Macbook vs. Macbook Pro (both current gen) for Coding?

[TrueBlou]

I tend to think, for coding especially, the more screen real estate the better. So I'd be inclined to say any of the 15" models are better suited.

I've just received my 15" 2016 tbMBP and it is a stunning machine, very happy with it. I know people batter on about portability, I'm not a subscriber to that myself. Having hauled around 17" Alienware behemoths in the past even the 15" is a small lightweight to me

 

[csurfr]

I tend to think, for coding especially, the more screen real estate the better. So I'd be inclined to say any of the 15" models are better suited.

I've just received my 15" 2016 tbMBP and it is a stunning machine, very happy with it. I know people batter on about portability, I'm not a subscriber to that myself. Having hauled around 17" Alienware behemoths in the past even the 15" is a small lightweight to me

Gasp! But what about all of the ports we're losing out on!? All of the dongles we have to carry? Are you sure you don't want to go back to that 17"? The difference that you experience from that 17" to the 15" tbMBP is exactly what I experienced going from the 15" rMBP to the 13" tbMBP.

Keep in mind what TrueBlou says about screen real estate though. I got my 13" knowing that I would have a dual 4k setup here @ home. If that wasn't the case, I would have gotten the 15" (and still one external monitor).

 

[TrueBlou]

Gasp! But what about all of the ports we're losing out on!? All of the dongles we have to carry? Are you sure you don't want to go back to that 17"? The difference that you experience from that 17" to the 15" tbMBP is exactly what I experienced going from the 15" rMBP to the 13" tbMBP.

Keep in mind what TrueBlou says about screen real estate though. I got my 13" knowing that I would have a dual 4k setup here @ home. If that wasn't the case, I would have gotten the 15" (and still one external monitor).

Meh, whats an extra adapter here and there, it's not as if I've never had to use a dongle or 50 in my time
I'll take the potential of TB3 over an SD slot any day of the week, I've lost nothing in the switch over, 2 adapters and I've got everything I had before.

 

[bytecurious]

Because there is no middle ground between a giant 17" brick of a gaming laptop with a GTX 780m and a CD Rom drive on the one hand, and a fictional Macbook Pro 15 2016 with at least one USB A port on the other?
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When you start thinking about it again, the 12" MB will have been updated.

Hopefully with the new and improved keyboard, that'd be a sure buy.

 

[csurfr]

Meh, whats an extra adapter here and there, it's not as if I've never had to use a dongle or 50 in my time
I'll take the potential of TB3 over an SD slot any day of the week, I've lost nothing in the switch over, 2 adapters and I've got everything I had before.

I have 1 USB-C -> USB-A adapter from Apple. And that is really only in case someone has a flash drive I need to plug into for a moment, or if I need to restore the iPhone/iPad. I get why some people might be turned off by a dongle, but I personally don't see the issue. When I had my LG UltraWide display I had the Apple MultiPort AV Adapter, but when my 4K USB-C display arrived I returned it (was having some issues with the display and the adapter being nice to each other).

 

[TrueBlou]

I have 1 USB-C -> USB-A adapter from Apple. And that is really only in case someone has a flash drive I need to plug into for a moment, or if I need to restore the iPhone/iPad. I get why some people might be turned off by a dongle, but I personally don't see the issue. When I had my LG UltraWide display I had the Apple MultiPort AV Adapter, but when my 4K USB-C display arrived I returned it (was having some issues with the display and the adapter being nice to each other).

Yeah, I'm much the same, in my best part of 40 years of computer use I've been through all sorts of changes so nothing much phases me. I'm all in favour of the TB3/USB-C port move to be honest, it won't be too long before the vast majority of devices are at least available as the old USB-A and USB-C/TB3 options simultaneously, before the old format is eventually phased out altogether.

If we plan on keeping these systems for 4 years or more, ultimately we'll be glad of them. Transition is always painful for some more than others. I bought a USB-C to Lightning cable and that will take care of most of my connection needs. I also got a couple of USB-C to USB-A, just in case along with the AV Adapter, again just in case. 99% of the time I won't need them, all of my storage and peripherals are hooked up to my network, so I don't often need physical connections.
Like yourself, it'll most likely be for when other people have things that need hooked up to my Mac.

 

[csurfr]

If we plan on keeping these systems for 4 years or more, ultimately we'll be glad of them. Transition is always painful for some more than others. I bought a USB-C to Lightning cable and that will take care of most of my connection needs. I also got a couple of USB-C to USB-A, just in case along with the AV Adapter, again just in case. 99% of the time I won't need them, all of my storage and peripherals are hooked up to my network, so I don't often need physical connections.
Like yourself, it'll most likely be for when other people have things that need hooked up to my Mac.

Yes sir! Back to my Mac for the win. I have a 1tb hdd plugged into my AirPort Extreme router, and as long as I have an internet connection, that drive serves as my connected storage. I personally have no need to plug anything into my MacBook Pro.

Now if Apple would only give me a way to do that via a browser I'd be set. I guess there is always iCloud Drive for that instance though.

 

[TrueBlou]

Yes sir! Back to my Mac for the win. I have a 1tb hdd plugged into my AirPort Extreme router, and as long as I have an internet connection, that drive serves as my connected storage. I personally have no need to plug anything into my MacBook Pro.

Now if Apple would only give me a way to do that via a browser I'd be set. I guess there is always iCloud Drive for that instance though.

I'm loving documents in the cloud now too, ever since they introduced it in Beta I've been using it. Man what a godsend, aside from always having my documents wherever I need them, I no longer have that problem when you do a clean install or change systems and get the "oh crap I forgot to backup xx files"

 

[csurfr]

I'm loving documents in the cloud now too, ever since they introduced it in Beta I've been using it. Man what a godsend, aside from always having my documents wherever I need them, I no longer have that problem when you do a clean install or change systems and get the "oh crap I forgot to backup xx files"

Absolutely! I just wish I could add MORE folders to that sync process. I keep a lot of my temporary design docs (html, css, php, etc) in my Downloads folder. I wonder if it would sync that if I put an alias to downloads in my docs folder. . . hmm.

 

[Toutou]

I decided that I was spending too much time thinking about this, so I'm going to get another year out of my Linux Chromebook.

I'd say that's actually a good idea. Coding on a small screen and on weak hardware is neither really useful nor enjoyable, so a simple Linux machine is usually all you need if you have a powerful box at home.
(At least for me.)

 

[niploteksi]

Help please? Especially if you're a developer who has used either of the computers.

What software will you be using?

 

[bytecurious]

I'd say that's actually a good idea. Coding on a small screen and on weak hardware is neither really useful nor enjoyable, so a simple Linux machine is usually all you need if you have a powerful box at home.
(At least for me.)

Yeah, and it's a 400 Euro machine (including the 256 GB SSD), so I never really need to worry that it might get stolen. The keyboard is also a real treat, and the 1080p screen is at least sufficient. Only the speakers suck compared to the current Macbooks, but that's a reasonable tradeoff.