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Honestly I've never understood why laptops are so strongly associated with developer culture. They are inefficient and conflated machines - two things that ten

by vemv 6y ago

Honestly I've never understood why laptops are so strongly associated with developer culture. They are inefficient and conflated machines - two things that tend to be contradictory with software engineering. More practically, many people find themselves completely dependent on Apple's design whims. Mac Pros (or server racks in general) are closer to the kinds of machines that we deploy to (they use Xeons for one thing). They don't overheat so easily. Their 'sea of cores' approach enables more productive workflows and tooling. And one gets to use his favorite peripherals, in an ergonomic position (instead of slouching around a laptop).

joaomoreno 6y ago
After having built a Ryzen Mini ITX setup about a month ago, I have to totally agree. Soooo smooth.
arusahni 6y ago
I feel like the migration to open floor plans and offices where you need to take your knowledge base everywhere (e.g., conference rooms) has lead to laptops being the default loadout for many companies.
fastball 6y ago
One of the best things about being a software developer in 2021 is that I can do it from almost anywhere. I'm not lugging my Mac Pro to a cafe. I'm certainly not taking it on a trip.
willio58 6y ago
For my development needs and work style I much prefer a laptop that I can dock at any workstation or just work off the laptop. I recently worked off my laptop while in a car on a road trip. I just wouldn’t have that capability otherwise.
- daxfohl 6y ago
  I just recently ditched my workstation for a dock and like it a lot better. I kind of miss having the dedicated computer in the home-office, rather than always having to transport my laptop from wherever it is. But I definitely like having a single machine to configure and everything being consistent.
kevindong 6y ago
Meetings are generally held in meeting rooms (well, pre-Covid that is). In meetings, you typically have something to present or discuss over. It's generally better for employees to have a single machine (that they're very familiar with) to present on rather than having a machine per employee in addition to a machine per meeting room.
- pjettter 6y ago
  Perhaps some day we can just present from our phones and even use them as a pointer at the same time.
- qppo 6y ago
  All my presentation materials are in the cloud somewhere, I don't need to bring a computer anywhere these days.
  - kevindong 6y ago
    In most cases, I fully agree. But there's the hefty edge case (for developers at least) of showing off a piece of code that essentially requires a developer environment to be running. It's simply not possible to create a developer environment quickly enough in a meeting room for it to be practical.
    - esoterica 6y ago
      You an remote into your machine.
    - qppo 6y ago
      I'd question why you're running code in a meeting. That's some morning standup stuff for your team which can be done at your desk or placed in a gif in an email, not hauled off to a separate room. Meetings are for collaboration, not demos...
      - mc10 6y ago
        > Meetings are for collaboration, not demos... Meetings can absolutely be used for demos. Maybe you're demoing for an audience that's large enough to not fit next to your desk. Maybe you're demoing something that you don't want other people to overhear. Maybe multiple people are all demoing projects to each other.
fulafel 6y ago
It's because networking is so bad now that remote access to your workstation can't be relied upon.
YetAnotherNick 6y ago
I think laptops are more convenient as primary developer machine with the CPU heavy tasks being delegated to cloud. Most tasks take less than or much more time than around 30 seconds. This is the division I roughly take for running locally or in cloud. At least that's the workflow for me and most developers I know of. Having a desktop forces you to work in just one position and this could could cause a lot of obvious inconveniences like not being able to work in cafe or in both home and office.
SkyPuncher 6y ago
> They are inefficient and conflated machines - two things that tend to be contradictory with software engineering. Perhaps by your set of metrics. For me, it's the best option because I always have exactly what I need with me - locally. I can work from home, a coffee shop, an airplane, conference room, a different couch/chair/table, etc without a second thought. I also rarely need the full compute power of a desktop. Sure, it'd help with cold builds - but incremental builds are so fast that it's just not worth being tethered to a desktop.
Aperocky 6y ago
> They are inefficient and conflated machines - two things that tend to be contradictory with software engineering. They are a monitor with some processing ability, and we ask Apple to push ergonomics to the max.
monadic3 6y ago
> They are inefficient and conflated machines - two things that tend to be contradictory with software engineering. Maybe if you like to write inefficient software :)
Scapeghost 6y ago
> I've never understood This is the reason :)
bradlys 6y ago
It’s so that engineering orgs can get you to work from home in addition to the workplace. They force you to take the laptop with you and then will try to make you work from home. That is the only reason. Everything else is just seasoning.
u678u 6y ago
The most common response is often working from a coffee shop or plane. I dont understand those either, how can you concentrate in a coffee shop? How many flights do you really take? - get a book.

by vemv 6y ago

joaomoreno 6y ago

After having built a Ryzen Mini ITX setup about a month ago, I have to totally agree. Soooo smooth.

arusahni 6y ago

I feel like the migration to open floor plans and offices where you need to take your knowledge base everywhere (e.g., conference rooms) has lead to laptops being the default loadout for many companies.

fastball 6y ago

One of the best things about being a software developer in 2021 is that I can do it from almost anywhere. I'm not lugging my Mac Pro to a cafe. I'm certainly not taking it on a trip.

willio58 6y ago

For my development needs and work style I much prefer a laptop that I can dock at any workstation or just work off the laptop. I recently worked off my laptop while in a car on a road trip. I just wouldn’t have that capability otherwise.

daxfohl 6y ago
I just recently ditched my workstation for a dock and like it a lot better. I kind of miss having the dedicated computer in the home-office, rather than always having to transport my laptop from wherever it is. But I definitely like having a single machine to configure and everything being consistent.

kevindong 6y ago

Meetings are generally held in meeting rooms (well, pre-Covid that is). In meetings, you typically have something to present or discuss over. It's generally better for employees to have a single machine (that they're very familiar with) to present on rather than having a machine per employee in addition to a machine per meeting room.

pjettter 6y ago
Perhaps some day we can just present from our phones and even use them as a pointer at the same time.
qppo 6y ago
All my presentation materials are in the cloud somewhere, I don't need to bring a computer anywhere these days.
- kevindong 6y ago
  In most cases, I fully agree. But there's the hefty edge case (for developers at least) of showing off a piece of code that essentially requires a developer environment to be running. It's simply not possible to create a developer environment quickly enough in a meeting room for it to be practical.
  - esoterica 6y ago
    You an remote into your machine.
  - qppo 6y ago
    I'd question why you're running code in a meeting. That's some morning standup stuff for your team which can be done at your desk or placed in a gif in an email, not hauled off to a separate room. Meetings are for collaboration, not demos...
    - mc10 6y ago
      > Meetings are for collaboration, not demos... Meetings can absolutely be used for demos. Maybe you're demoing for an audience that's large enough to not fit next to your desk. Maybe you're demoing something that you don't want other people to overhear. Maybe multiple people are all demoing projects to each other.

fulafel 6y ago

It's because networking is so bad now that remote access to your workstation can't be relied upon.

YetAnotherNick 6y ago

I think laptops are more convenient as primary developer machine with the CPU heavy tasks being delegated to cloud. Most tasks take less than or much more time than around 30 seconds. This is the division I roughly take for running locally or in cloud. At least that's the workflow for me and most developers I know of. Having a desktop forces you to work in just one position and this could could cause a lot of obvious inconveniences like not being able to work in cafe or in both home and office.

SkyPuncher 6y ago

> They are inefficient and conflated machines - two things that tend to be contradictory with software engineering. Perhaps by your set of metrics. For me, it's the best option because I always have exactly what I need with me - locally. I can work from home, a coffee shop, an airplane, conference room, a different couch/chair/table, etc without a second thought. I also rarely need the full compute power of a desktop. Sure, it'd help with cold builds - but incremental builds are so fast that it's just not worth being tethered to a desktop.

Aperocky 6y ago

> They are inefficient and conflated machines - two things that tend to be contradictory with software engineering. They are a monitor with some processing ability, and we ask Apple to push ergonomics to the max.

monadic3 6y ago

> They are inefficient and conflated machines - two things that tend to be contradictory with software engineering. Maybe if you like to write inefficient software :)

Scapeghost 6y ago

> I've never understood This is the reason :)

bradlys 6y ago

It’s so that engineering orgs can get you to work from home in addition to the workplace. They force you to take the laptop with you and then will try to make you work from home. That is the only reason. Everything else is just seasoning.

u678u 6y ago

The most common response is often working from a coffee shop or plane. I dont understand those either, how can you concentrate in a coffee shop? How many flights do you really take? - get a book.