-2

I have old enough laptop. And decided to buy a new one.

Usually I use Chrome, Docker, Datagrip, Intellij, Slack etc..

Now I have only 8gb and it is really few.

I think that MB Pro 2018 (touch-bar) (i7, 16g RAM, 512g ssd) will be enough for my needs. Or I should take 32g RAM? Or I should not take MB at all ? (never used it before)

Sergio Tulentsev
  • 226,338
  • 43
  • 373
  • 367
Andrei Kaliachka
  • 35
  • 1
  • 12
  • I was quite happy with 16gb before I started using docker (for a moderately sized app). Now I'm loving my 64gb :) – Sergio Tulentsev Nov 27 '18 at 11:23
  • Also docker for mac used to be several times slower than its linux counterpart. I couldn't bear with it, but some of my teammates do. MacOS' development environment was perfect otherwise. YMMV. – Sergio Tulentsev Nov 27 '18 at 11:25

1 Answers1

2

I have a i7/4 cores/8 threads/8GB PC which I still find comfortable to do development in different areas (Web Development/Embedded/Mobile/Qt5 on Virtualbox).

There is one key item that you did not mention which is a huge performance improver: switching from HDD to SSD.

My previous PC with similar caracteristics that broke down had a HDD inside and at some point I got tired of its slowness. I replaced the disk with an SSD and the slowness was gone. I've done the same on many other systems, including old ones (Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 10, Linux, Pentium, Core i5, Core i7): all show significant improvements when switching to SSD.

Now when I buy a computer, I change the HDD into a SSD - it is worth the cost when using it professionnaly for development purposes.

The Web applications I develop are pretty "heavy". Of course my portable computer is about half as slow as the web application running on a server with higher clock speed, more memory (usefull for caching, ...). But I could surely tune my local server a bit more.

Of course, RAM will matter when you plan on running multiple virtual "computers" at the same time. I could clearly use more memory when running Android Studio, with one emulated android system running - running a Virtualbox instance with Ubuntu at the same time gets my computer in trouble.

And remember: it is better to choose a computer that allows you to upgrade RAM and disk(s). I always make sure that the computer can host a 2.5" SATA drive and that it is easily accessible.

le_top
  • 445
  • 3
  • 12
  • I already have a PC (i7, 1TB m2, 32 ram) , but I need something more portable – Andrei Kaliachka Nov 27 '18 at 12:10
  • And what is your "old laptop"? 250GB SSD disks are "entry level" nowadays and very afordable. You can alway start by bying an SSD (1TB for instance), try that in your old portable. If you are satisfied, you have a cheap upgrade. If you are not satisfied you can use that disk in your new computer. – le_top Nov 27 '18 at 12:39
  • guess that will not help. cause my laptop is not support sata3 – Andrei Kaliachka Nov 27 '18 at 13:00
  • Well, then you do truly have a pretty old portable computer. An XP netbook that I bought in 2010 already has a SATA interface compatible with todays SDDs. – le_top Nov 29 '18 at 15:51