September 12, 2020 by pycrocoding
The pre-purchase self justification
If you have been reading my past articles, you would be right in getting the sense that I am not easily pleased nor happy with the computing setups I have tried in the past. Long have I searched for the “ideal” setup and whilst all the solutions I have tried have been pre-justified in my head undoubtedly after a few months of peril I have sold up, shifted and moved on.
I have tried being Mac only, previously owning a Mac mini desktop and an older generation MacBook Air coupled with lower end iPad’s (standard iPad and iPad mini). I have also used Linux only systems including the Raspberry Pi’s.
Early this year I also tried a complete jump ship to ChromeOS via the pixelbook go with mixed results (only having the mobile version of Office 365 ultimately killed my experience). The iPad has always had a place in my heart too, so I decided to try selling everything and purchased a fully loaded iPad Pro. With this I was almost completely satisfied, and it does remain my device of choice for about 80% of my activities maybe less.
80% as you are blatantly aware is not 100% so what was missing? Chiefly three things:
I have a portfolio history which relies on windows which I would always want access to.
Outside of my blogging endeavours I have invested a lot of my time learning and using Visual Studio, MS SQL and Excel in which none of the other operating systems provide the same feature rich experience (my main experience aside from python is C# development).
Tinkering with IoT devices is not an easy feat on the iPad despite some workarounds which I have blogged about, sometimes you just want to switch on and use Mu for my MicroPython work.
On the tech band wagon again?
So, all in all it was clear I was back in the market for a windows laptop, but I had been here before and it never really worked out. Previously I have used ultralight mobile solutions with Windows which ultimately failed me, can anyone seriously admit they can code on a small screen laptop?
When you stop and take stock of your previous endeavours to procure the ultimate machine and the vast amounts of money you have wasted, you start to address your exact requirements. Not what influencers would suggest you need.
For me the requirement was relatively straightforward, I can’t recall ever sitting in a coffee shop coding nor do I code on my commute (indeed I’d probably be breaking several laws and smash my car off the motorway). In the days where I travelled a lot (almost long forgotten) something portable made sense but also, because I would be travelling for work I’d have a work provided laptop anyway so taking two devices seems pointless other than an iPad for media consumption in the evenings.
So, what is the reality? I needed a semi portable device to move from upstairs to downstairs due to living in a busy household with children. Battery life is an exceptionally low priority as I would always be near a power point, weight is not important as typically I would not be carrying this device outside of the house. Desirables consist of a fast machine with a large screen that is at best “portable” should I need to work into the wee hours downstairs.
Scrolling through the options I was somehow drawn to gaming laptops (no I don’t game at all, OK maybe the odd C64 8bit game), they are typically noted for their larger than average screens, decent specifications and in the case of the one I opted for reasonably priced.
The latest attempt of a solution!
I picked up the Acer Nitro 5 in the 17.3-inch screen version, as stock it came with 8GB RAM, Core i5 9th generation processor with a Nvidia Geforce GTX 1650 with 4GB GDDR5 and 256GB SSD. Whilst fast enough as it is, the key attraction to this laptop is that I can easily add a second SSD and a further SATA drive should I need to. Furthermore, the RAM is expandable to 32GB which is something I will be doing in due course (I normally opt for 16GB minimum to use applications such as Xamarin). This laptop is available in the UK for £699 and is considerably cheaper than previously owned devices of similar specification, yep looking at you apple, Microsoft surface…
The Acer Nitro 5 also sports the luxury of a full size keyboard complete with numeric keypad (invaluable for heavy spreadsheet users), my only quibble so far is that the keyboard could be better in that I am finding myself having to make positive strikes when typing (perhaps this is just getting used to it). A myriad of ports also accompanies this laptop but an SD card port would have been more than welcome.
Start to think of what YOU really need
It seems every influencer, coding course provider or social media developer would have you think that the only machine for development is a MacBook Pro. Whilst it is a great machine, it is complete nonsense that you require one for a career in development, now that windows has the subsystem for Linux the motive to own a Macbook is even less and to some degree also to reduce the need to own and potentially struggle with a Linux system.
Love it or hate it Windows for the most part just works with pretty much everything and if you are dependent on some of the software I have mentioned then I guess you do not need persuading. I would say this is first laptop I can comfortably code on without the requirement for an additional monitor, 17.3 inches of screen real estate has seen me working fine downstairs without the additional 27-inch screen I was accustomed to.
Should we be returning to normal soon I will always have the iPad Pro as a mobile solution which remains an amazing piece of technology which will only get better with time and iOS updates. However, I see the Nitro 5 and or future laptops like it being my primary focus for the home-based developer and the recent changes at Microsoft such as the windows subsystem for Linux are making the windows experience a top class platform for all round computing.
I will of course always maintain Raspberry Pi setups as mini servers / tinkering boxes / light desktop; indeed my Raspberry Pi 4 now sports a dedicated 27 inch monitor which has largely been obsolete since the Nitro 5 arrived. The nitro 5 will be my work horse for using Visual Studio, Python Jupyter notebooks for data science, the delightful Mu Editor for the vast amounts of SBC’s I like to play with, the full featured MS Office experience and primary home PC.
For when I want to consume media, work light, or avoid dead legs (Nitro 5 should never be on your lap lol almost warrants being called portable rather than laptop), work on some music and compute differently I will of course be on the iPad Pro.
Potentially Happy
Well I have said this before so take with a pinch of salt, for now my computer tech stack is complete and I am glad to be out of the £1000 plus computer market and back on Terra firmer in that I now can opt and use functional, reasonably priced machines without the stigma attached.
If you work in a similar environment, ask yourself some hard questions on your next purchase:
Do I need a 10 hr plus battery? (despite what you read I get a maximum of 4 hrs out of the Nitro 5, typically much less).
Do I need a sub 1.5Kg machine at the cost of screen real estate? (go large your eyes will thank you for it).
Do I need my machine to have a fruit logo on the back of the screen? (Windows 10 is becoming a much better experience not perfect by a long shot but with the Linux subsystem and the terminal app you can drift into thinking you have the best of Linux and the freedom to use premium paid software packages).
Or do I just need something comfortable that I can relocate around the house in the absence of a dedicate office room? (yup this was me in all honesty).
Take advantage of my experience within the money pit of changing tech and do consider all options before you commit to something for the wrong reasons.
Thanks for blogging in…