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Comment by webmobdev | Hacker News Reader

> BUT... you're recommending this as a workaround for limitations in expensive "Pro" local development machines, as part of an encouragement to go ahead and buy them.

Yeah, I came to say the same thing - if you are anyway going to do remote dev, why still bother buying a new Apple device?? Anything else will do fine too!

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The battery.

My desktop is an AMD Threadripper 299WX running FreeBSD. My laptop is a mid-2014 MBP. I can build a kernel about 8x faster on the AMD than in a VM on the mac. So when I'm away from my desk, I use the MBP to ssh to the AMD and do all my dev there.

My biggest problem with my current MBP is that the battery life is down to 1-2 hours. Less if I have a video call.

I could maybe just use a chromebook or windows laptop, but the Mac "just works" for all kinds of corporate stuff and is the path of least resistance.

You had it since 2014 so the battery is tired, you'll get less and less usage out of your battery over time.

That's why professional laptops lets you change the battery. As we're professionals, we use our laptops a lot, so the battery needs to be exchangeable without having to buy a new laptop, so you can restore the same battery life as you had to initially.

Now any professional laptop (except the "modern" Apple ones) let you change the battery, if you don't want to do 3rd party repairs yourself. But I highly recommend you either change your battery in a repair shop, or get a laptop meant for professionals, ThinkPads are pretty good in that area. And if you do a lot of remote dev, it doesn't really matter which one, as long as it has a good WiFi card so remote latency/jitter gets as low as possible.

Battery life?

Cheaper to buy a powerbank for laptop then invest in a crippled yet costly Apple product just for battery.

I basically use the same setup (an old mbp paired with a beefy linux workstation for remote development) and the only things that keep me from migrating away to a thinkpad running linux is because I'm still doing some ios and mac development. But so far remote development with vscode is working great with very low friction. It feels like I'm working locally even when I'm outside my home network.

> if you are anyway going to do remote dev, why still bother buying a new Apple device??

For me it'd be because of the User Interface.

If you want the macOS user interface, just buy an Intel Mac — new, used, or refurbished; they are still on sale, they still work (and they support all the tools you want perfectly).

Yes and no. For starters, there's reliability and durability. There might even be resale value. Just because you don't want to go all in (i.e., MBP) - or can't - doesn't mean you want to own a piece of junk.

I'm not disagreeing with you per se. Simply pointing out there are other considerations when selecting hardward.

There are very reliable and durable machines for cheap, stuff like thinkpad t480+ or the x1 carbon 6+ gen.

For example : https://www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-ThinkPad-X1-Carbon-6th-Gen-i...

I wouldn't be willing to do my work on a used laptop from eBay. I want something that has a warranty so I can get a replacement if something goes wrong, ideally on the same day.

I don't think my manager would take it well if I told him that my used eBay Thinkpad is broken and I need to find a replacement before I can work again.

If you're diligent with your backups, I guarantee you can buy another eBay/Craigslist Thinkpad and get it working before you get a "Genius Bar" appointment.

A week minimum from what I've seen in the past few weeks.

Ah, fair caveat. I suppose the pandemic has changed things. I haven't bought myself a new computer in a few years, but last time I did, Craigslist was full to the brim with sellers.

Thats IF your local Apple store is even taking appointments; none on Oahu are. Plus there's apparently significant parts delay no matter where you get the repair done.

It took Apple 32 days to get my MBP 16" repaired, returned under Crapplecare.

Yes, if you need that kind of service, then you're going to have to pay for it. That goes without saying.

Better yet, get the office to pay for it, if they're going to be so demanding.

They’re cheap, buy two.

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