4 ms·

Developer laptop

hello awesome community, any recommendations please on developing laptops, which will need to be robust/resilient to some traveling (30% of time), battery lasts more than 4-5 hours, at least 16GB RAM, SSD, AND not heat itself up to the point where I can't hold it on my lap, no matter if the CPU goes 100% for long times? thanks, Unus

muhpirat 12y ago
I think the ThinkPad X250 should to the job. -MuhPirat
- creshal 12y ago
  For the record, it officially only supports 8 GiB RAM, but it seems to work fine with 16 GiB sticks.
  - muhpirat 12y ago
    Ohhh, yeah. You are right. Sorry.
loopbit 12y ago
I guess it depends on which language/environment you develop for. I use a Macbook Pro and it seems to cover all your requirements.
- unusximmortalis 12y ago
  you can run on a Macbook, linux and windows with parallels. so it covers them all
  - loopbit 12y ago
    Sure, but if you are developing for Windows or your toolset runs exclusively on it a Lenovo laptop might give you better mileage than running parallels/VirtualBox or BootCamp on a mac. But apart from that, yep, I'm quite happy with my setup.
    - sjs382 12y ago
      I don't understand... What makes a Lenovo laptop better than a Macbook Pro for running Windows?
      - unusximmortalis 12y ago
        I guess what he is saying is that lenovo running windows will consume the battery slower than a MB running windows (either in parallels or directly booted up) btw, is there a comparative study anywhere about how long the battery will last for a MB running windows (in parallels or botted) vs MB running latest apple OS?
        unusximmortalis 12y ago
        http://www.zdnet.com/article/the-other-hidden-cost-of-running-windows-on-a-mac-battery-life/ http://www.zdnet.com/article/the-other-hidden-cost-of-runnin... one of them
        loopbit 12y ago
        Didn't see this until today, but yeah, that's exactly what I meant. I don't use boot camp very often, but when I do the battery gets drained faster and the laptop gets hot to the point where you have to be careful not to touch the space between some keys. Parallels/VirtualBox/etc runs fine, but makes running anything with a GUI extremely slow. In some cases it doesn't matter, but in others...
        unusximmortalis 12y ago
        thank you for your input "Parallels/VirtualBox/etc runs fine" when you do that, is the battery of the MB running down faster? or no big difference? how much memory do you have on your MB? and how much do you allocate to the Windows VM instance before you start it? did you try to allocate more memory and see if the performance of those windows app with GUI, which you say is very slow, getting any better?
        12y ago
- trcollinson 12y ago
  I was going to say pretty much the same thing. I used to be a dyed in the wool fan of Lenovo running linux, but due to some need to work on iOs development I finally bit the bullet and switched to a Macbook Pro. I maxed the specs on it and I have had no problems at all. It fulfils all of the requirements the OP has, and honestly stays pretty cool. I honestly don't believe I will be moving away from the MBP any time soon.
auganov 12y ago
Ivy Bridge x230t here, it definitely gets too hot after a few minutes of 100% cpu usage. Broadwell should produce less heat given the die shrink (compared to Haswell and Ivy Bridge) ? I'm pretty ignorant on that topic tho. EDIT - perhaps : http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=X1-Carbon-Broadwell-CPU-Temp http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=X1-Carbon...
wario_150cc 12y ago
Never understimate the noise of a laptop, that can be really annoying in the long run. We switch to Lenovo T series for the customization/warranty/perfomance/silence combo and we're happy about it.
bbissoon 12y ago
Thinkpad X1 Carbon - I love this thing. http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/x-series/x1-carbon/ http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/x-series/x1-ca...

Developer laptop

muhpirat 12y ago

I think the ThinkPad X250 should to the job. -MuhPirat

creshal 12y ago
For the record, it officially only supports 8 GiB RAM, but it seems to work fine with 16 GiB sticks.
- muhpirat 12y ago
  Ohhh, yeah. You are right. Sorry.

loopbit 12y ago

I guess it depends on which language/environment you develop for. I use a Macbook Pro and it seems to cover all your requirements.

unusximmortalis 12y ago
you can run on a Macbook, linux and windows with parallels. so it covers them all
- loopbit 12y ago
  Sure, but if you are developing for Windows or your toolset runs exclusively on it a Lenovo laptop might give you better mileage than running parallels/VirtualBox or BootCamp on a mac. But apart from that, yep, I'm quite happy with my setup.
  - sjs382 12y ago
    I don't understand... What makes a Lenovo laptop better than a Macbook Pro for running Windows?
    - unusximmortalis 12y ago
      I guess what he is saying is that lenovo running windows will consume the battery slower than a MB running windows (either in parallels or directly booted up) btw, is there a comparative study anywhere about how long the battery will last for a MB running windows (in parallels or botted) vs MB running latest apple OS?
      - unusximmortalis 12y ago
        http://www.zdnet.com/article/the-other-hidden-cost-of-running-windows-on-a-mac-battery-life/ http://www.zdnet.com/article/the-other-hidden-cost-of-runnin... one of them
      - loopbit 12y ago
        Didn't see this until today, but yeah, that's exactly what I meant. I don't use boot camp very often, but when I do the battery gets drained faster and the laptop gets hot to the point where you have to be careful not to touch the space between some keys. Parallels/VirtualBox/etc runs fine, but makes running anything with a GUI extremely slow. In some cases it doesn't matter, but in others...
        unusximmortalis 12y ago
        thank you for your input "Parallels/VirtualBox/etc runs fine" when you do that, is the battery of the MB running down faster? or no big difference? how much memory do you have on your MB? and how much do you allocate to the Windows VM instance before you start it? did you try to allocate more memory and see if the performance of those windows app with GUI, which you say is very slow, getting any better?
        12y ago
trcollinson 12y ago
I was going to say pretty much the same thing. I used to be a dyed in the wool fan of Lenovo running linux, but due to some need to work on iOs development I finally bit the bullet and switched to a Macbook Pro. I maxed the specs on it and I have had no problems at all. It fulfils all of the requirements the OP has, and honestly stays pretty cool. I honestly don't believe I will be moving away from the MBP any time soon.

auganov 12y ago

Ivy Bridge x230t here, it definitely gets too hot after a few minutes of 100% cpu usage. Broadwell should produce less heat given the die shrink (compared to Haswell and Ivy Bridge) ? I'm pretty ignorant on that topic tho. EDIT - perhaps : http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=X1-Carbon-Broadwell-CPU-Temp http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=X1-Carbon...

wario_150cc 12y ago

Never understimate the noise of a laptop, that can be really annoying in the long run. We switch to Lenovo T series for the customization/warranty/perfomance/silence combo and we're happy about it.

bbissoon 12y ago

Thinkpad X1 Carbon - I love this thing. http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/x-series/x1-carbon/ http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/x-series/x1-ca...