I was planning on switching my work laptop sometime around next year, which could change a bit the landscape(macbook pro keyboard...), but I have an opportunity to get one right now from the US which makes things much cheaper for me, so I wanted some input.<p>Currently I own a 15" Dell (don't remember the version). I really like the 15" display, seems much better for my work (I usually don't use a external monitor) than 13", it has a decent keyboard (I love that it has a numpad) a decent trackpad and display. The display is touchscreen which makes it gather much more dust than usually and I have never used it. I have had trouble getting linux to work well with it's trackpad sometimes and shutting down, hibernation, suspension has also been troublesome. This is the only laptop I have used for heavy development duty.<p>I was considering getting a mac this time around for the OS, due to working well out of the box and been UNIX. I am not a guy that really likes configuring things too much, I rather have a good experience out of the box and be able to do small adjustments when needed. But recent keyboard issues + touchbar has gotten me a bit afraid of it.<p>Ideally I am looking for:<p>- Display: 15" Without touch<p>- Video Card: Nvidia (CUDA)<p>- Great Keyboard with numpad<p>- Webcam in the right position (Dell XPS camera on the bottom seems weird to me)<p>- OS X<p>- Good Battery<p>- Great trackpad (I rarely use mouse whilst working)<p>- Powerful enough for 5 years<p>- Good cooling system (My current Dell has the air intake on the bottom, needless to say it doesn't work greatly)<p>I hope you could share some of yours experience with the recent versions of top development laptops.
What I have is a Lenovo T480s, running GNU/Linux.<p>I don't do anything fancy, some web dev, and some other dev that I do for hobby (nothing like running a game engine heavy).<p>It's got the following specs:<p>- 14 inches, 1440P with IPS panel<p>- Intel iGPU<p>- GREAT keyboard and no numpad<p>- webcam in the right position (which I rarely use)<p>- no OS X (although you /could/ probably run Hackintosh which I wouldn't recommend)<p>- I would like it to be powerful enough for 5 years<p>- Great cooling system in my opinion (< 60 deg C under decent load)<p>If OS X is a must, you should probably get a native MBP.
One idea is an old refurbished pre-bad-keyboard MBP, direct from Apple in their refurb store. I think you have to go back to 2015 or so... you should do your own verification of this date first.<p>I realize this is not ideal. It’s just an idea to throw into the mix.<p>Personally waiting for the keyboards to be fixed. Hope Apple doesn’t keep us waiting too long for this.
I'm a long-time Windows user, full-time Linux at work, and over the past year have been trying, at home, to get into the swing of using a Mac. I mention this because I am about to ditch the whole Mac OS endeavor because the key bindings are just different enough to be a bother. Now that Windows supports Linux dev tooling I recommend sticking with Windows, and I've been looking at the Dell Inspiron Gaming and G series laptops for a development laptop.
I bought recently a 3rd generation lenovo x1 carbon from ebay and I am really happy with all the mobility provided. The battery lasts for more than 6-7 hours, it weighs around 1.2kg and the keyboard is perfect. The 14 inch monitor is more than enough. I switched from a 17 inch Dell and I am not missing it at all.
I bought this for 500 euros including shipping.
The late 2016 and on MacBook Pro uses AMD's Radeon chip set. If you want a Mac you'll have to go for something earlier than that. On the PC front, you might want to check out the Lenovo ThinkPad T580. It has a 15" display, full-size keyboard, and an NVIDIA chip set.
I'm also looking for a new laptop to replace my 7 year old Air, this time I'm thinking of going for a Linux machine like system 76.<p>I'd also prefer something that is powerful enough for 5 years at least
Maybe I won the keyboard lottery (or maybe the problem is overblown), but my 2016 MBP with TB has been flawless.<p>At this point I'd probably wait for the 2018 refresh, though. September maybe?