What laptop should I buy?
My old laptop broke and I am trying to find a good one. I don't mind switching to Mac, I am just worried about the reviews of the last model.
I am in Barcelona and it looks lile no shop is selling good windows pc, all of them are middle mediocre machines made of plastic.
Cannot find the best ones of dell, hp, lenovo, etc.
So which laptop are you using? Are you happy with it?
EDIT: I bought the 2015 MacBook Pro, very happy with it :)
Get the 2015 MacBook Pro. Best computer ever made.
The bottom one on this page https://www.apple.com/es/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro/15-pulgadas
I bought the 2015 MacBook Pro, very happy with it :) thank you!
Just wrote a blog post to answer this question for web developers, and I gave exactly this advice. https://raddevon.com/articles/the-best-laptop-for-web-development-its-complicated/
Seconded! I have used every single Macbook and Macbook Pro model for the past 15 years and the 2015 Macbook Pro 15" is hands down the best machine I have had the pleasure of using.
I fear the day Apple will stop selling the 2015 MBP and we'll be forced to buy those shitty new models :(
I have this model too and it's an excellent choice.
Since I bought this exact model 1 year ago, it's getting more and more expensive, haha. It's perfect though.
I actually went for a 2013 mbp 13 maxed out. It had new battery and bottom case as the battery started bulging on previous owner. Only cost me €800 too and works just as well as anything you can buy today.
I've been very happy with this model as well.
considering this is "indiehackers", if you code/program at all, go with a mac. I taught at a coding bootcamp, and while my students with Macs were busy coding, the students with PCs and I were trouble shooting tedious crap. (git, node, mysql, install problems galore)
i have the 13in MBP w/o touchbar, and haven't had much issues with it.
crap got under a couple keys, but didn't stay there. and i had to boot into recovery once.
Lenovo X1 Carbon
check out system76. They sell the best computer and goes preinstalled with a Linux distro called Pop (they made it I think) and also have the option of just getting Ubuntu installed.
MacBook Pros are good. Expensive, and overpriced for the specs but due to the nature of dev work you can do whatever you want on a Windows laptop on a Mac but not the other way round. So for "future-proofing", a Mac is your best bet.
P.S I develop on both my Windows desktop and Macbook Pro 2014. Developer experience on my Mac is so much better. (I still spend majority of my time on my desktop though due to it being rigged with much better hardware).
Do you develop on Windows OS or do you have a virtual machine?
On my Windows desktop? Yup on Windows OS. Thankfully my tech stack still works fine on Windows.
I recently found out about Windows Subsystem Linux and it looks amazing! I’m thining about making the switch from Mac to windows. Knowing that WSL exists makes my decision that much easier.
I highly recommend getting a Macbook of some kind. I've been a macbook owner for the past 8 years. I've tried a PC laptop since using a macbook and the quality just doesn't quite compare. Especially the trackpad. Also, Macbooks retain their value much better than PC laptops. If you consider what you might be able to resale it for when you're buying it, the upfront cost may be higher, but the cost of ownership is probably about the same.
Dell XPS?
Maybe Surface Book?
All very expensive, however.
Don't get a Dell. It's a nice laptop until something goes wrong and you need support. I have a Dell XPS 13 developer edition and when the battery started expanding, it was a 4 month slog to get them to do anything about it. Then after 4 months they said the warranty was expired and told me to fuck off. I'll never buy a Dell again.
I was checking dell XPS, but I cannot find in any shop in Barcelona (!!!). Only crappy acer, HP models and MacBooks.
I want to touch the machine before buying it...
I just got the new 15" Surface Book 2 and it's an INCREDIBLE development machine.
I've used a Mac for years, and still use my old 2011 Macbook Air for most things.
But recently I picked up a used Thinkpad X230 for $200 and dropped Linux Mint on it, and I'm really liking it. The only thing I don't do on here is Photo management/editing.
If you are looking for budget laptop under $1k, check out this article: https://thingsreview.com/budget-laptops.html
Personally, I like the Dell Inspiron.
Kinda depends what you're going to use your laptop for right?
Late to see this thread, but I got a refurbished x230 Thinkpad and I'm in love with it. It's an actual computer -- you can open it up and fix things. Toss Linux on it and it will really fly + extend the battery.
After a few bad experiences, I'm planning to never buy a consumer laptop again. With the Thinkpad, there's a whole community people online (r/thinkpad and elsewhere) who swap out various parts. I want to know that I can fix things if they break, and upgrade it.
Hey, I asked a similar question on dev.to as I was thinking of the replacement for my MacBook. You might find the discussion useful: https://dev.to/stenpittet/whats-development-like-with-a-surface-laptop-worth-switching-from-osx-53ab
I'm not the biggest mac fan, I was working on windows for over 12+ yrs.
If you are a developer a mac will be a nice way to go, you don't even need an overpowered laptop and you will no longer need any other monitor or mouse. It's flexible, battery lasts (4-8 hrs depending on usage) and if you have a nice weather and internet you can work from the park/coffee shop.
This also means you'll no longer play games, for me it was a nice way to quit playing and to focus on productivity.
I've heard about lots of broken MacbookPros (keyboards, displays, ..., there is even a petition).
I've had very good experiences with Lenovos (my sister is still using my 10 years old R400) and the new T series seems promising. However, I never had anything else like dell or hp.
I would highly recommend Dell Inspiron 7577, I'm using it for last 6 months as my main PC and couldn't be more happy with it. Great performance (i7 processor, 16gb RAM and nvidia 1060 MaqQ) and really good build quality.
I also have Macbook air from 2015, just as a more mobile solution when I need something super mobile for the road.
I was considering buying MacbookPro, but like you, don't really like the reviews + I don't believe that with latest MacBooks you get your money worth of the laptop. Waiting for new models in 1-2 year, if Apple stop slacking and do some upgrade (better hardware, not components from 2014), I might go for it.