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My company provides a pretty standard laptop, but they rarely have more than 2 cores. In native app development, Android Studio and Xcode are severely bottlene

My company provides a pretty standard laptop, but they rarely have more than 2 cores. In native app development, Android Studio and Xcode are severely bottlenecked by 2 cores. The difference between my laptop and my Mac Mini (6 cores) is astounding. The difference between a build taking 6x minutes and 1x minutes is more than just 1/6 because it goes from "Well, guess I'll check email/messenger/HN real quick." to taking a sip of coffee. It also gets real bad when your IDE is forced to fight with your browser, email client, etc. Then you're forced to do nothing, lest your casual actions further slow down your local build. Usually the "breaking point" is when builds take more than 5 minutes, but especially when they take more 30+ mins.

lliamander 7y ago
Slow builds can definitely break concentration. I'm on a dual core as well, although most new business laptops come with 4 cores. My build times aren't as long, because I'm working with Java-based microservices, so each service takes a minute or so to build (with tests) but even that delay can break concentration. Turning off tests helps, but then you don't always have the immediate feedback of the test results (and don't worry, I always run the tests before committing).
- arcticfox 7y ago
  A little off topic, but what does your microservice build with tests look like? Trying to figure out what I need to do if I want to try microservices correctly...
- pjmlp 7y ago
  I used to be happy with Java and .NET builds, until I got to deal with Android builds. Android is probably the only platform that in almost every conference has at least one talk related to how to improve build speed, thanks Gradle + Android Studio.
- tracker1 7y ago
  I worked on a codebase a few years ago that took over 44 minutes to compile... a change you would think should take 10 minutes took 3 days. RSS was still a big thing at the time, and did a LOT of reading while waiting.
wyclif 7y ago
The 2018, 6 core Mac Mini is underrated for use as a HEDT in my opinion. It's surprisingly powerful and silent. I really have to thrash something to even get the fans to spin up.
LeonM 7y ago
Your employer supplied you with the wrong tools for the job. Explain why you would need a more powerful computer and you'll probably get it.
arvinsim 7y ago
When I started working in my current company, the dual core, 16GB MBP that was given to me was enough since I was working on a single project. But now that I am working across projects that run 2-3 repositories at a time with Jetbrains IDE, the computer almost barely keep up. I get times where typing will actually lag. I am contemplating asking them for a Mac Mini instead since I rarely ever venture out from my desk.

lliamander 7y ago

Slow builds can definitely break concentration. I'm on a dual core as well, although most new business laptops come with 4 cores. My build times aren't as long, because I'm working with Java-based microservices, so each service takes a minute or so to build (with tests) but even that delay can break concentration. Turning off tests helps, but then you don't always have the immediate feedback of the test results (and don't worry, I always run the tests before committing).

arcticfox 7y ago
A little off topic, but what does your microservice build with tests look like? Trying to figure out what I need to do if I want to try microservices correctly...
pjmlp 7y ago
I used to be happy with Java and .NET builds, until I got to deal with Android builds. Android is probably the only platform that in almost every conference has at least one talk related to how to improve build speed, thanks Gradle + Android Studio.
tracker1 7y ago
I worked on a codebase a few years ago that took over 44 minutes to compile... a change you would think should take 10 minutes took 3 days. RSS was still a big thing at the time, and did a LOT of reading while waiting.

wyclif 7y ago

The 2018, 6 core Mac Mini is underrated for use as a HEDT in my opinion. It's surprisingly powerful and silent. I really have to thrash something to even get the fans to spin up.

LeonM 7y ago

Your employer supplied you with the wrong tools for the job. Explain why you would need a more powerful computer and you'll probably get it.

arvinsim 7y ago

When I started working in my current company, the dual core, 16GB MBP that was given to me was enough since I was working on a single project. But now that I am working across projects that run 2-3 repositories at a time with Jetbrains IDE, the computer almost barely keep up. I get times where typing will actually lag. I am contemplating asking them for a Mac Mini instead since I rarely ever venture out from my desk.