Ask HN: Where do you buy computers from? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Where do you buy computers from?

1 pointimpostervt6 comments

tl:dr - Where do you buy software-development-capable computers from for an individual?

Long version: I've been offered a remote position and have only ever worked on-site up until now. At home I have a fairly basic, years old laptop that is fine for browsing the web and side-project-level development, and a windows machine that I got for my kids to do class work. Neither is really appropriate for "real" software development. Not enough RAM, mainly.

I haven't had to buy a computer for work in a very long time, and I'm unsure where to look to get started these days. I realize I could put my own together, but I'm hoping there's an "out-of-the-box" solution. I realize there are thousands of placing selling computers, I'm just hoping there's a go-to for the HN crowd.

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System 76. They focus on linux systems which means they have done the work to ensure the hardware has drivers. Dell, Apple, Hp, and Lenovo make some nice computers, but they have a tendency to change what is inside a computer without changing any model numbers so you never can be sure it will work with linux. It works with Windows (except Apple) so they don't care that it isn't useful for you.

None of the above is fatal to the others (and you can get linux preinstalled from some of them which sidesteps this), but it is easier to just go with something that works.

Whoever you buy from, make sure you get a business class machine. You can save a ton of money on consumer grade equipment. However the quality is lacking and it won't survive drops (this is mostly a problem with laptops)

Here is my tip: You have a second hand market of good quality Lenovo ThinkPad W520 or W530 machines. For 1/3 of the price of a "normal" recent model you can buy two, sometimes three. Throw away any hard drive and add an SSD. Some of them will have an SSD already.

I managed to collect 5 or 6 of these for less than a price of a full laptop. Very important things you will have:

- Great CPUs

- Fantastic keyboard feeling ( cant beat it..)

- Very important:No thermal issues. You can read online reviews for the latest Dell or HP laptops to see they cannot handle all the heat and its a common complaint.

- Not pretty, but very robust. Some of the modern laptops are just tiny fragile plastic boxes.

- No reliability issues.

- You have a second or third always ready to go.

Ebay.

If you're just after "software-development-capable" and not a high-spec games beast, there are plenty of office refurb sellers that offer generic Dell/HP/etc desktop boxes. You can usually find an i5/i7 with 32GB RAM for £200ish.

Might want to get a fresh SSD separately though, and I'm assuming you've probably got monitor/mouse/keyboard lying around. Ok, it might cost you more like £300-£350, but it's still a lot of bang for your buck. I've done it a few times now and been very happy with the results.

Personally, Dell, Macbook, or Lenovo. Pretty sure this covers 100% of my purchases over the last 15+ years. They all have reliable developer laptops, and Dell and Lenovo both have models that play nicely with Linux.

I generally just go with a gaming laptop.

Much cheaper than a "business" laptop with better specs. Best Buy can get it to you within about 2 days.

You tend to have a bit of bloatware, but it's not as bad as it was 5 or 6 years ago

My son is a computer engineering major who recently bought a laptop from Best Buy online. He bought a gaming laptop with good specs for about $1500, although the main use (I hope) will be for his coursework.

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