Tell me what laptop to buy for new job

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deadlyllama

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#298902 26-Jul-2022 08:30

I'm starting a new tech job (some software dev, some DevOps/AWS/etc) after a few years out of the industry, and my new employer is small enough to not have a standard issue laptop. "What do you want?" "Most people want Macs" yeah nah

Any suggestions on what is both reasonable and obtainable - at least within a few weeks? At this stage I'm expecting to use my personal laptop until the new thing shows up.

It would need to be able to drive a couple of external 4K monitors. 16-32GB RAM, 1TB SSD. From what I've seen, I think I want something like an HP ZBook / Lenovo P16 / etc? Linux-friendly is a plus.

A suitable docking station would be nice but as I'll be working from home I imagine it will stay docked pretty permanently, and a few cables is fine. I won't be packing the monitors if I travel!

antoniosk

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#2946404 26-Jul-2022 08:37

what will the rest of your team be using? having common tools makes life a lot easier

Ive worked with many dev shops in NZ and they are all pretty much Mac exclusive

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Antoniosk

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#2946409 26-Jul-2022 08:54

We use HP Probooks (2-3 monitors but not 4k) via USB-C docks (Alogic. HP ones we've had nothing but probs with).

So literally walk in office, put down laptop and plug a single cable in and we're up and running.

Just ensure whatever dock you look at, does handle dual 4k, a lot advertise as "4k" and have multiple HDMI/DP ports but once you read the fine print, its only a single 4k screen.

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nitro

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#2946412 26-Jul-2022 09:02

zbook fury is currently being deployed at work...

wratterus

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#2946413 26-Jul-2022 09:03

ZBook Firefly 15 G8 3E9P1PA with the appropriate specs would probably be pretty ideal. Ingram have plenty of stock currently.

Good luck finding a decent dock at the moment but you can always get one later.

lxsw20

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#2946527 26-Jul-2022 13:18

antoniosk:

what will the rest of your team be using? having common tools makes life a lot easier

Ive worked with many dev shops in NZ and they are all pretty much Mac exclusive

Exactly this. If you're very senior then you may get away with using whatever, but if you're relying on documentation that's been written for Mac and help from co-workers that work with Mac, then get a Mac. Otherwise I'd be trawling forums for what works best with what ever linux flavour you're going to use, and checking said flavour of linux works with the tools they use (Including things like Teams/Slack etc).

I used to work somewhere that had about a 60 person dev house where it was pick your own. It was mostly Mac, 2-3 Linux guys and 1 using Windows.

Another thing to note about the dual 4k screen thing, is lots of docks will only run dual 4k @ 30Hz which is gross, even just for scrolling.

deadlyllama

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#2946533 26-Jul-2022 14:12

antoniosk:

what will the rest of your team be using? having common tools makes life a lot easier

Ive worked with many dev shops in NZ and they are all pretty much Mac exclusive

lxsw20:

Exactly this. If you're very senior then you may get away with using whatever, but if you're relying on documentation that's been written for Mac and help from co-workers that work with Mac, then get a Mac. Otherwise I'd be trawling forums for what works best with what ever linux flavour you're going to use, and checking said flavour of linux works with the tools they use (Including things like Teams/Slack etc).

I used to run Linux (with a Windows VM for the MS stuff) at Xero a decade ago...

If it's too much of a pain on Linux I'll run Windows and WSL2.

Dock wise I can always plug the monitors into the laptop directly. It will move from the desk pretty rarely anyway.

Tempted by the Lenovo P16s AMD if I can wait a week or two... the ZBooks that can ship soon all have the slightly older Intel CPUs.

timmmay

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#2946536 26-Jul-2022 14:30

I have a work HP Elitebook, it's good but no ethernet (dock required) the fan is loud. The HP Probook is just as good but also has ethernet. HP dock is good, gives you two monitors, if you can find a dock.

Surface Pro WiFi isn't as good as HP WiFi , but it's fan is much quieter. In a corporate office both are fine, if you're at home with weak WiFi HP is better.

Lenovo and Dell are also good brands, but I have no recent experience with them.