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Ask HN: What is the best laptop on the market for programming right now?
Ultrabooks are a given in my opinion. I'm curious to hear yours though.
- Kurtz79 15y agoSince I have bought a Macbook Air I can't think of switching to another machine. Light, durable, great keyboard, fantastic display, support for the biggest three OSs. If Apple really releases the next Macbook Pros with the Air form factor and retina display, it will really be a no brainer. As an alternative, I have been always fond of Lenovo laptops (T41/T61), although I honestly haven't tried their ultrabooks.
- jh3 15y agoAre the new Macbooks being released in the summer?
- pooriaazimi 15y agoAll the evidences point to newer 13- and 15-inch MBPs. Looke here: http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/ http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/
- jh3 15y agoAwesome. This is what I was expecting. Hopefully they are released in the next month.
- Kurtz79 15y agoI hope it will be sooner. The retina display could really be a game changer, both in terms of hardware and OS. If the manage to offer doubled resolution while maintaining the same interface form factor like they did with the iOs devices... wow, can't wait.
- nextstep 15y agoI think either a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air is still the best option for most everything. I love my display and keyboard and OS X is truly the best for both usability and flexibility. At risk of sounding like a fangirl, I think that Mac laptops are the best on the market. It will be exciting to see what happens in June if Apple unifies their two laptop lines.
- huskyr 15y agoI love my Macbook Pro 13". I really like the form factor: it's not too big and not too small. I would really like to have a Macbook Air, but unfortunately the small HD space and lack of an optical drive and firewire port are dealbreakers to me.
- aculver 15y agoThe dealbreaker for me with the MacBook Pro 13" is that you don't have the option of upgrading the display for a higher density display. The MacBook Airs come with this standard, and the larger MacBook Pros have an upgrade option available. Between having one of these displays on my MacBook Pro 15" and using a retina display on my iPhone and my iPad, I can't even stand to look at the display on the MacBook Pro 13" or the older iPads anymore.
- gnufs 15y agoI can recommend Lenovo Thinkpad X and T series if you are using GNU/Linux.
- pooriaazimi 15y agoI've had a 15" MacBook Pro for about three years and I absoloutely love it. Its trackpad is far, far better than any other laptop's, its keyboard is very easy to type on, its display is gorgeous, its pretty, runs OS X and Linux (and on OS X, you can run most unix tools and a huge number of great development tools and editors that run only on OS X - like TextMate). MacBook Pro is the dream machine for a developer. But if you're not in a hurry, I suggest waiting for a while. Rumors say a 15" Air-ish MacBook Pro is on its way (with fast, quad core processors and 4-8 GB ram).
- pimeys 15y ago>MacBook Pro is the dream machine for a developer. But if you're not in a hurry, I suggest waiting for a while. Rumors say a 15" Air-ish MacBook Pro is on its way (with fast, quad core processors and 4-8 GB ram). I have to oppose this. OS X's Mission Control is not at all good for a developer. Not at all as efficient as using some window manager with dedicated and numbered desktops, e.g. Xmonad. The other thing which annoyed me when I worked with OS X machine was the absence of a good package manager for every application. I had to use my Macbook for work when I was working from home. I had to install GCC and MySQL, which took almost an hour of my precious time. Never had that kind of problems with Arch or Ubuntu.
- sitkack 15y agoTwo options that can be used at the same time . Use brew to install command line apps and other utilities. Use Linux in a VM and install servers and what not in the VM. Use file system sharing to make the Linux side appear seem less.
- pimeys 15y agoSo using native Linux install is much easier. Too bad that other manufacturers don't build as good hardware as Apple. And too bad Apple hardware is often propiertary, so it might be hard to install Linux to it (not always, though). My choice has been a separate work computer with two monitors, a mouse, a keyboard and Arch Linux. At home I have two computers: iMac for television and MacBook for upstairs Minecraft computer. Win-win.
- thomasloh 15y agoMacbook Pro/Air FTW. I have a 15in Pro w/ SSD. It's awesome but kind of heavy to be carried around. So pick Air if you travel a lot
- skun 15y agoMost companies i think provide like Lenovo / HP . My company gives out Lenovo T520. Personally i think its too bulky but sure does pack the power . But i own a Macbook pro 13" and i'm loving it . The track pad and the keys are unmatchable IMO.
- Joeboy 15y agoWhat qualities would make a laptop particularly suitable for programming? I guess you want speed and build quality, but you probably want those whatever it's for. My T410 does me fine.
- rauar 15y agothere's nothing but a solid (aluminium), fast (SSD), brilliant (display) and coding-ready (dev. environment) like a Macbook Pro. Thinkpads clearly are a second choice as long as price does not matter. And yes - I've used most available hardware and OSes for several years.
- yesimahuman 15y agoMacbook Air 13". I love it. It's my first Mac and I realized I will never buy a non-mac laptop again. Yes, it's more slightly more expensive, but the quality is so much higher it's unreal. Your $1200 buys you more than your $1000 for an "Ultrabook"
- bsimpson 15y agoOur X-mas bonus this year at work was a MacBook Air. I've got a 15" Pro at work; and at home, a 24" iMac, a TabletPC, a Chromebook, a Galaxy Tab, and four smartphones (thank you, Google I/O). The Air felt a little bit like overload at first ("yay - another gadget"), but it quickly became my favorite of the lot. 13" is a great size (I don't miss the extra 2" from my Pro), and it's unbelievably svelte. If I take the bus, I just throw it under my arm - no bag, no charger - just my MacBook Air. It's plenty fast. The screen has great color, and will go as bright or as dim as you need. Heed this man's advice - get an Air.
- bsimpson 15y agoI just realized that working outside on a gusty day is a challenge with the Air. I'm a little afraid it's going to blow off the roof.
- yesimahuman 15y agoI can't work outside with it really at all, it's hard to read the screen even in minor light.
- jcla1 15y agoYour absolutely right! I've got a Macbook Pro 13" and it's absolutely brilliant! I will never but a non-mac laptop again.
- gduplessy 15y agoMy vote goes to the MacBook Air 13". Best laptop I've used ever (coming from a Windows and Linux world and Dell/Asus laptops)
- Killswitch 15y agoI'm jumping on with the MacBook bandwagon... I have used exclusively a laptop with Linux on it for years, went to Mac and haven't looked back.
- endlessvoid94 15y agoHere's my progress: 17" Dell <- beginning of college 13" Lenovo T61 <- end of college 13" Macbook <- post-college 11" Macbook Air <- latest These have all gotten better, faster, and more powerful. They've gotten smaller. I feel like I've done a lot of different types of work: I ran gentoo on the T61 for a few months, did some photoshop work on the 13" macbook, and everything in between. The Macbook Air's CPU has a lower clock speed, but it literally hasn't been a problem. The combination of long battery life, being incredibly light, and the speed of the SSD makes me 100% recommend a macbook air of whatever size you like. Thinkpads are definitely popular for a reason, but it's been a few years since I've used one. I'm sure there is a similar offering that has all the same sorts of benefits -- I'd wonder about battery life, though.
- netpenthe 15y agoi have a thinkpad x200s, with 9 cell battery, get about 8 hours.
- blzn 15y agoI'm running on an excessively expensive 15" Dell Precision Windows 7 quad core, ssd, nvidia quaddro laptop. It's not that great on its own (but one screen is inadequate for real productivity anyway). Plug in a monitor (or three!) and a keyboard/mouse and this thing hums.
- gramsey 15y agoMacbook Air 13". Absolutely love this laptop. Weighs less than three pounds so it's extremely portable, only .68" thick at the widest point. It's got an SSD, so disk operations, shutdown, and startup are super fast, plus 4GB of RAM. Been using it for programming for eight months now, couldn't recommend it more.
- lean 15y agoMBAir is the best hardware wise, worst bang-to-buck wise (especially if you opt for a RAM upgrade). Underpowered GPU, average RAM, nearly impossible to perform DIY upgrades. If you can't afford it, try the Asus U36. Lightweight, relatively thin, better processor than the MBAir, discrete graphics, very easily upgraded by the owner, ~$700. Plenty of money left over (compared to a MBAir) to add fast RAM and a huge SSD. Terrible screen resolution, however, and the build quality feels cheaper than Apple (like all non-Apple laptops). Might want to hold out for the next-gen ultrabooks, the Lenovo Yoga looks impressive.
- chrislomax 15y agoDell quad core with SSD's, 8gb ram. I haven't had to format it yet, which is good for a laptop 9 month on! Very fast
- malyk 15y ago11" Macbook Air with a "base-station" where you can go to plug it in for times when you just have to have more screen real-estate.
- Ecio78 15y agoA friend of mine has just told me yesterday he had seen in a shop the new ultrabook Asus Zenbook and he's thinkin about buying it: http://zenbook.asus.com/zenbook/?c=original http://zenbook.asus.com/zenbook/?c=original The 13" model he has seen should be 1.1kg, 7hours battery and 1000euro (even thought the normal price should be 1200), so it's cheaper and lighter than a MBA 13". Has anybody experience with this ultrabook? especially with linux?
- pimeys 15y agoMy workmate bought one for programming. Ubuntu 11.10 required a kernel compile for Bluetooth to work, otherwise everything seemed to work out of the box. Even going to sleep when closing the lid - the hardest test you can give to a Linux laptop.
- LoneWolf 15y agoWhile I can't speak for the zenbook, I can speak for Asus every laptop I had so far is Asus, never had any problems with them. My current one is an old V1S (about 5years old) and still works pretty well, I had it with linux and windows, no problems at all with linux drivers. Call me a fanboy if you want, but I try to buy asus when possible and have no regrets so far. About macbooks, for me its just overpriced hardware, I buy something because it works not because of its design, and comparing my laptop with a friends macbook I have seen no diference except the OS, nearly the same specs with his monitor being smaller. (maybe thats just me, I was never a fan of apple stuff)
- kmiyer 15y agoI use a Lenovo X220 with an SSD and a 15" MBP (also with an SSD). They're both fantastic machines. The Lenovo lets me use Linux with pretty much perfect compatibility and has the best keyboard I've ever used. The MPB similarly has the best trackpad I've encountered. The main unexpected advantage of using OS X has been the presence of readline-style keyboard shortcuts at an OS mediated level (in any text field). Once you get used to that, using any other OS for incidental typing (in search fields or forms) feels slow.
- Michiel 15y ago"the presence of readline-style keyboard shortcuts at an OS mediated level" What does that mean? Do you have an example comparing it to non-'readline-style' shortcuts?
- tsm 15y agoI'm assuming it refers to the fact that most simple Emacs-flavored shortcuts work in any textfield. C-A for <Home>, C-E for <End>, C-K to kill to the end of the line, etc. Certain tookits do this on Linux (Qt for one, I think), and I agree that it's hugely helpful. So I believe non-readline-style shortcuts would refer to, for example, C-A to select all text.
- kmiyer 15y agoExactly. I should probably have referred to them as emacs-style as readline can be configured to have vi-bindings as well.
- GlennS 15y agoI recently went for a Dell XPS 17" with the monitor resolution upgrade (1920*1080). I bought an SSD separately. I wanted something to code on and screen resolution seemed like the most important thing for that. I've been pretty happy with it, but I've never had another laptop, so I can't really compare. It's reasonably weighty: I've walked half hour journeys with it, which makes my arm ache. You'll likely want a shoulder strap if you're going to be carrying it around a lot. I also usually take a mouse along with me. While it's mainly for gaming, it's very helpful for coding as well. If you're a VIM or Emacs expert maybe you'll disagree.
- w1ntermute 15y agoI've got a ThinkPad T410 running Arch Linux with Xmonad. I've been running Arch on the T410, and a T400 before it, for the last 2.5 years without a hitch. I think I've finally found a setup I can stick to indefinitely - when I tried to switch to Xfce, I found the hit using a non-tiling window manager had on my productivity to be unbearable.
- molecule 15y agoI've been very satisfied w/ the portability of the 11" MacBook Air.
- sakopov 15y agoYou're not going to get much here other than Macbook. :) Check out Dell's XPS series. I own the quad core XPS 15 and absolutely love the performance and battery life.
- omarchowdhury 15y agoThinkPad T400
- drucken 15y agoASUS Zenbook UX31 or Toshiba Portégé Z835 or 13″ Macbook Air.
- netpenthe 15y agohttp://www.laptopreviews.com/macbook-air-vs-thinkpad-x220-comparison-the-gloves-are-off-2011-12 http://www.laptopreviews.com/macbook-air-vs-thinkpad-x220-co... i've been trying to weigh this up for a while Macbook Air vs Thinkpad x220, seems close.. this reviewer is pretty expansive and (just) gives it to the x220... not sure tho, ppl here seem to LOVE MBA's.
- debacle 15y agoI've got a cheap Asus K50, and it's been my friend for a long time. Good keyboard, audio, and brightness settings, and enough processing speed for my needs. The best part about it is that if I drop it in the bathtub I'm only out ~600 for a new one (I do my best programming in the bathroom, it seems).
- fourmii 15y agoLove the Macbook Air, I have the 13". I particularly love that I never have to shut it down. With OS X and SSD, the wake up time is great.
- mankash666 15y agoI see a LOT of people mentioning the MacAir. I'm an Electrical Engineer and need an absolute powerhouse to do signal processing simulations, or other involved tasks. MacBookAir would never cut it for me. I prefer Ubuntu on a 13" quadcore processor + 8GB RAM. The HP Pavilion dm4t Beats Edition has all of the above, and weighs a mere 4.5 lbs.
- al3x_ 15y agox220 with i5,IPS screen and 16Gb ram (SSD is good too but not mandatory). MB air/Pro can go fly a kite.
- dagw 15y agoMacbook Air 11" if you want a great laptop in a really small package. Thinkpad T420 If you're willing to accept something slightly larger in exchange for a larger screen with higher resolution, support for up to 16GB of RAM, better battery life (with the 9 cell battery) and a proper nvidia graphics card. Also I find the keyboard on the Thinkpad (slightly) better, but the trackpad is worse. Then again it does have trackpoint which some people really like.
- hkarthik 15y agoI've had MacBook Pro's for about 3 years and I've been running a MacBook Air for about 9 months. I love my Air, it's easily a very solid machine. But the small screen size can be a little constraining, and the machine does noticeably lack power. Not having a dedicated graphics card also limits you from trying out things like WebGL. And anytime you hit a Flash-based website, your MBA will sound like a jet engine. I think if you're very mobile (i.e. travel a lot) go with the Air. If you're at home most of the time, get an iMac and an 11" air for the few times that you are mobile. If you need the best of both worlds, go with a MacBook Pro. My next machine will be a 15" next gen MacBook Pro. Those should incorporate design elements from the Air in a more powerful package.