Tell me about your dev machine

I have a custom built PC with 2 monitors. It runs Windows because I do lots of Windows development - despite getting to .NET Core we still have some older components that need visual studio. The gaming spec works quite nicely, the main thing I need is 32gb of RAM for running numerous VMs.

It also doubles as my gaming rig but I'm going to be moving us to a more strict device management strategy soon so I will have a dedicated work PC, and this will likely be a top-end Dell Precision. I recently bought a couple for some new developers (latest core i9, 32GB of RAM, NVME SSD) and they're very happy with them.

I also have a very light macbook air for travelling and taking notes in meetings etc. I couldn't actually develop software on it though, it's far too tiny.

I couldn't go back to developing on a laptop and definitely couldn't go back to 16gb of RAM. It does seem that with many laptops you must choose between >16gb or it being portable.

2012 macbook pro with 16gb ram and SSD, I purposely got the last one without the ram soldered to the motherboard to allow me to upgrade it. It's about at the end of usable battery health and the screen is only 720p so I am thinking of upgrading soon.

Running a 2020 MBP 512gb/16gb, small jump from a 2012 with 512gb/8gb

1. Pick a processor you like in your budget

2. Pick a form factor. Regular size/smaller?

3. Now you have specs for motherboard.

4. Rest of the stuff is what you need/want. Stuff like memory sticks, onboard or separate gpu, onboard or separate WiFi card.

Thelios Major from System76.

  64GB memory
  8 GB GeForce RTX 2070 Super with 2560 CUDA Cores
  A couple of NVME SSDs.

I install Centos as the OS. Setup, including Nvidia drivers was very easy.

Probably could be built from components cheaper, but I appreciated just making an order and having a box show up later.

My past machines have been Thinkpads, then six years with a Macbook Pro that I wiped and installed Debian on. I made the move back to desktops for a variety of work-related reasons.

Every 4 to 5 years I buy a new laptop for 1000 euro that looks nice and put xUbuntu on it, that's all.

I mostly use a laptop, specifically a zenbook.

This LTT video is probably more useful for you though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kua9cY8q_EI

second-hand MacBookPro 2015 retina 13" with measly 8Gb of RAM, but i replaced the SSD for a Samsung EVO 840pro ( 500Gb with an adapter ).

I use it daily for Java/C#/Golang ( with jetbrains IDEs ) and reactNative ( with vscode ). Sometimes it lags a bit, but i still like it for its lightweight feel in general.

( oh, on my desk i also have a 4k phillips 27" external monitor for those times a 13" retina would not be enough )

My generic recommendation are Dell Precision workstations. Powerful, well supported, and rather unexciting. Which is what I really want when I'm honest with myself.

Using a MacBook Air for web dev, and it’s plenty. For photoshop I’d probably want something with a faster CPU and better GPU, tho.