New Laptop

A year ago I purchased a Dell Inspiron E1505 laptop as soon as the Ubuntu pre-installed option was available from Dell.

With all the hype over the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, I wanted to review the current status of laptop offerings from the perspective of a developer who has flushed Windows from his arsenal of platforms (other than virtualized instances).

The second reason for the interest is I need a new battery for the Inspiron E1505, I'm down to around 30 minutes running minimal applications. A new 9 cell battery is just under $300, or roughly 10-20% the cost of a new laptop (which will come with a 9 cell battery).

I am comparing high end laptops with roughly the following characteristics:

• 15 inch screen, glossy (personal preference)
• ~2.5 GHz dual core, to future proof the purchase a bit
• At least 2GB of RAM, 4GB seems to make sense, again to future proof the purchase
• ~200GB hard disk. The reality is most of my data is in the cloud, so disk size isn't that important.
• 9 cell battery. I've found myself becoming more mobile, working in battery required modes more often.

I am extremely interested in a new Macbook Pro. A number of fellow developers have been using the systems and/or are moving to the Macbook Pro's so there is some extreme interest personally. After configuring a system to match the above specs at the apple store, I come up with a laptop for $2,699. Personal issues with closed development aside, kind of spendy.

I went back to the Dell store to check out their Ubuntu offerings. The first issue was their laptops are built with Ubuntu 7.10. Not a deal breaker, but a little disappointing right when I get a new laptop I will need to update the distro. Using their laptop customization tool I tried to build a laptop matching the above specs. I fell a little short. 2.2 GHz processors with 128mb video card was as close as I could get. The processor difference is insignificant to me, the video card is a big issue for me. 128mb nVidia is more horsepower than I need now, but I don't feel that future proofs my purchase. The price for my configured system came in at $1,700 with a $90 discount.

I have heard good reviews reagarding System 76 laptops. They have a great powerhouse comperable to the Macbook Pro, the Serval performance line. The only difference is I am configuring with a 200 GB drive versus the 250 GB drive on the Macbook Pro. The cost comes in at $1,743.

None of the above take into account shipping, which I understand could drastically alter the costs of the systems. The other consideration is there is an Apple store 5 miles from work, so repairs and support is a 15 minute car ride away. The Ubuntu offerings are community supported, or send in the laptop via UPS.

From a price perspective, the System 76 system to me is the winner, taking into account the vastly smaller video card on the Dell system. Ease of use, coolness factor for the Macbook Pro, is it worth $1,000 more? That is a question everyone needs to answer for themselves.

Personally I've invested the last 12 months in becoming an expert developing on my Ubuntu system. I know the quirks, I know the issues. Can I afford to relearn a new os (Mac OS)? I believe I will go with the System 76 system.