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Lack of a 16GB RAM option on a "developer edition" machine is very disappointing. Looks like a Chromebook LS + Crouton is the best Linux development environment

Lack of a 16GB RAM option on a "developer edition" machine is very disappointing. Looks like a Chromebook LS + Crouton is the best Linux development environment one could aspire for right now.

yiyus 11y ago
16GB RAM is not a requirement for everybody.
- newaccountfool 11y ago
  Neither is 8GB but they should still have the option.
  - yiyus 11y ago
    Fair enough. Large memory is needed for some developers and the 16GB option should be there. But for many, many developers, a few GB should be more than enough.
  - ironsides 11y ago
    I'm in the same boat and actively looking at the XPS-13 (have one in cart as of writing). Dell Tech support suggested this limit was due to the motherboard. I would imagine another refresh will be coming -- either with Windows 10 (Sep/Oct) or Skylake (Aug).
- kpcyrd 11y ago
  Why is this getting downvoted? I use a device with 1GB for development.
datr 11y ago
The 64GB HDD on the Chromebook is quite limiting too though. (Especially if you develop with multiple virtual machines.) I suppose you could use an external hdd but that seems bulky and I'm not sure it would be as quick. I might try and hold on to my x220 for another year and see if 2016 offers any better ultrabooks.
- kaushiks 11y ago
  Between more RAM and a bigger hard disk I'd always pick more RAM. On my development machine I have a very minimal setup (i3, no desktop environment, Emacs, compiler, debugger etc.) and not more than a couple of big repositories checked out (Linux, Hotspot). I can see why this might not work for other kinds of development setups though.
  - ziahamza 11y ago
    I also use i3 with vim and a browser as my setup, but I would always go for SSD more then anything. The whole machine feels snappier when compiling and running stuff, although I do back it up with 8GB of ram.
- elcct 11y ago
  I am using mSATA SSD drive via USB3.0 and it is quite fast and small.
aikah 11y ago
with half the HD space ? I don't think so. The Dell machine actually looks way more interesting than a Chromebook that requires a hack to run Linux. I'm amazed how people here are trying to sell Chromebooks so hard it feels like they're paid to do that.
- stinkytaco 11y ago
  I can plug in an external USB hard drive. I cannot plug in more RAM.
bithush 11y ago
This is actually the only thing holding me back from getting a new machine. I need one, badly. But I also need at least 16GB RAM. I have 8 in my current (very old) machine and it is by far the biggest restriction I have. Getting a new machine with the same amount of RAM is pointless and I don't want to get another machine this big but my options are limited. I can't find many ultrabook's with 16GB though :(
- farresito 11y ago
  If you are fine with 12GB, there is always the Thinkpad T450S, which should have one of the best (if not the best) keyboards on the market, and is an ultrabook with a very good battery life. I'm not sure whether you will be able to add more memory, though.
- creshal 11y ago
  The X250 supports 16 GiB RAM sticks, and the T450(s) (20/32 GiB) aren't too big either. Keyboard could be better, but the competition is worse IMO.
  - cpswan 11y ago
    Do you have a link or further info on that as I've everything I've found says the X250 is limited to 8GB (which is why I'm still stuck with my 2yr old X230)?
    - creshal 11y ago
      https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/2xy9pc/x250_reported_to_be_working_with_16_gb_sodimm/ https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/2xy9pc/x250_repor... 8 GiB is the official limit, 16 needs after-market modules; and you're still limited to single-channel speed. So no, I don't think the X250 is an adequate replacement for the X230. The X230's 35W CPU is still faster than the X250's 17W one (except in [GP]GPU-heavy benchmarks) and the X230's dual-channel RAM eats the X250's single-channel setup for breakfast, even with the new modules. Advantages of the X250 are the nicer display (FullHD IPS at 400 nits), and lower power consumption per pound (the X230 still has a higher total battery run time, but only with 9-cell+slice batteries, which double its thickness and weight…).

Lack of a 16GB RAM option on a "developer edition" machine is very disappointing. Looks like a Chromebook LS + Crouton is the best Linux development environment one could aspire for right now.

yiyus 11y ago

16GB RAM is not a requirement for everybody.

newaccountfool 11y ago
Neither is 8GB but they should still have the option.
- yiyus 11y ago
  Fair enough. Large memory is needed for some developers and the 16GB option should be there. But for many, many developers, a few GB should be more than enough.
- ironsides 11y ago
  I'm in the same boat and actively looking at the XPS-13 (have one in cart as of writing). Dell Tech support suggested this limit was due to the motherboard. I would imagine another refresh will be coming -- either with Windows 10 (Sep/Oct) or Skylake (Aug).
kpcyrd 11y ago
Why is this getting downvoted? I use a device with 1GB for development.

datr 11y ago

The 64GB HDD on the Chromebook is quite limiting too though. (Especially if you develop with multiple virtual machines.) I suppose you could use an external hdd but that seems bulky and I'm not sure it would be as quick. I might try and hold on to my x220 for another year and see if 2016 offers any better ultrabooks.

kaushiks 11y ago
Between more RAM and a bigger hard disk I'd always pick more RAM. On my development machine I have a very minimal setup (i3, no desktop environment, Emacs, compiler, debugger etc.) and not more than a couple of big repositories checked out (Linux, Hotspot). I can see why this might not work for other kinds of development setups though.
- ziahamza 11y ago
  I also use i3 with vim and a browser as my setup, but I would always go for SSD more then anything. The whole machine feels snappier when compiling and running stuff, although I do back it up with 8GB of ram.
elcct 11y ago
I am using mSATA SSD drive via USB3.0 and it is quite fast and small.

aikah 11y ago

with half the HD space ? I don't think so. The Dell machine actually looks way more interesting than a Chromebook that requires a hack to run Linux. I'm amazed how people here are trying to sell Chromebooks so hard it feels like they're paid to do that.

stinkytaco 11y ago
I can plug in an external USB hard drive. I cannot plug in more RAM.

bithush 11y ago

This is actually the only thing holding me back from getting a new machine. I need one, badly. But I also need at least 16GB RAM. I have 8 in my current (very old) machine and it is by far the biggest restriction I have. Getting a new machine with the same amount of RAM is pointless and I don't want to get another machine this big but my options are limited. I can't find many ultrabook's with 16GB though :(

farresito 11y ago
If you are fine with 12GB, there is always the Thinkpad T450S, which should have one of the best (if not the best) keyboards on the market, and is an ultrabook with a very good battery life. I'm not sure whether you will be able to add more memory, though.
creshal 11y ago
The X250 supports 16 GiB RAM sticks, and the T450(s) (20/32 GiB) aren't too big either. Keyboard could be better, but the competition is worse IMO.
- cpswan 11y ago
  Do you have a link or further info on that as I've everything I've found says the X250 is limited to 8GB (which is why I'm still stuck with my 2yr old X230)?
  - creshal 11y ago
    https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/2xy9pc/x250_reported_to_be_working_with_16_gb_sodimm/ https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/2xy9pc/x250_repor... 8 GiB is the official limit, 16 needs after-market modules; and you're still limited to single-channel speed. So no, I don't think the X250 is an adequate replacement for the X230. The X230's 35W CPU is still faster than the X250's 17W one (except in [GP]GPU-heavy benchmarks) and the X230's dual-channel RAM eats the X250's single-channel setup for breakfast, even with the new modules. Advantages of the X250 are the nicer display (FullHD IPS at 400 nits), and lower power consumption per pound (the X230 still has a higher total battery run time, but only with 9-cell+slice batteries, which double its thickness and weight…).