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Linux is bad for laptop batteries, 4K screens, other hardware, and most office programs. If you only use vim, stay plugged into an outlet all day, and don't nee

Linux is bad for laptop batteries, 4K screens, other hardware, and most office programs. If you only use vim, stay plugged into an outlet all day, and don't need great video conferencing, then Linux is fine. But that's not most people. OTOH windows is slower than Linux, but it's a price worth paying for some.

woodruffw 6y ago
> Linux is bad for laptop batteries, 4K screens, other hardware, and most office programs. If you only use vim, stay plugged into an outlet all day, and don't need great video conferencing, then Linux is fine. But that's not most people. I don't disagree with any of this[1]! But we're talking about developers, not most people, and it looks like this particular author went out of their way to install a CLI editor. Others have pointed out that Windows is still the right platform if you're a game developer, which makes a lot of sense to me. Are there other specific hobbyist development cases that are best served by a Windows environment? [1]: Except the 4K and video conferencing. Those actually work quite nicely for me (n=1) on Linux.
- Shared404 6y ago
  > [1]: Except the 4K and video conferencing. Those actually work quite nicely for me (n=1) on Linux. I suppose I'll add my n=1 experience that battery life has been pretty good oob.
  - dhdhhdd 6y ago
    Maybe it would have been even better in windows? :-) I remember playing with governor's, disabling hardware, supporting Nvidia Optimus and other stuff in Linux in order to get decent battery life (actually, i got decent out of the box. I wanted good battery life)
    - Shared404 6y ago
      Quite possibly. This laptop is the first computer I've owned for myself though, and is what let me get into Linux. I tried dual booting for a while, used Windows ~2 times, and never went back. I can get 8 - 10 hours pretty easily with Linux, and that's using GNOME, so I just haven't worried about it.
    - Macha 6y ago
      Was not the case on my last dual boot laptop (XPS 15), battery life was better under Linux on that.
- clircle 6y ago
  Yes, I know one person can hack there way about all the Linux issues on their specific hardware for their specific work requirements. I hate to beat up on Linux. I'm a 15 year user on my personal hardware who wishes he could use it for work.

woodruffw 6y ago

> Linux is bad for laptop batteries, 4K screens, other hardware, and most office programs. If you only use vim, stay plugged into an outlet all day, and don't need great video conferencing, then Linux is fine. But that's not most people. I don't disagree with any of this[1]! But we're talking about developers, not most people, and it looks like this particular author went out of their way to install a CLI editor. Others have pointed out that Windows is still the right platform if you're a game developer, which makes a lot of sense to me. Are there other specific hobbyist development cases that are best served by a Windows environment? [1]: Except the 4K and video conferencing. Those actually work quite nicely for me (n=1) on Linux.

Shared404 6y ago
> [1]: Except the 4K and video conferencing. Those actually work quite nicely for me (n=1) on Linux. I suppose I'll add my n=1 experience that battery life has been pretty good oob.
- dhdhhdd 6y ago
  Maybe it would have been even better in windows? :-) I remember playing with governor's, disabling hardware, supporting Nvidia Optimus and other stuff in Linux in order to get decent battery life (actually, i got decent out of the box. I wanted good battery life)
  - Shared404 6y ago
    Quite possibly. This laptop is the first computer I've owned for myself though, and is what let me get into Linux. I tried dual booting for a while, used Windows ~2 times, and never went back. I can get 8 - 10 hours pretty easily with Linux, and that's using GNOME, so I just haven't worried about it.
  - Macha 6y ago
    Was not the case on my last dual boot laptop (XPS 15), battery life was better under Linux on that.
clircle 6y ago
Yes, I know one person can hack there way about all the Linux issues on their specific hardware for their specific work requirements. I hate to beat up on Linux. I'm a 15 year user on my personal hardware who wishes he could use it for work.