Comment by laingc | Hacker News Reader

Comment by laingc | Hacker News Reader

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> There are people who happily pay $2,000 for an Apple laptop. There are people who are happy with Linux on a $100 machine from Goodwill.

This is the weirdest sentiment that I see all the time on HN, but enough people express it that I have to accept it as both widespread and genuine.

However, I think that if you think $2000 US for an Apple laptop isn't the best value for money you can get on the laptop market, then you're either very good at finding bargains or completely bonkers.

Yes, macOS is no longer for developers. Yes, for extreme workloads I use my linux ryzen7/2080ti or the cloud rather than the MBP. Yes, they had a strange couple of years with the keyboards.

But honestly, they're the best hardware hands down. Not just the best absolutely, but the best per dollar. And personally I love macOS, but I'm just a manager these days so I guess I would, right?

I have a sager (Taiwanese) laptop i7-9750 9th gen intel 4.5ghz, RTX 2060 with full on CUDA support for deep learning, 1Tb NVMe SSD, 32 GB ddr ram, and a 16" 144hz screen that cost me about $1300 a year ago. It also has plenty of IO connections (3 USB type-a ports, a single type-c USB port, smart card reader).

It's rock solid running win 10 pro, has extremely low DPC/ISR latency for ASIO music recording with Ableton, can chew through blender modeling with cycles, and I can do all my dev work in vs2019 and intellij with zero hiccups.

I challenge your assertion that you can't find equivalent if not superior hardware per dollar as what apple offers. Maybe you're just not looking hard enough.

I'm not disputing that a Mac laptop is the best hardware out there. I'm stating that not everyone needs it. They're happy with a $100 Goodwill laptop. I've always been someone who believes in using the best tool for the job at hand.

FWIW, I used my Trump Bumps to buy a new MacBook for my wife, and I plan to use my Biden Bonus for a new MacBook for me. (Assuming Apple releases one with a large enough screen in the next six months.)

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