What do the Starbucks around that area look like? edit I should point out I'm only going to web development meet ups.
- hanse00 8y ago
  Based on my business trips to the SF Bay area, it's seriously Apple land over there.
- tedmiston 8y ago
  Pretty much all MacBook Pros. Maybe 15-20:1 these days over devs on Linux machines from what I've seen. It's funny because growing up as an Apple user in the mid 90s it was reversed. And we didn't have a package manager like Homebrew on OS 9. It's so much easier to be a Mac dev today than historically.
  - LamaOfRuin 8y ago
    My MBP runs linux, as does the MBP of every other developer at my office (there are also 2 dells running linux).
- imauld 8y ago
  Companies think devs want macbooks. I see it advertised in job posts all the time, "New Mac books." Most devs I know either hate them (myself included) or don't really care. Most of the ones that hate them are running Ubuntu/Arch in Parallels or some other VM. I do most of my stuff in Docker containers. I would love to be running Linux on it but the IT department in most places I've heard of won't let you replace OSX. Places that also offer Windows laptops for devs won't let you put Ubuntu on it either. So I use my MBP with it's stupid emoji bar and an escape button that can crash at work and my System76 laptop at home/everywhere else.

"if we can comfortably do development without a MacBook"? What kind of premise is that for a question? You think this forum consists only of devs using Macbooks?

simooooo 8y ago

That's his point. He isn't saying that. He is saying "can I do it without a MacBook" i.e. a full fledged machine

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

simonbarker87 8y ago

In OPs defence: if they work in one of the main tech hubs then pretty much all they will likely see people using is MacBooks. I guess a better way to have phrased the question is “do development on a laptop with a cloud based operating system rather than a traditional OS”

yani 8y ago
Thinkpads are very popular
pimeys 8y ago
Last time I attended a developer meetup here in Berlin I saw more ThinkPads than Macbooks...
- wink 8y ago
  Yeah, I think in Germany it's more like 50/50 for small companies with a big trend to 90% Apple with freelancers and 90% Thinkpad/Dell for bigger companies.
hungerstrike 8y ago
> if they work in one of the main tech hubs... In Silicon Valley. Everyone else uses Windows.
- simonbarker87 8y ago
  You should pop to London sometime
  - hungerstrike 8y ago
    And you should look at market share numbers and maybe visit every other place in the world sometime.

k1ns 8y ago

I'm so conflicted about my favorite development machine. I use Windows/HP laptop at work, but I own a Mac at home. I love them both equally it feels like. Windows seems to have universally more tooling available for download, while the Mac just feels smoother and has nice tooling built-in (such as access to a decent terminal from the start).

dmihal 8y ago

Windows is out of the question for a lot of devs that live in the Unix shell. Sure, I could run a Linux VM or dual boot, but those aren't very pleasant experience.

cpach 8y ago
FYI, Windows 10 also has WSL https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10
- O_H_E 8y ago
  Yeah, but it is insanely slow https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=wsl-february-2018&num=1 https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=wsl-febr... https://www.reddit.com/r/bashonubuntuonwindows/comments/7knl03/is_wsl_very_slow_for_anyone_else/ https://www.reddit.com/r/bashonubuntuonwindows/comments/7knl...
  - cpach 8y ago
    Strange. I’ve never noticed that.
    - ajross 8y ago
      It's fine for casual use and CPU- or network-bound tasks. But anything involving lots of filesystem operations (like, heh, building software) is just a mess. The project I'm working on right now is a biggish C tree using cmake/ninja that still builds in 3-20 seconds (depending on configuration) on my dual core laptop but takes 90+ on a quad core skylake under WSL. But for the simple case of "I need to ssh around or pull some files with curl or check something out from github or whatever and I don't have my linux box" it works great.
Can_Not 8y ago
Just full-screening a VMware or Virtual box with your favorite Linux distro is a much better experience than what else has been mentioned so far, and I still hate it. I wish stable Linux laptops were a thing. Currently I have to use a bash script to detect headphones, turn brightness up/down, and my suspend/lock has inconsistent and strange behavior. On the other hand, it's still a whole world better than the shitware and random unannounced update restarts windows 10 forces you though.

purple-again 8y ago

I'm so deeply confused right now that I thought this thread was a joke but now I'm thinking its not. I'm in the state that shall not be named on the other side of the world from California but when I go to tech meet ups, 90% of the room is running Ubuntu/Linux Mint or some other variety with a sprinkling of Macbooks. Is it seriously that different? What do the Starbucks around that area look like? edit I should point out I'm only going to web development meet ups.

hanse00 8y ago
Based on my business trips to the SF Bay area, it's seriously Apple land over there.
tedmiston 8y ago
Pretty much all MacBook Pros. Maybe 15-20:1 these days over devs on Linux machines from what I've seen. It's funny because growing up as an Apple user in the mid 90s it was reversed. And we didn't have a package manager like Homebrew on OS 9. It's so much easier to be a Mac dev today than historically.
- LamaOfRuin 8y ago
  My MBP runs linux, as does the MBP of every other developer at my office (there are also 2 dells running linux).
imauld 8y ago
Companies think devs want macbooks. I see it advertised in job posts all the time, "New Mac books." Most devs I know either hate them (myself included) or don't really care. Most of the ones that hate them are running Ubuntu/Arch in Parallels or some other VM. I do most of my stuff in Docker containers. I would love to be running Linux on it but the IT department in most places I've heard of won't let you replace OSX. Places that also offer Windows laptops for devs won't let you put Ubuntu on it either. So I use my MBP with it's stupid emoji bar and an escape button that can crash at work and my System76 laptop at home/everywhere else.