Ask HN: What’s your current dev laptop?

by notkurt on 10/16/2021, 9:16:16 PM with 25 comments
I’ve been holding out for the new 16” MacBook Pro with Apple Silicon, however recently the new Dell XPS 15 (9510) reviews have caught my attention. WSl2 has made a pretty compelling case for Windows (So I’m happy to make the jump to Windows). While I’d love to run Linux on my daily driver I can’t go without the Adobe CC Suite or Outlook. With a bit of discount stacking I’ve managed to get the price down on a pretty well specced 9510. I’m also having my doubts about the current state of Apple Silicon when it comes to being suitable as a primary dev machine.

So, I’m curious to know what you are all currently daily driving as a development laptop? Are there any other business style laptops that fall within the same XPS 15’s tier that you’d recommend? I’ve had a look at Lenovo’s and HP’s offerings and honestly I’ve found their current product suite lacking when it comes to features and price.

  • by ozzythecat on 10/17/2021, 8:09:20 PM

    16” 2019 MacBook Pro with an i7 processor and 16GB ram.

    I do much of my work using iTerm2, Sublime text, CLion, and IntelliJ, with a little bit of Xcode depending on the project. I also write a lot of documents. I usually start in Sublime and then move over to a collaborative GUI editor that’s used throughout my company.

    I love MacOS.

    Two other programs I used extensively are Omnigraffle for designs and diagrams and Omnifocus for outlining deliverables.

    I use a 120hz 1440P display and a mechanical keyboard. No complaints about my work setup at all.

  • by skydhash on 10/17/2021, 10:25:43 PM

    I have a 2015 MBP but I rarely use it now. It was overheating and the battery swelled up (I’ve replaced the battery since). Now, I’m using the M1 mac mini as I freelance and no longer go to a coworking space. I have a 27 inch dell monitor (I don’t really like dual monitor), the Keyboardio Atreus (slightly wider space between the wrists and thumbs pressing shift and enter keys) and a trackball. Works fine for me as I do Web and Mobile development.

  • by fm200 on 10/16/2021, 10:22:29 PM

    Thinkpad t14, intel version, 48 gigs of ram, 1TB ssd, win10 with wsl2.. using it for ~6 months now, i switched from osx, no complaints so far

  • by giantg2 on 10/17/2021, 2:03:36 AM

    I have a 14 year old Dell 1525 (or something) with a newer SSD. All these people with 24GB+ of RAM... mine is 32 bit (3.8ishGB).

  • by mikewarot on 10/17/2021, 12:52:49 AM

    HP Envy x360 convertible, with 8 GB of RAM, and 256 of SSD, running stock Windows 10. Compiles always take under 3 seconds, so it's fast enough. My vision is shot, so I use a 32" HP monitor at 1920*1080 for the main display.

    The keyboard is a bit weird in size, so I've got an external USB keyboard and mouse.

  • by SalimoS on 10/16/2021, 11:55:56 PM

    2012 non Retina MacBook Pro 15" (macOS Big Sur using patched sur) because I’m a “looking for job” iOS developer freelancer (with Ruby on Rails from time to time)

    So waiting the 14" Apple Silicon on Monday for the jump

  • by elviejo on 10/16/2021, 9:47:02 PM

    17" LG Gram with 40 gigs pf RAM... Super light and with lots of screen real state to read a lot of code... plus xmonad to manage all that screen.

  • by mathematically on 10/16/2021, 9:36:30 PM

    Dell XPS 17. With WSL and 64GB of RAM it's basically unbeatable as a dev laptop.

  • by speedgoose on 10/17/2021, 6:31:14 AM

    I use a MacBook pro M1, but I use Github Codespaces when I need more ram.

  • by shams93 on 10/17/2021, 3:15:04 AM

    ThinkPad chromebook with ryzen5 running nodejs, python and android studio.

  • by iExploder on 10/17/2021, 6:37:02 AM

    not sure this could be classified as business, but...

    TUXEDO Pulse 14 - gen 1

    (2x 32GB) 3200MHz CL22 Samsung

    AMD Ryzen 7 4800H (8x 2.9-4.2GHz Eight-Core, 16 Threads, 12 MB Cache, 45 W TDP)

    1000 GB Samsung 970 EVO Plus

  • by rossdavidh on 10/16/2021, 9:42:36 PM

    System76 GalagaPro

  • by Jugurtha on 10/16/2021, 10:49:02 PM

    Dell XPS 15 9570.

  • by yuppie_scum on 10/16/2021, 11:53:40 PM

    2018 MBP

  • by Graffur on 10/17/2021, 2:06:11 PM

    mid 2015 mbp