[holygoat]

Hi everyone,

Does anyone use a 12" PB for development? Specifically I mean (a) multiple terminals (vim and gcc), and (b) Project Builder. Is the screen size inadequate?

If anyone feels like posting screenshots of their setup running the above, I'd be grateful - I'm in two minds about the TiBook (power, screen size, PCMCIA, but no AE/BT) and the 12" (cheaper, wireless, but smaller screen).

Thanks,
Rich

[Gul Banana]

I use my 12" iBook mostly for coding, and the screen is fine. I wear glasses due to extreme shortsightedness, but I have to use them even when looking at the 17" screen of a desktop.

[holygoat]

It's more the resolution that I'm worried about than the actual dimensions... I currently use a Dell laptop with a 15" LCD at 1600x1200, so I really want to make sure that a screen with only 40% of the pixel area will be suitable.

Of course there will be sacrifices to make for the portability... but is the resolution enough for multiple terminal windows, or PB?

TIA.

[Rickster]

Well, depends on how big your terminal windows are. I do all my development in PB (with occasional trips to the terminal for CVS or the Omni multi-project build system), and find a fullscreen PB window with its sliding debugger panes to be just fine on a 1024x768 iBook. Though when I'm working on tasks where I need to have several PB projects open at once, I prefer my desktop at the office with its larger display.

[smeger]

I do all of my development on a 12" iBook using multiple PB windows and a single large terminal window running 'screen' (multiple virtual terminal windows). I'm fine with this, but of course, I wouldn't be too upset if my resolution were to suddenly magically double.

[holygoat]

Thanks for the replies; it's nice to know that it's possible to get by

[Mithras]

It's of course totally individual. Why not change the resolution on your Dell to 1024x768 (or whatever it will allow you) for a few hours, and see how it feels?

[holygoat]

That's an idea, though I think the size difference (3"), and the difference in window manager and font size, would make it a little difficult to compare. Not to mention Project Builder.

But I'll give it a go, thanks!

[Radio Child]

When using a 10x7 screen, a desktop pager is an absolute must. I've been using CodeTek VirtualDesktop with absolutely no complaints. It is as good or better as any i've used in kde, gnome, windowmaker, and CDE.

I'm also considering a new 12" to travel with - same exact issues.

--
RC

[Mskr]

Do all my development now on a 12" PowerBook, for about 3 weeks. My recommendations:

1) External mouse, keyboard & monitor is nice when you're at the office
2) External speakers a plus, but not really necessary if you don't code to iTunes... (And if you do, Synergy is a nice little app to buy; for $5 it's a steal...)
3) Get yourself more RAM than the stock 256MB. I got an additional 512MB stick from 18004Memory for ~$90. Well worth it.

I find that when I'm at the office & plugged in, I prefer having the desktop system: the external mouse, keyboard, monitor and speakers just work well for me. Turn on monitor spanning & use the 12" screen for iChat while I work away on the main monitor.

While I'm in the café or at home, the 12" screen is plenty; it's such a crisp beautiful display that I find it quite comfortable and nice.

Also, I have the processor speed turned down while I'm not plugged in, and I hardly notice the speed difference between at the office & not plugged in. It gets a bit warmer when it's plugged in than when not, but that's ok, since it's on my desk then. I, unlike many of the people here, don't mind the heat output as much; I don't think it gets that warm, and it got a bit better with 10.2.5.

I've got nothing bad to say about this machine as a development machine. I don't have a separate machine to do work at home, so this is perfect; also, then I don't have to sync my CVS source code stuff when I'm working at home/in a café!

(Oh, and CodeTek VirtualDesktops is a must. Couldn't work without it, but that goes for desktop systems as well. See my sig for the URL.)

[holygoat]

Thanks, those were very helpful responses.

I already had VirtualDesktop on my growing list of software to buy - I haven't heard a bad thing about it!

[techtrucker]

I use PB on my 12" iBook, no problem except I definitely echo the recommendation for an external mouse, drawing interface elements in IB with the trackpad was a little daunting, although over time I'm sure I would have gotten used to it.

Steve W