You’re not supposed to do anything else except what you want to.
I’ve typed on a laptop sitting below an external monitor for since 2006ish. I do this because I want a narrow keyboard without a numeric keypad centred below my displays.
I want a touchpad directly below the keyboard so that can reach it quickly before returning to the home row. I want everything as symmetrical as possible.
I touch type with a non qwerty layout so I want my keyboard to have the same feel regardless of if I’m in the office or away on business.
I find heavy, long throw keys make my wrists tired so I use a very light pressure short travel much more comfortable over the long term. Eg the kind of switches you get on laptops.
I have an IBM model m and a Pok3r with MX Brown switches on the for comparison and I don’t really care for either of them.
Your usecases maybe different from mine. I’m fine with that.
I'm glad my employer outfits me with both a Linux workstation and a Linux laptop. One of the little fears of looking for a new job is I'll want to filter out some high percentage (like 90%?) of positions for the petty reason that they just dump a macbook pro on every dev as their sole machine. Thanks but no thanks, I can't stand any Apple hardware or software.
As another comment mentioned, there is no perfect "for devs" computer. Developer tastes are too broad and disjoint.
Why? Because you can end up with a single machine than having have to constantly worry about having same environment and data and all that between multiple machines.
If you plug in your laptop to an external monitor and a keyboard, you essentially get a desktop, except you can take it out there with you without worrying about leaving any data or config behind.
I wouldn't buy a MacBook until they sort out the keyboard problems, but when my employer gives me the latest MacBook Pro to work on, I'm absolutely happy! It's a wonderful machine, and if it breaks – not my problem at all.
Lio|6 years ago
I’ve typed on a laptop sitting below an external monitor for since 2006ish. I do this because I want a narrow keyboard without a numeric keypad centred below my displays.
I want a touchpad directly below the keyboard so that can reach it quickly before returning to the home row. I want everything as symmetrical as possible.
I touch type with a non qwerty layout so I want my keyboard to have the same feel regardless of if I’m in the office or away on business.
I find heavy, long throw keys make my wrists tired so I use a very light pressure short travel much more comfortable over the long term. Eg the kind of switches you get on laptops.
I have an IBM model m and a Pok3r with MX Brown switches on the for comparison and I don’t really care for either of them.
Your usecases maybe different from mine. I’m fine with that.
Jach|6 years ago
I'm glad my employer outfits me with both a Linux workstation and a Linux laptop. One of the little fears of looking for a new job is I'll want to filter out some high percentage (like 90%?) of positions for the petty reason that they just dump a macbook pro on every dev as their sole machine. Thanks but no thanks, I can't stand any Apple hardware or software.
As another comment mentioned, there is no perfect "for devs" computer. Developer tastes are too broad and disjoint.
h1d|6 years ago
If you plug in your laptop to an external monitor and a keyboard, you essentially get a desktop, except you can take it out there with you without worrying about leaving any data or config behind.
thesmok|6 years ago