Backbone.js 0.9.9 Released - <AUTHOR> http://backbonejs.org/?0-9-9#changelog

<comment><AUTHOR> This is an "almost-1.0" preview release -- so if you've got a Backbone app, I'd appreciate it if you'd take the time to upgrade, and report issues and concerns.

Some of the more significant updates are:

        * `listenTo` and `stopListening` for easier event unbinding.

        * HTTP PATCH support, for partial updates.

        * collection.update(models) for "smart" add/remove/merge in one method.

        * Events.once, a-la jQuery. Also jQuery-style event map syntax.

        * Lots of performance tuning for triggering millions of events per second
          (should you find the need) in modern browsers.
          http://jsperf.com/events-vs-events2/3

<comment><USER2> Is that first bullet point a solution to view "garbage collection"? Or should those of us who want that sort of functionality continue to use extra helper code?

<comment><AUTHOR> Somewhat. The usual rules of working in a garbage collected language still apply -- references are references, and keeping an event bound to another object is a reference to that object.

`listenTo` and `stopListening` just give you an inverted (and often easier) way to manage the references ... so that you can remove all of the references from the "other" side. For example:

        view.listenTo(model, 'change', view.renderChange);
        view.listenTo(collection, 'add', view.addItem);
        view.listenTo(Backbone, 'initialLoad', view.reinit);

        # ... and then, when you want to get rid of the view:

        view.remove();
        # Calls view.stopListening(), removing *all* of the
        # events from "view" bound on all of those different objects.

Note that none of this is necessary if you throw away both sides of the bound event at the same time -- those will still be GC'd as usual. Also, this isn't just for Views. The methods are available on anything that mixes in Backbone.Events.

<comment> eric-hu A comment on the description of listenTo on the Docs page:

> Tell an object to listen to a particular event on an other object. The > advantage of using this form, intead of other.on(event, callback), is that > listenTo allows the object to keep track of the events, and they can be > removed all at once later on.

I had to read this a few times and the given example to see that the convenience comes from tracking events on the listening object side.

Using "object" and "other" for the object variable names makes it a little confusing. I didn't realize the bolded "object" meant the listener object, as opposed to the object being listened to.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes -- I struggled for a while with the wording of that. I've you've got a re- phrasing that would make it clearer, I'm all ears.

<comment> eric-hu This explanation actually provides 2 examples, one before the description text and one after. The description refers to the example before:

> listenTo object.listenTo(other, event, callback)

I think changing the naming to be more specific and updating the description names could help out.

       listenTo  observingObject.listenTo(actingObject, event, callback)

One caveat is that this breaks consistency with the other examples in this section (i.e. object.once(...) object.trigger(...)).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> «The Backbone object now extends Events so that you can use it as a global event bus, if you like.»

This is great, up until now I've extended the app with Backbone.Event like:

       App = {
           view = {},
           model = {},
           collection = {},
           events = {},
        _.extend(App.events, Backbone.events)

Congrats on the soon-to-be 1.0 release :)

<comment><USER4> Same, although we use it in combination with Require, so we had an 'events' module:

        define(["Backbone", "underscore"], function(Backbone, _) {
          return _.extend({}, Backbone.Events);
        });

and a dependency on 'events' in all our modules:

        define(["Backbone", "events"), function(Backbone, Events) {
           // stuff
           Events.on("event", stuff);
        });

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> In the doc: \- intead of other.on(event, callback), is that listenTo allows the object to keep track of the events, and they can be removed all at once later on.

typo "intead". ;)

Thanks for this great update. I like Backbone's Minimalist approach to structured JS programming. Love CS even more.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the typo. Fixed.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Guys thanks for this amazing work... I am using it in my site and I am absolutely in love with this frame I am also evangelizing more Brazilians to use it :D

Will port my site to it right now.

The "event bus" and "listenTo" are very expected modifications I also liked the "Merge and Patch", I just got confused about the get using both CID and ID but I will take a look at the code later.

I can't figure why people at ThoughtWorks had put this beauty in the freezer, I would love to hear their reasons because that " abstraction pushed too far " doesn't do it for me.

<comment><USER7> I was at the Radar event in NYC this week and was thinking the same thing. If anything I always thought Backbone minimizes abstraction compared to most frameworks.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Funny, I only just finished refactoring our codebase (dozens of views, models, routers) using a 'custom' implementation of the listenTo mechanic, as well as a custom 'close' method for views that would deregister the events again:

        this.registeredModelEvents.push({
            model: model,
            eventName: eventName,
            callback: callback,
            context: context
        });

        model.on(eventName, callback, context);

Here's to hoping we can update to 0.9.9 soon. Shouldn't be a problem.

</comment><comment><USER6> An example of this

"The Backbone object now extends Events so that you can use it as a global event bus, if you like."

would be great.

</comment><comment><USER8> Hooray for the global event bus!

<comment><USER9> Not like it was difficult to implement one before:

        EventBus = _.extend({}, Backbone.Events);

<comment><USER10> Yeah, from the documentation exactly here: [http://documentcloud.github.com/backbone/docs/backbone.html#...](http://documentcloud.github.com/backbone/docs/backbone.html#section-18)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Does anyone know when/if the Parse SDK for JS plans to incorporate these features?

</comment><comment><USER12> uprgaded to 0.9.9 for my app and no worries, thanks for the update and keep up the good stuff

<comment><USER13> sweet i just started learning backbone , guess it well be 1.0 by the time i finish :)

<comment><USER14> Have a look at marionette: <https://github.com/marionettejs/backbone.marionette>

Although if Backbone keeps rolling in good features marionette's usefulness gets less and less ;)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> I strongly recommend anyone starting SPA development to checkout AngularJS because I've found that its close to impossible to not end up with a mess when using Backbone. I for one would never again use a library/framework just because its popular.

Also (at least for me):-

Backbone learning curve: 1-2 months

AngularJS learning curve: 3-5 days

<comment><USER16> FUD. I've had several developers over several teams pick up Backbone significantly faster than 1-2 months. I'd strongly recommend over generalising from personal experience, and perhaps considering why Backbone has so many devs using, and contributing to, it.

I've been writing MVC apps in JS and ECMA script in general (eg AS 3) for a good time now, and have used other MVCish frameworks before (Dojo, Flex etc). Backbone has a solid implementation of models, views and events. If you understand the fundamentals of Javascript (knowing event listener closures are references that'll prevent GC) and write modular code you can do great things with it without any "mess".

<comment><USER17> From reading the other comments here I get the impression it very much depends whether someone has used JS MVC frameworks before.

Having not tried any JS MVC framework before, I also have the problem of thinking backbone js doesn't seem to be so good as everybody is saying. Although I have to admit that I did not spend enough time yet. But from the examples (in particular the famous Todo example), I got the impression backbone js only works fine for apps with low complexity.

But who am I to judge, having it not used yet seriously...

<comment><USER18> In response to your last point: take a look at some of the real world examples that use Backbone (<http://backbonejs.org/#examples>) as compared to builtwith.angularjs.org. Real, huge projects like Hulu, Soundcloud, Moviepilot, and USA Today are all using Backbone incredibly successfully. Backbone doesn't provide a lot of the "plumbing" that other frameworks like Angular, Knockout, Batman, Spine, et al have built-in, but it's got a lot more resources and community that work much better for doing only what you actually need.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: School or Programming? - <AUTHOR>

I love porgramming, i really <3 it. Im sure most of us in HN do. But, recently, I've been facing a problem...
School is getting in the way of programming for me. Our school does'nt(at all) encourage programming and due to that, I'm having a tough time balancing between my school life and my coder life. My parents don't want me to code, as they think that doing so is causing me to lose interest from studies and probably, even, affects my grade :(
What do I do ? my life is getting really complicated lately... <comment><USER2> Hello,

The most important value someone can acquire is handling priorities and finishing tasks whether you like the tasks or no.

Programming can be a hobby or job. Today for you, is probably mostly a hobby and that's a _very good hobby_. But don't think for a minute that programming for a client, is as interesting as programming for your self. What keeps you going is the art of self-discipline. The persistence to do what _you have to do when you should do it whether you feel like it or not_.

School should be priority No1 for you. School will probably give you access to a University which will give you access to a world full of opportunities that now, you can't see, so basically you don't know what you're missing.

For every Zuckerberg, Jobs and Gates there are billion equally brilliant young men out there who fail everyday. Better fail with a degree that will give you access to the market than fighting alone, having to prove yourself at every step.

Generally speaking school or no school, that's up to you. But completing successfully tasks that you _don 't like_ is paramount if you want to be successful.

I with you the best of luck :-)

</comment><comment><USER3> I've dealt with the same problem as you have. In high school, I picked up programming and before I knew it, I was programming almost all of the time. It's great to be able to have an idea and build it instantly.

However, life is not just programming. When I was in my senior year of high school, I got multiple job offers from tech firms in my country to come work for them. This monday however, I'm starting a university course cs at UVA (university of Amsterdam). This is not because I love programming less than studying (the opposite, actually). It is because I'm playing a long-term game instead of a short one. In colleges, there is so much knowledge right under your nose, and you get to work with people equally smart. Starting this monday, I'll be on the frontier of technology.

From there, I can learn, experiment, socialize, and everything else that I couldn't do while I was building custom CMS systems or optimizing a SQL database for some lame company.

Your working life can last more than 50 years, so be wise about choosing your fundamentals.

</comment><comment><USER4> Maybe you need a break from school? Try to line up an internship, or at the least just some kind of bill-paying job, and start working on something. Then re-evaluate where you are next year whether you want to re-enter school or jump into the industry instead.

</comment><comment><USER5> How old are you and where are you from? What kind of school are you visiting?

</comment><comment><USER6> Don't be a one trick pony. Programming is just _one_ life skill you should learn. Stay in school and learn the rest.

</comment><comment><USER7> your life is complicated? go to africa, ebola countries, urakine, iran, then you will se what is complicated

<comment><AUTHOR> Well, I was talking emotionally, not conditionally... :(</comment></comment>


Apple iCloud data in China is stored by government-run telco - <AUTHOR> https://www.engadget.com/2018/07/18/apple-icloud-data-china-stored-state-run-telco/ <comment><USER2> Seems like Apple is complying with the law. What's the story here?

<comment><USER3> Their hypocrisy? Apple says _privacy is a human right_ yet they're complicit in exposing all of their users data to a Chinese state run company. If privacy is indeed a human right then don't operate data centers in China until they change their policies.

<comment><USER4> "all of their users data"

All of their users in China whose government demands it.

I don't like it either, but I don't see Apple stopping China from doing this and they can advertise privacy all they want elsewhere ... where it applies.

There is no privacy as far as the Chinese government cares, and I don't think Apple promises anything like that in China.</comment></comment></comment>


Procrastip – Guide to Stop Procrastination - <AUTHOR> https://procrastip.com <comment><USER2> For me the best way to get stuff done is to get up early, and to get up early I go to bed when tired, and try to get up at roughly the same time every day without an alarm clock. The "brightest slice" of my day is my most creative and most productive. I use downtime or slow-brain time to design and draft, and I use late-night sessions to create todo lists for the morning attack. Procrastination is usually a result of insufficient preparation and non-ideal environment. First make the ideal environment, then get to work. I like the tip about meditation, that definitely helps a ton with clarity, emotional modulation, and your motivation can be more than just for yourself -- to help lots of people, everyone, through your labors.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for sharing jasunflower! I agree that some environment decisions, in particular in regards to sleep, are so important that one can even consider them "dependencies" for productive work.

This guide was initially meant to be referred to in those moments in which we are actively trying to get something done. I'll include soon a page about environment decisions -- let me know if you have any additional recommendations.

<comment><USER2> Righteous. Longevity over Output would be my contribution right now -- More valuable than pushing one release is the constancy of effort and playful persistence with what is being researched/pursued. Everything that caters to Longevity of Enthusiasm and general stamina is valuable, I would say please include that.</comment></comment></comment>


Yehuda Katz Talks Rails 3.0 - <AUTHOR> http://www.sdtimes.com/blog/post/2010/02/09/Yehuda-Katz-Talks-Rails-30.aspx A Q/A with Yehuda on the changes in Rails 3.0 and the changes in the Rails community. <comment><USER2> The article is an unfiltered, unedited quick transcript of a conversation I had with Alex.

I actually have used both Django and Python, and I'm not alone in my criticism. Django avoids external dependencies, and has been criticized by others in the Python community for encouraging use of it's own custom middleware when standard WSGI middleware could be used instead.

In contrast, rails 3 embraces dependencies (we put a bunch of time into general-purpose Ruby dependency management to make this work). We also heavily leverage rack, making Rails 3 a first class Rack citizen.

</comment><comment><USER3> Besides the misspelling of "Rials" in the first question, I was also put off by Yehuda's nonsensical criticisms about Django and Python -- doesn't sound like he's used either.</comment>


Show HN: CaaS - Coffee as a Service - <AUTHOR> http://www.hotcoffeeclub.com <comment><USER2> I am not a big coffee drinker, but I think people who are into their coffee might like to know where exactly your coffee is coming from, if it's fair trade etc. So this is some information you might want to put on your landing page.

Also, maybe make it a bit more obvious what countries are eligible for deliveries? Currently I can only see this information in the drop down when placing an order, but making it a bit more obvious might help. For example, I would not expect to be able to get this in Belgium, so would be inclined to think just after looking at the landing page "Meh, sounds good but I bet it's just for the US/UK", _close tab_.

<comment><USER3> Didn't the fact the that the price shown (at least to me, as usual on the interwebs it's hard to be sure it's the same for everyone) was in Euros per cup provide a hint that this might be a European company?

<comment><USER4> Not really. Could be a cheap localization effort.

Although the weight is measured in kg, which speaks for a European company. But then again, the cheapest plan says "1kg every second month" instead of "500g per month" which is kinda weird.

<comment><AUTHOR> That's because to minimize shipping costs you will get a package of 1kg every second month. Not 500 gram every month.

Thanks for the feedback

<comment><USER5> using coffee which was roasted over a month ago is probably a deal breaker for a lot of people who would use a service like this. Good examples of coffee websites: www.hasbean.co.uk www.yorkcoffeeemporium.co.uk

<comment><USER6> Another UK competitor is Square Mile coffee, whose subscriptions are separate monthly deliveries of 350g or 500g ([http://shop.squaremilecoffee.com/collections/subscriptions](http://shop.squaremilecoffee.com/collections/subscriptions)).

<comment><USER5> Oh yeah, I've seen a few places around Shoreditch selling that, its pretty nice. I didn't realise they did subscriptions

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> This is my startup just launching!

Apart from the kind of forced title, what I'm really trying to do here is to offer a steady/reliable source of good quality coffee always at a fair price. You pay a fixed monthly fee and can be sure you'll always have great coffee at a great price. It's not a club for coffee connaisseurs and we don't offer exclusive blends every month - it's simply good coffee for anyone who likes coffee.

The way I do that is by connecting local roasteries directly to end customers. No middle man, no storage costs, no retail costs. I'm starting with coffee but I believe it can also be done for other products (?).

Would really like to get your input on this... Would you buy this for yourself? Would you buy it for your startup?

Cheers

<comment><USER7> Congrats on the launch!

Just to be pedantic; aren't you the middle man? I mean, if the coffee companies tried to go direct to your customers after a couple months would you be upset?

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks!

Yeah, I'm getting that getting that question a lot :p Well, what I mean with no middle man was, as opposed to traditional retail partners selling at more than 250% the price the buy (and still with thin margins), we are charging a thin commission out of the final price set by the producer. Well.. maybe I'm still a middle man but not many will notice me!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I run a coffee site in the US www.moustachecoffeeclub.com that also does a subscription based service. We offer a much more premium product, and I have to say my instinct is you should probably do too. A blend of 2/3 robusta really is just competing with Folgers(a really cheap and nasty brand over here). You would probably do better raising your quality level to at least 100% Arabica. At the end of the day when shipping and your business costs are included the cost difference of those beans will be minimal.

One thing though, and I know how complex it is, is you need to simplify your subscription page. Looking at it I have absolutely no idea what I'll be getting, how often I'll be getting it and for what price :)

This is my plans page, [http://www.moustachecoffeeclub.com/show_plans](http://www.moustachecoffeeclub.com/show_plans) and admittedly it's by no means perfect however I try to simplify the subscription down to the amount / time period :)

Good luck!

</comment><comment><USER9> US equivalent is Tonx [https://tonx.org/](https://tonx.org/) but it's not hot, the idea is that they deliver right after roasting, so you consistently get something freshly roasted.

</comment><comment><USER10> Pact Coffee ([http://www.pactcoffee.com](http://www.pactcoffee.com)) in the UK offers fresh roasted coffee delivered too, but with more flexibility in your schedule.

<comment><AUTHOR> Hi!

Thanks for the tip. I know about Pact Coffee and similar services and they seem to serve their customers very well.

In any case, I believe it's worth pointing out that we're offering something quite different. We're not targeting connaiseurs, coffee geeks or in general people willing to spend time looking for their favorite blend, roast or origin. Instead, we're offering a single great blend carefully selected by us, aimed at all those who like great coffee and want to have it automagically. It's just great coffee always there when you want it.

That's also why we are able to offer our single product at about 1/4 the price those other services can. Our beans are not hand roasted, they are prepared by experienced professionals in a fully equiped and scalable modern roastery.

Cheers!

<comment><USER11> Fair play - sounds like you've got a great business there.

Good luck with it all! :D

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I was quite interested but when it asked me for my personal details such as name, address etc, the page when you clicked "buy ground" was not protected by SSL.

Sorry but in my opinion, info like that should be protected with SSL and not sent in the clear. But thats just me.

Edited to add: You can goto the PayPal payment page without entering any details like a shipping address. You might want to fix this.

<comment><AUTHOR> Well, first sorry for that.

It's on our roadmap to move away from paypal asap. The reason we started with it was purely out of easiness.. I don't know if you're based in Europe but around here setting up a merchant account with a company like PayMill or Braintree can take up to 2 months before you can process any payment.

Again, sorry for that, it will be fixed as soon as we move away from paypal which I hope will happen in the next couple of weeks.

<comment><USER12> Hi the problem isn't with using PayPal. That's fine in my opinion for startin up. Its your asking for people to enter sensitive information on an unencrypted page but also, they can click through to the next screen without entering any details like name, address. Surely this is required info and there should be checks in place to make sure all required fields are entered before heading to payment page.

Don't mean to be hard on you, just want to save you some problems down the road.

Peace.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, I got understood that. Just mentioned paypal to explain that the checkout flow will be fixed when we move away from them.

No worries, it's a very valid point!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Is it just me, or was anyone else hoping for an API that lets you order coffee? :P

<comment><AUTHOR> Ahah. I'll write that one down ;)

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> UK coffee lovers should check out [https://www.pactcoffee.com/](https://www.pactcoffee.com/)

</comment><comment><USER14> No information on coffee varieties, degree of roast, country of origin of beans. Arabica? Robusta? Blended? How dark roast or can I choose? For now I'll prefer to ground my beans at the supermarket, as I know what I'll get.

Edit: I think that this would be important information for anyone who cares a little bit more about their coffee.

<comment><USER15> The site acts like there is only "a coffee". This is definitely something a consumer that would order coffee over Internet wants to know. Or even better wants to choose.

<comment><USER14> Exactly... it is like a service providing just "Clothes." \- I don't want just "Clothes" even though I do need clothes.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> This reminds me of the coffee shop example in the book REST in Practice. [http://www.amazon.com/review/RAL4KK80FQVGE/ref=cm_cr_pr_view...](http://www.amazon.com/review/RAL4KK80FQVGE/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewpnt#RAL4KK80FQVGE)

</comment><comment><USER17> Congratulations on launching and good luck with your startup! While I am not a huge fan of Aaas (Anything as a Service) your prices seem pretty low compared to what I could find on Amazon so I would say that when I will need coffee I will definitely try this!

<comment><AUTHOR> Great to hear that! What we're trying to do is really "Good coffee for everyone who likes good coffee", meaning that we're not targeting coffee connaiseurs and experts but just anyone who likes good coffee always. So I really believe competitive price should be on our focus.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> In Belgium this exists for a while now, where you get 210 grams of beans (zip locked in a breathable bag) put in a regular envelope by mail every week - [http://www.specialtycoffee.be/](http://www.specialtycoffee.be/)

<comment><AUTHOR> Hi. Do you use it?

<comment><USER18> Nope. They're located within walking distance of my house. Talking about f.e. the roast of the week with the people there and letting them advise about what roast for what brewing is best this week is nice and let's me choose :) If I didn't have the time or lived further away I would definitely use it: love their coffee selections.

Question about your roasting/shipping: so the beans get roasted in Portugal and then shipped directly to the customer? Where does Eindhoven come in then? How come operations is located in The Netherlands but you don't ship to it? ( [http://www.hotcoffeeclub.com/terms#shipping](http://www.hotcoffeeclub.com/terms#shipping) )

<comment><AUTHOR> Hi, we do ship do the Netherlands, that was a mistake (already fixed).

Our roastery is in Porto, Portugal, but we (development, sales and customer support) are based in Eindhoven, NL.

Thanks for the info

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> You know you could offer a lot more to your service with a proper subscription billing service.

Disclosure: I know I'm with ChargeBee, not a pitch just an observation.

</comment><comment><USER20> What should we be looking for here? All I can see is a website selling coffee (albeit rather slickly).

</comment><comment><USER21> What kind of pods are these? I think you should specify which coffee machine do they work with :)

<comment><AUTHOR> They work in any traditional espresso maker and replaces the normal "pressed" ground coffee.

Thanks for the feedback, we really should make that more clear.

PS: This is what I mean by traditional espresso maker [http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/sol/shop/appliances/small_kitche...](http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/sol/shop/appliances/small_kitchen_appliances/kettles_coffee_makers/tradionalexpresso/list.html)

<comment><USER21> OK, that how pretty much we all brew coffee in southern Europe, cool!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> guico I am so interested in bringing this to Spain.

Would you contact me? Contact details in my profile =)</comment>


Ask HN: What laptop do you use? - <AUTHOR> Every time I go looking for a new development machine it's a huge research project.<p>What's your laptop/hardware of choice and why? <comment><USER3> 13 inch Macbook Air.

* It's powerful enough for my development work.

* It's small/light enough to take with me.

* For my work the battery goes for 14 hours.

* It's not so expensive as "premium" laptops go.

* OSX with homebrew has all the things I like about Linux, but wifi and power management work flawlessly out of the box.

<comment><USER4> I use two 13" Macbook Airs. One is an 1.3 GHz i5 from 2013 which is admittedly slowish at times with heavy Atom and browser use. The other is an 2.2 GHz i7 from 2015 and that one is pretty awesome.

The batteries on those machines are amazing. They really last for 7-9 hours depending on use. The 2013 one is starting to show the "Service battery" warning every now and then but no performance degradation is noticeable yet. It's been through 380 cycles so far.

If you use a non-Retina Macbook like those, I suggest using a bitmap font for programming (I'm using Terminus myself). It's totally sharp and easy on the eyes. Crank up the contrast in your editor's color theme and you're all set.

<comment><USER5> I've got the min-2012 i7 Air -- love the machine, and it still runs fast and great. The battery is pretty terrible though. I'm probably due for a new one. When I took it to my local Apple reseller, they told me that they didn't think the battery needed replacing -- but they are wrong, and I should just pay them to do it anyway :-p

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> This depends a lot of your needs. I use the Asus Zenbook UX305CA with Ubuntu 16.04 and I really love it. When it breaks I will probably get the same one again (or a modern version of it).

Now on the pros/cons:

\+ Super lightweight and thin, can carry it anywhere.

\+ Quite solid. Not the same as Macs, but a lot more than most laptops.

\+ Silent. It uses an m3/m5 so it doesn't _need_ fans.

\+ Battery. It lasts 4h with max brightness and around 6 with low one. It's a lot more than I tried before and few laptops with Linux last this long (in my experience). Totally a letdown for Mac users (;

\+ Price. I bought it for $650 + ~$130 for importing it, which still makes it really cheap.

\+ 1080p 13.3" mate display. It's exactly just what I want. No glaring, no dirty touchscreen, not too small nor too big, good resolution but maintains the battery.

\- No keyboard backlight. However you _should not_ be programming with the lights off.

\- No computing power. From time to time I like experimenting with something for which I'd need more power like 3D or video edition.

\- No USB Type-C. Of course the laptop is _old_ for this standard, so I'm hoping for the next refresh they add it (and not USB-C + a proprietary charging method like they did in the UX303).

<comment><USER7> Same here. I'm very happy with it. I picked it because of the price and good Linux users reviews.

I do most of my work remotely on my powerful desktop anyway (ssh + tmux + vim).

The mate screen is the sweet bonus, as it's hard to come by in the word full of glaring screens.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> 2015 Macbook Pro/16GB RAM/512 GB SSD.

I use Parallels for .NET development and the Mac side for web browsing, iOS development, and the terminal.

If I didn't depend on MacOS, I'd like to try an XPS 13 with dual-booted Linux/Windows 10. Although one nice thing about Parallels is that I can have my iTerm2/zsh shell managing .NET development I have to do on the Windows side, and I'd lose that if I dual-booted and I'd have to use something way inferior like Cygwin or something.

<comment><USER9> WSL should give you full zsh. But actually, why not PowerShell?

<comment><USER8> I've been involved in the *nix ecosystem for a long time, so I'm familiar with the commands/file structure/etc. And PowerShell isn't even close to replicating the terminal experience I currently have.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Thinkpad T420. Replaced the hard drive with a 128gb SSD, and added an extra 4 gigs of RAM.

It does everything I need, has a fantastic keyboard, good aesthetics, and has a great aftermarket for additional upgrades.

</comment><comment><USER11> My work issued me some random shitty dell with parts that barely work and something fails about every 4 months... This is not one of their high end models, but it does have an i7 6700 and 64gb of RAM. So when it does work it is decently fast.

For my personal machine I have the previous version of this: [https://system76.com/laptops/bonobo](https://system76.com/laptops/bonobo)

I put in my own ram and disks.

Intel i7 6700k, nVidia 980, 64gb of RAM, RAID 1 of M2 Samsung 920 SSDs (read spead of 1.2GB/s) for root filesystem, and a RAID 1 of 2TB HGST spinning disks for long term storage.

It is great for short compile times while still being technically portable. I do a little openCL/cuda work on it, but not as much as I had planned. It is more than capable for this.

I occasionally game and I generally put the settings on "ultra" and have no complaints about framerates (but I also play older games like borderlands II and indy games). I usually keep games in a VM too, an that doesn't hurt the performance enough to notice.

I went with System76 instead of buying the clevo/sager alternative (because System76 rebrands clevo/sager) is the ease in getting parts and support from System76. They are always easy to work with and I am able to get parts for old machines easily. This is valuable to me, because I am comfortable doing my own hardware maintenance up to and including soldering of minor parts. I have been able to get individual power jacks from them.

<comment><USER12> Your laptop has 4 disks?

<comment><USER11> Yes. A pair of RAID 1 volumes. I dislike losing data to failures I also have good backups.

2x 256gb (512gb, I can't remember; code is tiny and I use less than 100gb) M2 SSDs.

2x 2TB 5400rpm HGST disks that spend most their off. But I have these almost full of video.

<comment><USER12> That's a beast, doesn't it weigh a ton and don't you worry about having spinners knocking around in your bag?

Do you need that much in a luggable? I would have that setup on a desktop, having that in my portable machine would remove most of the advantages of it (for me at least)?

<comment><USER11> I work out of 3 offices (home and 2 jobs). I have desktops at two of the offices that run servers that matter for local office stuff. I move this laptop around when I plan on being at a given office for a work day. This thing builds faster than any desktop I have (currently).

I have never tried to bring it on a plane, I suspect they would charge me for an extra ticket because the laptop is too heavy. Seriously, I would bring one of my smaller machines if I planned on being mobile multiple times through the day. I have clevo ultrabook, access to a macbook air through one of my jobs and a small collection of netbooks, if I don't need much I might just stick with my phone (or a tablet) and a bluetooth keyboard.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I use a chromebook, it's cheap, it works, it's lightweight, it has a decent battery life. I bought it used for about $100. I switch to linux if I need to do development. The only thing I wish it had was a higher resolution. My inability to do work with it has never been of the hardware but of not knowing how or being lazy.

</comment><comment><USER14> The 2013 15" Retina Macbook Pro

Got it to upgrade from a 2008 15" Macbook Pro in 2013, and it's still running like a champ. I only really upgrade my laptops every five years and it looks like it will easily beat that. I even have it encrypted with FileVault and there's absolutely no slowness with development.

I even use it to use Remote Play for my PS4, really nice way to game when I'm not at my house.

The only real issue is that I wish I would have splurged on the SSD. For me, 512GB doesn't cut it with the amount of projects and repositories I have on my built in SSD, and this includes my extensive prog rock music collection.

It's not lightweight though, ~5 lbs in your backpack does add strain to your shoulders if you walk around with it. The battery is sufficient for me at around 4 hours of use with medium to full brightness, enough, at least, so I don't /need/ to take my charger in to work.

<comment><USER15> I have the same machine and very happy with it. I agree with the 512GB, but at the time the price difference wasn't worth it. I think the best thing is to have an external disk that can talk thunderbolt speeds and leave the rarely used things in there.

<comment><USER14> I've debated getting an external drive. Thunderbolt drives are still too expensive compared to USB3 ones. And I do like the fact that I don't need to carry an external drive with me if I need to see that one previous project since I find I do that occasionally to find some code logic or a solution to a problem in my previous projects.

They're still "rarely used", but td so convenient to have access to them always. I could get Dropbox but then I'm paying for data space monthly.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> 2016 MacBook Pro Retina dual-booting Fedora 25 and OS X

Great laptop quality, Fedora runs well; had no driver issues. OS X is fantastic when I need to be super stable, otherwise Fedora is my main driver

</comment><comment><USER17> 2014 MBP (15"). I've never seen machines with the same build quality as Apple, and the trackpad is really excellent - smoother than anything else I've used. Display is also fantastic.

I love this machine, although Apple's direction makes me want to switch to something else like a ThinkPad X1 Carbon.

</comment><comment><USER18> ~5 yr old MacBook Air at home (I bought it because at that time it was the cheapest lightweight laptop with a great battery life).

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) at work (I could have gotten any laptop and any OS and many people actually go for those but I just went ahead with the standard issue).

I am fine with both and I was fine with my Dell Linux work laptop before this workplace and a Windows work desktop before that. For me there is no "one true" machine or gadget or as some people say it "X is the only real Y". What I do, Android development earlier - and now front-end development which I hate and that's why I will be leaving this workplace soon, any of these machines are good enough (well, to be honest my 5 year old Air is not so enough anymore). Another reason I don't do much professional hobbyist thing once I am out of my workplace (not proud of it as such but no regrets so far either) - <USER2> use the time after work to read fiction, play badminton, travel/trek, sketch, films etc.

If I have to buy another laptop (which will be for personal use if at all) I would like something like LiteBook ([https://litebook.store](https://litebook.store)). 13-inchish, lightweight, good battery life - decent power (not really sure how LiteBook fares here) to browse, films, music and some development here and there. Or, MacBook Air if hopefully Apple doesn't kill the line miraculously or doesn't increase the price.

But if I must buy one at home, for development, it will be a custom build PC. Yes, desktop. And a nice simple wooden table and comfy chair along with that.

</comment><comment><USER19> I use a thinkpad t61p. I've had it since 2011 and it still runs just a good as it did when I bought it. Its extremely modular, rugged, and has fantastic linux support. The only thing that I don't like about it is that it's battery life is pretty sub-par but most places that I use it have power outlets so it hasn't been an issue yet. It also has the best keyboard that I have ever used in my life by far.

<comment><USER20> You're a lucky guy, that is a fantastic machine. Overheating is what kills most thinkpads in my experience. Perhaps the thermal paste is sub par.

<comment><USER19> You're right! Mine does run pretty hot and was having overheating issues last summer, but once I replaced the thermal paste on it it hasn't had an issue since. Considering that it was a 9 year old laptop then I was very pleased that was the only issue that I've had with it thusfar

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> 15" rMBP. Got it in March 2015 and it's been rock-solid for over 2 years now (my previous Macbook lasted 4+ years before having a sporadic boot problem that probably could've been fixed if I wasn't ready to replace it anyway). Fast, stable, excellent build quality, no complaints. I was a little disappointed in the touchbar MBP but it would still be an easy choice for me if I had to get a new machine.

<comment><USER22> 15" rMBP 2013 here. Glad I went for the expensive 16GB option, doing that seems to have held pace with even today's laptops.

A shame I can't easily put Linux on it though for further longevity.

<comment><USER21> Yep, I went for 16GB and maxed out the processor, very glad as well. The specs are still well above average for the industry, I don't think I'll replace it til 2019 barring an accident or whatever.

It's actually really easy to install Ubuntu on a Mac these days, and even dual-boot. I did it a couple years ago on a small partition for fun. I still vastly prefer OSX though, and the trackpad drivers are much smoother in OSX.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> The choice of laptop will mainly depend on your needs and workflow.

My main machine is an HP Stream 11 2017 edition. It's very small and portable and has great battery life (I easily get 8.5hours a day out of it).

In terms of specs it's extremely limited, only having 2gb of RAM and all but because I'm mostly working on remote VPS instances, I don't really feel the lack of memory.

Oh and I obviously wiped windows and replaced it with xubuntu 16.04.

<comment><USER24> Same here. I vary across distributions, going from OpenSUSE to Ubuntu to Fedora back to Ubuntu, but XFCE is the only constant there. I spend my day switching between the command line and a browser so XFCE is just what I need as a desktop environment.

<comment><USER12> My workflow is very similar. I think you might get some benefit from a tiling wm. I use DWM personally, but you might want to check them out

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> I am using an MSI Ghost Pro gs63vr for a few reasons:

\- My Macbook Pro (late 2014) was getting just an hour or two of battery life when running Windows in Fusion. I work in Windows and Linux mostly. I use the OS X laptop for browsing and iTunes.

\- I needed a good video card for Counter-Strike:GO. I recently started playing again and the MBP couldn't cut it. It has a 1060 GTX.

\- It has a quad core processor and 16gb of RAM.

\- It is about 4.1lbs and slim.

\- At $1300, it's not a bad deal.

Cons:

\- The screen is washed out since I bought it from Best Buy who apparently uses a lower quality screen in their build (hence the price).

\- I had to reinstall Windows because the standard installed software was causing the fans to spin to the point of a high whine. I was getting 1 hour of battery life out of the box. I now get at least 4.

\- I am not a keyboard geek, but the keys feel smaller or more compressed. Likely due to the fact that it has a number pad. I wish it didn't have that and that the keyboard were more spacious. I am still getting used to it, a month later.

</comment><comment><USER26> Dell XPS 9360 13.3" screen \- No Mac policy (Unfortunately I have to use one at work) \- 4K resolution \- Lightweight, at least as compared to my previous Lenovo \- Bought the windows edition but put Ubuntu on it. \- Resolution scales well with Cinnamon. \- Battery life is about 6 hours with IntelliJ, netty, Postgres running.

<comment><USER12> Do you get the coil whine also?

Also 4.10 seems to not work for me? Am I the only one?

<comment><USER26> I am not sure I understand what you mean by could whine? I did have to replace my AC adapter because the one in the box would not work any more. Dell shipped another one out next day.

<comment><USER12> Do you not notice a high pitched whining noise whenever doingsomething graphically intense (lots of output steaming by etc)?

Its a known problem with these laptops and while I'm used to it now, I find it a bit annoying.

<comment><USER26> Watching netflix is the most graphically intense thing I do so not really.

<comment><USER12> I don't hear it while audio is playing either since it's drowned out -- never do a build or something and hear it?

It really annoys me, I'm surprised you don't hear it. Maybe not all devices are susceptible then?

<comment><USER27> The XPS 13 looks like the perfect machine for me but all these coil whine reports scared me away from it. Then I found out a friend of mine bought one (the XPS 15 though), and when I asked him about it he said he never noticed anything. I really can't tell if it's only on some machines or if most people simply don't notice/don't care.

<comment><USER28> The XPS 15 does not suffer from coil whine. However almost all the XPS 13's will have it. Some will be quite others will be really loud. Its a gamble and shame on Dell for not fixing it after so many complaints

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> 2012 MacBook Air. Best machine i've ever owned. I will keep upgrading it until someone makes something comparable.

</comment><comment><USER30> I hope I can easily remove my hard disk, and keep my all data in my pocket.

So ( in the future) I never will by a laptop - If I can't remove the hard disk!

See the current restrictions and image a worst case ... : "UK bans laptops and tablets on flights from six Middle East countries" [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/21/uk-set-to- ban-...](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/21/uk-set-to-ban-laptops- on-flights-from-middle-east-countries)

The old thinkpads Hard Drive replacement was so easy .. ( a single screw ! ) [https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Lenovo+Thinkpad+x230+SSD- Hard+D...](https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Lenovo+Thinkpad+x230+SSD- Hard+Drive+Replacement/52758)

</comment><comment><USER31> Lenovo thinkpad t460s. I got it in part because of a great deal.

The biggest complaint I have is the screen brightness. Battery life could also be better. Otherwise, I love the keyboard feel and it feels really solid while remaining compact and light.

In my research, the real other contenders were the dell xps line or other thinkpads.

</comment><comment><USER32> HP Spectre x360 13" (Late 2016).

It's a two-in-one design and comes with a Kaby Lake Core i7 processor, 16GB RAM, 512GB SDD, IPS FHD display, and USB-C.

It's incredibly stylish, thin and lightweight. It looks and feels like a premium machine. Very easy to carry around and use, but still packs a good amount of processing power. Battery life is pretty good; maybe not the best, but definitely more than I need. Its tablet/reversible modes are nice to have, but not something I use often.

Mine is dual-booted with Arch Linux, which was a fairly easy install. Mostly I'm booted into Linux for development, but sometimes switch over to Windows for games.

Price was around ~$1300, which I believe is slightly cheaper than the XPS 13.

</comment><comment><USER33> 2012 15inch Macbook pro (retina) i7(2.3GHz quad-core) 256g SSD.

The battery died after 2 years, but since I had that extended warranty it was covered. The bill would have been $500 otherwise becz it's glued to the screen (or some such nonsense). Now I'm super paranoid about the battery and leave it plugged in 90% of the time. Wish I could upgrade the SSD.

Not super impressed by the new mac laptops (really not that big of a difference for me).

Now thinking of taking the hit and getting a Windows10/Ubuntu desktop (with maybe 32G/64G memory) with an AMD Ryzen7 and a Nvidia1080. Wish I could get a mac desktop like that, but given up hope that Apple can pull their finger out.

</comment><comment><USER34> I use a 2012 MacBook Pro 15". I bought a second hand as it was the last mac laptop with a nvidia card. Not the fastest but makes a difference for most machine learning calculations.

It's got 16GB but it's not quite fast enough for my taste. I find myself waisting time on Twitter or HN when compiling or training models or running integration tests.

My ideal laptop would be a 13" mac laptop with a 4K screen, a nvidia card with 3GB of ram, 32GB ram and a nice fast 512GB hard drive. Perhaps it can have a thunderbolt so I can hook up an external 1080 nvidia

Sadly I realize Apple is never going to release such laptops.. I'm describing a Razr Blade or a DEll XPS :(

<comment><USER35> I feel the same... Why Apple don't listen to their pro users. I would like to be able to game, video edit, photoshop and get a decent fps (not doing all this at the same time).

My ideal MacBook Pro would be a 13" or 15" with retina display, i7 Kaby Lake, with at least 16gb of ram and a nvidia GTX 970.

<comment><USER34> I'm quite sure we won't get it. Apple is more focused on building iPad for pros. Sad

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER36> A 7 year old macbook pro... It's a 2010 13inch unibody model, still gets about 5 hours on the original battery. I've upgraded the ram to 16gigs, and put in a 256gig SSD. It runs buttery smooth and is super fast. I'm surprised it has lasted lasted this long really, my previous macbook pro lasted about 3 years before the hinge/screen tearing issues started.

I'm not sure what ill move to when this one dies, I'm not i pressed with the trend of machines not being user serviceable... If i wasn't able to swap parts out then I'd probably have had to buy a new one a few years back.

</comment><comment><USER37> 2012 Samsung series 9 (15")

I really love my laptop, but it's getting old. I think I'd be happy with another samsung, but am not totally sure.

Pros:

+Thin + Light/small bezels on the display

+upgradable ram (came with 8gb, I have 16gb in it now).

+great trackpad/keyboard (only now the 'a' key feels weird, but only after 5 years, so I'm not super upset about that).

+Linux support is good (it didn't start out perfect, things like keyboard backlight only started working like 2-3 years ago, but it's great now).

cons:

-battery life isn't that great. I get a few hours (~2.5-ish? I never checked).

-screen is 1600x900, I'd prefer a 1080p panel. The new ones are 1080p

-ssd is really really slow. like spinning disk slow.

</comment><comment><USER38> I use a macbook pro 2014 edition.

but I don't do too much development on that machine anymore.

I mostly write c++, I think linux is a better environment for c++ development.

I have also purchased thinkpad carbon 2014 as a linux notebook. I dislike it.

next time, I might try dell xps.

</comment><comment><USER39> Surface Book. The detachable screen sees most of its use in the bathroom.

</comment><comment><USER40> Lenovo X1 Carbon (2015). I switched the hard drive to a 500gb one though (buying it from them was quite expensive as I recall).

No problems except a stuck key that they changed, not that expensive, and quite fast.

<comment><USER41> I got one of the newer ones a few months ago, running Arch. It's got great battery life, very light, pretty powerful. It wasn't the cheapest (I think around $1,300, can't remember), but I suspect it will last. Only "linux issue" is that the media keys didn't work out of the box. Actually, I've never gotten around to figuring out why, maybe I'll do that now.

</comment></comment><comment><USER42> I purchased a 13-inch HP laptop from Costco[1] recently for $1000. It's 7th- gen i7, 16gb ram, 256gb ssd and 3200 x 1800 touch display. Battery life could be better but it's aesthetically pleasing and performs well for mobile and web app development while also running VMs.

[1] [https://www.costco.com/HP- ENVY-x360-13-y013cl-13t-Touchscree...](https://www.costco.com/HP- ENVY-x360-13-y013cl-13t-Touchscreen-2-in-1-Laptop---Intel-Core-i7--- QHD%2b-.product.100317294.html)

</comment><comment><USER12> Latest XPS13 running arch. So far the least annoying setup I've had in recent memory, having switched from macs (although I've had to stick to 4.9 as 4.10 causes all kinds of issues for me).

Oh, the trackpad is a bit annoying too and often palm detection doesn't work which makes for some nice random scrolling etc but that's minor to the gripes I had with OSX.

In the future wish I could have it in the same style body as 'the macbook' though. Easily my favourite of all lappies I owned from a hw view.

</comment><comment><USER43> MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015)

With the recent revelations of Windows telemetry[1] spyware, it's worth paying the premium for an operating system, macOS, that doesn't spy on me.

[1]: [https://arstechnica.com/information- technology/2017/04/micro...](https://arstechnica.com/information- technology/2017/04/microsoft-opens-up-on-windows-telemetry-tells-us-most-of- what-data-it-collects/)

<comment><USER6> I would guess in HN there's a large portion of users that their alternative to Mac is Linux

</comment></comment><comment><USER44> A 2012 Asus Zenbook UX31A. I'm really surprised how strong it is going after 4.5 years, in terms of battery (80% capacity at last full charge) as well as build quality. (A screw has fallen out at the bottom, but there's 10 of them, so I'm not particularly worried.) The only thing that bugs me is the non- upgradeable RAM. I'm stuck at 4 GB. I'll certainly make sure that my next notebook is more upgradable in that regard.

</comment><comment><USER45> Thinkpad T460p--actually running Windows 10 Pro right now. Superfast, decent battery life. Could use a slightly brighter display but overall this machine is great!

</comment><comment><USER46> I use a Surface Pro 3 as my laptop, running Windows. I avoid doing real work on it though -- not nearly enough memory, terribly slow CPU. I mostly use it for SSH, IRC, email, and web browsing. Occasionally I'll write some Rust code on it. I use a custom built desktop with 16GB of RAM and a Xeon E3-1230v2. Planning on upgrading that to either a Ryzen 1800X or some Naples Point configuration with at least 32GB of RAM soon.

</comment><comment><USER47> Thinkpad T460 - best laptop ive owned yet. Great keyboard, great battery life, great linux support out of the box (everything works including suspend resume).

<comment><USER19> I will never use a better keyboard than the thinkpad keyboard, I've even thought about getting one of these.

[https://images-na.ssl-images- amazon.com/images/I/41M2TlFPoWL...](https://images-na.ssl-images- amazon.com/images/I/41M2TlFPoWL._SY300_.jpg)

<comment><USER48> unfortunately t460 doesn't have one of these. It has the dreadful chiclet style keys. Fortunately I use external keyboard most of the time, but in those moments that I don't I wish the darkest circles of hell upon the genius that approved this change.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER49> Dell XPS 13 running Ubuntu 16.04

(Went from 2015 MacBook Pro to Lenovo X220 to this. If the X220 had a higher- res screen and better GPU I'd have stuck with that...)

</comment><comment><USER50> Assuming you aren't using Macs (because then you'd have little choice to become paralyzed by), I like the ThinkPad X1 Carbon and Dell XPS 13.

</comment><comment><USER51> Currently, a chromebook pixel 2015 running Debian testing. But today should arrive my new alienware 13: skylake + gtx1060, oled screen, 250gb ssd boot, 500gb ssd for /home (zfs). I expect to also install debian. I want to play with cuda on the nvidia gpu and run a few games on windows.

I got an MBP at work bt I really don't like it, it's there only when I need to compile something for iOS.

</comment><comment><USER52> Surface Pro 4. The new line of Macbooks is pretty disappointing, and the Surface line matches Apple's build quality at a comparable price.

<comment><USER53> How is the trackpad on the surface pro line compared to Macs? Its something that I care about now that I never used to until I started using Macs more.

<comment><USER52> The Mac trackpad is better, but the Surface does have the best trackpad I've used on Windows. The touchscreen makes up for the difference though.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER54> ThinkPads are the only real option. I can't stand the heat and bad ergonomics of Apple's stuff (the keyboard is weird, the trackpad feels off, the metal gets way too hot). And no nipple mouse, if you're into that. And dongles/lack of ports are silly - I care more about functionality than showing off my laptop's sleekness.

T series (14") have better keyboards, but the 12" form of the X series is great. It's mostly a choice of X260 vs T460s (or the x70 models coming out this month). The X1 is interesting if you wanna look flashy, but lack of user serviceable parts isn't too attractive.

I usually run my X250 with throttling turned on, and TPFanControl to keep the temps down so the keyboard stays nice and cool.

Biggest problem: ThinkPad screens suck. The T470s will have a 3K screen so that might be better than what they've offered before. 16:9 really sucks though. If they'd just ship a 16:10 or3:2 "Retina" quality screen I'd be so very happy.

Some people just like Apple's design though. I don't get it but there's no accounting for taste. So if you can stand the keyboard and heat, go for it?

Edit: ThinkPad service is fantastic. Get the next business day business warranty. Any hint of something I just call them up and they come out and replace it all. Excellent.

<comment><USER55> > I can't stand the heat ... of Apple's stuff

>I usually run my X250 with throttling turned on, and TPFanControl to keep the temps down so the keyboard stays nice and cool.

How come you are willing to look the other way (even going so far as to install third party software) when your thinkpad is overheating but not when its a macbook?

<comment><USER54> I want it cool to the touch, not even warm (that is, what's acceptable to many people isn't to me). But even on full blast it's not hot like the Macbooks I've touched. Maybe the metal case?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER56> Unfortunately a new touch bar MBP. I hate it.

<comment><USER57> TouchID is the only worthwhile part of the touch bar.

</comment></comment><comment><USER58> please don't hit me, but i am on

hp elitebook 8440p 8gb/1tb hybrid ssd, dual boot, ubuntu / win 10, bought it back in july 2010, runs great, with only disadvantage currently being the weight, around 2.5kg

i moved to ethiopia with this machine and i am happy i paid the premium price back then, just one time i cracked the screen and it was within the warranty period and had a universal coverage so i got it replaced, the local hp rep though while replacing the screen messed up the one corner near the function keys of my keyboard, so it is kinda buckled, but all works fine

once or twice a year i get visits from abroad and i test flashy new machines, and i just can't convince myself to get another one based on what i have seen this far, it seems only the aesthetics are what is progressing, the new one looks undoubtedly sexy, and very light weight

but within a year or so, i might have to retire my dear one.

</comment><comment><USER59> I don't use laptops. I use a desktop, because desktops are cheaper than any comparable laptops. I also don't have any desire to work for my employer outside of the office, and when I have to they have an awesome VPN / remote access setup that allows me to connect to my desktop from anywhere.

</comment><comment><USER60> Whatever the current MacBook Pro is. There are good reasons why it is so popular among developers and designers.

</comment><comment><USER61> I use a 32-bit Dell D620 from 2006 with 4gb of RAM on Lubuntu. I'm so cool I even have the docking base.

</comment><comment><USER62> Lenovo Thinkpad X201 with extended battery.

It's cheap, good battery life, durable, does everything I need from a laptop.

<comment><USER54> And the last of the 16:10 screens :(.

</comment></comment><comment><USER63> I don't make heavy use of my laptop, but I'll chime in here anyway.

Currently, I have a ThinkPad Yoga S1. I got it because it's thin, light, and powerful and I needed to be able to use it in the field. The multi-mode is actually a useful feature for me; there are times I need to draw some notes on it, or prop it up for easier access/viewing. Adaptability like that is a good feature for my use case.

I like it, but one big warning: keys started falling off the keyboard after a few months of light use, and required a full keyboard replacement (because Lenovo doesn't sell individual replacement keys I guess), which Lenovo forced me to do myself despite having maxed out the warranty options, _including_ on- site service.

I was annoyed but didn't fight this _too_ much because I assumed it must be fairly simple if they allow users to do it, and I know that on my other laptop, the keyboard is the first thing you have to take out. Nope, it's opposite on the Yoga; you have to take everything, and I mean _EVERYTHING_ , out to get to the keyboard, which is at the bottom, not the top.

It turned into a massive timesink, a two-day disassembly and reassembly project because I didn't want my brand new laptop to have missing screws or little issues from being reassembled incorrectly. I hate assembling things in general and prefer to pay someone to assemble my _desktops_ for me, let alone tiny, ultra-tight contraptions like modern ultrabooks. I still feel like I got ripped off on that, and I probably won't buy any warranty options from Lenovo in the future.

Prior to that, I had a System76 17" Bonobo Pro. Basically the polar opposite of the Yoga. This was the top of the line laptop from System76 at the time. It's huge and bulky, but I did that on purpose because I wanted the functionality and the screen space. The build does feel cheap in some places, but it's held up well now for several years.

Unfortunately, I had a bad experience with System76 when that laptop was just a couple of days old. The system stopped POSTing and I needed it for an on- site contracting project that was already underway (that's why I bought it). I begged them to offer an expedited repair and return process, including offering to pay extra for it and to pay for expedited shipping both ways, and they refused to do this. I got the repaired system back 3 weeks later and the system has always had little quirks and hard locks since.

I have 0 interest in buying from System76 again.

</comment><comment><USER64> Lenovo Z510 (i7 4700mq - RAM:8 - Disk 1T SSHD)

I have been using this laptop for around 3 to 4 years now.

Likes:

* Performance (even when using modern apps and games)

* Linux compatibility (I have ran Mint,Ubuntu, Debian, Arch, etc, with almost no problems)

* Good mouse pad

Dislikes:

* Battery is now at 5% of original capacity.

* Plastic is starting to wear-of

* Screen could be better

\---

If they made a modern version, with an upgraded CPU and an SSD, I'd buy it in a heartbeat

</comment><comment><USER65> * maxed out Thinkpad T460p, i7 with four cores, 32 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD, Ubuntu - its a Workstation at 14" and I use it for software engineering (JVM stuff, Node), but non-company stuff

* 2016 MBP 15" Retina with i7, 16 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD for software engineering for the company I work for

</comment><comment><USER66> Dell XPS 13 with xubuntu. Because I've used Linux for the past 20 years and am not about to stop.

</comment><comment><USER67> 11" MacBook Air - i5, 8 GB, 128 GB, refurb, early 2015.

I intentionally purchased the least powerful Mac available to see if I really needed the beefed up 17" i7 I was running - turns out I didn't.

70 browser tabs, multiple JetBrains IDEs, driving a big external monitor, and barely a hiccup.

</comment><comment><USER68> I use the 12 inch MacBook and love it. It's extremely portable, which is what I value most. It's still perfectly capable of handling the web development I do, though I probably wouldn't want to be doing native mobile app development on it.

</comment><comment><USER69> A desktop with six core CPU, lots of memory and a nvme drive, as well as an ultrawide 3440x1440 34" curved monitor - sandwiched between two 16:10 24s on a stand.

Because it's fast, and I can organise my editors / visual studio / environment!

</comment><comment><USER70> Lenovo X1 Carbon - 2017 edition

<comment><USER71> Is it working correctly on Linux?

<comment><USER70> indeed

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER72> MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2016) with Touch Bar.

So far I love the machine - USB-C is the future of computing. I'm sill not used to the feel of the touchbar when hitting ESC, but I mostly use it as a desktop with another keyboard anyway.

</comment><comment><USER73> Second hand W520 , Primary mSATA for OS. 2x1TB for Data and VMs, i7 , 32GB RAM. Bought it for INR 24K. I always by Thinkpad or Lenovo W series in second hand and upgrade it

</comment><comment><USER74> 13" macbook pro 2016 non-touchbar, reason is MacOS, great trackpad, 16:10 retina screen and it's nicer to hit cmd with my thumb than ctrl with my pinkie.

</comment><comment><USER75> You can see what's getting recommended on Reddit: [http://laptopkarma.com](http://laptopkarma.com)

</comment><comment><USER76> I have an X1 Yoga, it seems fine other than some occasional Bluetooth issues (which I have experienced in most Lenovo these days).

</comment><comment><USER77> Latest T460S. My first non-Apple laptop in years. Super tiny, super fast and solid... ESC key. You know, luxuries like that.

</comment><comment><USER78> 13" MacBook Pro - Late 2015

\- Mac OS

\- Battery Life

\- Build, screen, and trackpad quality

\- No Drama or tinkering necessary

\- Great local support for the couple of incidents over the years

</comment><comment><USER79> x230 from 2013 - still best laptop I ever used. I have a T460p here for testing that I could upgrade to, but apart from the bigger screen everything feels just a tad worse.

I also have a FSC S710 in active use, but only because it's there and I'm too cheap to replace it.

</comment><comment><USER80> Dell XPS 13 9443, dev edition (2015)

</comment><comment><USER81> Dell Latitude e7440. Pretty much similar to Thinkpad T430s, but with a great FHD screen.

</comment><comment><USER82> Macbook Pro 13 Early 2011. Upgraded to SSD and 8Gb memory. Still works well!

</comment><comment><USER83> Soon receiving my Razer Blade 2017, upgrading from a Macbook Pro Late 2013.

</comment><comment><USER84> Dell XPS 9350, Dev. Edition. Love it except for the keyboard.

</comment><comment><USER85> I use an HP 8470p with 8GB of memory running Windows XP (intentional refusal to upgrade to Windows 10). I bought it refurbished off Ebay last year for slightly less than $200 including free shipping.

<comment><USER86> Are you looking forward to getting pwned?

</comment></comment><comment><USER87> Razer blade 2016 with Fedora 25

</comment><comment> test-accout-0 Thinkpad T470. Great machine.

</comment><comment><USER88> 13 Inch Macbook Pro Retina 2015

Got it because of the build quality, aspect ratio of the screen, ports and lightness.

</comment><comment><USER89> 13inch Macbook Pro Retina

</comment><comment><USER90> 13 inch MacBook Air

</comment><comment><USER91> 12" Macbook

</comment><comment><USER92> MacBook Pro 13'' Late 2013

</comment><comment><USER15> MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013)

Processor: 2.7 GHz Intel Core i7

Memory: 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

Graphics:

        - NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1024 MB

        - Intel HD Graphics 4000 1536 MB

I used to love to tinker with different flavors of windows and linux, but it got to a point where I just wanted "something that works" and I don't have to bother too much working around incompatibilities and bugs. That's when I switched to a MacBook Pro. Couldn't be happier. I had the previous 2011 version for two years when I got this one. Still going strong after 4 years and I don't see any reason to "upgrade" it any time soon. This is my primary machine for everything.</comment>


Monitoring team health in a startup - <AUTHOR> https://ofcoursebooks.com/platypodes/ <comment><AUTHOR> I'm one of the founders of ofCourseBooks. Happy to answer any questions people might have.

We built this to help encourage ourselves to, not only be more transparent, but to not just sit in front of the computer all day, as is easy to happen while coding up new features. We also have any updates posting to slack to easily show how people are doing. It's turned into a fun little competition between us founders.

<comment><USER2> I'm one of the other cofounders (currently the step winner, ha) - I'm happy to chime in too, although Zack was the one who programmed the page, I just made it look pretty (so I could get back to getting all my steps).

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> I love that you are proving to others that it's possible to build a great business and still be healthy and happy. So often the message from startups is to sacrifice everything—even health and family.

I'm excited to see your business grow using this model, and hopefully others follow your example.

<comment><USER2> Heck ya! Now if only I could get Jason and Zack to catch up to my steps ;-)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> This is awesome - I'd love to see more companies do this. Not out of voyeuristic fascination, but because it would represent more folks in the tech industry leading well-balanced lives.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks! We totally agree. Maybe if people are interested, we'd open source it or build a tool that makes it super easy for other companies to share this data also.</comment></comment>


Theoretical Computer Science for the Working Category Theorist [pdf] - <AUTHOR> https://arxiv.org/abs/1710.03090 <comment><USER2> The thing is, any "working category theorist" can see the objects and morphisms of a category from a mile away and don't really need these things pointed out. This paper seems to be a fairly superficial dressing of some computer science ideas using category theory language. No mention of natural transforms, which is the real meat of category theory (or at least, the first layer of meat.) No mention of monads or adjunctions. And these things play a big part in theoretical computer science (eg. Denotational Semantics.) I'm not saying it's a bad paper, but it doesn't deserve this title, or at least, needs much more justification for why it should have this title. Digging a bit deeper I do see some limit diagrams, but still, this is fairly easy stuff to see for the expert.

<comment><USER3> Can you name a better source?

<comment><USER4> For a professional category theorist interested in theoretical computer science? The thing is, they could easily just dive into reading some papers on the subject. The intuition and mechanical skill of category theory is easily adapted to thinking about computation. Here are some relatively introductory treatments of some parts of CS in category theory:

Introduction to Higher-Order Categorical Logic - Lambek and Scott

Categorical Logic from a categorical point of view - Mike Shulman [0]

Classical Lambda Calculus in Modern Dress - Martin Hyland [1]

Computer Science page on the nlab - great place to get lost [2]

[0] [http://mikeshulman.github.io/catlog/catlog.pdf](http://mikeshulman.github.io/catlog/catlog.pdf)

[1] [https://arxiv.org/abs/1211.5762](https://arxiv.org/abs/1211.5762)

[2] [https://ncatlab.org/nlab/show/computer+science](https://ncatlab.org/nlab/show/computer+science)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I'm enjoying the Category Theory party this week on HN!</comment>


Sydney Morning Herald writer arrested for story - <AUTHOR> https://twitter.com/bengrubb/status/70394428916903937

<comment><AUTHOR> Other relevant links:

"@bengrubb was arrested over the @cmlh yarn in the SMH today" - <https://twitter.com/natecochrane/status/70397618743816192>

The story in question: [http://www.smh.com.au/technology/security/security- experts-g...](http://www.smh.com.au/technology/security/security-experts-go- to-war-wife-targeted-20110517-1eqsm.html)

The events reported in the story sound potentially questionable, though run- of-the-mill for security researchers testing for websites vulnerabilities. Not at all obvious what in the story could get the _writer_ arrested, though. Perhaps for publishing a photo obtained via the security vulnerability?

</comment><comment><USER2> It seems he has been released, although his iPad remains seized.

<https://twitter.com/#!/bengrubb>

</comment><comment><USER3> Australia what a great place for freedom.</comment>


Show HN: Tunable Noisy Channels for SrsLTE Based on ZeroMQ - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/ifTNT/cafemq <comment><AUTHOR> Hello everyone, this tool can simulate multiple noisy channel on srsLTE aims to provide a tunable radio environment for researchers and students. Hope you like it!</comment>


Modeled on man: Breathable skin for buildings - <AUTHOR> http://www.humansinvent.com/#!/10777/modeled-on-man-breathable-skin-for-buildings/ Biologist turned architect, Doris Kim Sung, is working on another energy efficient and passive method of ventilating buildings, taking inspiration from the human body in search of a more sustainable design. She is advocating the fairly simple yet ingenious idea of a breathable skin, like that of the porous human skin, to encase buildings. <comment><USER2> My issue with exciting things like this and solar heating is that in most cases we are nowhere near the technological limit of climate control efficiencies that can be achieved with a reasonable amount of effort.

My aunt was selling solar heating in Minnesota. People would be really interested until they found out the first step was doing a really thorough (and somewhat costly) job insulating the house, which provides more energy savings than the solar panels themselves in most cases (it's certainly more cost-effective). They didn't really care about saving energy, they just wanted solar panels as a status symbol.

As long as energy remains subsidized and people don't have to pay for the externalities they create by polluting, eco-friendly innovations like hybrid and plug-in electric cars, solar power, and breathable skins will remain of interest only as status symbols and badges of group identity.

(as an aside, Europe and Japan seem to do a better job of actually giving people financial incentives to waste less, although people should correct me if my view is naïve)

</comment><comment><USER3> One major obstacle this technology will face-- even in regions where ambient air temperatures are appropriate-- is control. The bimetal strip can only act based on its local temperatures.

By contrast, the amount of heating or cooling a building needs generally is set by the distributed conditions throughout the building. For example, many commercial buildings require cooling in the core throughout the year-- without regard for the insolation or the air temperature at the envelope. So this technology will not, in many cases, eliminate the need for mechanical assist.

Another aspect of the control problem is the wishes of occupants in the perimeter spaces. As described, the incident sunlight, or the interior temperature, are meant to control the porosity of the material. Thus occupants get no say in the amount of sunlight they get, or the amount of air passing through the wall.

Competing technologies allow much more control. For example, "smart glass" can regulate the amount of light entering a space, either in response to occupants, or to a building-level controller. Passive inlet vents can maintain a desired airflow rate, in the face of changes in wind pressure and indoor- outdoor temperature differences (controlling to airflow, rather than to local temperature, is desired for air quality reasons).

<comment><USER4> Passive cooling is difficult because of the latent heat produced by human occupants. Our breath and sweat are moist and air-conditioning systems remove that moisture as well as lowering the air temperature. Lower the air temperature without removing the humidity and condensation can become a problem.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> "Isn't air conditioning in temperate climates an unnecessary waste of energy? ... wouldn't it be more efficient to just open a window instead? "

Good luck with that in Florida. Open a window, it gets hotter.

<comment><USER6> Not in a well designed house, actually. I lived in Cuba, and in all the older houses it was quite cool during the day, if the windows were open.

I have no idea how they did it. This was mostly in coastal areas, so there was much wind. But it even worked in inland areas. The windows did not let in much light. There was usually no air conditioning, and inside was generally much cooler than outside.

In any modern buildings, air conditioning was required. I also expect this system might not have held up in the warmest summer months.

<comment><USER7> Sorry, but this sounds a little like nostalgia colored recollection. There's nothing magical about old architecture. Yes, some designs will stay cooler than others, but you're not getting anywhere close to an air-conditioned home in a Florida summer using old designs (barring absurdities like stone castles).

Florida is similar to Cuba. If you own a home located close to the beach, you're in good shape. You can leave your windows open all winter, and most of the fall and spring. As you move inland you lose the ocean breeze cooling effect very, very quickly though.

I grew up in a turn of the century bungalow home about 3 miles from the beach on the east coast of Florida. The home was built, and lived in, by a contractor who developed much of my home town in the 1900-1915 time period. The homes had many windows with long-ish eaves (for shade) so you could take advantage of the breeze. Back in the early 1900s, that was the only option you had.

Growing up, we only had a window unit air conditioner, and my parents couldn't afford to run it much, so I can personally attest to the difficulties associated with living in South Florida with no air-conditioning. It was never "quite cool" (by air-conditioned standards) in our house during the summer, even though the home was designed specifically for the environment. For most of the day it stayed cooler than it was outside, but on a cloud-free summer day, there was no relief, inside or out.

I'm not saying we shouldn't use innovative techniques to reduce energy usage, but I am contesting the idea that you can build an above-ground zero-energy home in Florida.

<comment><USER6> This was 5 years ago and one year ago, so it's not pre-revolutionary nostalgia. I _might_ be wrong on how well it worked inland, but I remember feeling cool no matter which city I traveled to.

This was October to May, so like I said, the system may break down in summer. It was still warm through those months compared to what I know in Canada, but I know summer is warmer still.

<comment><USER7> Brudgers makes a good point about the thermal capacitance of masonry below. If you spent much time in old, stone/brick/masonry buildings, they'll feel significantly cooler.

Unfortunately, you correctly observed that October through May is an entirely different animal in this region. All the windows in our home are open currently. We get many opportunities like this through the end of February, tapering off through March and April. By May, things in Florida start to heat up. Most could manage it, but I wouldn't call it comfortable.

In June through September, you can sit on your porch at 10 PM and sweat will stream down your face due to the heat and humidity. It is an insufferable burden to go without air-conditioning in this place during the summer months.

I also suspect that Cuba, being such a narrow strip, and having significant elevations in areas, has a more temperate climate than flat, hot, and wet Florida.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Marketing pro-tip:

      do not *ever* advertise or suggest you are going to
      use material that is "like human skin".  Its creepy.

Other than that its quite a nice idea. Yes eventually buildings will need to have _something_ like this - looking at the roof line of any major city gives the impression the fan-powered aliens have landed.

</comment><comment><USER9> When visiting the article, I get interrupted by the following popup

      Cookie Disclaimer

      This site uses cookies. An explanation of their purpose
      can be found within our Cookie Policy. To comply with
      new EU regulations, please confirm you consent to their
      use by clicking continue. After consenting, you will not
      see this message again.

      Continue

I don't really like drive-by cookies, modal dialogs, or dialogs that try to force a choice on me, but can it be construed as consenting to cookies from that site's ads and tracking machinery if I use javascript or CSS or whatever to remove the popup without actually clicking continue?

<comment><USER10> They are asking for explicit consent to allow them to serve cookies. This is in direct response to the EU Cookie Law[1]. The law requires that companies who use "tracking cookies" get permission from the user before implementing the cookies. It is their decision to not accommodate users who object to these cookies.

My organization's site does the exact same thing, and we are a privacy professional association[2]. Very few, even among our membership, care about the cookies, but it is still important to comply with the law.

[1][http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/privacy_and_electron...](http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/privacy_and_electronic_communications/the_guide/cookies.aspx)

[2]<https://privacyassociation.org>

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> The idea is kind of cool, but it seems like it might be a solution in search of a problem. Installing windows that don't open or choosing not to open windows that do is as much a cultural issue as a technical one. People used to air conditioning may not be satisfied with an office that's only _almost_ the temperature they want.

</comment><comment><USER12> I thought this was going to be about DEVAP [http://www.nrel.gov/news/features/feature_detail.cfm/feature...](http://www.nrel.gov/news/features/feature_detail.cfm/feature_id=1531) Which can't get here fast enough on the Gulf Coast. Open a window? No way man, only a few days per year.

</comment><comment><USER13> I would love to see how this would work here in Phoenix in the summer. While it is aimed at temperate climates, if it is able to reduce the AC consumption here it might be worth it. First Solar in Tempe designed some shade screens into their building that open/close with the sun's movement. A skin like this might be a more practical solution.

</comment><comment><USER14> The link title's more than a little misleading: the material is supposedly "breathable," __"human," __and "skin-like". (Adding a hyphen to make it "human-skin-like," which I assume is what was intended, isn't much better). From that description, I was imagining something kind of disgusting, not strips of metal.

<comment><USER14> Just noticed that the title's been changed since my comment.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> I am very glad to learn of the Humans Invent website — I was not aware of it. I love to read about innovation, science and the like. It reminds me that in the midst of many challenges in the world there is great work going on that could address some very important issues.

Long live human ingenuity!

</comment><comment><USER16> The video of her TEDx talk was worth the watch. I'm a little skeptical of how practical this would be for widespread use, but I find the concept pretty exciting</comment>


Syncing Text Notes - <AUTHOR> http://thehacklist.blogspot.com/2010/04/syncing-text-notes.html

<comment><USER2> Pretty cool!

* A URL that you can take notes on through your iPhone

* You can e-mail that URL to yourself, and edit that same list.

This is great because, as the author says, there aren't any easy ways to sync notes between your mobile device and computer.

I'm personally unlikely to use it because I just barf stuff into the notes app on the iPhone, but I think this will be of use to many people.</comment>


Perhaps the Job Description Is the Problem Not a Shortage of Programmer Talent - <AUTHOR> https://firstname.lastname@example.com/perhaps-the-job-description-is-the-problem-not-a-shortage-of-programmer-talent-e1be08eb064c <comment><USER2> Start by letting us submit resumes again. Having to mash everything that's in my resume into 101 different websites to apply for a handful of jobs only to be weeded out by a buzzword filter has made job hunting in 2020 painful compared to 2010.</comment>