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> not everyone has 32GB of RAM. Developers making desktop applications should be made to use anemic ~10 year old computers so they know what their application

> not everyone has 32GB of RAM. Developers making desktop applications should be made to use anemic ~10 year old computers so they know what their application will feel like to common people. Builds can be done on a headless server with plentiful ram; the requirements of the build environment needn't factor into what computer a programmer is given to test their work.

kitsunesoba 4y ago
Indeed. I have a circa-2008 Core 2 Duo laptop that I pull out from time to time, and I’m always shocked at how snappy it is running a modern OS relative to much more powerful modern computers, and start to wonder why I shelved it. That is, until I start browsing the web or need to use an electron app, and then it all becomes clear. It’s too bad that perfectly serviceable machines like that are being relegated to closets and trashcans due to sheer inefficiency of modern software.
- phonepostingsux 4y ago
  > circa-2008 Core 2 Duo laptop Thinkpad X200, I'm betting. Lovely machines until you open Firefox.
Groxx 4y ago
One of the very best things I ever did while working on an Android app was to buy a dirt cheap phone. Every performance problem was obvious. Every fix was a clear improvement. And when things were acceptable there, the app absolutely screamed on modern phones. We had startup times faster than Android's launch animation with a little bit of care. Our users loved it.
- gregsadetsky 4y ago
  Amen! The equivalent for web development would be to set the network throttling (two clicks in the Chrome DevTools) to the 3G preset, packet drops and all
  - kiririn 4y ago
    For web dev don’t underestimate the impact of low end hardware too. Browsing on a slow CPU is more painful than it has any right to be
wildrhythms 4y ago
We used to be able to run a whole OS + applications on 32MB of memory. What the hell happened?
- RobertWHurst 4y ago
  We asked more of our software and technology improved.

kitsunesoba 4y ago

Indeed. I have a circa-2008 Core 2 Duo laptop that I pull out from time to time, and I’m always shocked at how snappy it is running a modern OS relative to much more powerful modern computers, and start to wonder why I shelved it. That is, until I start browsing the web or need to use an electron app, and then it all becomes clear. It’s too bad that perfectly serviceable machines like that are being relegated to closets and trashcans due to sheer inefficiency of modern software.

phonepostingsux 4y ago
> circa-2008 Core 2 Duo laptop Thinkpad X200, I'm betting. Lovely machines until you open Firefox.

Groxx 4y ago

One of the very best things I ever did while working on an Android app was to buy a dirt cheap phone. Every performance problem was obvious. Every fix was a clear improvement. And when things were acceptable there, the app absolutely screamed on modern phones. We had startup times faster than Android's launch animation with a little bit of care. Our users loved it.

gregsadetsky 4y ago
Amen! The equivalent for web development would be to set the network throttling (two clicks in the Chrome DevTools) to the 3G preset, packet drops and all
- kiririn 4y ago
  For web dev don’t underestimate the impact of low end hardware too. Browsing on a slow CPU is more painful than it has any right to be

wildrhythms 4y ago

We used to be able to run a whole OS + applications on 32MB of memory. What the hell happened?

RobertWHurst 4y ago
We asked more of our software and technology improved.