Re: [e4-dev] The ideal Eclipse developer computer

["David Orme" <djo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Every time I've bought a big beefy laptop I've regretted it 6-12 months later when the machine wasn't that fast any more and the screen was starting to get dimmer.  The bling of the biggest coolest laptop doesn't last, but I always appreciate light weight, no matter how long I own the computer.

I used to be a big Linux advocate until the latest versions of Fedora and Ubuntu.  Fedora 8 supported all of my my (vanilla Intel chipset) laptop hardware perfectly out of the box.  Power management, suspend, hibernate, screen dimming, WIFI, even the SD slot Just Worked perfectly with no input from me.  Today, neither the latest Fedora nor Ubuntu does.

An O/S shouldn't break when you've got a 3 year old computer that is no longer leading edge.

I'm sad to say it but my next laptop will probably be a Mac--not just because I don't want Windows but because you need a Mac for IPhone development and the mobile space is big and getting bigger.


Dave Orme

On Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 12:10 PM, Hallvard Trætteberg <hal@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hi all and Happy New Year!

I hope it's not considered abuse of the list to ask a question of the proper equipment to do Eclipse development. If so, I apologize and you just ignore the rest.

I'm looking for a replacement for my 3 year old 14-inch (wide format) ThinkPad. I noticed that many of you had a ThinkPad (not strange considering IBM's dominance) at ESE, but I also noticed that many also had a MacBook (Pro I guess). I've read several comments that the MacBook has become one of the best Eclipse development machines:
- the usability is in general great
- SWT is becoming better on MacOSX
- the Unix foundation makes it a good server (SVN, Tomcat, Geronimo, Axis...) and allows old-fashioned scripting
- it handles memory-intensive applications better than Windows
- runs Windows programs well in BootCamp or using virtualization software like Fusion of Parallel.

While I don't hate Windows (although Vista has made it easier), it has served me well for many years, I've concluded that I'd rather have a Unix-based laptop due to better scaling, robustness, scripting etc. What I don't know is how MacOSX compares to Linux when it comes to hosting Eclipse and web server-based applications. After having seen the announcement of the new 17-inch MacBook Pro (I think I can afford it), I know what my heart wants, but the experience of others count a lot. E.g. how important is the screen size, how does MacOSX compare to Linux (Unix foundation, administration/installation and Window Management), Java support etc.

Hallvard
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