Short answer: Regarding Business productivity - My advice go with the
Macbook Pro. Also I believe you can get a 13-inch with 16GB and a 500GB
SSD for less than $2k.
I switched from Microsoft to Linux on all servers and desktops in my former
business only to switch the desktops to Apple products from Linux. Linux
just doesn't have parody in new application implementations on the desktop
where it mattered. And I haven't met a business owner yet who was willing
to hang out in Linux until someone got around to making it work.
Regarding the cost - My experience is the any of the professional line
laptops in any brand end up with a unit cost of use less than their cheaper
counterparts. The MacBook Pro is no different and is comparably priced to
any of these lines when you spec the stuff inside.
MacBook Pro is the developers choice because at any price it is the only
product on which you can easily build a development environment for any of
the other environments. If your going to spend $2k on a laptop it better
work in all of the possible environments in which may need to develop.
A question was asked regarding the relevance of posting this to a Linux
list. How about this - I love Linux and develop products that are used in
the tens of thousands of Linux instances in my company everyday... but I
could write a book about how frustrating it is that I don't have the option
to have Linux as a viable OS option on the desktop in a business use case,
ironically in a company that is central to the use of Linux in an industry.
On Wed, Aug 24, 2016 at 12:31 PM, Eric Oyen <
eric.oyen@icloud.com> wrote:
> yes, as my old 2007 whitebook can attest. unfortunately, the software and
> some of the apps are no longer supported and getting anything newer on here
> just isn't going to happen. where does this leave me? well, stuck on old
> hardware that is becoming less and less useful as apps and web design make
> it harder to cope. At some point, I just might decide to put paid to OS X
> lion and do a full linux install on here.
>
> SOme of the features of OS X that I will miss:
> keychains (this password vault has been a lifesaver)
> apps that "just work" without having to tweak or prod.
> easy to use interface for the blind (voiceover)
> and just about anything else not covered by the above.
>
> SOme things I am looking forward to as I transition to Linux on this
> device:
> upgraded applications capable of new and interesting things
> support for apps that use GTK, perl, ruby, and other scripts/programming
> languages that can be easily adapted for the blind (hell, all the libraries
> to do this are built in).
> enhanced performance (linux still has the lowest overhead of any OS I know
> of other than OpenBSD).
> Security (windows still can't touch this!).
> access to utilities and applications not readily available on other
> platforms.
> OPEN SORCE
> mostly free (or low cost through donation) - I am willing to pay if my
> budget supports it.
>
> now, I have been a long time user of Linux (really since almost its
> beginnings) and also a longtime member of PLUG (one of the original
> steering committee members here!).
>
> Still, there is something to be said for an OS/machine that "just works".
> I just wish apple would hop on the Linux bandwagon and offer an alternative
> OS for those times when OS X seems too bloated.
>
> -Eric (founder of the Technomage Guild)
>
> On Aug 24, 2016, at 9:25 AM, Alan Dayley wrote:
>
> My younger son is still using my five year old 15" MacBook Pro. It has no
> problems. I replaced the hard drive with a Samsung SSD about four years ago
> only because I wanted the improved performance. The whole system as zero
> problems.
>
> My older son is now using my four year old 13" MacBook Air. It has had
> zero problems except that the battery doesn't hold a charge for more than 2
> hours any more. Normal battery wear. That notebook spent four years
> traveling all over with me, almost every week in my bag going and coming
> from somewhere. The only physical issue is a few of the keyboard key tops
> are scratched down from my fingernails.
>
> I have run Ubuntu and Mint on both of the systems without issue. Though I
> confess to spending most of my time in OS X.
>
> I now have a four month old 13" MacBook Air. Has double the RAM of my
> previous unit. It helps. Buy as much RAM as you can.
>
> Apple hardware, in my experience, is both beautiful and durable.
>
> Alan
>
>
> On Wed, Aug 24, 2016 at 12:05 PM, Anon Anon <lokotejones@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I have a MacBook pro I use at work. It's a Mac. It'll work. It's a
>> bastardized bsd box.
>>
>> I haven't turned mine off in months. If you need a Mac, buy it.
>>
>> Why not try running mac os in a virtual box machine to try it out before
>> hand?
>>
>> On Aug 24, 2016 08:54, "Keith Smith" <techlists@phpcoderusa.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I'm strongly considering buying a Macbook pro.
>>
>> I'm a LAMP (PHP) developer. Currently I use Mint on a Dell. Both laptop
>> and desktop. I do have a Dell laptop that runs M$ 10. Was a bad move
>> upgrading from M$7 to M$10... another story for another day.
>>
>> The reason for my desired move is I want something that just works. I do
>> not have the time nor do I have the expertise to maintain Linux Mint when
>> there is an issue. For instance Dropbox does not launch correctly. I have
>> a work around, but do not want to have to figure this stuff out.
>> JoinMe.com does no work completely on my Linux desktop and I need it so
>> I use my Windows laptop. I can watch but I cannot become the presenter.
>>
>> Moving to Mac is purely a business decision.
>>
>> Up to this point I have bought cheap on sale Dell.
>>
>> I also need Virtualbox because I need to develop using PHP 5.6 and PHP 7.
>>
>> In doing my research I have narrowed my search to the Macbook Pro 13.3 or
>> 15.4 inch models. I'm leaning towards the 15.4 since it has 16GB of RAM.
>> I suspect with the SSD drives these Macs have to sing.
>>
>> My shock is the $2000 price tag. Yikes. I'm used to cheap dell hardware
>> that I pay $300 to $400 for on sale. I can see Best Buy is selling the
>> MacBook at a slightly discounted price.
>>
>> If I can be just a little more productive the Mac will pay for itself in
>> no time.
>>
>> The other thing I like about the Pro is it allows for driving two
>> external monitors. At the resolution the Pro provides that should be a lot
>> of real estate give the laptop monitor makes 3. The only downside I am
>> aware of is with the external monitors the refresh rate drops to 30Hz. I
>> think someone on this list brought that up and they did not like that low
>> of a refresh rate.
>>
>> I think I would find iMovie and Pages useful. And I could add an iPhone
>> to the mix and utilize those benefits.
>>
>> If I buy the Mackbook pro 15.4 inch with 16GB of RAM what would be a
>> reasonable life expectancy in a production environment? What would I be
>> able to reasonably expect working it 12+ hours a day, day in day?
>>
>> Any and every thought is much appreciated.
>>
>>
>> --
>> Keith Smith
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>>
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--
James
*Linkedin <
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/james-h-dugger/15/64b/74a/>*
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