6 ms·

Not when you are on Macbook. Don't suggest external drives please ;)

by nshm 4y ago

landryraccoon 4y ago
But you don't have to develop on Macbook. So you intentionally chose a platform known for being really expensive and now your main complaint is that it's too expensive? I don't really think that the toolchain is to blame for that one.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- sumy23 4y ago
  I do need to develop on a Macbook. The hardware is just so much better than anything else out there. This is my personal opinion of course, but I would rather stop being a software developer than to develop software using a different laptop available on the market today.
  - forrestthewoods 4y ago
    Meanwhile I’d rather serve coffee than be a software developer on any laptop! I can’t fathom developing on anything other than a high-end desktop. M1 is very impressive. But I hate macOS as much, if not more than, you hate Windows. My Threadripper makes me very happy.
    - downut 4y ago
      Yeah, given the sheer cpu/ram/m.2 power of what even a tiny NUC provides, with modular, replaceable monitor(s)/keyboard/mouse/USB(3/C/Thunderbolt)/HDMI etc, for less than a Mac, I am unable to understand the appeal of a laptop. And I use a i7/64GB/1TB NUC for traveling! I use a twice as powerful Ryzen rack server for my office dev box. 5m extension cables so the noise is in a closet. I have no problems with external drives. Is this a Mac thing too? 32 years ago as a fresh out I got a government job with an SGI box with an enormous monitor. I stare in wonder at the future, right now. It sure doesn't look like happiness.
      - sumy23 4y ago
        I live in a small apartment with my partner who also works from home. We don’t have enough space to dedicate to two desks. We also travel a lot, so I need to be able to take my work with me.
        downut 4y ago
        It is a weird thing to me that a minimal impact lifestyle[0] requires a very constrained and expensive computer ecosystem to facilitate unrealized happiness. [0] ...but with frequent travel?
        sumy23 4y ago
        We have a small, nearly off the grid cottage (septic, water from the lake, no roads, etc.). It has an internet connection via a Ubiquiti antenna. Not enough room for two desks there either.
      - navjack27 4y ago
        I got the cheapest M1 Mac Mini when it came out. I got two m.2 NVME drives hooked up to it (1.92TB & 1TB) and a 1TB SATA SSD and a 64GB microSD card along with the built in 250GB drive. No issues. Never have ram issues either with the 8GB. I can compile stuff. Code. Have tabs in my browser. Do stuff in Logic. Edit video. Emulate old computers and systems for games. Dosbox. Parsec to my Windows desktop. Do pretty much anything. Got it hooked up to my 55" 4K HDR TV. Bluetooth Logitech keyboard with touchpad. It's great!
        switchbak 4y ago
        8GB ram, only Apple could pull that off. What is it, 2008? My work stack is tight on 32gb (yeah, it is what it is), that simply wouldn't fly for me. 8gb, especially with all the memory used by the os on MacOs, there's just no way.
    - sumy23 4y ago
      That’s fine. The criteria people have for being software engineers is different. I just gave my personal opinion. I don’t think there is a right or wrong.
- throwawaymaths 4y ago
  > But you don't have to develop on Macbook Can you please tell that to my IT department which refused to issue me a Linux laptop for 1 month, then took two months to put the order in... I had to get an executive (President of R&D) at the company to harangue IT... I still haven't seen it, apparently they are trying to install the standard "employee spyware" package on it.
  - LeoNatan25 4y ago
    If your IT department is an overt detriment to your development effort, send a letter to your company’s upper management and leave. This is the only way to push for change in these moronic companies, and you keep your sanity.
    - throwawaymaths 4y ago
      No? There's a lot of other amazing things about the company beyond having 15% development drag? IT is not that important in the grand scheme of things. Jesus. I have an executive level officer in the company that has my back and you're telling me to quit? Utterly horrible advice.
cowtools 4y ago
I thought apple computers usually had thunderbolt ports. You can't just connect a thunderbolt/M.2 drive enclosure and mount it as root?
- colejohnson66 4y ago
  That’s still an external drive
nicoburns 4y ago
True historically, but this has actually been solved on the latest macs. Base spec for the MacBook Pro is 1TB disk.
- coder543 4y ago
  > Base spec for the MacBook Pro is 1TB disk. I believe you mean 256GB.[0] Unless you meant to say 14" or 16" MacBook Pro, in which case the base spec is still only 512GB for either of them, not 1TB.[1][2] For the prices Apple is charging, I wish they would make 1TB the base spec... but Apple Silicon is so good that the machines sell like hotcakes anyways. [0]: https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro/13-inch https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro/13-inch [1]: https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro/14-inch https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro/14-inch [2]: https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro/16-inch https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro/16-inch
  - nicoburns 4y ago
    Hum, I think it’s reasonable to only consider the 14” and 16” variants latest generation models. But I guess I misremembered the base spec. Looking at the link, it’s because you get 1TB if you get the model with the full 8 performance cores. But that model is quite a bit more expensive than the base model.

Not when you are on Macbook. Don't suggest external drives please ;)

by nshm 4y ago

Not when you are on Macbook. Don't suggest external drives please ;)

But you don't have to develop on Macbook. So you intentionally chose a platform known for being really expensive and now your main complaint is that it's too expensive? I don't really think that the toolchain is to blame for that one.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
sumy23 4y ago
I do need to develop on a Macbook. The hardware is just so much better than anything else out there. This is my personal opinion of course, but I would rather stop being a software developer than to develop software using a different laptop available on the market today.
- forrestthewoods 4y ago
  Meanwhile I’d rather serve coffee than be a software developer on any laptop! I can’t fathom developing on anything other than a high-end desktop. M1 is very impressive. But I hate macOS as much, if not more than, you hate Windows. My Threadripper makes me very happy.
  - downut 4y ago
    Yeah, given the sheer cpu/ram/m.2 power of what even a tiny NUC provides, with modular, replaceable monitor(s)/keyboard/mouse/USB(3/C/Thunderbolt)/HDMI etc, for less than a Mac, I am unable to understand the appeal of a laptop. And I use a i7/64GB/1TB NUC for traveling! I use a twice as powerful Ryzen rack server for my office dev box. 5m extension cables so the noise is in a closet. I have no problems with external drives. Is this a Mac thing too? 32 years ago as a fresh out I got a government job with an SGI box with an enormous monitor. I stare in wonder at the future, right now. It sure doesn't look like happiness.
    - sumy23 4y ago
      I live in a small apartment with my partner who also works from home. We don’t have enough space to dedicate to two desks. We also travel a lot, so I need to be able to take my work with me.
      - downut 4y ago
        It is a weird thing to me that a minimal impact lifestyle[0] requires a very constrained and expensive computer ecosystem to facilitate unrealized happiness. [0] ...but with frequent travel?
        sumy23 4y ago
        We have a small, nearly off the grid cottage (septic, water from the lake, no roads, etc.). It has an internet connection via a Ubiquiti antenna. Not enough room for two desks there either.
    - navjack27 4y ago
      I got the cheapest M1 Mac Mini when it came out. I got two m.2 NVME drives hooked up to it (1.92TB & 1TB) and a 1TB SATA SSD and a 64GB microSD card along with the built in 250GB drive. No issues. Never have ram issues either with the 8GB. I can compile stuff. Code. Have tabs in my browser. Do stuff in Logic. Edit video. Emulate old computers and systems for games. Dosbox. Parsec to my Windows desktop. Do pretty much anything. Got it hooked up to my 55" 4K HDR TV. Bluetooth Logitech keyboard with touchpad. It's great!
      - switchbak 4y ago
        8GB ram, only Apple could pull that off. What is it, 2008? My work stack is tight on 32gb (yeah, it is what it is), that simply wouldn't fly for me. 8gb, especially with all the memory used by the os on MacOs, there's just no way.
  - sumy23 4y ago
    That’s fine. The criteria people have for being software engineers is different. I just gave my personal opinion. I don’t think there is a right or wrong.
throwawaymaths 4y ago
> But you don't have to develop on Macbook Can you please tell that to my IT department which refused to issue me a Linux laptop for 1 month, then took two months to put the order in... I had to get an executive (President of R&D) at the company to harangue IT... I still haven't seen it, apparently they are trying to install the standard "employee spyware" package on it.
- LeoNatan25 4y ago
  If your IT department is an overt detriment to your development effort, send a letter to your company’s upper management and leave. This is the only way to push for change in these moronic companies, and you keep your sanity.
  - throwawaymaths 4y ago
    No? There's a lot of other amazing things about the company beyond having 15% development drag? IT is not that important in the grand scheme of things. Jesus. I have an executive level officer in the company that has my back and you're telling me to quit? Utterly horrible advice.

cowtools 4y ago

I thought apple computers usually had thunderbolt ports. You can't just connect a thunderbolt/M.2 drive enclosure and mount it as root?

colejohnson66 4y ago
That’s still an external drive

nicoburns 4y ago

True historically, but this has actually been solved on the latest macs. Base spec for the MacBook Pro is 1TB disk.

coder543 4y ago
> Base spec for the MacBook Pro is 1TB disk. I believe you mean 256GB.[0] Unless you meant to say 14" or 16" MacBook Pro, in which case the base spec is still only 512GB for either of them, not 1TB.[1][2] For the prices Apple is charging, I wish they would make 1TB the base spec... but Apple Silicon is so good that the machines sell like hotcakes anyways. [0]: https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro/13-inch https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro/13-inch [1]: https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro/14-inch https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro/14-inch [2]: https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro/16-inch https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro/16-inch
- nicoburns 4y ago
  Hum, I think it’s reasonable to only consider the 14” and 16” variants latest generation models. But I guess I misremembered the base spec. Looking at the link, it’s because you get 1TB if you get the model with the full 8 performance cores. But that model is quite a bit more expensive than the base model.