[LRUG] MacBook for Ruby dev work

[javier ramirez]

Hi,

Also using Ubuntu here. Started doing Ruby/Rails development on a 
windows machine on 2006 and a couple of years later decided I to switch 
to something more proper. I took a look at Apple but saw you had lots of 
restrictions on what to install -java version, for example- at least 
back then. So I went for Ubuntu and I've been quite happy with it for 
the last 8 years. Apart from being perfect for Ruby/Rails I like the 
fact my machine has almost the same architecture as my servers, so less 
surprises there.

I've been doing much more big data, cloud, and distributed systems work 
for the last few years too (I used to do almost 100% rails to maybe 10% 
rails, 90% other stuff) and for those use cases I think Linux is 
superior to any other OS. Think Docker, for example, it was available 
only for Linux systems for a long time before you could use it on Mac or 
Windows.

My machines have always looked worse and weighted more than the Apple 
alternative, although the ThinkPad Carbon and the Dell XPS are changing 
that. But battery-wise Linux is terrible and your battery will drain way 
faster than on an Apple machine (or faster than running Windows on the 
same laptop). I travel a lot and battery is a major annoyance to me. 
Even so I am sticking with Ubuntu, but if that's also your case you 
might want to be sure you choose Apple or at the very least a laptop 
with a decent battery and SSD only.

Cheers,

j

On 19/07/16 10:35, Paul Battley wrote:
> On 19 July 2016 at 10:09, Ian Moss <hello at ianmoss.com> wrote:
>> Does anyone currently use a machine other than an Apple based product?
>>
>> I run unbuntu on a ThinkPad, and enjoy using it. Quite like it when I meet
>> others with one too, though we're pretty rare. Keep meaning to try mint, but
>> havn't got around to it yet.
> I use Ubuntu (Lubuntu, to be precise, because the interface is more
> boring) 14.04 LTS (again, because stability is boring) on a ThinkPad
> x220. The keyboard is really nice, and it works fine for me! After
> working alongside people using OS X, I'm pretty sure that apt is less
> hassle than Homebrew.
>
> My computer cost £260 refurbished, plus a bit extra for an SSD and 16
> GB of RAM. It's not as slim as a MacBook Pro, but it weighs about the
> same, and I probably wouldn't be too devastated if I dropped or lost
> it. In fact, it's cheap enough that I bought another identical one to
> leave at client sites instead of carrying it there and back each day.
>
> The only thing that might prompt me to upgrade at this point would be
> a higher resolution screen, but as I mostly use it plugged into an
> external monitor that's not a huge issue.
>
> Paul.
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-- 

javier ramírez

javier ramirez's home page (http://javier-ramirez.com) 
<http://javier-ramirez.com>
javier ramirez's blog (http://formatinternet.com) 
<http://formatinternet.com>

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