Hi HN.<p>I haven't shopped for laptops in a decade and I need some guidance.<p>TLDR:<p>* Daily use: VSCode, Figma, Photoshop, Firefox, Slack<p>* Currently use Pop!_OS and I really like it; would be nice to keep it<p>* I love the look of Macbooks, but I don't know if I will like macOS<p>* I don't really want to buy into the Apple ecosystem; will I struggle if I don't have an iPhone?<p>* Light gaming is a nice bonus (but I should say I don't like the look of most gaming laptops)<p>* I have a high budget<p>* Looking for something light, slick and portable as I will be travelling a lot<p>Any recommendations? So far I'm thinking a Dell XPS of some sort but not running Windows on it.
You don't need an iPhone to use a Mac.<p>All of your daily use items will work nicely on MacOS. In addition the look/feel + performance of the new M1 Macbooks is excellent. Keyboard is a vast improvement.<p>One point is that the 16 inch mac is quite heavy. I have a 14 inch Macbook Pro, its great and a bit lighter as long as you are happy with the smaller screen.<p>I would recommend MacOS. I think most people enjoy it once they get used to it.<p>To me the Mac + MacOS is the best developer experience - it has many of the developer Unix tools available that you would want from linux, plus it "just works" and devices (audio, keyboards, bluetooth etc) all work without me having to think about it. The display is beautiful and if it breaks, you can just take it to an Apple store (though I've never had an issue). More bespoke linux laptop setups can be nice but I think you're introducing some fragility into your life when you do that, compared with just using a Mac.
In spite of your comments about Apple, I’d still recommend a MacBook.
The top reason is that it just works, day in and day out.<p>I love Linux and run it in everything that is not work related, but for work I need a machine that behaves exactly the same as it did yesterday and will keep doing so for the foreseeable future.<p>Also, tools used at work (Slack, Zoom, etc.) also just work. I used to use Linux for work but Slack was limited (I couldn’t use screen sharing, etc.), zoom was choppy and some Linux update would brake it.<p>With things like brew.sh it’s possible to run a lot on Unix tools and MacOS being Unix based (as opposed to the patch work that WLS is).<p>Also, the 20 hours battery, no fans going up (MacBook M1) and not heat are very nice and super useful when working away from the dock in my office.<p>I’ve owned Lenovo ThinkPads and Dell XPSs but nothing has beaten the reliability of a MacBook.<p>I still have my Linux machines and use them for everything else, but it’s been quite annoying to start a day only to find that the zoom/slack binaries are not compatible with some libXX.so that is now missing from my Linux system.<p>Good luck on your search!
I haven't really seen anyone mention this one but if you run Docker heavily, you're going to want Linux. Mac and windows both run Docker via Hypervisor and it's quite a bit slower, at least for building. Short of that just get a mac. Although TBH this isn't a huge enough reason if you're only incidentally running docker as you can still shift your context to a linux machine on your network for a performant context.<p>The main reason isn't build quality or anything like that, although IME it's good on the Apple side. It's because mac is the shim between enterprise OS and open source OS. Things like MS Office, MS Outlook might not seem like much until you have to have them. Granted O365 has made some nice strides in making them moot but the web versions can still be limiting. Also if you go into development for anything mac or iOS you'll need to be on macOS for XCode, and you still have the option of installing the Adobe suite of products, as much as I hate using them.
Think twice before choosing XPS, read carefully reviews about the variant/model you choose.<p>From my own experience, I can't recommend XPS. In my company developers were getting XPS'es (both 13 and 15 inch models) the last 3 years and now almost nobody wants them anymore. Our IT switched back to Latitude models. Different kind of issues...<p>I personally have been using XPS 13 9380 the last few years. Had lot of expectations when I got the laptop, but it was disappointment after all. I mainly run Windows on it, but also have OpenSuse dual boot setup. Issues I experienced with my model:<p>- Crappy trackpad. Most annoying of all issues. Mouse pointer may sporadically jump an generate clicks when using trackpad. Same happens on Windows and Linux, must be HW related. I changed HW one time, it helped a bit but trackpad still sucks on my model! Worst of all laptops I ever had.<p>- Windows and Hybrid-sleep is terrible experience. Laptop may overheat in the bag (known issue, recognized by dell, see <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28639952" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28639952</a>) and battery last barely 1 day in such sleep. Under Linux this is not an issue as OS still uses the old fashioned sleep strategy.<p>- WiFi stability issues under Windows. Also the Killer WiFi HW on this laptop is not impressive... cheap solution.<p>- CPU cooling under Windows kicks quite often, even when laptop is not loaded too much.<p>After all, it works. But at the same time it could be much better. As of now I feel very ready for the MacBook...
I have a framework laptop (<a href="https://frame.work/" rel="nofollow">https://frame.work/</a>) and really like it! I run Ubuntu right now, and do run into issues with fractional scaling, but I haven't seen any laptop properly address that on linux.<p>One downside is the battery isn't amazing. I usually get ~3-4 hours when doing development work and ~6-7 with light use.
MacOS is *nix so development things will work nice. The Mac hardware is nice, not only physically but the new professors are fast and energy efficient in ways that nobody else can compare to.<p>If you can afford it, just get a Mac and stop thinking about it. It's the Lexus/BMW of computers. You won't regret it and plenty of developers use Macs so there is plenty of support.
The M1 MacBook Air is what you're looking for. It checks all those boxes and more (except for running Pop!_OS). If you could tell us what you like about Pop!_OS, we could advise if macOS fits your needs.<p>You certainly don't need to buy into the rest of the ecosystem. I use a Mac and an Android phone.
> Currently use Pop!_OS<p>> I have a high budget<p>There is some company that makes somewhat pricey laptops and works on some Linux OS. Maybe try looking at those laptops, they might have some support for Pop!_OS.<p>Edit: The joke here is that the company that makes Pop!_OS also makes laptops that are decent, but pricey.
If you’re developing for a Windows platform (desktop or server) then Windows for sure.<p>If your workplace makes it easy to run Linux (not ChromeOS) on a laptop and it integrates well with everything, I’d go with that. If you can buy Linux pre-installed on something from a reputable vendor (and thus it’s safe to say it should work entirely out of the box) that could be a good option too. Otherwise, assuming your time is valuable and you don’t find this fun, you’ll likely deal with too much random stuff coming up regarding drivers or things not working right. Even spending more than one hour when I should be working, for me, is too much.<p>Otherwise I’d use a MacBook. MacBooks have better build quality than the average laptop, no Windows bullshit (Apple bullshit is more like bee shit in terms of size), and no OEM bloat. You don’t need an iPhone at all. I have a bunch of Apple gear I’ve never paired with my work-MBP. It works perfectly out of the box, it’s fine to develop for frontend, works targeting any mobile OS, and will work just fine 90% of the time targeting linux. The base models usually have very competitive price:performance. If your time is valuable a few hundred dollars is easily worth avoiding tech support and Windows bullshit.
I've had an HP Spectre x360 Convertable-15 df1xxx (core i7 10th gen, nvidia, 4k screen) for over a year now. I really like it. Running Linux Mint MATE currently on 19.3 MATE 1.22.2. I was able to adjust the display for Hi DPI -- can't remember what I did exactly but I have Appearance > Fonts > Details > Resolution DPI (dots per inch) set to 192.<p>Great keyboard (with full numeric keypad). I went into the keyboard settings and adjust some compatibility options so I could shift-arrow using the num pad to select text.<p>Wifi just worked.
I bought a USB ethernet dongle that works fine also.<p>Mouse USB plug causes hang on hard boot -- just unplug it when booting.
I mostly use sleep which works fine.
Mouse movement wakes from sleep - but I was able to disable this:<p><pre><code> mxv@mvhp:~/bin$ cat disable_mouse_wakeup.sh
sudo cp /home/mxvanzant/.wakeup/wakeup /sys/bus/usb/devices/1-1/power/wakeup
mxv@mvhp:~/bin$ cat /home/mxvanzant/.wakeup/wakeup
disabled
</code></pre>
I don't use an external monitor, but this has HDMI which I've used on occasion.<p>Weight and size are not bad (for me), but you might prefer lighter laptops..
Asus Rog Stryx G17 is awesome gaming laptop with 17'' monitor and only 2.4kg<p><a href="https://rog.asus.com/laptops/rog-strix/2021-rog-strix-g17-series" rel="nofollow">https://rog.asus.com/laptops/rog-strix/2021-rog-strix-g17-se...</a>)<p>I use it for development, devops and gaming and can't be happier.
I have a Thinkpad T495 and am very happy running Debian stable on it. The only complaint after almost a year is that it runs quite hot. You could look at one of the Intel-based variants if that's a concern for you.
To stay in your comfort zone aim for a middle-of-the-road like the XPS, or else go open/repairable with Framework. If you don't run Windows, and you aren't inclined towards the Apple paradigm, then the biggest bottleneck comes in with rough edges in laptop hardware that doesn't quite work right on Linux. The best defense against that is simply not to get into trouble and stick to a "known quantity" solution that more people have already troubleshooted, which restricts you to popular laptop models with vanilla features.
Totally anecdotal but had two XPS in the last three years. Both had hardware issues.<p>First had fan failure in the first year. The second had a trackpad failure OUT of the box.<p>Have a friend whose a graphic designer and she's had the same XPS for almost a decade.<p>Makes me wonder if the build quality has gone down.
I would take the Asus Vivobook Pro 14" as a basis / starting point. It has an OLED screen (good colors for Photoshop) and runs plenty of games easily thanks to its GTX 1650.
I’ve been running Arch on a Razer Blade for a couple years now and it’s been great. Nvidia+linux is a risky move but I haven’t had any driver problems on this machine.
I am thinking buying an One Mix 4<p>10 inch screen, very light and portable<p>In the office you can use any USB-C dock with a external monitor<p>16gb RAM, 1tb nvme drive, 1K price