Welcome to the Lounge

Caslen9-Jun-21 19:18

9-Jun-21 19:18

About my level Smile | :)

rnbergren9-Jun-21 3:10

rnbergren

9-Jun-21 3:10

I was asked this in my current position. I asked for the moon and got it. I have a desktop that is a BUTTTTTTT KICKER. loads of memory 4 harddrives. Dual monitors etc......(grunt, grunt, grunt)

And.,...... and a little bitty convertible notebook that can connect to the beefy machine via RDP when I am not in the office. It has this pen thingy I can take notes with in OneNote(the only decent MS Product) and it doesn't weigh 2 lbs (1 kg)

I really like my setup.

To err is human to really elephant it up you need a computer

Caslen9-Jun-21 19:17

9-Jun-21 19:17

I like this idea!

obermd9-Jun-21 3:18

obermd

9-Jun-21 3:18

In the Dell lineup, take a look at the 15" Precision laptops.

Chris Maunder9-Jun-21 10:31

9-Jun-21 10:31

Which OS? If you will never need Windows, if you have an iPhone, get a macbook with M1. Their hardware is the best around, and I've tried many, many, many laptops in my time. Except we're expecting the new ones soon so hold off till...2022?

Otherwise an Intel Macbook, and run Bootcamp. You get to test on macOS, Windows and Linux on a single box. If you're in the apple exosystem you get all the goodies therein. You'll scream at the lack of video connection but will learn to love USB-C. Except in Windows.

Honestly: you may as well be asking us what shirt to wear. It's such a personal choice, but for me I've tried moving away from the Apple hardware but cannot find anything better.

cheers
Chris Maunder

Caslen9-Jun-21 19:16

9-Jun-21 19:16

Mmmmaaa....?
Maaaacc...?
Macccb...?

Nope, can't force myself to say it!!!

Tbh, I have no doubt that you are right in terms of hardware, looks, OS stability (just guessing on that one but got to be better than windows right?) But I just don't see myself making the change. On the other hand there is a definite shift in reliance on Windows in my work, maybe I'll give it a look...

Chris Maunder10-Jun-21 4:49

10-Jun-21 4:49

I run Bootcamp on my Macs, and have for 10 years.

2 years ago I said "I'm done" and bought the best Windows laptop I could find. After (literally) 6 months of constant searching (and swearing at the US for the Huawei ban which meant no Matebook Pro) I settled on a DELL XPS 13, fully loaded.

Being in Canada we could only get the white version at that spec level, but that was fine since I wanted a change. Turns out their white keyboard has a white backlight so if your in a light room and the backlit is on you can't see the keys. Simply switching the colour of (I assume) a couple of LEDS would have fixed that for no cost to DELL. And it was actually way thicker than the marketing said (no drama, but really DELL? You're formally going to quote width without including the feet thickness? And battery life was...not even vaguely what they claimed. Not even close. And the bloatware. And opening the lid required two hands. And the heat. And (really, the only thing that truly bugged me) the fact that it was the same speed as my 7 year old iMac. Running Bootcamp. And the thing just looked like every other Windows laptop after a year: cheap and tattered.

I palmed it off to someone else and went out and grabbed a Macbook Pro. I still have it and it just works, looks neat, and was cheaper than the Dell for a higher spec.

cheers
Chris Maunder

Jörgen Andersson10-Jun-21 7:14

Jörgen Andersson

10-Jun-21 7:14

Well I can see where it went wrong.

From Dells Comparison site[^], The aiming groups for XPS are "Ultra mobile consumers" and "C-level executives" for home offices.

If there ever is a next time you should aim for Latitude, they are free of bloatware (if you discount the stuff that comes with windows itself), and the aiming groups are "Mobile professionals" and "Information multitaskers" for "Medium and large organizations".

My five year old Latitude looks like new, and works like new.
It's out of warranty though, so I recently got a new one just in case.

In the last twenty years I have had five latitudes, four of them are still alive, the fifth only runs on power adapter.

Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello

Chris Maunder11-Jun-21 4:28

11-Jun-21 4:28

I've tried the latitudes and found them too clunky for travel. Everyone else seems to be able to create a thin and light laptop, so why must I move up to the clunker? Underneath it's still the same silicon, and on top it's still the same marketing and poor experience choices.

I never understood Dell's insistence in having their business development team handle the UX of their site. Instead of "let's show you something amazing" as the first thing you see, it's "Are you using this for Office or Home". err...both?

Inspiron, Latitude, XPS, etc etc. Iterations to suit price points developed against business metrics instead of focusing on the consumer.

cheers
Chris Maunder

Jörgen Andersson9-Jun-21 22:14

Jörgen Andersson

9-Jun-21 22:14

Obviously this one.[^]

Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello

Chris Maunder10-Jun-21 4:41

10-Jun-21 4:41

I'm buying two of them. I'm going to need a spare.

cheers
Chris Maunder

Wizard of Sleeves9-Jun-21 20:11

Wizard of Sleeves

9-Jun-21 20:11

Something that is small and light enough to put in your pocket, with a 28" curved screen.

Nothing succeeds like a budgie without teeth.

Caslen16-Jun-21 22:10

16-Jun-21 22:10

Perfect - where can I get one!

Wizard of Sleeves16-Jun-21 23:30

Wizard of Sleeves

16-Jun-21 23:30

You can get them at amazon.alternate.parallel.universe

Nothing succeeds like a budgie without teeth.

rob tillaart9-Jun-21 23:08

rob tillaart

9-Jun-21 23:08

It really depends on how your daily job would look like.

That said, I would go for a virtual setup

1 server with 20 cores + memory + VMware ==> create a clean (test) environment in "no time"
- VM's to mimic customer PC's (4 core PC ?)
- VM's to do unit tests (2 core PC might be enough and allows to run multiple in parallel)
- VM's to do number crunching (8 core PC - optimum cores may depend on algorithm / flow)
- VM's to do data processing (throughput may depend more on network speed than # cores)
- VM to schedule automatic tests (Jenkins - whatever)
(this part should be scalable)

1 server to keep logs, documents, backups of your VM's

do not forget to organize backups, version control for the test code, UPS for server(s)

Connect to the servers with your laptop over remote desktop/VPN/something when needed.
- a minimum of sensitive data would be carried around.
- no draining of batteries due to the number crunching in background
- when your laptop is not around you can use any PC, even your phone to connect.
(take care of secure login of course)

The advantage of multiple VM's is that you can create setups including a database and/or a webserver as separate servers to mimic the customer environment as close as possible.

Kirk 1038982110-Jun-21 4:39

Kirk 10389821

10-Jun-21 4:39

Other people are correct in luggability, and how do you intend to use it.

I run mine as a workstation. Lid Closed, it drives a huge 55 inch desktop monitor (4k).
And a side monitor (as MSFT Teams SUCKS and can't share my programs on this screen, and it turns out, sharing the whole screen looks like a postage stamp to others).

But Memory. I have 128GB of memory in mine. No issues yet with running out, even with 2-3 VMs running.
SSDs: My Dell supports up to 4 internal. I have 2x2TB, and I usually follow a plan of replacing them, every 2yrs. Usually the first replacement only doubles the drive of the D: drive (Data/VMs). Because of costs, I may only replace ONE of them at the 2yr mark, and one at the 3yr mark. I like to have close to 50% free space on my System drive.

Finally, consider the keyboard layout. I did not. While I am fine with it, we standardized on it, and one of my team members does not dock his. And he hates the keyboard, he was forced to buy one and it frustrates him. (I don't understand it).

Oh, and I expect 5-7 years from these machines/configs. It wasn't cheap. I added the extra memory myself, as well as the full sized SSDs since dell had the most expensive upgrades for those, as usual. And I was still about $5,000

But I love it! The good news is that 64 bit OSes are going to be the norm. (Nobody needs more than 64 bits of memory... LOL except windows 11, visual studio, and we know history). But the switch to 128 bit is going to take a while.

rjcallahan10-Jun-21 6:17

rjcallahan

10-Jun-21 6:17

I would not forget that while SSDs are fast, the do fail and when they go, they are often not recoverable. I had a fully loaded Dell XPS (loved it), but I had 2 SSD drives fail in 3 years (total loss) so that is a lot of reinstalling Windows/development platforms/testing tools. I would like a laptop with both SSD and HD. BTW I threw the Dell out after the second fail.

SeattleC++10-Jun-21 6:53

SeattleC++

10-Jun-21 6:53

Depends on how they do testing where you work.

Portability is a big deal in a laptop. My personal goal is to keep my laptop under 1kg, which is still a difficult goal. This means only an ultralight, and probably something tablet-y. I'm running a Surface Pro right now (sadly, a Surface Pro 3, but I'm in the market to upgrade). You can walk a long way with a 1kg tablet in your bag and not develop a hunchback.

It's all about the RAM if you buy a laptop, needed to run virtual machines for testing in. But hopefully they have test servers for the workaday testing, so you don't need super fast CPU. Still for VMs an i7 with several cores would be best. Is there an i5 with four real cores (not just SMT) yet?

MichaelLuna10-Jun-21 11:29

MichaelLuna

10-Jun-21 11:29

I haven't view the whole thread.

Microsoft Surface Notebook. I had a 3 and was great development 'puter.

Bill S10-Jun-21 12:31

Bill S

10-Jun-21 12:31

Dell Alienware MX17 fully spec'd out along with the great Dell Premium support warranty. Our company uses nothing but Dell Alienware for not only their performance, but also their great warranty service on the rare occasion that you may need it.

Fabio Franco11-Jun-21 0:33

Fabio Franco

11-Jun-21 0:33

I am very happy with MSI Creator series. Got some good horsepower, lots of SSD, lots of RAM, is light and thin, good battery life while unplugged and as a bonus a nice graphics card.

And it also has a very professional look, which makes it suitable for an office.

To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems - Homer Simpson

Our heads are round so our thoughts can change direction - Francis Picabia

Caslen16-Jun-21 22:40