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At Home (Work is same, just aesthetically different) Black ikea desk, finely tuned height, otherwise plain Steelcase think chair Two 21.5" Dell Monitors

At Home (Work is same, just aesthetically different) Black ikea desk, finely tuned height, otherwise plain Steelcase think chair Two 21.5" Dell Monitors, 1920x1080 IPS panels, usually in vertical position Kinesis Advantage Keyboard Logitech M570 Trackball Alienware M14xR2 running Arch Linux

Oculus 13y ago
Can I ask why Alienware? I always thought they were super overpriced.
- phaus 13y ago
  At a much lower cost than an Apple system (which seems to be the standard for many developers) you can get significantly more power, along with a couple of drawbacks that may not matter depending on your situation. The base model 17" laptop at 1499 includes a Haswell i7, a GTX765M, 8GB of ram, a 750GB HD, and a 1600x900 screen. For 1399, you can get the 14" with a Haswell i7, a 1080p screen, 16GB Ram (Not sure if you can install 32 in this machine) and an Nvidia 750M (which will be the $2k+ Haswell rMBP's dGPU if it even has one.) The RAM and HDD can easily be upgraded with 32GB and an SSD. If the ultimate goal is as much power as possible, even this base model (Without any self-upgrades) is significantly better than a Maxed-out rMBP. In fact, it's significantly better than the next rMBP is going to be as well. If you step it up to the next level, you get a 17" laptop with a 1080P screen, 16GB RAM, and one of the fastest mobile GPUs available, the GTX770M. It's $1900, but it's important to note that the GPU itself probably costs 500-600 dollars or more, and the i7, over 300. If you throw in another 16GB Ram ($80) and an SSD ($160 for 240GB), you have a machine that makes the rMBP an embarassment at a much lower price $2140 VS $2799. Please note that I'm speaking purely in terms of power. There are many other reasons that one might choose the rMBP. For example, I own an Alienware m17x r3 and now that I all of a sudden find myself traveling frequently, I wish I had a MBP instead. The Alienware weighs 10 lbs and it gets about an hour of battery life unless I disable the dGPU. It's also ugly, and it doesn't have a retina quality screen. Yet, if you don't stray to far from a power source, but still want the ability to move from room to room with your system, the Alienware is a great option.
- thomasmeeks 13y ago
  Sure thing! 1. Two hard drives (msata & normal laptop drive). It has been handy to get ssd speed and a good size place to store larger files. 2. Two usable video outs. This is surprisingly hard to find in the PC arena. If linux supported optimus properly I'd have three usable video outs. One day! 3. (The big one) The M14xR2 (2012 model) has an aluminum cage inside the laptop. It is very, very sturdy. Coming from an Apple that was one of my big requirements for a pc -- I didn't care about weight & size, but I wanted zero case flex if I lift it by a corner. Alienware does that, a lot of other PC laptops do not. Also has a huge & sturdy dc input. I haven't checked to see if the new model has the same cage, so I'm being specific about what I have. 4. Great keyboard for a laptop. 5. I really like the look of the laptop. I know it is gaudy, but I was getting tired of sleek aluminum. 6. Easy to get into. If I want to change the hard drives in the future, replace the battery, etc. it is all extremely easy to do. In the PC arena I could have gotten the same specs for a lower price, but on a less durable laptop. MSI, for example, was also in the running, but reviews mentioned a lot of case flex. I'd like this one to last a couple more years, and I believe case flex has a lot to do with sudden laptop death syndrome.

Oculus 13y ago

Can I ask why Alienware? I always thought they were super overpriced.

phaus 13y ago
At a much lower cost than an Apple system (which seems to be the standard for many developers) you can get significantly more power, along with a couple of drawbacks that may not matter depending on your situation. The base model 17" laptop at 1499 includes a Haswell i7, a GTX765M, 8GB of ram, a 750GB HD, and a 1600x900 screen. For 1399, you can get the 14" with a Haswell i7, a 1080p screen, 16GB Ram (Not sure if you can install 32 in this machine) and an Nvidia 750M (which will be the $2k+ Haswell rMBP's dGPU if it even has one.) The RAM and HDD can easily be upgraded with 32GB and an SSD. If the ultimate goal is as much power as possible, even this base model (Without any self-upgrades) is significantly better than a Maxed-out rMBP. In fact, it's significantly better than the next rMBP is going to be as well. If you step it up to the next level, you get a 17" laptop with a 1080P screen, 16GB RAM, and one of the fastest mobile GPUs available, the GTX770M. It's $1900, but it's important to note that the GPU itself probably costs 500-600 dollars or more, and the i7, over 300. If you throw in another 16GB Ram ($80) and an SSD ($160 for 240GB), you have a machine that makes the rMBP an embarassment at a much lower price $2140 VS $2799. Please note that I'm speaking purely in terms of power. There are many other reasons that one might choose the rMBP. For example, I own an Alienware m17x r3 and now that I all of a sudden find myself traveling frequently, I wish I had a MBP instead. The Alienware weighs 10 lbs and it gets about an hour of battery life unless I disable the dGPU. It's also ugly, and it doesn't have a retina quality screen. Yet, if you don't stray to far from a power source, but still want the ability to move from room to room with your system, the Alienware is a great option.
thomasmeeks 13y ago
Sure thing! 1. Two hard drives (msata & normal laptop drive). It has been handy to get ssd speed and a good size place to store larger files. 2. Two usable video outs. This is surprisingly hard to find in the PC arena. If linux supported optimus properly I'd have three usable video outs. One day! 3. (The big one) The M14xR2 (2012 model) has an aluminum cage inside the laptop. It is very, very sturdy. Coming from an Apple that was one of my big requirements for a pc -- I didn't care about weight & size, but I wanted zero case flex if I lift it by a corner. Alienware does that, a lot of other PC laptops do not. Also has a huge & sturdy dc input. I haven't checked to see if the new model has the same cage, so I'm being specific about what I have. 4. Great keyboard for a laptop. 5. I really like the look of the laptop. I know it is gaudy, but I was getting tired of sleek aluminum. 6. Easy to get into. If I want to change the hard drives in the future, replace the battery, etc. it is all extremely easy to do. In the PC arena I could have gotten the same specs for a lower price, but on a less durable laptop. MSI, for example, was also in the running, but reviews mentioned a lot of case flex. I'd like this one to last a couple more years, and I believe case flex has a lot to do with sudden laptop death syndrome.