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MacBook Air or Dell XPS 13 Laptop for programming?

LitaVK

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You mentioned you were wanting to do a SaaS and why you needed the laptop ( to program ).

SaaS is hosted online/centrally hosted.

You don't need a Mac or Windows to worry about languages to code in. You don't need to develop a SaaS for Mac users or Windows users. It will be online and hosted.

Just buy a Windows machine and install the language you want to code in on it and start at it.

Also, the ASUS PRO 5440 has the same specs as the Dell XPS 13 you are looking at. Mine has the same 16gb Ram, 512 SSD, and 4 core i7 you are looking at in the Dell XPS 13.

There shouldn't be a worry over a Mac or Windows machine, the code you will develop will get FTP'd up to an online server anyways. You won't need to design for one or the other with a SaaS.

Whaaat! This is big news. I wasn't aware that it gets hosted online. Thank you!

Exactly, I'm learning to program because ultimately I want to be able to build the SaaS idea I have. (I know at the end of the day, a laptop can only get you so far and that having a desktop computer will most likely be needed in the future but at this stage a laptop is all I really need).
 
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picanha-guy

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If you're going with the MacBook. Please do yourself a favor and get the new (2020) MacBook and not the "old" (2019) one.

The big difference is the keyboard. The old "butterfly" keyboards are nice in the beginning but keys are getting stuck quite fast and then it's terrible typing on one. (I've got a 2018 MBP from my 9-5 job with the butterfly keyboard, and for my own business I'm definitely buying one with the new keyboard).

33293
You can see the difference by looking at the left and right arrow keys. Left 2020, right 2019.
Buy the one without the full size arrow keys.

As for coding, I'm using Visual Studio Code, that works on both windows and Mac so just get what you are comfortable with. I would not settle for 8GB of RAM though, get 16GB.

And for hard drives 265GB is more than enough for coding. Not so much for audio or video work. But you can always buy external hard drives later. The internal SSD space is quite expensive at apple.
 

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Having used both personally: For software development the xps13. At my company we looked at the xps13 and MacBook Pro for our devs. We went with the MacBook Pro. Current air models will lack quite quickly for serious development. XPS is a fine machine. Just make sure to opt for the max RAM you can get unless you develop CPU heavy software.
 

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You can program on either, but depending on the stack you intend to deploy to, there are advantages to mac or PC. If you intend to deploy to .net servers, I would program on PC, because you can setup the native environment on your laptop. If you are deploying to linux based servers, you can setup a native environment better on a mac than windows, since it is BSD based and all the server software can be installed on your mac. Of course you could have a PC or MAC with linux.

Now days all the programming I do is Node.js/mongodb on the server, so I prefer to have mac with the actual terminal to setup and manage my servers. I use to be die hard linux, but I really missed the quality commercial application support, and switched to mac many years ago because I felt I got the best of both worlds. Linux like (BSD) core that you can access at any time through the shell, with a slick GUI and commercial grade apps on top.

As an aside, I actually own a development shop in vietnam. We have about 20 computers we use. About 1/2 are macs, 1/2 PC's. We don't dictate what people choose to use, but all the PC's are linux installed not windows, I have never asked but I believe it's the same reason I stated, which is people like to be able to have full native install of the server on their dev machines.
 
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LitaVK

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If you're going with the MacBook. Please do yourself a favor and get the new (2020) MacBook and not the "old" (2019) one.

As for coding, I'm using Visual Studio Code, that works on both windows and Mac so just get what you are comfortable with. I would not settle for 8GB of RAM though, get 16GB.

And for hard drives 265GB is more than enough for coding. Not so much for audio or video work. But you can always buy external hard drives later. The internal SSD space is quite expensive at apple.

Thanks for your feedback! I'm going to go with the Dell XPS but in the future if I find I do need a MacBook I will go for the MBP as you've suggested and try my best to avoid the 2019 one :D

Yeah exactly, the Dell I'm getting has 16GB and 516 storage, which should be plenty for where I'm at.

Appreciate you taking the time to comment!
 
G

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The 13 or 16" MacBook Pro may be a better option.

I am waiting for the ARM MacBook though, I already have a 2012 MBP I can use if need to code :)
 

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I have both, get the macbook

Especially if you are programming.

You will want to either put linux on the dell, or go with the mac. Linux’s screen scaling abilities suck and you will have problems with your screen resolution.

Windows is awful to develop on. Most engineers that I know who develop on windows have to use a vitual machine with linux on it, as the tooling just isnt there for windows.

The dell is a solid PC, but I’d go mac.

Also note that despite the spec differences, the mac will probably run faster and more consistently, plus the battery will last longer because the hardware and software work together well.
 
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srodrigo

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I'd get the Dell and install a user-friendly Linux distribution, specially given you want to code SaaS. Windows is a pain for that kind of things, and a Macbook Air will lack power. A Macbook Pro would be ideal, but if that's above your budget, Dell + Linux. There are even some XPS that come with Ubuntu preinstalled.
 

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If you're going with the MacBook. Please do yourself a favor and get the new (2020) MacBook and not the "old" (2019) one.

The big difference is the keyboard. The old "butterfly" keyboards are nice in the beginning but keys are getting stuck quite fast and then it's terrible typing on one. (I've got a 2018 MBP from my 9-5 job with the butterfly keyboard, and for my own business I'm definitely buying one with the new keyboard).

View attachment 33293
You can see the difference by looking at the left and right arrow keys. Left 2020, right 2019.
Buy the one without the full size arrow keys.

As for coding, I'm using Visual Studio Code, that works on both windows and Mac so just get what you are comfortable with. I would not settle for 8GB of RAM though, get 16GB.

And for hard drives 265GB is more than enough for coding. Not so much for audio or video work. But you can always buy external hard drives later. The internal SSD space is quite expensive at apple.
I bought the 2019 Air on a student discount for $899. Apparently the 2019 Air’s keyboard is fixed and I haven’t had any problems yet though I’m kinda worried.

If it starts bugging out I’ll probably get it fixed under the replacement program and sell it to buy a new one.
 

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I'd suggest an older MBP or iMac, if you're okay with desktop. More ports, more power, bigger battery on the MBP, better overall experience and should be the same price or cheaper.
 
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picanha-guy

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I bought the 2019 Air on a student discount for $899. Apparently the 2019 Air’s keyboard is fixed and I haven’t had any problems yet though I’m kinda worried.

If it starts bugging out I’ll probably get it fixed under the replacement program and sell it to buy a new one.


I might be wrong!
The sticky keys is definitely not fixed in the 2018 model (I’ve got that one), but maybe it is fixed with in the 2019 model:
It's not yet clear if the 2019 models are vulnerable due to component updates.
For more information see:
 

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(Maybe I've got to make my own topic, if so, please let me know)

Windows is a pain for that kind of things, and a Macbook Air will lack power.

Why do you think the Air will lack power?

I'm looking for a new MacBook as well, and compared the Geekbench scores from a few 13" MacBooks against my work laptop (MacBook Pro 2018, I7).

33382

Based on the above scores, the MBA I7 is doing quite nicely compared to the laptop I'm used to.
Although I'm not sure how Geekbench scores translate into real word usage.

@srodrigo do you think this a fair way to compare laptops?
 

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(Maybe I've got to make my own topic, if so, please let me know)



Why do you think the Air will lack power?

I'm looking for a new MacBook as well, and compared the Geekbench scores from a few 13" MacBooks against my work laptop (MacBook Pro 2018, I7).

View attachment 33382

Based on the above scores, the MBA I7 is doing quite nicely compared to the laptop I'm used to.
Although I'm not sure how Geekbench scores translate into real word usage.

@srodrigo do you think this a fair way to compare laptops?
I don't know about Geekbench, TBH.

The reasons why I say the Air will most likely lack power are (non-exhaustive list):
  1. They historically lacked of power compared to a MBP.
  2. MBPs have higher base CPU speeds.
  3. MBPs have termal issues. I can imagine so does the Air if put under stress (haven't researched this though). This makes sense, as the thinner the body case, the more difficult is to dissipate the heat.

This article compares both: Dell XPS 13 (2020) vs. MacBook Air (2020): Which ultraportable wins?

But once we started our synthetic testing, the XPS 13 dominated with its 1.3-GHz Intel Core i7-1065G7 processor and 16GB of RAM. On the Geekbench 5.0 overall performance test, the XPS 13 hit 4,648 while the Air and its 1.1-GHz Intel Core i5-1030NG7 CPU and 8GB of RAM only reached 2,738. When we ran the HandBrake test, the XPS 13 transcoded a 4K video to 1080p in 15 minutes and 10 seconds while the Air completed the task in 27:10.

Also, I've seen a 2020 Air i7 on your screenshot? How is that possible? On the Apple website, there's only i3 and i5.

Having said that, I might just be speaking snake oil, as I haven't tried the Air. But I would personally never buy one for software development).

It can surely be used to start with though, and it depends on what tools you are using. Examples:
  • Compiling Java? No way.
  • NodeJS, Python or Ruby? Then, maybe yes.
 
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picanha-guy

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I don't know about Geekbench, TBH.

The reasons why I say the Air will most likely lack power are (non-exhaustive list):
  1. They historically lacked of power compared to a MBP.
  2. MBPs have higher base CPU speeds.
  3. MBPs have termal issues. I can imagine so does the Air if put under stress (haven't researched this though). This makes sense, as the thinner the body case, the more difficult is to dissipate the heat.

This article compares both: Dell XPS 13 (2020) vs. MacBook Air (2020): Which ultraportable wins?

But once we started our synthetic testing, the XPS 13 dominated with its 1.3-GHz Intel Core i7-1065G7 processor and 16GB of RAM. On the Geekbench 5.0 overall performance test, the XPS 13 hit 4,648 while the Air and its 1.1-GHz Intel Core i5-1030NG7 CPU and 8GB of RAM only reached 2,738. When we ran the HandBrake test, the XPS 13 transcoded a 4K video to 1080p in 15 minutes and 10 seconds while the Air completed the task in 27:10.

Also, I've seen a 2020 Air i7 on your screenshot? How is that possible? On the Apple website, there's only i3 and i5.

Having said that, I might just be speaking snake oil, as I haven't tried the Air. But I would personally never buy one for software development).

It can surely be used to start with though, and it depends on what tools you are using. Examples:
  • Compiling Java? No way.
  • NodeJS, Python or Ruby? Then, maybe yes.

2020 air i7: 13-inch MacBook Air - Space Gray (select the i7)

Good points. Especially about thermal issues, running a few node instances and the 2018 MBP will lift off :happy:

I'll be using nodeJS, typescript, python and a bit of PHP, no java.

It will be at least a few weeks before I buy the MacBook if I'm deciding to get the air I'll let you know how that works out.
 

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OverByte

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Mac vs Windows is basically an ideological argument, it will be hard to get objective responses. There are cults for both. I don't know anyone who likes both platforms equally.

A few thoughts for anyone looking to purchase a computer for programming:

Throwing out the benchmark specs is likely over thinking this unless you are using your computer for graphic processing or other high stress tasks. If you are talking about running VS code to program some node apps you don't need to look at benchmarks anything modern will work. However, some more robust (read: bloated) IDEs (like Xcode/IntelliJ) will suffer on a macbook air (i speak from experience)

If you are going to purchase a computer for business, and if your business is programming, then the computer is a tool which means buy the best you can afford. You want something you enjoy using. On this point, if you are going to buy a Mac then I would highly suggest a pro vs the air for this reason provided you can afford it. Buy one used if cost is a concern, people tend to take really good care of them (re: cult reference above). Having owned and programmed on both the pro is way more enjoyable to use, it's speedier, crisper display, can easily run external monitor, etc.

Screen size and resolution is important, especially if you are going to be using the laptop screen as primary screen. IMO a 13 inch screen is not realistic to use for lengthy sessions.

If you are hooking up an external monitor (which you probably should be) then you should consider if the laptop can support this (ie can it support a 2k monitor, can it support 2, etc).

What you are planning on building should inform your OS decision:

Examples:
- Buying windows for programming will limit some options (like iOS development), not sure if that is important to you, but considering the size of the app store it's something to keep in mind.
- The .NET argument was raised for windows (tangent dotnetcore was released to address this though not fully baked), more importantly I don't know why you'd choose .NET for anything if you're building something new.
- Windows could be a better platform for game dev (depending on the circumstances)

Now....

Since I tried to keep things objective above, I'll now give my completely biased and unabashed personal assessment as a software engineer who has professionally developed in Java, C#, Swift/Obj-C, Javascript, Python, PHP, Ruby and a bunch of other languages, using too many IDEs and frameworks to list... and that is that... Windows is terrible compared to OSX for programming. I find the usability terrible, the terminal is terrible (and being comfortable with the shell is a big productivity booster), the tooling is terrible... it goes on... I'll caveat and admit that I've stayed as far away from windows as possible for along time it's possible they have gotten their act together.. but i doubt it.

Personally, i use a macbook pro 2015 model, I've had it for years, it's awesome. Buy a PC if you want to play games or need to do something graphically intensive. Macs are expensive but well worth it IMO for business/programming.

Re: Linux recommendations: buying a PC and putting Ubuntu on it is like buying an unpolished half-baked Mac. OSX is just a polished version of Unix that most apps actually have proper compatibility with because there is sufficient demand/market. Using linux you will quickly run into some app you want to use that isn't supported (like photoshop), or something you want to do that isn't supported by the drivers for some reason (like writing shader code) and you'll be forced to dual boot into your Windows nightmare and wish you took this advice seriously :)
 
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picanha-guy

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Mac vs Windows is basically an ideological argument, it will be hard to get objective responses. There are cults for both. I don't know anyone who likes both platforms equally.

A few thoughts for anyone looking to purchase a computer for programming:

Throwing out the benchmark specs is likely over thinking this unless you are using your computer for graphic processing or other high stress tasks. If you are talking about running VS code to program some node apps you don't need to look at benchmarks anything modern will work. However, some more robust (read: bloated) IDEs (like Xcode/IntelliJ) will suffer on a macbook air (i speak from experience)

If you are going to purchase a computer for business, and if your business is programming, then the computer is a tool which means buy the best you can afford. You want something you enjoy using. On this point, if you are going to buy a Mac then I would highly suggest a pro vs the air for this reason provided you can afford it. Buy one used if cost is a concern, people tend to take really good care of them (re: cult reference above). Having owned and programmed on both the pro is way more enjoyable to use, it's speedier, crisper display, can easily run external monitor, etc.

Screen size and resolution is important, especially if you are going to be using the laptop screen as primary screen. IMO a 13 inch screen is not realistic to use for lengthy sessions.

If you are hooking up an external monitor (which you probably should be) then you should consider if the laptop can support this (ie can it support a 2k monitor, can it support 2, etc).

What you are planning on building should inform your OS decision:

Examples:
- Buying windows for programming will limit some options (like iOS development), not sure if that is important to you, but considering the size of the app store it's something to keep in mind.
- The .NET argument was raised for windows (tangent dotnetcore was released to address this though not fully baked), more importantly I don't know why you'd choose .NET for anything if you're building something new.
- Windows could be a better platform for game dev (depending on the circumstances)

Now....

Since I tried to keep things objective above, I'll now give my completely biased and unabashed personal assessment as a software engineer who has professionally developed in Java, C#, Swift/Obj-C, Javascript, Python, PHP, Ruby and a bunch of other languages, using too many IDEs and frameworks to list... and that is that... Windows is terrible compared to OSX for programming. I find the usability terrible, the terminal is terrible (and being comfortable with the shell is a big productivity booster), the tooling is terrible... it goes on... I'll caveat and admit that I've stayed as far away from windows as possible for along time it's possible they have gotten their act together.. but i doubt it.

Personally, i use a macbook pro 2015 model, I've had it for years, it's awesome. Buy a PC if you want to play games or need to do something graphically intensive. Macs are expensive but well worth it IMO for business/programming.

Re: Linux recommendations: buying a PC and putting Ubuntu on it is like buying an unpolished half-baked Mac. OSX is just a polished version of Unix that most apps actually have proper compatibility with because there is sufficient demand/market. Using linux you will quickly run into some app you want to use that isn't supported (like photoshop), or something you want to do that isn't supported by the drivers for some reason (like writing shader code) and you'll be forced to dual boot into your Windows nightmare and wish you took this advice seriously :)

I will never go back to windows / ubuntu for a working machine personally :happy:
As of dual / triple boot systems, no way. All your files are everywhere or on one central drive, but then you've got the different file systems that need to read/write to/from the central drive (Mac and NTFS, no fun).

I'm looking at 13" because they fit in my backpack and since the corona crisis I'm working on a 13" without external displays. It works, but I'll be happy to get my 2 screens back!

I was thinking, if the air's 10th gen cpu is comparable to the 8th gen cpu from the 2018 MBP it may be a nice laptop price wise, so that's why I started looking at the benchmark scores.
But I'm not sure how that translates into real world usage.

I'm using vscode but also trying to get into app development, so I'm playing a bit with Xcode as well.
What air did you use Xcode with?
 
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Lol, thanks. I didn't see that. They don't show it on the front page, just i3 and i5. I'm really surprised they managed to get some i7 in such a thin thing. But...

Good points. Especially about thermal issues, running a few node instances and the 2018 MBP will lift off :happy:
...yeah, I would be wary of thermal issues. It might be fine though, research and looking at reviews should clarify this.

I'll be using nodeJS, typescript, python and a bit of PHP, no java.
I've seen people coding JS with an old Macbook Air. I think that's silly, as time is more valuable than a few extra hundred bucks, but hey, it's possible.

It will be at least a few weeks before I buy the MacBook if I'm deciding to get the air I'll let you know how that works out.
Sure, I'll be interesting in knowing how it goes.
 

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What air did you use Xcode with?

I'm pretty sure it was a 2013 macbook air (it was a few months old at the time). Xcode did work but it got really sluggish with things like storyboards (interface builder), I also used blender on it for some basic 3d modelling and it worked but got choppy at times. It was definitely a workable computer and my first foray into using a Mac. Once I got it I was instantly converted from linux (I already didn't like windows) and never looked back.

Shortly after I got it I took a job offer as an iOS developer and was given a macbook pro 2013, the difference between that an the air was pretty huge in terms of display crispness (retina display is great), speed (especially in xcode) and it was just generally more pleasurable to use. The 15 vs 13 in screen was a big plus as well. I rarely actually use it without an external monitor but 15 inch is way better than 13 for me and it can actually be used as a second display when I have it on my desk.

I ended up buying a 2015 pro for myself shortly after (basically in 2015). Again for me I treat it as a tool and wanted the best tool. I haven't looked at the specs in a long time but the pro had quite a bit more RAM than the air offered which is an important consideration. Some of the IDEs (like Xcode) can be resource hogs and if are using Docker for some of your infrastructure this will chew up resources quickly. VSCode is a very light IDE so shouldn't be an issue by itself.

The air will likely work for you but it almost certainly will not be as good an experience as the pro if you are doing app dev, if doing basic web dev you may not notice a difference, if you are planning on building a SAAS with moderate-complex infrastructure then I would definitely go with the pro.
 

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Hi,

I have 10 years of Developer experience, at the beginning I was using Mac, but cost and quality of those computers have decrease over the years, I currently program in PHP and JavaScript, I am typing this message from an Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition, I have had it for over a year, it's a great machine, fast and reliable, I am on Ubuntu 20.04 and if you are going to be using Docker please use Linux, Windows and MacOS are crap for virtualization.

Is fast as F.

let me know if you need more help or insights.
 

Prodox

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Since I tried to keep things objective above, I'll now give my completely biased and unabashed personal assessment as a software engineer who has professionally developed in Java, C#, Swift/Obj-C, Javascript, Python, PHP, Ruby and a bunch of other languages, using too many IDEs and frameworks to list... and that is that... Windows is terrible compared to OSX for programming.

As a software engineer, I second this - the only experienced software engineers that use windows are the ones that get forced to use one by their company. The rest use some unix based oses (macos, linux).

Also someone quotes an article comparing the performance of a dell xps 13 i7 +16GB of ram with a macbook air i3 + 8GB of ram...

Why? This comparison doesn't make sense, the macbook air can also have 16GB ram and an i7...

FYI I have both of these laptops (and a macbook pro) and my del xps has had linux installed over the top of windows and even still has sat on my shelf untouched for a while. It's a good laptop though, don't get me wrong.

Also macbook airs are powerful enough to program on - the majority of what people are going to be coding doesn't need a powerful computer.

You should be more worried about running multiple chrome tabs than being able to code.
 

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To be honest for learning to program the kind of laptop makes no difference at all. If it can run notepad++, you can program in whatever language you want.

That aside, knowing unix and bash scripting are very valuable tools for any programmer so I would suggest Linux Mint or Manjaro for OS. Second choice mac (windows is just painfully painful in comparison).
 
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Bit the bullet and upgraded to the new 2020 MacBook Pro for longevity. I chose this over the air for better performance and running a second display (holy crap is it nice to have for coding).

Apparently the 2020 i5 Air has some cooling issues and the Pro is only $100 more.

Selling my old 2019 Air should cover most of the cost.
 

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Bit the bullet and upgraded to the new 2020 MacBook Pro for longevity. I chose this over the air for better performance and running a second display (holy crap is it nice to have for coding).

Apparently the 2020 i5 Air has some cooling issues and the Pro is only $100 more.
I have a 2020 i3 air with 16GB RAM, it has no problems running multiple displays, nor does it have a problem with programming or running any of the tooling I use.

If I were to do some heavy ML on it, I doubt it would do well, but neither would a MBP - most people would use some remote solution for hardcore data churning anyway.

Where I do have trouble is video editing. It's not that bad, but sometimes premier pro can lag.

I have a MBP too, although it's the 2017 one and the performance is similar - both really good machines.

I don't think you will be in a bad situation if you buy either of these. For only $100 more I think you made the right choice though :)
 

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Screen size and resolution is important, especially if you are going to be using the laptop screen as primary screen. IMO a 13 inch screen is not realistic to use for lengthy sessions.

This. If this will be your only computer and you really plan to program on it, either get an external monitor(s) or a big screen.

Like yourself, a laptop is my only PC, that's why I always get a robust and durable 17-inch monster. My ZBook 17 G2 is big and "heavy", but reliable and a joy to work on. And 5.5 years later still working without a hiccup.

I'm using Windows for PHP/MySQL/HTML/CSS/JS and C#. By choice :hilarious:
 
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PizzaOnTheRoof

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I have a 2020 i3 air with 16GB RAM, it has no problems running multiple displays, nor does it have a problem with programming or running any of the tooling I use.

If I were to do some heavy ML on it, I doubt it would do well, but neither would a MBP - most people would use some remote solution for hardcore data churning anyway.

Where I do have trouble is video editing. It's not that bad, but sometimes premier pro can lag.

I have a MBP too, although it's the 2017 one and the performance is similar - both really good machines.

I don't think you will be in a bad situation if you buy either of these. For only $100 more I think you made the right choice though :)
I really wanted to upgrade anyway for the better keyboard and performance. So it was the i5 Air vs the Pro, and for $100 extra, I'll take the pro!

Some say there are cooling issues with the i5 Air so I didn't want to take the risk. Just like my 23 year old car, I'm gonna use it till I can't no more.
 

RealDreams

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If you want performance, get the XPS.
If you want to have a nice, aesthetic laptop get a Macbook.

Never had any Macbook but had 2 iPhones and ended up buying a Xiaomi for $150 after both of them died due to the batteries lasting nothing.

Just my 2 cents.

Edit: I also had an hard time deciding between a Macbook 13" and an 15" Asus for the same price. Ended up buying the Asus and I don't regret it a little bit. And just saying, my motivation to buy the Macbook was very biased. In fact, I was mainly looking at it from a "brand-look" perspective instead of a "actual value" one. But I then realized that Asus was much more powerful than that 13" Macbook so I opted for that one.
 
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dmetts

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Hey guys,

I'm currently looking to get a new laptop as the old one I have is pretty old and slowing down. Since I'm beginning to learn how to code and program, I'm basing the new laptop's features on what I would need for programming.

I've narrowed it down to the Dell XPS 13 and the MacBook Air as these fit my budget and seem to be highly recommended as both good laptops for beginners and professional programmers.

I'm leaning towards the XPS because I found one with 16GB Ram, 4 cores and 516 SSD storage at a decent price plus I'm not a huge fan of the MacOS and limited number of ports. However, I'm aware that with a pc you can't develop iOS/Mac apps and there's apparently better tools for Macs.

Then again, maybe I'm just overthinking it and really any laptop with the basic specs will be fine considering I'm just starting out with programming.

I'm hoping some of you experienced programmers out there could share your opinions and offer some advice - would be very much appreciated! Thanks in advance :D

Look into Virtual Desktops from AWS or Azure. I have a SaaS company and we are moving in that direction. Look at Azure if you are thinking of using the Microsoft tools (.net, C#, C++ {btw...don't do anything in C++ unless you a sadist}, MS SQL)

Also, your laptop is the least of you worries, don't get wrapped up around it. There are much bigger decisions down the road...MUCH BIGGER...
 
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csalvato

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I'm pretty sure @LitaVK has made her purchase by now. If not, its taken her nearly a month to make a relatively trivial life decision, and she has bigger problems :happy:
 

Kid

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Despite WSL 2 programming on Win is major pita.
Every another f-ing thing gets broken at the time when previous is repaired.*
I burned down my win laptop (physically - it overheated and burned down)
and now using old linux pc.

Couldn't be more happy.
If you plan to make iOS/Mac apps then go for Mac.
You can always put win into VM thus develop for all 3 platforms.

And those Apple laptops have touch pads on some another level.
Couldn't believe why my friend doesn't use mouse at all until
i tried it on his macbook.

* Story time:

E2E testing using chromium in WSL/2. Worked. Doesn't work now.
What the hell?
Few days later it appears that versions below chromium 79
worked and above not.
So as a programmer you think "Easy, just download v79, solved!"
Yeah. The problem is that google doesn't offer old versions of linux binaries
for download...Yeap, it doesn't.

If the source code for v79 was somewhere to obtain i doubt it would
be smooth ride to compile it on wsl (if possible at all).

This is just one story of many stories had trying to use windows for programming.
 

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