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Comment by dukeofdoom | Hacker News Reader

Macbook air: $999 (2 ports, no hdmi)

$699 mac mini (2 ports + hdmi) + ipad $329 = $1029

Thinking of upgraing, my current macbook 2013 sits in a drawer 99% of the time connected to a monitor and keyboard. That 1% of the time when I travel, the macbook is too large to use comfortably on an airplane seat. The ipad would work better for this use. macbook air also only has two ports, so one would be used for external monitor, the other for power. No place left to connect external drives. Which I need to use for video editing, and sometimes need to connect two drives to transfer files between them. Seems like this would only be doable on macbook air running on battery.

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> macbook air also only has two ports, so one would be used for external monitor, the other for power. No place left to connect external drives.

You can do all this through one port. Most LG or Dell thunderbolt 3 monitors can supply 65 watts of power (some models may be higher, up to 80 or even 100w) any of which should be enough to run and charge this macbook air decently, and have 3 extra usb type A ports on the monitor.

I switched from a MBP to a Mac Mini and iPad Pro last winter for my personal setup. I absolutely love it. I spend roughly equal time on both, but I’m not doing a ton of programming these days outside of work. Taking the iPad traveling is way easier than taking a laptop.

Are you using the Magic Keyboard? Just asking if that is a big part of your good experience with the iPad.

Nope, I’m using the Smart Keyboard folio, since it came with the iPad. (Bought secondhand from a friend.)

Not who you replied to, but I have one of those non-numpad small Apple BT keyboards and it has worked really well for me when traveling with only my iPad. It fits in the same carry sleeve I use for the iPad, holds a long charge, and is usable when I ssh to a host for IRC or if I really want to code in VIM.

Similar setup (desktop Mac plus iPad Pro with keyboard), and similarly happy with it, but I'm afraid once the COVID situation has been resolved I'll need a MacBook again. The iPad works surprisingly well as a laptop replacement, and I can get things done on it, but it's not an optimal environment for serious work.

I’m curious what you consider serious work? I write a lot on the iPad, can answer emails, get my shopping done, etc. I definitely wouldn’t use it for programming, but I know some people have set it up to do so.

Yeah, programming. I agree it's a pleasure to do the other tasks you mentioned on the iPad, but coding is cumbersome (although still possible). I'm using a VPS and Blink, the upshot is that you become decently efficient working with tmux/vim/etc.

I wish apple or some company would make a computer stick that plugs into a usb c hub for power and peripherals. No battery and no buttons other than power.

I don't see why it couldn't about the size of a wallet and offer at least as good thermals as a macbook air.

Similar products do exist, although they're not very good: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KKYZL66

I've seen those. They all are made to plug into the back of a tv through hdmi.

HDMI doesn't have power and typically no peripherals like keyboard and mouse. To get that to work as I would want it would need multiple cables plugged into it.

I just want to stick my computer into a hub like a flash stick and have it boot up.

The Mac Mini is only 7 inches x 7 inches x 1.5 inches. It's not a stick but you could certainly mount it on the back of your monitor or under your desk and never see it.

I carry my laptop to work and back with me. I want to ditch the laptop bag and just carry a stick to plug in anywhere.

I use a CalDigit Thunderbolt 3 doc on my macbook pro. Website says it works with M1 macs, but you only get one screen. It delivers power (87W), network, and has a bunch of ports, including allowing thunderbolt daisy-chaining. It has a 10Gb/s usb-c port, and five 5Gb/s usb ports. That uses a single port. So if you had, e.g. two TB3 external drives, you could plug one into the dock, and one into the other port on the Mac. This dock might be overkill for you (its $250), but I used it to get dual external screens on my MBP before I said "fuck it" and bought an eGPU.

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