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If you're going to spend that sort of coin on a development machine, look at motherboards first and ignore anything that doesn't support at least 64GB of RAM. Then max it out, and make the most of that RAM with virtual machines. RAID the living crap out of it for performance (I'm using four 4TB drives in a RAID-10 setup to host my VMs), or go SSD. Or both.
Speaking for myself, among other things, having that much RAM has allowed me to remove any hesitation whenever I was trying to figure out whether I should give some beta/preview release of something I might be interested in a try. Removing the need to choose removes a lot of barriers.
Why 64GB? I started at 16, then quickly came to the realization it wasn't enough for the way I work. Then I went to 32, and ran into the same thing again. Having 64 removes the need to choose which VM to shut down to leave enough RAM for another one I might need to spin up. There are motherboards that will use more than that, but we're no longer talking about consumer hardware and you'll blow your budget.
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I have an Asus ROG Gaming Laptop. It supports up to 128GB RAM (I currently have 24GB), has an Intel i7 Quad-Core (8 logical cores) CPU, and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M GPU.
It also has a CD/DVD/BD drive, four USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI port, a VGA port, an Ethernet port, an SD/MMC card reader, an Intel Thunderbolt port, and connections for headsets.
The keyboard has a backlight, and the fans are very quiet, even when running full blast. The unit also does not heat up very much, maybe a few degrees.
Newer ones come with WinX, though (although I haven't had any issues with it, third party drivers are the usual cause of issues. I'm looking at you, HP. Having to restart my computer several times to make it connect to the [REDACTED] printer is not a good thing.)
The cost for mine is around $2,500.
What do you get when you cross a joke with a rhetorical question?
The metaphorical solid rear-end expulsions have impacted the metaphorical motorized bladed rotating air movement mechanism.
Do questions with multiple question marks annoy you???
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Andrew Torrance wrote: Probably up to £2000
For that price, you can get a really good gaming machine, with monitor, never mind a dev one. 
You won't have any problems whatsoever spending that much, and can get a decent one for half that.
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You don't need to spend that. Dell puts out a fine product, the XPS Series. I have a 4-year-old XPS 8300 that I've built up with 1.5TB of SSD and 16GB of main. Seriously powerful. These aren't that expensive, either.
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I bought a Dell XPS 3 years ago. On sale for about $1,000 U.S. Has i7 8 GB ram, 1 TB Hard drive. I use the machine on site for contract work. You don't want a laptop. The CPUs in them have about 1/2 the power. When my coworkers noticed, they all demanded that their agencies supply them with desktop computers. I have since upgraded the memory to 16 G bytes. Needed that to run VMs. The machine used up about 75% of the memory with VMs running. And ran noticably slower. Also added a 2nd 1 T Byte hard drive. Just to keep code on different drive than OS.
Going to replace the HDD with 525 G Byte SSD that I found on NewEgg for little over $100 U.S.
If I were to replace it today and need it fast, would be hard to beat Dell XPS. I been thinking about a new build. Considering a Skylake i7. But Brodwell i7 or i7 Extream I think would be better suited. Reviews of CPUs for compiling code is hard to come by.
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Sounds like you have, basically, the same thing I have. This 8300 originally came with 8GB and a 1TB drive and it has always been uber reliable and very fast. (i7/2600, I think). I put one of the 512GB SSD units and one 1TB one in there and the machine just plain flies. Also upgraded it to 16GB main so I can run VM's also. I have it backed up to a 2TB Toshiba, a big 24" monitor, etc. Running Win7 Pro and all my development goodies. I doubt I'll upgrade it before I retire unless something just physically breaks - great machine.
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Hope this helps
MB ASUS Sabertooth990FX R2.0
VGA ASUS R3760-OC-2GD5-V2 R7 360 Graphics card can run 4 monitors
AMD 8-CORE FX-8350 4.0
SSD 512 G Samsung
MEM 8GX2 GSKIL = 32 Gigs memory
DVD Brn
MS Windows 10 Pro
Liguid Cool Corsair H80I V2 R
Soprano Case
HUB Vantec UGT-AH1000U3 10 port USB 3.0 hub total worth it
$1100 american
This is a whisper quite machine
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ASUS Q534U - Intel 6500U - 512GB SATA3 SSD - 2TB HDD 5400 - 16GB DDR4 RAM - WLAN/CB 802.11AC-WW + BT - 15.6 UHD (4K) Nvidia GTX950M w/2GB VRAM - 3-USB 3.0, 1-USB 3.1 WIN 10 (not pro). 2-IN-1 with a special hinge that enables the screen to be set at just about any angle, including 180 degrees for tablet mode. Touch screen; backlit keyboard; HDMI output; DVD/CD drive not included. $1,500 US.
mjb
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Honestly I think it would be difficult to spend even close to 2000 for a development machine. You should build your own desktop. I did 8 years ago and it's been great. As time went on and components got better, I upgraded. Currently I could upgrade again, but the improvement would be minimal for the price. One of the best things I did was buy some quiet case fans. This is a link to a review of case fans that's pretty comprehensive: Conclusion: Who's King of the Hill? - 120mm Radiator Fan Roundup Part 2: Fan Harder[^]
I did get the Nocuta fans when I first bought the case and I need to listen carefully in my quiet home office to even begin to hear them.
Good Luck!
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If I had 2,000 pounds to spend. I would go build a machine with i-7 Broadwell Extream CPU, 32 G Bytes Ram. For the hard dive, I would get 2 Intel 750 SSDs and put them in a RAID configuration
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We got HP Z420s for that price in 2013 - 3.2GHz 6 core Xeons, 32GB RAM, 250GB SSD, 1TB HDD and a (superfluous for you) 24" monitor. Oh, and a pricey Nvidia Quadro graphics card, which was overkill really. They've not been the most reliable, but mines been fine, very fast, and runs multiple VMs without any fuss.
Java, Basic, who cares - it's all a bunch of tree-hugging hippy cr*p
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I faced this dilemma about six months ago. For me the answer was an Intel NUC running 3GHz i7, fully tricked up with 500GB SSD and 16GB memory. Translated into GPB, it'll probably set you back about 700 pounds. It's a fantastic dev box, and is portable to boot (I permanently leave an ssh server running on its built in ethernet port so that I can get access from my laptop if no monitor is handy). Otherwise you can take an HDMI cable and a small wireless keyboard, making use of available TV sets for a monitor.
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If you want to spend that much money, you're in a weird space because you are bordering on the price of an actual server.
At that level, you can do a few things:
* Get a "second-from the top" CPU. Typically in the USD$750 range.
* Get two video cards to power a pair of big monitors at full resolution.
* Get top-notch SSDs and put them in RAID 1. Ensure that you have the enough throughput on motherboard, many mobos can't handle that type of throughput.
My biggest struggle with recent development machines has really centered around lack of CPU power, lack of screen real estate and lack of drive speed.
If you spend your day doing things like compiling your code and running unit tests, then your computer is mostly dependent on CPU + IO. Doing things like git checkout and branch can cause lots of data to cycle through memory while you sit on those two things. Using a tool like Resharper can also suck up your CPU as it's doing real-time compilation over and over again.
Likewise, I have yet to stare a at computer and go "too much screen real estate". I know people who work on a pair of 30" monitors. It seems ridiculous until you realize that you actually have stuff to fill out those screens. Getting a pair of dedicated video cards is the best way to power those two devices.
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If a vegetable falls off your fork, is it an escapea?
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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How did it end up there in the first place?
GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- ++>+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP. -- TNCaver
When I was six, there were no ones and zeroes - only zeroes. And not all of them worked. -- Ravi Bhavnani
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Exactly[^]!!! 
Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
Anonymous
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The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine
Winston Churchill, 1944
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I'd just like a chance to prove that money can't make me happy.
Me, all the time
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NSFW, fella.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Stop spending time in the Lounge then when you should be working...
Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
Anonymous
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The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine
Winston Churchill, 1944
-
I'd just like a chance to prove that money can't make me happy.
Me, all the time
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Right.
Anything goes, then?
OK, open this link[^] when your boss is walking past*.
Show a little common sense, eh?
* Note to everyone else: Don't.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Mark_Wallace wrote: Anything goes, then?
No it doesn't...
I would love to take that discussion with you, but frankly, I don't have time and can't be bothered. Suffice to say that if your employer would take offense from the link I posted, he would guaranteed also take offense from the fact that you are browsing non-work related forums on your work time.
So show a little common sense, will you!
Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
Anonymous
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The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine
Winston Churchill, 1944
-
I'd just like a chance to prove that money can't make me happy.
Me, all the time
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OK, if I can't appeal to your common sense, then just follow the rules of the Lounge[^], and no-one has a problem with what you post.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Mark_Wallace wrote: OK, if I can't appeal to your common sense, then just follow the rules of the Lounge[^]
I have a lot of common sense, and I do follow the rules of the Lounge.
Mark_Wallace wrote: no-one has a problem with what you post.
It appears to be only you, so unless you represent all 12.498.485 members of the CP, I suggest that you lighten up a bit!
Seriously, I don't have time to have a lengthy discussion with you about something so unimportant! I have work to do, maybe you should try the same?
Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
Anonymous
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The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine
Winston Churchill, 1944
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I'd just like a chance to prove that money can't make me happy.
Me, all the time
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Steak is not safe??? Since when? (Of course, had it been wrapped in bacon...)
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Beets me. Corn you rephrase that?
Lettuce consider: perhaps it's bean because you've been asking us one at a time and you'd be more successful if you ask asparagus.
| Ravings en masse^ |
|---|
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Good one! We're a bit short on vegetable jokes, so if you know any more, please lettuce know! 
Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
Anonymous
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The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine
Winston Churchill, 1944
-
I'd just like a chance to prove that money can't make me happy.
Me, all the time
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