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hamiltondj · May 20, 2002, 12:27 PM

ok folks, here's an odd question:

You are a developer and can have only 1 machine to code on.
what would it be and why?

If you pick a portable, why it over a desktop?

smeger · May 20, 2002, 12:46 PM

I couldn't pick a single machine. I want a laptop with a ten foot screen that fits in my pocket and weighs the same as a pocketknife. With satellite internet connectivity, of course.

hamiltondj · May 20, 2002, 08:01 PM

I suppose thats the kind of hardware we all want

But, this is kind of a serious question....

msykes · May 20, 2002, 08:15 PM

Originally posted by hamiltondj:
<STRONG>I suppose thats the kind of hardware we all want

But, this is kind of a serious question....</STRONG>

Definitely my new Powerbook G4 800. It's absolutely amazing how productive I can be on the couch in front of the TV. And with this screen, I really don't miss having multiple monitors, or anything.

Vasudevelopa · May 20, 2002, 11:41 PM

What msykes has sounds good to me. I'd like to be able to code wherever, but my G4 400 will do just fine.

mmj_ngen · May 22, 2002, 09:21 PM

Portable vs. desktop can't really be answered until you try it. I've gone threw a few laptops thinking that it would help me get more done since I could carry it with me (or sit in front of the TV as the case may be). Each time, the laptop became a novelty. Don't get me wrong, I got real work done on them, but I was almost always parked at my desk anyway. The laptops really didn't really benefit me and my work habits as much as I thought it would.

Now days, I always go for mid range desktops. It has enough power for the tools I use, but it is cheaper. Plus, I use the features usually associated with a desktop (marginal expandability, etc.). As a student, I couldn't have done without my laptop. As a professional dealing with a non-trivial degree of crisis managment , a laptop is a life saver and may be a necessity. Other than that, I never really used it away from my desk at home or at work.

So, it really depends on where you like to work, and what you are doing.

smeger · May 22, 2002, 10:23 PM

I started off using my iBook as a "novelty" development platform, but I find I'm using my desktop less and less. Sitting on the patio developing and watching girls is pretty nice, as is hanging out at the coffeeshop developing (and watching girls).

And the coffeeshop just got 802.11 wireless, so it just got 4000x better. And the other coffeeshop that already had (wired) net access just got food. Life is good...

speirsfr · May 23, 2002, 07:59 AM

My main development box is a dual 500MHz G4. For development, I don't consider speed all that important - most any current machine is plenty fast - but I do consider memory and screen real estate to be the two most important factors in my productivity.

Memory is important because it helps compiling go faster. On my iBook 500 w/192Mb RAM compiling is a bit of a dog because it involves a lot of swapping to disk.

Screen real estate is the most important factor for me, because it lets you see more code at once: less scrolling to check variable declarations, more context visible at the one time. Also, if you're working from web or PDF based reference materials, you can get an editor and a browser more or less side by side on the screen. That's efficient coding. The iBook was also a dog in this regard at 1024x768 resolution.

My approach is evident in the new box I've just ordered for home. It's a G4/800 with 1Gb RAM, 80Gb HD, Superdrive, GeForce 4MX and a 19" Sony monitor.

See what I mean? Give up a little on the processor speed and gain on RAM and screen size (and quality, btw). For about the same price, I could have had a G4/933 with 256Mb RAM, 40Gb disk, GeForce 4MX, Combo Drive and 15" Apple Studio display (@1024x768 max. resolution)

That's how I'd prefer to work. The other thing about doing mobile development is that I found myself carrying a metric ton of reference books around with me. The O'Reilly Perl CD Bookshelf or a subscription to Safari might have helped in this regard though.

mmj_ngen · May 23, 2002, 08:31 AM

I didn't mean to come across as derogatory when I said "novelty". It was a novelty for me, since I wasn't really utilizing the portability. I still use work laptops on occasion. I just wouldn't buy one because of my work habits. Although, smeger was right in saying that it is nice to work outside or in a cafe on occasion. Try a brew pub sometime, it's surprisingly productive between the end of the first beer and end of the fourth, particularly with a group of people. After that, all bets are off.

I agree that speed usually isn't an issue, but if you are going to be using any bloated tools like JBuilder Professional, you are going to want a beefier box.

[ 05-23-2002: Message edited by: mmj_ngen ]

jeffs7364 · May 23, 2002, 08:42 AM

For me: DP800/Cinema Display

I think the single biggest benefit I get from my setup is screen real estate. Once you get into having project builder/interface builder/webobjects builder open all the time you really need the space.

Now I used to use a powerbook G4 (which was just fine for dev work), but I too almost always used it exclusively at my desk so I finally went with a desktop. Now that the Powerbook 800's are available I'd really have to consider one again; especially since you can now hook up pretty easily to a desktop display.

Michel Fortin · May 25, 2002, 10:39 PM

I'm using a Tangerine iBook 300 Mhz with 192 Mb of RAM. Well, it is suficient for my needs, but what could realy be better is the screen size. You see, in Project Builder it's a little difficult to look at the code on the right and keeping the file list open on the left at a decent size on this 800x600 screen. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" /> But I'm getting used to have my code line wrapped now. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />

I'm not a Pro, but I would say the basic requirement for developement is simply to be able to run Mac OS X. Then it gets better if you have more memory, a bigger screen, and a faster CPU.

[edit: stupid left/right mistake]

<small>[ 05-25-2002, 11:41 PM: Message edited by: Michel Fortin ]</small>

Detrius · May 28, 2002, 10:39 AM

I actually do most of my development on my iBook 500. I find myself playing more on the Dual G4 and working on the iBook.

However, when the lack of screen real estate on the iBook gets annoying, I do love having a 17" plus a 19" on that G4. That's a lot of real estate. (compiles are significantly faster on the G4 too)