Apple Laptop for Development

[BinaryData]

tax laws are different in different parts of the world yes...  In the US you can not just deduct stuff unless for starts you itemize your taxes.  To itemize you need to have enough deductions to exceed the standard deduction or it makes no sense.

I would bet a LARGE amount of money, they sure I could deduct from my gambling winnings on my taxes   that BD is not itemizing his taxes to start with - so doesn't matter what he uses the computer for.

It's just an option to look into, I'm not counting my chickens until they hatch. I'll keep the receipts, and when tax season comes (*groans*), I'll look at it then.

I'm not sure I could get a tax deduct for a custom built, but for a laptop I'm sure that could happen. I think I have to pay on taxes this year, I make too much money. We shall see.

I'm not going to be buying one until it's closer to Christmas, so I can check out the deals then. By then, I may end up just buying a brand new one for $1,000. The only thing I really care about is the resolution/screen size. 

[+BudMan MVC]

My point is this -- lets say you deduct it..  Are your misc deductions which this would fall under greater than %2 of your AGI..  You only can deduct that which exceeds 2%  Do you have that many deductions?

Now the cost of the computer could be used for your educational tax credits - say the American Opportunity Credit.  If was specifically need for course of study.  To use it with the Lifetime Learning Credit then it would of had to been purchased from the school.

There is limits to the education tax credits, with all the school your doing I would think the tuition alone would max out your credit even if you could claim the computer.

 

[BinaryData]

My point is this -- lets say you deduct it..  Are your misc deductions which this would fall under greater than %2 of your AGI..  You only can deduct that which exceeds 2%  Do you have that many deductions?

Now the cost of the computer could be used for your educational tax credits - say the American Opportunity Credit.  If was specifically need for course of study.  To use it with the Lifetime Learning Credit then it would of had to been purchased from the school.

There is limits to the education tax credits, with all the school your doing I would think the tuition alone would max out your credit even if you could claim the computer.

 

I pay $6500 per year of school, roughly $3200 every 6 months.

[BinaryData]

My point is this -- lets say you deduct it..  Are your misc deductions which this would fall under greater than %2 of your AGI..  You only can deduct that which exceeds 2%  Do you have that many deductions?

Now the cost of the computer could be used for your educational tax credits - say the American Opportunity Credit.  If was specifically need for course of study.  To use it with the Lifetime Learning Credit then it would of had to been purchased from the school.

There is limits to the education tax credits, with all the school your doing I would think the tuition alone would max out your credit even if you could claim the computer.

 

I pay $6500 per year of school, roughly $3200 every 6 months.

[kozukumi]

13 or 15" MacBook Pro. Fill it up with RAM and at least a 512GB SSD as what you pick on day one you are stuck with for life. Don't bother with getting an i7 CPU, the performance difference really isn't worth it for the price.

[DevTech]

13 or 15" MacBook Pro. Fill it up with RAM and at least a 512GB SSD as what you pick on day one you are stuck with for life. Don't bother with getting an i7 CPU, the performance difference really isn't worth it for the price.

Yeah the trend towards disposable laptops and tablets. A laptop with 4 DIMM sockets is getting harder to find and then even 2 sockets will vanish to zero. In the case of devices with components soldered in for life, a lot of thought and pre-planning is needed to cover the "I'll never need that feature" and then... you do.

Waiting for Skylake is highly suggested for anyone that has a need for RAM combined with ultra-portable since DDR4 will be common with 16 gig modules making laptops with 2 DIMMM sockets good for 32 gig and most likely the top end for soldered on RAM will switch from the very borderline 8 gig (borderline for dev work) to 16 gig.

With current technology, it is possible to source a 16 gig DDR3 DIMM at some expense which would fit into an ASUS UX501 to get 24 gigs in an Ultralight:

http://www.asus.com/ca-en/Notebooks_Ultrabooks/ZenBook_Pro_UX501/

For a Macbook Pro, the 15 comes with 16 gig and the 13 can be ordered with 8 gig or 16 gig

http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/specs-retina/

It is possible that the Macbook Pro numbers could double when they do a Skylake release...

 

[binaryzero]

It's just an option to look into, I'm not counting my chickens until they hatch. I'll keep the receipts, and when tax season comes (*groans*), I'll look at it then.

I'm not sure I could get a tax deduct for a custom built, but for a laptop I'm sure that could happen. I think I have to pay on taxes this year, I make too much money. We shall see.

I'm not going to be buying one until it's closer to Christmas, so I can check out the deals then. By then, I may end up just buying a brand new one for $1,000. The only thing I really care about is the resolution/screen size. 

I claimed my custom build on tax, got my refund no problems. You can argue you needed a specialised PC because you do specialised work. 

Either way, picking a laptop is pretty much a no brainer. You know what size, how much memory, and space you'll use. 

[BinaryData]

 

I claimed my custom build on tax, got my refund no problems. You can argue you needed a specialised PC because you do specialised work. 

Either way, picking a laptop is pretty much a no brainer. You know what size, how much memory, and space you'll use. 

Here's the one I'm buying for my on the go laptop, for all my Windows needs.

Acer Aspire - My work backpack can hold 2 laptops with all its extras, and keep them safe. It has 2 sleeves for 'em. I'm buying this one Friday.

[binaryzero]

I'd recommend anything....but Acer. But cool, hope your back can handle carrying 2 laptops. 

[DevTech]

Here's the one I'm buying for my on the go laptop, for all my Windows needs.
Acer Aspire - My work backpack can hold 2 laptops with all its extras, and keep them safe. It has 2 sleeves for 'em. I'm buying this one Friday.

That came out of nowhere. Discussion so far has been about accounting, a Macbook Pro for development purposes and my ramble on holding off for Skylake.

A $500 Acer with a hard drive slower than an ox cart... Can't see anything interesting about that unit for dev work or anything much at all.

But stuffing two laptops in the bag - now that has some innovation potential... Since Apple makes the nasty requirement on having a Mac to submit an App to their Store, maybe a bag could be configured with a Mac Mini or an Air to meet the requirement and then a beefy Windows machine for the actual dev work....

Hmmm...  Maybe the two laptops could also be configured as a dual monitor setup for real productivity while for example video editing on your workstation Xeon CPU while other people just update their Facebook page at Starbucks...

 

 

 

[binaryzero]

I'm surprised he needs so many machines, but cool. Hardcore!

[adrynalyne]

I'm surprised he needs so many machines, but cool. Hardcore!

One for each hand.

[BinaryData]

I'd recommend anything....but Acer. But cool, hope your back can handle carrying 2 laptops. 

Give a reason for that comment. I've owned a lot of Acer products, almost all my monitors are Acer. Though monitor is nothing compared to a laptop. I've found Dells and HPs to be crap but that's just my opinion.

Also, suggest something better then. Budget is $500 - $900. I don't care about the ability to game on it, that's not what its for. As long as it suits my needs, I don't really care.

 

That came out of nowhere. Discussion so far has been about accounting, a Macbook Pro for development purposes and my ramble on holding off for Skylake.

A $500 Acer with a hard drive slower than an ox cart... Can't see anything interesting about that unit for dev work or anything much at all.

But stuffing two laptops in the bag - now that has some innovation potential... Since Apple makes the nasty requirement on having a Mac to submit an App to their Store, maybe a bag could be configured with a Mac Mini or an Air to meet the requirement and then a beefy Windows machine for the actual dev work....

Hmmm...  Maybe the two laptops could also be configured as a dual monitor setup for real productivity while for example video editing on your workstation Xeon CPU while other people just update their Facebook page at Starbucks...

 

 

 

Yeah, I'll have 2 laptops, my desktop and array of servers/storage for various projects. The goal is to cover the needs of what I'm learning. I've rarely used a Mac, I think the TOTAL time I've ever spent on one, is 20 minutes. That was trying to figure out how to freaking right click. (Joking - It was actually setting an IP manually...)

It was a bit random, but you called it, this topic hasn't quite been on track. My goal with having 2 laptops is to be fluent in every operating system, as of right now, my knowledge of Linux/Mac blows tremendously. I'm heading in a direction where I'll need to know this kind of information, and it would widen my knowledge base further (More you know, the more valuable you are to a company).

I was hoping to avoid spending $1,000 on my Windows laptop, and go more all out on the Mac because of the current PC I'm building. It'll handle everything I need, and more. It's in my signature area, I haven't finished it yet.

So, to break it down, this is what I'm doing.

Windows Laptop - Development/Educational while traveling or at work.
Apple Laptop - Development / Educational while being anywhere (home, work, bus, etc..)

Desktop - All the other things, gaming, more diverse testing.

Server 1: ESXi Host - Different OSs hosted for learning. Most common Server OSs.
Server 2: Media Server (It'll just run PLEX)
Server 3: Storage Array - I'm looking at a 12 - 36 Bay Storage Array. Load it up with 1 - 3TB drives, and have enough storage and redundancy I'll ever need.

 

One for each hand.

Nope. I have a lot on my list of things to learn. I firmly believe, if you know something, and can teach it, you truly know something. There have been countless times I thought i knew something but really didn't. My goal is to make sure I know things, so I can help people better. Not to mention, my company is potentially changing their structuring. If they move Network Techs to on-site, I have a chance of being a Network Admin, if I can master things, and get certifications I need. The goal behind these laptops is to open every door possible, and learn the basics, and a bit further. Y'all give me crap about it. I have an idea, and I'm pushing forward with it.

[adrynalyne]

Give a reason for that comment. I've owned a lot of Acer products, almost all my monitors are Acer. Though monitor is nothing compared to a laptop. I've found Dells and HPs to be crap but that's just my opinion.

Also, suggest something better then. Budget is $500 - $900. I don't care about the ability to game on it, that's not what its for. As long as it suits my needs, I don't really care.

Yeah, I'll have 2 laptops, my desktop and array of servers/storage for various projects. The goal is to cover the needs of what I'm learning. I've rarely used a Mac, I think the TOTAL time I've ever spent on one, is 20 minutes. That was trying to figure out how to freaking right click. (Joking - It was actually setting an IP manually...)
It was a bit random, but you called it, this topic hasn't quite been on track. My goal with having 2 laptops is to be fluent in every operating system, as of right now, my knowledge of Linux/Mac blows tremendously. I'm heading in a direction where I'll need to know this kind of information, and it would widen my knowledge base further (More you know, the more valuable you are to a company).

I was hoping to avoid spending $1,000 on my Windows laptop, and go more all out on the Mac because of the current PC I'm building. It'll handle everything I need, and more. It's in my signature area, I haven't finished it yet.

So, to break it down, this is what I'm doing.

Windows Laptop - Development/Educational while traveling or at work.
Apple Laptop - Development / Educational while being anywhere (home, work, bus, etc..)

Desktop - All the other things, gaming, more diverse testing.

Server 1: ESXi Host - Different OSs hosted for learning. Most common Server OSs.
Server 2: Media Server (It'll just run PLEX)
Server 3: Storage Array - I'm looking at a 12 - 36 Bay Storage Array. Load it up with 1 - 3TB drives, and have enough storage and redundancy I'll ever need.

 

Nope. I have a lot on my list of things to learn. I firmly believe, if you know something, and can teach it, you truly know something. There have been countless times I thought i knew something but really didn't. My goal is to make sure I know things, so I can help people better. Not to mention, my company is potentially changing their structuring. If they move Network Techs to on-site, I have a chance of being a Network Admin, if I can master things, and get certifications I need. The goal behind these laptops is to open every door possible, and learn the basics, and a bit further. Y'all give me crap about it. I have an idea, and I'm pushing forward with it.

I am confused on why you cannot do all of that on a single machine.

[BinaryData]

I am confused on why you cannot do all of that on a single machine.

Because I have an ability called "multitasking". I'm quite good at it too. You seemed to have missed a vital point, I do a lot of my educational stuff at work. We're not allowed to install ANY applications to the laptop we use. Thus, my personal laptop comes into play. I can do my homework, and things of that sort. I can use an actual IDE, instead of Notepad++ with a G++ compiler in it. 

[adrynalyne]

Because I have an ability called "multitasking". I'm quite good at it too. You seemed to have missed a vital point, I do a lot of my educational stuff at work. We're not allowed to install ANY applications to the laptop we use. Thus, my personal laptop comes into play. I can do my homework, and things of that sort. I can use an actual IDE, instead of Notepad++ with a G++ compiler in it. 

How could I have missed that vital point if you never mentioned it?

[binaryzero]

Hahah! ^^ Zziiiinnngggg. 

I do all my lab work at home a PowerEdge T310. Few years old now, 3.? ghz Xeon, 32GB RAM and 8TB of SAS disk, VMWare 5.5 (haven't had a chance to upgrade to 6 yet). Added an extra dual NIC in there as well (total 4 ethernet). Does the job. Got a NAS for iSCSI stuff. Other than that, all the other gear I play with is at work haha. No need to spend money on it for home play when I get to use it a living. You gonna run a data centre at home? Haha.

I can't even remember the last time I powered the thing on. Other than that, if I need to dick around with stuff I use VMware on my desktop. I got my Office 365 certs coming up before the end of the year, glad it's in the cloud, only need a DC for Azure sync tinkering so Workstation does the job.  

Oh yeah Acer, plastic fantastic machines. Guess for that price, you get what you pay for. Should be fine for dev. You work in a DC, but also do dev? Wearing a couple of hats?

Edited September 7, 2015 by Jared-

[MikeChipshop Member]

If you can, go for a bigger than 13" screen. My old lappy was 13" and deving on it was blerg.

[DevTech]

Because I have an ability called "multitasking". I'm quite good at it too. You seemed to have missed a vital point, I do a lot of my educational stuff at work. We're not allowed to install ANY applications to the laptop we use. Thus, my personal laptop comes into play. I can do my homework, and things of that sort. I can use an actual IDE, instead of Notepad++ with a G++ compiler in it. 

I think some of the answers had some mild humour while we we all seeing if any of this would converge to something or remain a simple bistro of a la carte tech...

Requirements: You want to learn a wide variety of dev and I.T. stuff in a preferrably portable laptop.

I joked a bit about a portable dual monitor work station but that is actually possible with mouse sharing software on two laptops but I've never actually tried it.

I congratulate you on a willingness to carry aroiund two laptops. I honestly believe we have gone too far in the insane drive toward thin and light in a laptop leading to socially driven false snobbery when people choose to pack a laptop that can actually do real work.

Here is an idea: Locate a used Dell Pecision M6600 or 6700 for around $700. These 17 " laptop workhorses came with a very fast CPU and a workstation graphics card and 4 DIMM sockets for 32 gig of RAM along with 2 hard drive bays. Get a model with the 1920 x 1080 IPS panel touch screen. With the touch screen, you can fully test Android and Windows Apps running in a VM emulator. With lots of hard drive space and RAM, you can have VM's for anything you might need wherever you are. SInce it's just for learning, you can also run the Mac in a VM (the famous "Hacintosh") You can also get a dock to drive multiple display port monitors when you are at home.

With a 17" screen you can actually do some serious dev work with less eye strain. When you do dev work on a 11" or 13" Mac Air you eventually start chanting "Less is More... Less is More..." and minimalize your App to single giant letters on a screen so you can actually read it...

 

[DevTech]

More ideas for your backpack:

1. Single used Dell M6600 can be loaded up with everything known to humankind.

2. Microsoft Surface Pro 4 (October?) and Apple Macbook Pro 15" with 16 gig RAM and external fast drive for various VM images. Since Apple doesn't do touch, the dev experience for Apps across all targets really sucks but with a Surface Pro in the bag you are covered for Windows 10 and Android dev and have a great OneNote pen tablet for organization.

3. If the Surface Pro 4 will take advantage of Skylake to offer a 16 gig model, it becomes more attractive to run VMs on your bus ride and with a Hackintosh VM might provide all the on the go dev you need. It can drive a high res monitor when you are at home or work. The 3000 pixel resolution means the 12" screen is surprising readable and I have run Visual Studio on a Surface Pro 3 but it would really depend on your eyesight in terms of realistic length of dev sessions with it.

4. Every brand makes junk products and every brand makes good products. If you like Acer, the "Nitro" laptop lineup looks well built for dev work. Their new Predator 17" gaming laptop might also be workable since as a general rule of thumb, most gaming laptops have the solid build and cooling ability to make great dev computers for less money than workstation laptops. (On the downside, it is hard to find a gaming laptop with a touch screen.)

This Acer Niro has a 15" 3840 x 2160 non-touch screen with 16 gig RAM

http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/model/NX.MTEAA.002

5. ASUS UX501 has a 3840 x 2160 touch screen with 16 gig RAM and one DIMM is in a socket so the 8 gig could be replaced with a 16 gig to total 24 gigs of RAM in a laptop that is usable on a bus. The Microsoft store sells this model for about $1500 in their no-crapware signature edition.

http://www.asus.com/ca-en/Notebooks_Ultrabooks/ZenBook_Pro_UX501/

6.  The Dell XPS 15 has the same type of 15" 3840 x 2160 touch screen as the ASUS also in 16 gig RAM

http://www.dell.com/ca/p/xps-15-9530/pd?ref=PD_OC

I suspect Dell will be one of the first to get a Skylake refresh out the door which would allow a 32 gig option if it can get past their marketing department as something consumers might want.

7. Items 4, 5, 6 are all light weight 5 lb units that have strong CPU's, decent RAM, decent separate NVIDIA GPU and fantastic screens. They are all thin enough that if you don't like the Hacintosh idea, you can throw in a used Mac Air although due to the Apple zombie effect used Macs are usually over priced. (If you buy a used Mac, watch out for the silly glowing Apple logo - it weakens the exterior frame and exerts pressure on the LCD screen to cause an irritating LCD "burn in" mark)

 

[binaryzero]

Server 1: In the real world, most common OS is Windows. Want to learn how to make money using PCs, learn Windows. It's all well and good learning 50 different Linux distros, but not going to really help unless there's a need for Linux. 

Server 2: A decent NAS will be able to do this.

Server 3: LOL! That'll cost a fair bit, will be noisy, cost a couple of bucks to run each day, will be hot, and you'll have drives fail.  Good luck with the up keep on that. Will be an investment that's for sure. 

You should really look to get your work to pay for some of this... 

[DevTech]

Server 1: In the real world, most common OS is Windows. Want to learn how to make money using PCs, learn Windows. It's all well and good learning 50 different Linux distros, but not going to really help unless there's a need for Linux. 

Server 2: A decent NAS will be able to do this.

Server 3: LOL! That'll cost a fair bit, will be noisy, cost a couple of bucks to run each day, will be hot, and you'll have drives fail.  Good luck with the up keep on that. Will be an investment that's for sure. 

You should really look to get your work to pay for some of this... 

Server 1 - For web servers, Linux has about 60% of the market I think. For non-public internal corporate servers, Windows Server dominates at over 80% I think.

Server 2 - Raspbery Pi 2 even. Extra points for making a NAS on Pi using Windows 10 with a XAML user interface - (can be done)

Server 3 - But it is so nice to imagine. The blog at Backblaze periodically updates open source plans for their storage arrays along with drive failure analysis - (fast answer is buy Hitachi drives only)

https://www.backblaze.com/storage-pod.html

https://www.backblaze.com/blog/designing-the-next-storage-pod/

 

[binaryzero]

....Who gives a rats ass about market share. You spend your time learning technologies based on your job. Yeah lemme spend days and nights learning Linux, and never using a single thing I learnt in my job. Real productive...

But whatever, sounds like he wants to be jack of all trades, good luck wearing a number of hats at work. Hope your pay check reflects that!

[DevTech]

....Who gives a rats ass about market share. You spend your time learning technologies based on your job. Yeah lemme spend days and nights learning Linux, and never using a single thing I learnt in my job. Real productive...

But whatever, sounds like he wants to be jack of all trades, good luck wearing a number of hats at work. Hope your pay check reflects that!

Actually, it is a common and recent misconception amoung developers that Microsoft no longer has any significant server marketshare probably due to the unusual influence that the San Francisco Bay area with most of the tech reporting and venture capital and influential sites like Hacker News which is a giant love-in for Apple because a MAc Air was the ideal computer for a tech reporter writing articles on the go and hence it must be ideal for everyone else as well and Linux was the cheap vehicle for hosting the next VC funded Facebook wannabe.

I was confirming your point that Windows Server is worth the study effort because most of the world outside the Silicon Valley Reality Distortion Field actually still depends on Windows Server.

Every technology has it's ideal usage model and hopefully the OP has a good idea of where his own company is headed because the amount of technology he wants to cover is certainly ambitious.

 

 

[binaryzero]

Ah, sorry, misunderstood you. TBH I was at work and skimmed the replies.