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MacBook Pro. After years of dealing with a Windows workstation, I went into credit card debt to purchase a quality laptop computer for my development needs. I

MacBook Pro. After years of dealing with a Windows workstation, I went into credit card debt to purchase a quality laptop computer for my development needs. I have had the same one for 6 years and found little reason to buy a new MBP.

foepys 6y ago
Lenovo ThinkPads are similar in build quality and processing power while being significantly cheaper and they have a usable keyboard. Same for Dell XPS, I believe, but my company is using ThinkPads. Windows is usable even for node and git development nowadays.
- Jefro118 6y ago
  Can I ask if you've tried using one with Linux (Ubuntu or Mint)? I'm thinking of getting a ThinkPad next but I would prefer to use Linux over Windows and I'm wondering how well it runs Linux.
  - abiro 6y ago
    I used to work on MBPs and then switched last year to a Thinkpad X1E running Mint and I couldn’t be happier. Do make sure though to search for potential problems for the specific Thinkpad model that you pick. (And spare a few dollars to support Mint development if you choose it and can afford it!)
  - andrefuchs 6y ago
    I'm using Ubuntu on a ThinkPad x230. Works flawlessly for years.
  - iimblack 6y ago
    In general, Thinkpads work great with Linux. You'll want to check your specific model though, especially if you're buying a version that's just been released.
  - Joeboy 6y ago
    Running Ubuntu 20.04 on my P53. The Internet told me I needed to check the BIOS was up to date and check a couple of things were set properly before installing, which I did, and everything seems fine. Before that it was a T430 which was also fine.
  - ufo 6y ago
    Thinkpads are very popular among the Linux crowd. The only thing that doesn't work in mine is the fingerprint reader.
    - bibelo 6y ago
      Yes same here. It works 1 time out of 10. Really annoying
DivisionSol 6y ago
I agree with you entirely. In terms of productivity, having been given a MacBook Pro at the places I've worked, versus the hoops I needed to climb through to try and develop on Windows in my free time: The experience is miles beyond. After my PC died, I explicitly bought a MacBook Pro and love it as a daily driver and developing on it. Homebrew (package manager). A terminal that speaks an actual standard (no weird CMD.exe, no PowerShell.) gcc built in. Note: All these benefits are just benefits garnered by using a system with a unix base. I should've just committed and installed a dual-bootable Linux partition on my Windows machine a long time ago. Unfortunately I have a hard time explaining exactly why developing on Windows is such a pain... The best success I've had would be going through Git Bash which always felt like a hack, and that's just for nodejs, if I want to compile a C/C++ program the whole thing is a nightmare with Visual Studio. I think OSs should be judged on 'time to compile a C/C++ program' from a fresh install. Hell, I think 'the tool that makes me a much better programmer' is being terminal-native. Get used to unix systems, they're wonderful. /rant

foepys 6y ago

Lenovo ThinkPads are similar in build quality and processing power while being significantly cheaper and they have a usable keyboard. Same for Dell XPS, I believe, but my company is using ThinkPads. Windows is usable even for node and git development nowadays.

Jefro118 6y ago
Can I ask if you've tried using one with Linux (Ubuntu or Mint)? I'm thinking of getting a ThinkPad next but I would prefer to use Linux over Windows and I'm wondering how well it runs Linux.
- abiro 6y ago
  I used to work on MBPs and then switched last year to a Thinkpad X1E running Mint and I couldn’t be happier. Do make sure though to search for potential problems for the specific Thinkpad model that you pick. (And spare a few dollars to support Mint development if you choose it and can afford it!)
- andrefuchs 6y ago
  I'm using Ubuntu on a ThinkPad x230. Works flawlessly for years.
- iimblack 6y ago
  In general, Thinkpads work great with Linux. You'll want to check your specific model though, especially if you're buying a version that's just been released.
- Joeboy 6y ago
  Running Ubuntu 20.04 on my P53. The Internet told me I needed to check the BIOS was up to date and check a couple of things were set properly before installing, which I did, and everything seems fine. Before that it was a T430 which was also fine.
- ufo 6y ago
  Thinkpads are very popular among the Linux crowd. The only thing that doesn't work in mine is the fingerprint reader.
  - bibelo 6y ago
    Yes same here. It works 1 time out of 10. Really annoying

DivisionSol 6y ago

I agree with you entirely. In terms of productivity, having been given a MacBook Pro at the places I've worked, versus the hoops I needed to climb through to try and develop on Windows in my free time: The experience is miles beyond. After my PC died, I explicitly bought a MacBook Pro and love it as a daily driver and developing on it. Homebrew (package manager). A terminal that speaks an actual standard (no weird CMD.exe, no PowerShell.) gcc built in. Note: All these benefits are just benefits garnered by using a system with a unix base. I should've just committed and installed a dual-bootable Linux partition on my Windows machine a long time ago. Unfortunately I have a hard time explaining exactly why developing on Windows is such a pain... The best success I've had would be going through Git Bash which always felt like a hack, and that's just for nodejs, if I want to compile a C/C++ program the whole thing is a nightmare with Visual Studio. I think OSs should be judged on 'time to compile a C/C++ program' from a fresh install. Hell, I think 'the tool that makes me a much better programmer' is being terminal-native. Get used to unix systems, they're wonderful. /rant