Apple finally updated their MacBook Pros, and professionals weren't impressed. Last time, with the late 2013 model, they reduced the number of ports, but having bought one I managed to live with it using a few dongle adapters. While I like that they moved to USB-C, I am annoyed that they moved to solely USB-C, since I would have to buy a new set of dongles, let alone the USB-A to USB-C adapters for "normal" USB devices. Beyond that, the specs are average for the price, and the "touch bar" has little to no use for a developer that frequently use the function keys.
All that being said, I'm not planning to buy a new laptop until roughly a year from now. In the meantime, it does raise the question about if MacBook Pros, let alone macOS in general, is what I need for my programming work. Each time I upgrade macOS I have to recompile countless packages from MacPorts, to the point where I realize that almost all of my work is done on command-line tools easily available on Linux. I have to constantly run a Windows 7 virtual machine, so having Windows 10 in that strange BootCamp + Parallels Desktop setup doesn't seem to be necessary.
So I'm seriously considering buying a Linux laptop as my next programming laptop. Something like the New XPS 13 Developer Edition, the one that comes with Ubuntu, would be nice, and hopefully by next year they fix that annoying coil noise. If I feel adventurous I might take a typical ThinkPad with well-known components supported in Linux and install Linux myself. Yes, I get the irony that a "Mac guy" would buy what used to be an IBM laptop. Either way, I might both save money (even more in the former since I don't pay for Windows), and potentially time, since most of my development tools would be easy to set up. I might still have to buy some dongle for an Ethernet network connection if I get a thinner laptop, though interrrestingly both my DisplayPort DVI adapter and Thunderbolt Ethernet from Apple adapters may still work. Or I could even go with a thicker "portable computer" (like the ThinkPad P50) and use a docking connector, the 90s solution to dongles... In fact if I'm willing to let go of thinness and battery life, like I did with my first 17" MacBook Pro, I'd be able to get more storage and 32 GB of RAM.
I should admit that I have no experience with a Linux laptop or desktop, in the context of one attached to a display for day to day use. All my Linux systems were either "headless" or running in virtual machines, so I can't tell if dealing with Xorg configuration files is going to be difficult or not. Same thing can be said for multiple displays, Bluetooth mice, and so on. But from what I've read, as long as I stay away from smaller ultrabooks I should be OK.
I'm not going to stop using Macs for home use, though the price increases may restrict my spending on a well-needed upgrade to my mid-2011 Mac mini. Home use now seems the natural fit for Macs anyways. Long gone is the business-oriented Apple from the mid-90s.
Published on November 10, 2016 at 03:30 EST
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