Ask YC: what laptop to buy?
Some info:
- Price is not that much of an issue, I see this as an investment that will pay itself off.
- I will be spending 99% of my time on this laptop, and it will pretty much be a desktop replacement for me. I will not be playing games on it, but will be doing most of my development there. OS is no problem since I use linux.
- Screen resolution is very important to me.
- I think a 15" would be good, not much smaller and bigger
- It must be light, I will have to be able to take it around easily and all the time must have long battery life
- the rest is simple, 1G+ RAM, 150GB+ hard drive, good graphic card ...
Questions:
- is there anything else I should care about?
- what are your suggestions, i.e. what brand and models?
- should I wait for something that is coming out soon?
- when is the best time to buy, b/f chirsmass, after it ...?
- I was looking at the MacBook Pro? what do you think?
- where are the best places to check for reviews and suggestions? (I have looked at PC mag and CNET)
- what do you have and are you happy with it?
Thanks a lot in advance for all the suggestions.
However, I would seriously consider a macbook. It is smaller, lighter, and I extremely happy with it (had it for about 1.5 years. You may have more of a need for a good graphics card and such.
Upgrade the ram and harddrive yourself, it is trivial, and will take ~ 5 mins.
I wouldnt put linux on it, again unless you have a specific reason to do so. I dev in OSX, deploy on linux.
7.04 was somewhat of a nightmare. Off the top of my head... you couldn't use the normal installation media, graphics drivers had to be installed manually, likewise with sound drivers, likewise with wireless drivers.
7.10 on the otherhand was simple and straightforward. Everything except for the wireless card worked right out of the box. I'm quite happy with it and use it most of the time on my MBP.
I have found OSX to be more than an adequate operating system for efficiency while coding. Unless you have a fairly good reason to go with Linux (Ubuntu in your case), I don't see the motivation to do it. However, if I was getting a Dell, I would instantly go Linux for obvious reasons - I need to be running my dev stack on my local machine, remotely connecting won't cut it.
I love mine, even wrote a little mini-review here: http://kontsevoy.blogspot.com/2007/08/best-notebook-for-linu...
Thinkpads are designed for doing actual work - "UltraNav" unit and the keyboard are to die for. They are #1 reason why I picked ThinkPad over Mac.
My distant 2nd choice would be MBP, and 3rd - Dell Vostro.
It's light as a feather, even with the extended battery (which is a necessity) and has enough juice to last me the entire San Francisco to Cleveland flight (~5 hrs). The keyboard is pretty awesome for a laptop too, though my one gripe is that they put the Fn key bottom left and pushed CTRL to the right. That's more annoying than you may think.
If you need a bit bigger screen, the T series is still fairly lightweight, and is pretty comparable. I used to travel a lot though, so the extra 1.5 lbs of weight made a big difference.
Say what you want about OSX vs. Windows and I probably wouldn't argue, but Mac hardware has always been overpriced and underwhelming. If you're slapping on Linux you'd be nuts to go with a Macbook.
What was once a nice rugged feeling case, now feels like cheap plastic.
We've had a rash of Lenovo issues lately. Failed hard drives, weird hangs, randmonly blank screens, etc.
Myself, I use a MacBook. I had an MBP before this, and will probably get another one soon. I went from a 17" MBP to the MB, but I miss the more powerful MBP graphics.
Here's someone who agrees with me: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2864&Re...
MBP is a nice machine too, but it's touchpad/buttons unit is nowhere as ergonomic/productive as Thinkpad's.
Sleep. Yes sleep. Before I got macs I didn't think it was possible for a computer to come in and out of sleep so well. You can open and close the lid and it sleeps in seconds! Every time. Open and close it three times in a minute just to jot down a note or two. No prob. I can go days without recharging just popping it open when I need it. Forget to recharge, no prob, it has silently placed a hibernate image on the disk, just connect power, open lid, get back to work.
This is a class act all of the way that no other manufacturer has even come close to imitating. Sleep on windows machines is laughable at best. Linux alomst universally bungles it unless you have "lucky hardware".
I know, lots of people say "hey my XP laptop sleeps just fine"... No, apples do this spooky good. You just have to see it to beleive it.
Get it for the good hardware and good support. Love it for closing the lid and never worrying that your work will be right there for you at a moments notice when you open it again.
I'm not sure if the needs you outlined above are driven by some technical requirement or if that's just a list of the laptop-de-jour to which you are aspiring.
If nothing else, check out the hardware specs for the pure geeky pleasure: http://www.laptop.org
To me, the beauty of Apple is not the hardware, or the software, but the (mostly) fluid integration of the two. If you're going to not use the software, the hardware is really not all that special (IMO).
In fact, while I was very happy with my MBP, the screen locking thing turned out to be pretty fragile. It ended up breaking on me after a few months, so my screen wouldn't stay shut unless I squeezed it a bit where the little "hooks" drop down and sort of shook it a bit. It was constantly popping open, and the spring-loaded hinge was always popping up. Big pain in the ass.
My friend had that and they fixed it for him in about an hour at the local apple store. Take it in since it is just a few months old, it will be covered for sure.
I was pretty sure it was an easy fix, I was just traveling so much I never really had a chance to take it in for a fix.
Usage. Is this to be a min dev machine? ("99%") if so look into 3 things
- port replicator: some way to plug in ergonomic keyboard, mouse + external screen
- power & recharge (at a power point? or are you mobile all the time?)
- Operating system availability: (are you happy with using Windows, OSX or do you want to install inux/nix?)
- Warranty (can you extend it?)
For me the sweet spot is a ThinkPad T61. Reliable, durable, has necessary accessories and you can get Linux pre-installed (by third parties)
Generally electronics warranties are an overpriced scam (sort of like the insurance car rental agencies try to talk you into). I've heard from several places, though, that the Apple warranties are a great deal.
Some people can get X11 configured to do wacky things with the keyboard so you can run linux. I figure - why bother?
> - I think a 15" would be good, not much smaller and bigger
But then:
> - It must be light, I will have to be able to take it around easily and all the time must have long battery life
and
> - the rest is simple, 1G+ RAM, 150GB+ hard drive, good graphic card ...
You may may to make some choices. I was laptop shopping recently, and wanted basically the same features you listed, but found that light + powerful was an odd combo.
I decided on a Dell D830 with WUXGA 15" screen (19020x1200) and the 9-cell battery.
Weight: ~6 lbs.
I was considering the MacBook pro, but wanted the higher rez screen.
My next computer may be a Mac, though. I've heard lots and lots of good things about the new MacBooks.
Once, I dropped one when I was literally running from one end to the other of the Denver airport, trying to catch a connecting flight. It bounced on a metal plate on one of those moving walkways so hard that people turned to see what the big noise was. When I got on the plane, the case had a visible dent in it and I was sure I had cracked the LCD, but was too exhausted to deal with it on the plane. When I got home, I opened the case to find the LCD was fine and it ran like a champ. Anecdotal evidence, surely, but I've stuck with them ever since and not regretted it once.
But, I know several people who have switched to MB for their only computer and seem to be doing just fine with it.
http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/ubuntu?c=us...
And have had ok luck with it. The hard drive died after a few months, but on the other hand, 24 hours after calling their service department, I had a guy show up at my house in Innsbruck, Austria with a new drive - and I bought it in the US.
It's not all that light, though... it's sort of clunky looking, to tell the truth, but it was relatively cheap. Be sure to look for the discount codes if you buy a Dell.
I think Thinkpad quality peaked around the 600-series of the late '90s (mmm... carbon fiber) and has been dropping ever since. The Lenovo takeover hasn't helped, but IBM was so far ahead of everybody but Apple that I don't think anybody has caught up yet.
There's now a Q35 Pro (http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3512&re...)
And there's a newer model, the Samsung Q45 (http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3869).
I get 3-4 hours battery out of it, I really like the display, the spec is good, and it's really light and robust.
my friend just got a job at Google, and that's the laptop they gave him. it's pretty amazing. super lightweight, very snazzy dock thing. this laptop is incredibly tiny, well built, and just about perfect. like 8 hours of battery life, and you can even get a fingerprint scanner on it for like $30!
dont get a macbook pro. they are so expensive for the hardware, especially if you want to run linux.
The two constraints you have that will conflict the most are lightweight and large screen. If you are using this as a primary desktop replacement, I'd go with a 20"+ LCD for desk usage.
just get a nice lcd monitor, keyboard, and mouse. when you're at your desk you have a desktop, and when you're out and about you have a small little window into the internet.
imo, though, the thinkpad x series is the best out there. amazing how well engineered it is.
I use Linux exclusively and that's what I just ordered for my new laptop. ~$1300 the way I configured it (with Dell "Instant Savings"). I insist on NVIDIA so high speed drivers are ensured under Linux. Apple doesn't even make a 15" laptop that runs at 1920x1200 and the others that do charge a premium. Dell is a great option if you (like me) expect to replace your laptop every 2 years and don't care that it's not a Mac.
There are Ubuntu 100s. Everything works out of the box at the end of the install with zero setup required.
Compiz, webcam, touch sensitive multimedia keys, wireless, bluetooth, touch slider on trackpad, multimedia card reader, and all the usual bits and pieces.
They're also great looking, and have won a Red Dot award to prove it.
Another thing to look out for might be a DVI connector.
Get this instead (windows, but you can install linux on it if you have the chops). Its ~$700 cheaper.
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SYCTOProc...
~700$ cheaper? For the base model, yes. Make the specs comparable to the MBP: 2x2.2ghz, 2 gigs of ram, read/write drive, comparable battery: ~200 cheaper. They still dont exactly match, the MBP now has a better vidcard still, and the Sony has 1280x800 resolution instead of 1440x900.
Apple hardware is very comparable in price to most other providers.
Another thought: they're a little harder to get, but Asus makes some great models.