http://ayende.comAyende @ RahienCopyright (C) Ayende Rahien 2004 - 2021 (c) 202660What about a workstation, well you are developer. Laptop should be portable. I like to work only on workstation, have two screens (LG 22") My current configuation is. (Custom build) 4500 AUD 2 x 6 core Opterons Tyan motherboard (2 x CPU) 16 GB Memory 1 SAS Seagate Drive 450 GB 2 SATA Seagate Drive 320 GB ES System config - Windows Server 2008 Standard 64 Systems under Hyper-V - Win 2000 - Win XP - Win 2003 Server - Win 7 RC http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment46http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment46Wed, 22 Jul 2009 23:05:47 GMTWhat about a rugged case housing a micro atx mother board. You could lug it around in a small suitcase with wheels. Then you could get core i7, dual ssd's etc at a reasonable 2-3k I bet. You could plug in two or three nice monitors where you primarly work and have a small monitor for your travel need. http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment45http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment45Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:14:26 GMT15" is definitely the smart choice. The larger screen adds a ton of bulk and power consumption. I went with a Dell XPS 15", and the new Studio XPS look even better , but I will say this. The Dell software is buggy, I still haven't gotten around to doing a clean OS install. The mouse has major glitching but I can't tell if that is the crap software/drivers but the scroll bars (side and bottom of the pad) are enabled at all its pretty FUBAR. Personally I hate touchpads more than anything else, but if you have to use one multi-touch is king and I don't think anyone is willing to touch Apple's patent on that. http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment44http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment44Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:25:33 GMTI wonder how much that monster will weigh and where you'll find the space to use it. I find my little 11" widescreen Vaio TZ perfectly fine for 95% of my development work even if it means I sometimes have to wait a minute for a compile. It sure beats having a closed laptop in my bag because it's too big to use on the airplane or on the bus. When I need a bigger screen I can go find a desk with a 30" monitor on it flanked by dual 20"s. I wouldn't use a netbook though: too small. Form factor matters a lot for me. With my first laptop I learned that innards can be upgraded but you're pretty much stuck with the size, weight and power budget you choose upfront. My first laptop spent most of its time plugged in. http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment43http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment43Sat, 04 Jul 2009 04:43:12 GMTI have a ThinkPad W500, don't buy it. http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment42http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment42Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:18:40 GMTcustom HP HDX18 from hp.com. That's the one I'm getting the day Win7 ships. It's got Quad core 2.53Ghz (Q9300), 16GB Ram, 2 X 320GB 7200RPM drives, 17" screen, and a real number pad :) I'm not sure about the mouse pad. You can go into any best buy / future shop and play aorund with a the Core 2 Duo version of this model. -- Justin http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment41http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment41Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:43:05 GMTNo matter what other said, SSD changed my developer life and I will never ever go back to a mechanical technology: [codebetter.com/.../...developers-productivity.aspx](http://codebetter.com/blogs/patricksmacchia/archive/2008/12/04/solid-state-drive-enhance-developers-productivity.aspx)http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment40http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment40Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:45:27 GMTAs Phill suggested, w/ regard to SSDs: the _INTEL_ X-25M SSD is the way to go. +1. http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment39http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment39Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:07:27 GMTSager Notebooks NP9280: Core i7 up to 12GB RAM 3 HDD bays + RAID. or NP5797 Quad Core up to 8GB RAM 1 HDD bay [www.sagernotebook.com/category_browse.php](http://www.sagernotebook.com/category_browse.php?cid=&lcdsize=17)http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment38http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment38Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:58:21 GMTI mean Dell put the Samsung PM800 SSD in the laptop when I did the upgrade to 256GB SSD. It only cost $264 (as compared to $699 full price)! http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment37http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment37Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:33:54 GMTDude I got a Dell! lol :D Anyway, I got a Studio XPS 16. It's a 16 inch screen that is lovely to look at (full RGB LED LCD). It's also got the finger pinch zoom. It kind of looks like a Mac knock-off, but it's a pretty solid laptop. I got mine with SSD and the put in the Samsung PM800 (the 256GB) and it screams! It meets all of your features except possibly quad core. [www.dell.com/.../pd.aspx](http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/notebooks/laptop-studio-xps-16/pd.aspx?refid=laptop-studio-xps-16&s=dhs&cs=19)http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment36http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment36Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:31:50 GMTScott, I can feel, right now, that the laptop is holding me back. I need that much power because I am developing, and development can chew up through a LOT of power http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment35http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment35Tue, 30 Jun 2009 05:31:26 GMTMacs for windows development for me are overpriced and not worthwhile. The bang for the buck factor just isn't there. Macs are and always will remain for me multimedia machines. As for Mac Mini's have you ever tried installing win server 2k3 on a mac mini, it's impossible without a third party app like vmware fusion or parrallels. Then why would you buy a laptop then spend a further $100 on software when you could get windows and dual boot. http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment34http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment34Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:32:42 GMTI'm curious why you think you need that much power really? I mean before I would get something like that I'd get a few Mac Minis for the house and remote into them, etc. If you really need a lot of power I'd go desktop, check out the Mac Pros: [http://www.apple.com/macpro/](http://www.apple.com/macpro/)http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment33http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment33Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:12:36 GMTI think a year from now you will miss your Mac, on average people keep their Macs longer than other manufacturers. If buy a laptop and your not happy with it in 10 mo then how much have you saved? That being said I've had a company issued Dell for many generations and all Dells suck IMHO. http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment32http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment32Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:06:15 GMTI use a toshiba qosmio x300 it's a great laptop, it is a bit on the heavy side but when hooked up with solid state drives it would be awesome. My recommendation: pick a laptop you can purchase in a store, they may be more expensive but being able to take it back with ease is essential. On trying to purchase a laptop which would be good to code on I bought 1 Dell Gaming laptop (M70 i think) It got delivered to somewhere else, when it finally arrived it had dead pixels and was sluggish. 1 Asus Gaming laptop. I got it home, got it setup on the first run, then discovered the network adapter driver wasn't fully compatible with the windows vista ultimate it shipped with, and therefore kept cutting off after every send / receive. The toshiba, setup first time, runs visual studio with ease, and also does have the power to play games etc on it. dual core P7350 2.0ghz 4gb ram Nvidia geforce 9700m gts graphics card Win vista ultimate 64bit harmon kardon speakers (it's bright shiny red) [www.toshiba.ca/.../product.grp](http://www.toshiba.ca/web/product.grp?lg=en&section=1&group=1&product=8471&category=) http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment31http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment31Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:52:28 GMTTake a look at the Dell Precision workstations. The M4400 is 15" and the M6400 is 17". Both can be fitted out with a quad core. BTW - I have a Intel X25-M SSD and love it. Rumor on Engadget today is that Intel are going to release a 320GB model in a couple of weeks, so it might be worth hanging out for that. http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment30http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment30Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:50:47 GMTHave a look at the Dell Precision laptop - M6400 takes a quad core and up to 16Gb of RAM. One trick in the UK is to use the Dell second-source suppliers, stell get the onsite warranty but 30-50% off list. Also buy any extra RAM from Crucial rather than Dell, e.g. for 4Gb extra from Dell you can buy 12Gb from Crucial. http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment29http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment29Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:27:29 GMTYou could create your own mobile cluster by walking around with two mac-minis in your pockets and then using XGrid on the laptop to distribute computational tasks in parallel across the nodes :) Or maybe not... http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment28http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment28Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:21:14 GMT6k Wow that’s a hefty price tag. I spent a fare bit on my previous laptop because I wanted performance but later regretted it as the equivalent desktop is much more powerful and a lot cheaper. In future I will consider a netbook for mobile computing (ASUS eee pc with windows 7 is looking quite tempting) and a desktop at home for heavy lifting. Depends how much power you need on the go I suppose, but I personally favour the netbooks portability and battery life (reportedly up to 9 hrs) and am willing to sacrifice a little speed. http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment27http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment27Mon, 29 Jun 2009 10:35:47 GMTRafal, You need to consider latency as well http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment26http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment26Mon, 29 Jun 2009 08:34:57 GMT6K bucks for a laptop? Uh-oh, think about deprecation of its value in the year following. Maybe buy a hosted quad-core xeon server and some fancy super-light laptop as a terminal? http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment25http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment25Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:50:42 GMTDid you look at the gaming market ? For speed and customization i suggest you to look at the Clevo M860TU, this is a configurable laptop where you can put a QX9300, 8Gb DD3, choose a non-glare screen, ... http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment24http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment24Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:05:45 GMTMy MPB 15" is just a bit older than yours and has been my VS workhorse (via vmware fusion). I'm starting to feel the desire for a horsepower upgrade as well, but Apple's just isn't selling anything with the oomph i want. I priced out a 17" quad core thinkpad and it came in about the same price as a unibody 17" MBP (dual core only). For now, i'm just gonna keep going with the 15", but if Apple doesn't release a quadcore in the next 6-9months, i'll have to consider a non-Mac laptop for the first time in a long while. http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment23http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment23Mon, 29 Jun 2009 05:35:36 GMT@Ayende i also hated trackpoints before i started using this one of my T60p, which is a lot better the the ones from Dell. I am faster now with it. http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment22http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment22Sun, 28 Jun 2009 10:33:08 GMTRik, Just specced the system that I wanted, it came to over 6,000$ Wow http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment21http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment21Sun, 28 Jun 2009 10:25:35 GMTA few points regarding SSDs: The drive Phil mentioned is actually an Intel X-25M and not an IBM X-25M, everything else he mentioned is right on. All current generation SSDs(any built on the Intel, Indilinx, or newest Samsung controllers) have no problems with small writes. This was only an issue with any drives built on the JMicron JMF612 controller. If you want maximum performance, in a notebook or otherwise, an SSD is a requirement. http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment20http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment20Sun, 28 Jun 2009 10:22:14 GMTYes, the W500, but it doesn't do quad core, nor does it have two drives, or the optional extra screen. http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment19http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment19Sun, 28 Jun 2009 10:13:18 GMTThe W700 looks like the nearest match to what I want. Does it have a smaller brother with 15" ? http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment18http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment18Sun, 28 Jun 2009 10:04:16 GMTPerhaps have a look at the Thinkpad W700. It takes up to 8GB, takes two hard drives (or SSDs of course), has a 1920x1200 17" screen, has a touchpad, and can be configured with a core 2 quad extreme. The ds model has a second, pull-out, 10.6" screen. Not sure what res it is, but seems handy for dumping IM windows, or toolbars. http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment17http://ayende.com/4064/an-end-to-the-mac-era#comment17Sun, 28 Jun 2009 09:41:34 GMT