hey everyone,
so i just started my first semester at a new school. and this one i noticed a lot more macbooks running around the CS/SE department. do you guys think a macbook might be a good investment for programming? thinking about it, its already got the mac os on it. if i use virtual box and run linux and windows inside VMs then i could work on all three platforms and only have one system (albeit without full acceleration but im not a graphics programmer). but the cost kinda puts me off a bit. what do you guys think? worth the cost?
Personal if i would ever buy Macbook the first reason (and maybe the only) is for the spec.I would probably run Linux/mac OS dualboot and WIndows on VM.
what do you mean for the specs?
it's way overpriced for what you get, i think that's what he's trying to say
The only reason I'd get a macbook would be for the build quality, but would avoid them anyway for the lack of customisability (harder if not impossible to get into to add more RAM/switch out for new drives etc.). I don't really like the keyboards either. You might not be bothered though, and might even like the keyboards on 'em. Whatever floats your boat!
If you're getting something for programming, you really want a nice keyboard. Perhaps also a screen with decent viewing angles for the sake of ease when showing others things.
the keyboard is a good point. i should probably go try the keys out and see if i like them
its only worth the cost if you were gonna become an ios or osx dev and nothing else, other than that i would go the vm route with an aorus x7 or something
Each to their own, you can write code on whatever really, go with is the easiest for you to use and provides a comfortable long haul typing experience - spongy laptop keyboards will make you wanna break stuff.
Check out the newest generation of Dell XPS laptops. The look nice, the specs are solid, and Dell customer support treats you like an enterprise customer.
May I suggest a Google Chromebook Pixel 2 with Crouton installed, or rip of chrome OS and bare metal something like Ubuntu, I suggest crouton.
I have a Toshiba Chromebook 2 and I have crouton installed, I can setup something called xiwi, which basically allows me to run Ubuntu in a tab, its super convenient but lack of hardware acceleration annoys me a tad, but I am sure it will be fixed.
Only issue with the Pixel 2 is the SSD, its small, 64GB is small, it fits well for Linux and apps, so I highly suggest a massive SD card for your storage drive, 128GB+ is useful, you also get access to a premium google drive I believe.
https://www.google.co.uk/chromebook/pixel/ Its a superb looking piece of hardware, I plan to get one for my next laptop and maybe even replace my desktop with it as my usage is becoming less demanding from specs.
I have a original chromebook pixel (LTE) that I put Arch Linux on and use for programming and all I can say is dat display is beautiful 3:2 is amazing.
There's basically no reason to get a Mac for programming. The keyboards on the new macs are super thin and feel like crap. You might as well be typing on a tablet. The build quality is nice, but the price isn't worth it. Besides, you shouldn't have any durability issues with a Windows PC or Chromebook unless you're a 4 year old child who doesn't know how to be gentle with electronics.
I don't code for a living, but I've taken a few classes (HTML, CSS, JS) because I find it interesting. I used an HP Envy 1105-DX, I switched off between Windows and Linux because I couldn't make up my mind, and kept up just fine. I was actually told in 2/3 of my classes that I had the best final project, and the guy who scored the best in the third class was using an old Dell. I've asked my instructor and a few people who work in the building if a Mac is any better, and even the Mac owners say that it's not any better and it won't make any difference, and that they basically just like it for the look and feel.
I've been to a few hackathons and most people that were competing were using Windows or Linux and they had no issues.
You can save yourself a lot of money by going with a Windows PC or Chromebook. I'd recommend if you get a Chromebook put Linux on it so you have a more fully-equipped OS, and you'll probably want to get one that has a decent sized hard drive or at least an SD slot because most of them are tiny in terms of hard drive capacity.
I have a macbookpro personally and work have recently provided me with a HP Elitebook. Both are 16GB, i7, SSD and are generally very good to work with. The major difference is that the HP is about £150 cheaper but on the other hand it's screen is ok but nowhere near retina quality. So while everyone moans about Apple being super expensive it's similar value to the HP really. HP does miss out on a backlit keyboard too. Once you've had one of them it's hard to go back to not having it.
Really it doesn't matter what you code on as long as the output you create can be used by the teachers, Pretty much any machine these days will have enough power to run something you've built yourself on a course learning programming. I remember my C++ course at night school was on a really crappy old PC but it didn't matter really, it's more about the code in those early days.
I guess if you tried a Chromebook at least they are cheap and if you don't like it you can probably sell it on for half what you bought it for and not lose much.
Take a look at the courses you are taking in the future. I bought have an old mid-2009 13" MacBook Pro from when I was in high school. When I started college I upgraded to a Lenovo Y500. In my 3rd year we had an iOS programming course so it came in handy then. about 80% of the class was Windows Only, with the other 20 having MacBook pros that dual booted. It was nice to use my old mac for that course while the Windows people were stuck using the lab computers. Not exactly ideal when you need to spend hours working on an assignment.
Of course that's my situation, but it could be worth looking into for you. MacBook Pros I find have excellent build quality - mine is still running strong today and Apple is still supporting it 6 years later. I think the 13" is competitive with the Windows offerings ~13", however for >15" Windows is the best bet.