web design/development on laptop

[wmhop]

Just wanted to find out what types of laptop computers you all use and why you chose them?

Basically I'm looking for a good laptop for web development and design and am looking for suggestions.

[piersk]

It depends on whether you want to run a dev web server on your laptop? If not then any old one that you can run a browser, obv connect to the internet/LAN and have some kind of IDE open all at once without slowing down too much.

If you want to use your laptop as a dev server as well, then you'll probably need a fair bit of memory to run a db server as well as a web server. Pretty much any laptop that you buy new will meet these requirements.

[stolzyboy]

Even for a dev server running a db and web servers... depending on the servers, they are pretty light... apache/mysql don't require too much of a laptop... anything in this decade can run it easily...

[sheephat]

Acer Aspire 5100

Gets the job done, and a decent price.

[wmhop]

thanks all.

any specific recommendations though (besides the acer)

[foyer]

The only thing that sucks about development on a laptop is the keyboard (and mouse if you are trying to use the mouse pad).

I run a dev server on my Dell Inspiron, 1gig of ram, Intel core duo, Windows xp. Runs just fine.

[stolzyboy]

The only thing that sucks about development on a laptop is the keyboard (and mouse if you are trying to use the mouse pad).

I run a dev server on my Dell Inspiron, 1gig of ram, Intel core duo, Windows xp. Runs just fine.

just plug in external keyboard/mouse, simple < $50 solution

[foyer]

Well obviously but who wants to haul around a keyboard. Laptops are supposed to be portable.

I bought a logitech wireless mouse and just suffer with the keyboard.

[MarkR]

Ram is the main thing you need, as you may need to run vmware (or some virtualisation tech) on this laptop.

So you really want to budget for as much ram as you can reasonably afford (A couple of gigs is good) - then you can have a nice consistent development environment *and* simultaneously run a desktop OS for testing / demo purposes.

Mark

[piersk]

Well obviously but who wants to haul around a keyboard. Laptops are supposed to be portable.

Roll up keyboard (http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/5a7f/)

[foyer]

That think looks worse to type on than a laptop keyboard.. but I dunno never used one. Cool idea

[NogDog]

I mostly work on my Dell Inspiron notebook with 2.00GHz AMD processor and 1 Gig of RAM, running Apache web server along with PHP and MySQL. It performs fine, even if I have Apache, Firefox, IE, HTML-Kit, The GIMP, Yahoo Messenger, and Thunderbird all up and running while testing PHP scripts accessing MySQL. But then, I could do the same on my old HP notebook with half the RAM and maybe a quarter of the CPU.

As others have mentioned, RAM is always a good thing. My general rule of thumb would be to save money by getting a CPU that's a couple generations behind the latest bleeding-edge CPU's, and spend some of that savings on more RAM.

[stolzyboy]

Well obviously but who wants to haul around a keyboard. Laptops are supposed to be portable.

I bought a logitech wireless mouse and just suffer with the keyboard.

just because you are developing on a laptop doesn't mean it HAS to be portable... if you develop in multiple locations, that's different... but honesly... a keyboard is what, 1 pound? Sure they are clunky... but i'd rather be inconvenienced when i'm traveling than when i'm developing

[Horizon88]

I've got an HP dv9000 which works wonderfully for everything I need.

I use it for notes at school, development, browsing the web, and listening to music/wtaching movies on the go.

It's a 17" screen, 1gb of RAM, AMD64 X2 processor, and a 160GB hard-drive. Running Ubuntu 7.04 with Compiz. :D

But yeah, anything you can purchase new will run everything you need in a development sense. I'd personally recommend HP laptops, because their support is stellar. A bit slow and rough on the english side, but they know their stuff.

It came with Vista pre-loaded, and I got on chat support and said "I have Vista. I want you to find me all the drivers I need for this model of my laptop so I can reformat to windows XP. I'll wait." Fifteen minutes later, I had 12 links in my browser window, and 40 minutes later, XP was running with all my drivers. :D

Edit: Just remembered - it's got an extended keyboard with a number pad, and I just plugin in an old Logitech mouse.

[foyer]

just because you are developing on a laptop doesn't mean it HAS to be portable... if you develop in multiple locations, that's different... but honesly... a keyboard is what, 1 pound? Sure they are clunky... but i'd rather be inconvenienced when i'm traveling than when i'm developing

Well sure if you have a docking station at home that makes it nice. I use mine between home and work though. Of course I have my dedicated box at home and at work. But the laptop is a good testing server. My keyboard honestly is not that bad. I would hate to try and work on my friend's gateway that thing is a POS.

[bpat1434]

I know I'm going to get hit hard for this, but I prefer a Mac. The laptop I have now was not one by choice (neither was the previous one). This one is an HP dv6000 base-line model (thanks insurance company :P) that barely runs Vista....

I used to have Apache, PHP, MySQL, Postgre, and PERL running on here, but after the memory eat killed me, I took it off. I also tried the "prepackaged" deals and they weren't any better (even though I could turn them on and off as needed).

The one thing about a mac that I love is the fact that it runs cooler than most Laptops and typically the OS seems faster. Not to mention, I love the interface. I've only used macs for like 10% of my life (about 2% really developing things) and that was back when mac had the old colored CRT iMacs.

I don't develop on the laptop a lot. I actually am working in my free-time (as skimpy as it is) to move all my web stuff to my new p4 box running CentOS 5. I've got it set up to be in the DMZ of my router so I can access it via IP from anywhere with my laptop and do work. So when I need to work, I FTP in, grab the files, work, upload the files again, and I can test. The only real "strain" on the system is the IDE (NuSphere or Zend, depends on my mood) and browser running concurrently.

Ultimately when I look at laptop specs, I mainly look at how fast of a CPU I can get without increasing the heat produced by it. So a jump from 2.1 GHz mobile processor to a 3.0 GHz processor for a desktop (in a laptop) will show a huge jump in heat. I made this mistake with my first laptop (although boy was it FAST!!). I then look at things like battery life and power consumption. Can I leave my laptop unplugged for long trips and not worry about it shutting down or not hibernating. Then I usually start with the Recommended memory requirements of the OS (Vista is like 1 Gig), add the memory requirements of my IDE (probably like 4 Megs or less) and double that. So in my laptop right now there's 1 GB of ram (remember, I didn't get a choice). My Desktop has 4 and that runs my dev software a lot smoother. I'd rather have an extra gig in the laptop so it can speed things up a bit. After memory, that's when I look a price. Typically, I can deal with a less than 80 gig hard-drive in my laptop. What I'm storing on here is so short-term (because of things like theft and how I use it) and because I store everything on my desktop, I typically save a few bucks on the HDD and put it in the memory and CPU. Granted, my systems may cost a bit more (my first laptop was almost $3,000.00), but they zip any program I throw at them.

You just have to figure out what's good for you. Walk through BestBuy or Circuitcity or whatever computer store near you and play with a few of their "floor models". Get a feel of "what's right" for you.

Roll up keyboard (http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/5a7f/)
A hospital in Baltimore uses those. Their ER is nothing but those flimsy keyboards. I guess they deter BBP or don't hold stuff in like regular keyboards. Either that, or they're easier to clean :) But they're pretty neat. They take a while to get used to as the keys aren't as responsive as a regular keyboard. And sometimes you have to adjust where your finger strikes the key, otherwise the strike won't register.

[tron00]

Macbook, with Apache, PHP and Mysql running. Runs great.