I need a MacBook Pro (or, web development on the cheap)

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2 points·jmonegro··5 comments

reconsider the linux option. It's how many students in India (including me) picked up development skills.

I know. Even with linux on it, there's only so much you can do with a 9-inch screen and an 8gb HDD (plus an 8GB SD card, mostly filled with school related stuff), especially when building websites. As of now I have less than 100mb.

I can't even run Photoshop properly, or any of Adobe's programs :p

gimp will run just fine on your current box. My first linux box was a Pentium 133MHz box with 4MB RAM and a 2GB hard disk drive. I had a 14" CRT monitor. I learnt almost everything I know on that. I could set it up as an HTTP server, DNS server, SMTP server, DHCP server, run ethereal (now wireshark), study protocols, program in a myriad of languages, set up a database server, simulate multiple hosts in a virtual network and much more. You're only limited by your imagination.

One of the biggest problems I have now, though, is the lack of hard disk space. The other day I couldn't run 'gem install' because there wasn't enough disk space (I've been in the single-digit megabytes quite a lot). Schoolwork takes up a few gigabytes in itself.

Also, it's not so much the software (though it is when, for instance, I work with other people or for clients) but the size of the screen. Someone did recommend an outside monitor, but that would hog the integrated graphics card a bit (which takes a bit of ram itself).

It's also inconvenient because it's too small, it actually hinders my schoolwork. I can't use it for more than an hour or two before it takes a tool on my eyes and head.

Seconded. Invest in a good external monitor and you have a better environment than most of us started with.

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