By dan_aka_jack on

Hi there,

I'm planning to buy a new laptop. It wiil mostly be used for Drupal and C++ development work on Ubuntu Linux. I'm really interested to find out which criteria you guys use when choosing a development laptop.

My current thinking is that I want maximum screen real-estate whilst minimising weight and cost. My shortlist includes an HP EliteBook which has an i5 processor, a 14.0" screen with a 1600x900 resolution and weighs 2.08kg. Alternatively I'm considering a Sony with a 15.5" 1920x1080 screen which weighs 2.7kg but is a fair bit cheaper than the HP.

So, for development work on a laptop (using Eclipse mostly), would you recommend getting the highest possible resolution screen? (I'm happy reading small text: my current laptop is an 8-yearold Sony Vaio with a 10.5" 1280x768 screen = 142dpi. A 14.0" screen at 1600x900 has pixel density of 131dpi and a 15.5" screen at 1920x1080 = 142dpi)

I'm guessing an SSD would be advisable too because MySQL tends to hit the hard disk aggressively (although many laptops come with 2-4GB RAM so it might be possible to put the DB into a ram disk)

Any thoughts would be most welcome!

Thanks,
Jack

Comments

geobaev’s picture

geobaev commented

I am in the same situation - looking for a developer laptop. :)

I consider buying a Sony Vaio although it is sold with Win 7, which I won't use. I think of buying a Dell Studio 1558 (no OS) but I am concerned about its glossy display. I think a matte display is better.

George Baev
Drupal Developer

My LinkedIn profile: http://bg.linkedin.com/in/georgebaev