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Linux + ARM laptop: good enough for programming? Or should I get a MacBook? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I'm a software developer with a platform-independent stack (java / postgre / mysql / intellij / docker), I use a Linux distro. I have a workstation, but would like to be able to work away from home. Good battery life, small size, staying cool under load are the priorities; I don't need a lot of power. So I thought maybe I should try ARM?

My first idea was to get a [refurbished] MacBook Air and learn how to use MacOS, although I'd love to support something... less proprietary and more open. I've never used an ARM Linux distro or ARM laptops, and I'm not sure how good they are for my application.

What is your experience?

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[–] sloppy_diffuser 0 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Do you even linter bro? lol. I do TypeScript, but even my i9 can get bogged down by the language server from time to time.

The whole hard capped RAM on the SoC is not for me also. I do a few things in python. If I want to load up a 32G pandas data frame on my laptop, I want the option of 64G RAM without having to replace the whole thing.

I get MAYBE 2h battery life (Dell Precision) when I'm hacking away, so my use case may not match yours. Vroom vroom...

That said, ARM itself is generally fine. We have some graviton EC2s hosting our application. I'd just make sure the docker images you expect to use have ARM builds. That bit us a couple times.