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    MacBook Air or Surface Pro 4 for beginning coding and casual use (youtube/facebook)

    Water Closet
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    • F
      Francesco Provino
      last edited by

      @stess said in MacBook Air or Surface Pro 4 for beginning coding and casual use (youtube/facebook):

      Thank you for all the replies.

      I already upgrade his laptop with SSD, but the processor is just crap (IDK which one he had). His laptop is a low-end kind of laptop. He just want to kick things up a notch.

      These two options were proposed by him. I do not have experience with neither, so I seek help from mangolassians.

      The primary purpose for the air and surface would be casual use.
      Why would surface Pro a bad option?

      Some of you asked how did these two become the top choices? He wants something light that wouldn't feel like carrying a brick in his bag. If you have other suggestions please let me know.

      I've returned the Surface 4 last month, and I also made a review of it in my blog. Is not. That bad, but… you can buy better hardware for the same money.

      Consider some Thinkpad or Dell business line, they are usually a good investment.

      scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • scottalanmillerS
        scottalanmiller
        last edited by

        For programming, CPU doesn't matter. You can do programming perfectly well on a Raspberry Pi (I'm not recommending that, just pointing it out.) All you need is a text editor, really. I prefer low powered things for programming because it encourages me to keep things simple. Really, Chromebooks often work. But a low power machine with Linux Mint or Korora is often ideal. Light and simple, but Linux is far better suited to programming tasks than Mac or Windows, IMHO. Some people prefer Mac, but I've never found someone give me a technical reason for this, it's always just hipsters.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
        • scottalanmillerS
          scottalanmiller @Francesco Provino
          last edited by

          @Francesco-Provino said in MacBook Air or Surface Pro 4 for beginning coding and casual use (youtube/facebook):

          @stess said in MacBook Air or Surface Pro 4 for beginning coding and casual use (youtube/facebook):

          Thank you for all the replies.

          I already upgrade his laptop with SSD, but the processor is just crap (IDK which one he had). His laptop is a low-end kind of laptop. He just want to kick things up a notch.

          These two options were proposed by him. I do not have experience with neither, so I seek help from mangolassians.

          The primary purpose for the air and surface would be casual use.
          Why would surface Pro a bad option?

          Some of you asked how did these two become the top choices? He wants something light that wouldn't feel like carrying a brick in his bag. If you have other suggestions please let me know.

          I've returned the Surface 4 last month, and I also made a review of it in my blog. Is not. That bad, but… you can buy better hardware for the same money.

          Consider some Thinkpad or Dell business line, they are usually a good investment.

          We support a lot of them for customers and they are literally the most unreliable, overpriced stuff we've ever touched. We expect a failure rate around 50%. We literally have to charge extra if clients use them because they are so expensive to support.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • nadnerBN
            nadnerB
            last edited by

            Surface Pro's are good for boardrooms and some other limited cases BUT that's providing that:

            • nothing goes wrong with them
            • you can stand the flimsy keypad/type cover (also, this wears REALLY fast)
            • you buy an over priced dock and defeat the purpose of the design (mobility)

            Windows in a sealed fragile form factor is a bad idea when things go wrong. The magic smoke gets out far too easily 😉 lol

            MBA and SP are really overpriced toys IMO.

            You/he would be better off with Dell, HPE or Toshiba

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • Son of Jor-ElS
              Son of Jor-El @nadnerB
              last edited by

              @nadnerB said in MacBook Air or Surface Pro 4 for beginning coding and casual use (youtube/facebook):

              If he's keen to spend money, why not rip out the old HDD and replace it with an SSD?

              THIS x100!!!

              I put an SSD in my late 2011 MBP and it was like getting a new computer. What a huge difference in speed!!

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • DashrenderD
                Dashrender @stess
                last edited by

                @stess said in MacBook Air or Surface Pro 4 for beginning coding and casual use (youtube/facebook):

                Thank you for all the replies.

                I already upgrade his laptop with SSD, but the processor is just crap (IDK which one he had). His laptop is a low-end kind of laptop. He just want to kick things up a notch.

                What kind of things is he wanting to kick up a notch? websurfing? paying video games? listening to music? What's the actual complain - let me guess - it just feels slow.

                As for what he should get? The Dell XPS or the HP Spector x360 or the HP Elitebook x360 should be great devices. Though I think they might be a bit higher starting prices.

                KellyK 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                • KellyK
                  Kelly @Dashrender
                  last edited by

                  @Dashrender said in MacBook Air or Surface Pro 4 for beginning coding and casual use (youtube/facebook):

                  @stess said in MacBook Air or Surface Pro 4 for beginning coding and casual use (youtube/facebook):

                  Thank you for all the replies.

                  I already upgrade his laptop with SSD, but the processor is just crap (IDK which one he had). His laptop is a low-end kind of laptop. He just want to kick things up a notch.

                  What kind of things is he wanting to kick up a notch? websurfing? paying video games? listening to music? What's the actual complain - let me guess - it just feels slow.

                  As for what he should get? The Dell XPS or the HP Spector x360 or the HP Elitebook x360 should be great devices. Though I think they might be a bit higher starting prices.

                  https://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/Dell-XPS-13-9360-Signature-Edition-Laptop/productID.5078713400

                  Students might still get an additional % off too from the MicrosoftStore. Signature Edition or nothing for consumer builds, imo.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                  • RojoLocoR
                    RojoLoco @stess
                    last edited by

                    @stess said in MacBook Air or Surface Pro 4 for beginning coding and casual use (youtube/facebook):

                    Thank you for all the replies.

                    I already upgrade his laptop with SSD, but the processor is just crap (IDK which one he had). His laptop is a low-end kind of laptop. He just want to kick things up a notch.

                    So his pr0n is buffering too much?

                    You should take his actual, real world requirements (not wants, big difference) and his budget, then find a suitable device instead of taking 2 piss-poor suggestions from your "casual computer guy" friend and making us tell you which is the least crappy. Those both suck, he only knows those devices because of advertising (which is the absolute last place to ever get advice on what to buy).

                    JaredBuschJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                    • JaredBuschJ
                      JaredBusch @RojoLoco
                      last edited by

                      @RojoLoco said in MacBook Air or Surface Pro 4 for beginning coding and casual use (youtube/facebook):

                      So his pr0n is buffering too much?

                      That would be a really shitty home wireless. Porn sites are some of the most stable things around.

                      Too much money to loose to a competitor if it buffers too long.

                      RojoLocoR 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
                      • ObsolesceO
                        Obsolesce
                        last edited by

                        I like my Asus. Better and cheaper than either of those options.

                        scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • scottalanmillerS
                          scottalanmiller @Obsolesce
                          last edited by

                          @Tim_G said in MacBook Air or Surface Pro 4 for beginning coding and casual use (youtube/facebook):

                          I like my Asus. Better and cheaper than either of those options.

                          That's what I use too.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • GreyG
                            Grey
                            last edited by

                            MRW I was going to post about how my Surface Pro 4 is lovely, and then I see all of the comments.
                            http://i.imgur.com/AXzU1wl.png

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                            • RojoLocoR
                              RojoLoco @JaredBusch
                              last edited by

                              @JaredBusch said in MacBook Air or Surface Pro 4 for beginning coding and casual use (youtube/facebook):

                              @RojoLoco said in MacBook Air or Surface Pro 4 for beginning coding and casual use (youtube/facebook):

                              So his pr0n is buffering too much?

                              That would be a really shitty home wireless. Porn sites are some of the most stable things around.

                              Too much money to loose to a competitor if it buffers too long.

                              Is that why my... um, his porn is buffering so much?

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
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