What computer/device you guys use for programming?

[Nuluvius]

why?

 

Yeah you'd be better taping a bunch of cats together and making software on that instead...

[tomix1024]

On my desk there is a Asus PB278QR 27" as primary display and an Eizo FS2333 as secondary display on my right hand side, and a Logitech 250 Deluxe PS2 keyboard that I own like forever. The keyboard has a german physical keyboard layout, but I use it with an international english layout.

 

The internals of my computer are just standard i7 4790k, 16gb ram, lots of ssd storage...

 

As OS i prefer XUbuntu, currently version 15.04.

My preferred ide is definitively Clion for C/C++ (And all the other ide's from Jetbrains for other languages if required in my oppionon they create darn good ide's), sometime's Atom come's in quite handy.

[cristiand]

Thanks for your help guys. I have decided to probably get the Macbook Pro 13 inch. 

Writing code on a 13" full HD screen...

 

I'm not saying it can't be done, just expect serious eye strain even after one hour.

 

 

Not gonna touch the Apple part, since it's your money(or your parent's).

[tomix1024]

Writing code on a 13" full HD screen...

 

I'm not saying it can't be done, just expect serious eye strain even after one hour.

 

 

Not gonna touch the Apple part, since it's your money(or your parent's).

if you are going for a 13" laptop you might want to have a look at the developer edition of the dell xps 13

[madknight3]

Yeah you'd be better taping a bunch of cats together and making software on that instead...

 

Come on now, it's not that bad. Personally, I'm not an Apple/OS X fan, but many people use it in CS and do just fine with it.

 

OS X is fine for general development and is a requirement for iOS and OS X development. If the OP has any interest in that, then getting a Mac now could be the best option.

 

If you need to do something that OS X isn't ideal for then you have other options such as a duel boot, VM, remote access, or using a computer on campus. The same can be said from using Windows or Linux though too.

 

Writing code on a 13" full HD screen...

 

I'm not saying it can't be done, just expect serious eye strain even after one hour.

 

A 13 inch screen definitely isn't ideal for long coding sessions, but can be great for portability. However even 15 or 17 inch laptops, while better, still don't compare to full monitors. The OP can always get a monitor for home, or use the monitors on campus, for longer coding sessions.

 

Basically, if the price isn't a problem and you want a laptop with OS X, then a Macbook pro is a valid option.

[Nuluvius]

Come on now, it's not that bad. Personally, I'm not an Apple/OS X fan, but many people use it in CS and do just fine with it.

 

OS X is fine for general development and is a requirement for iOS and OS X development. If the OP has any interest in that, then getting a Mac now could be the best option.

 

Yes there was maybe a small element of sarcasm in my responses. But from first had experience developing native iOS and OSX applications in Objective C & Swift it makes for quite an awful experience. Moreover the security model simply gets in the way and is a complete hindrance. It's further compounded when working in an even moderately sized team. A complete contrast to the simple plug and deploy that Android offers...

 

Even using Xamarin is arduous (common C# high level layers and inter-op) - a lot of what I do is cross compiled C++ so it pushes the features of everything to the absolute maximum and often beyond. The Xamarin guys truly love us for it though it would seem as they have been more than happy to assist above and beyond the subscription that was paid for (helps their own progress). It would be a different experience if all you cared about was banging out high level applications though so the point may be moot.

 

About the only thing that I find remotely redeeming about OSX is that it's Unix based and has a terminal. All of that UI that's plastered over it and those totally contrary paradigms are quite frankly annoying in my view (I mastered them quick enough in any event). That said though at the end of the day it's not the environment I matured in. Those that have probably hold the opposite view of course... 

 

The hardware though... that's a different matter. It's worthy of respect for the time, effort and research (and capitol) that has gone into it and the coupling with the platform features. But from an enthusiasts point of view I have to despise it.

 

In summary I don't hate it but it sure is fun to knock.

[cristiand]

if you are going for a 13" laptop you might want to have a look at the developer edition of the dell xps 13

I'm not the OP, and ultrabooks are not my cup of tea due to their particular nature. (soldered ram, usually only one drive, limited I/O, no bang for buck, hard to find and test where I live)

 

But I am however curious what the deal is with a "Developer Edition" ? Do they just stick a copy of Ubuntu on it? I can do that myself in a couple of minutes.

[tomix1024]

I'm not the OP, and ultrabooks are not my cup of tea due to their particular nature. (soldered ram, usually only one drive, limited I/O, no bang for buck, hard to find and test where I live)

But I am however curious what the deal is with a "Developer Edition" ? Do they just stick a copy of Ubuntu on it? I can do that myself in a couple of minutes.

i just visited the dell homepage to checout the exact differences...

one that i remembered was, that the developer edition has 8gb ram instead of 4gb, but now, they all have 8gb of ram and a 256gb ssd...

some have a different cpu and a different display (qhd+ or so).

 

but to me, 8gb are definitively enough. if i compile a large c++ programm with 4 cpu's on my tower pc, my system uses a little more than 4gb of ram.

if you need more ram, you would probably need a stronger cpu as well.

the fact that the ram is soldered would only bother me when the ram would fail

so currently the only benefit of the developer edition comared to the normal editions would be (as i see it) that it costs a little bit less..

 

if you need a huge hdd, that won't fit in there

but it has an m.2 ssd. these are known to (be able to) be extremely fast (sometimes like 1gb/s write speed or so).

the largest one that i could find can hold 512gb.

[doublehelix]

I normally use my Arch partion on my desktop but If im doing python I might just stay on my windows partition. For IOS apps I have to use an old core 2 duo macbook or use the Imac's at my school.

[YellowDragon]

5820k, 16gb Ram Desktop for when im at home working on stuff.

 

As for on the go I swear by Lenovo T series Thinkpads......you can pry them from my cold dead claws. 

 

Why? well they have bar none the best touchpads and keyboards on any windows laptop, on the right config you can have a stupid long battery life....newer ones even have a dual battery system, best of all they build the things to last....They are designed to be taken apart, upgraded and repaired. Most thinkpads i have seen continue to work long past their usefulness.

 

I have a T450 and love it

 

......before you mention it superfish never was installed on the T series laptops so the whole parinoia about that just made my favorite laptops cheaper...thanks media

[TecaFondo]

I use a non-retina MacBook Pro 15 Mid 2012

[manon_gfx]

I have a lenovo y50-70 running Windows 10 with a 250 GB SSD.

I use Visual Studio 2013 as my IDE.

I program mainly in C++. I am also doing CUDA ATM, which is why I haven't upgraded to visual studio 2015.

[Tigerbomb8]

I use the computer listed in my signiture and a Macbook Pro 13" 2013 running windows.
For my IDEs, I use Pycharm, Intellij and Atom as my text editor.

[Satlen]

I would say that a mac is a great choice since you are able to install windows and linux onto as well pretty easily. Sure you can install os x on a vm or do a hackintosh but that solution is not always problem free. Ignore all these people saying it will be bad, I use a 13 inch air and it works fine. Plus, I personally think that macs have the best keyboards and touchpads for a laptop. And battery life is pretty solid too.

[mider]

specs for my main VB.net machine:

• AMD A10-5800K (3.8Ghz)
• 16GB 1600 DDR3 RAM
• 1TB myPassport for Programs
• Windows 10

For HTML and Java, I use a 13-inch Retina Display MacBook Pro which has:

• Intel i5
• 8GB 1866 DDR3 RAM
• The same 1TB myPassport as stated above
• OS X Yosemite

For which, i use TextWrangler to edit code

[mider]

I would say that a mac is a great choice since you are able to install windows and linux onto as well pretty easily. Sure you can install os x on a vm or do a hackintosh but that solution is not always problem free. Ignore all these people saying it will be bad, I use a 13 inch air and it works fine. Plus, I personally think that macs have the best keyboards and touchpads for a laptop. And battery life is pretty solid too.

i also use a mac... stick a VM or BootCamp that baby and you got yourself a pretty sweet setup

[Beskamir]

For me the most important part would be a mechanical keyboard since I'd obviously be typing a lot but otherwise I'm pretty sure you could code on litterally anything that can support IDEs.

 

BTW I'm also going to be taking CS courses this fall and since I'm a bit impatient and generally like to have at least some knowledge starting off in a class. (Somewhat increases my moral as I try to adapt to a new setting) I've started learning Python a week ago... well more like really started learning it since I've looked into it a few years ago but never had the dedication/time to fully learn it.

[Method]

A little late to the game here. 

 

At work I use a Macbook Pro. My main personal desktop is an i7 965 extreme, 14 GB ram. I'm going to be upgrading to skylake once the cpus and boards come out, so that'll be my main workstation for my own personal project I'm working on.

[EpicAdom]

Desktop in sig

and

HP ENVY 15t-j000 laptop (Core i5-3230m, 8GB RAM, 15 inch screen)

[Art Vandelay]

For me the most important part would be a mechanical keyboard since I'd obviously be typing a lot but otherwise I'm pretty sure you could code on litterally anything that can support IDEs.

Lol who needs an IDE? Program entirely off a Linux command line.

 

I've pretty much given up on IDEs for c and instead use Notepad++, GCC, GDB and Valgrind/Dr. Memory.

 

I also one time worked on an ASP.NET web app entirely from Windows command line for a week... it was an interesting week.

[byalexandr]

Fujitsu Lifebook T4310 (Core 2 Duo) w/ Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. I use it to mess around in Linux and watch YouTube lol.

 

 

It's really old but has one of the best keyboards that I've ever typed on, plus the screen flips around and stuff. I put a SanDisk 120GB SSD in it a while back, improved the performance greatly.

[Beskamir]

Lol who needs an IDE? Program entirely off a Linux command line.

 

I've pretty much given up on IDEs for c and instead use Notepad++, GCC, GDB and Valgrind/Dr. Memory.

 

I also one time worked on an ASP.NET web app entirely from Windows command line for a week... it was an interesting week.

Good point. I mainly use Notepad++ for coding in python. Which is what I am currently learning. 

[SpaceNugget]

dell xps 13, can't beat it.

[TamNguyen]

a laptop with an i5- 3317U and 6gb of ram