My Ogas!
Can i program with this desktop computer asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?model=g41m-vs3 with 3 HDD (360,80,160 gb), 12'' monitor(shoould i change it?) 2gb ram, with a wireless card
If so, where do i start cos i dont like it being a gaming pc alone!
Thanks in anticipation!

Im late to the party but personally I've been dreaming of the Lenovo IdeaPad Y580 as my next purchase though 5400RPM is kinda slow for its 1TB HDD. Its screen is 15" and it has backlit keyboard (backlit keyboard not negotiable for me). They added a number pad to the keyboard which will definitely make some keys smaller than usual but that's not mostly a problem for me cos I usually use an external keyboard and wireless mouse.

lordZOUGA: i do not know about other developers but I do not swear by my big screen laptop. 15inch is okay. 17inch just pushes the limit of the definition of portability. lugging around a 17inch screen will not feel portable at all. I am more interested in the display quality.

I do swear by big screens. I as much as possible connect my laptop to a 19" monitor. However, I will never be caught carrying around a 17" laptop or 14" and below. To me, 17" is not portable.

My Laptop's screen display this. What might be wrong somebody should help, am planning of programing with it.

One thing I know for sure is that, I cant use a Laptop with less than 17" cos I hate lines of codes wrapping around pages. Second most IDEs or even notepad++ (Same thing applies with Photoshop) has a lot of panels in it, at the end of the day you'll end up with small working area, In such case Large screens can cover up for the space occupied by panels.

Then, for my laptop of choice Dell has some products called "Mobile Workstations" they are manufactured for people that do serious work with computers. Now the sweetest thing about this so call mobile workstations is the ability for a user to modify them on-line to sooth his\her taste before they are shipped to the user. I totally advice every programmer to consider getting/modifying one for himself (If you can afford it, besides you'll have to spend money to get money).

Dell Precision systems are quite expensive

big-t:
My Ogas!
Can i program with this desktop computer asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?model=g41m-vs3 with 3 HDD (360,80,160 gb), 12'' monitor(shoould i change it?) 2gb ram, with a wireless card
If so, where do i start cos i dont like it being a gaming pc alone!
Thanks in anticipation!

Yeah sure, depending on how you use the board. My advice is that you step up the ram to 4gb instead of 2gb though. If you don't want to be waiting to long while compiling some applications.

its a little bit funny how nobody recommeded one of the apple laptops ... if they are not coding in one of the microsoft languages then i recommend going with macpro especially if a lot of design work will be done.

kudaisi:

Yeah sure, depending on how you use the board. My advice is that you step up the ram to 4gb instead of 2gb though. If you don't want to be waiting to long while compiling some applications.

thanks bro, but ive got a problem! I started with Java but now its looking complicated, tried vb but cant get the codes (easier than java, i think). Which one should i try to start with? C++, python or wat Pls help!!

netghost: its a little bit funny how nobody recommeded one of the apple laptops ... if they are not coding in one of the microsoft languages then i recommend going with macpro especially if a lot of design work will be done.

I guess the reason why apple has not been mentioned is because of the cost.

tundebabzy:

I guess the reason why apple has not been mentioned is because of the cost.

noted

I'm now considering the Dell XPS One 27 Inch All-In-One Desktop.

Advantages:
1) It's a desktop PC. Desktop computers are more comfortable to code on for long periods of time.
2) It so big. This gives it a certain "presence" that even 18 inch gaming laptops cannot hope to match.
3) The screen has a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels, which is higher than what you can get on any laptop.
4) The screen is big enough at 27-inches to make the high resolution usable. No DPI scaling is required.

Disadvantages:
1) It's really heavy. You can't easily move it to a colleague's desk to do some pair programming.
2) Unlike laptops, it comes with no built-in UPS, so we may not be able to use it with PHCN.

27". Alright.

lordZOUGA: 27". Alright.

Too big, maybe?

Seun: Too big, maybe?

yes boss. it's too big. remember you are buying for coding and not gaming.
...and I was complaining that 17" is too big.
Desktops are great for immobile workstations.
If you are worried about pair programming, I think it will be easy for your company to develop an in-house framework that will enable developers share their work between workstations without necessarily moving their Computers.

Seun: Too big, maybe?

Nothing is really too big. but i just feel a modern, relatively fast laptop with a 15' - 17' screen should do. Most of the laptop i see here are those that will attract graphics and gaming addicts.

As a programmer, i really dont know what i need a high-end nvidia or ati for.

A fast corei5 or corei7, 4g ram and any size hardisk larger than 100gb is good.

I am currently using a dell latitude d600. someone got it for me in 2004 and its what i am using to type right now. whats more, it run eclipse, the jvm, python[when i need it to] and i have used it to develop countless sotware. I wont advice you get my kind of ancient laptop but i hope you get my point.

Moreover, most of your programmers mite not feel comfortable with that desktop u are going for. Its just too big, we love to move around and share ideas especially if its a team project. sometimes u even work outside the office(maybe under a quiet tree). Laptops are perfect for this.

I am an Android developer any day anytime I used to hate any screen more than 15inch. In fact I never liked that 17inch laptop but reading this thread kind of changed my view and I feel like challanging myself to a bigger screen. I work on 15inch and everything seems perfect to me. I am now planning to get a 17inch Dell inspiron may be I will be more productive.

GideonG: I am an Android developer any day anytime I used to hate any screen more than 15inch. In fact I never liked that 17inch laptop but reading this thread kind of changed my view and I feel like challanging myself to a bigger screen. I work on 15inch and everything seems perfect to me. I am now planning to get a 17inch Dell inspiron may be I will be more productive.

sometimes you just need all the screen real estate you can get

Seun: I'm now considering the Dell XPS One 27 Inch All-In-One Desktop.

Disadvantages:
1) It's really heavy. You can't easily move it to a colleague's desk to do some pair programming.
2) Unlike laptops, it comes with no built-in UPS, so we may not be able to use it with PHCN.

This dear sir makes me drool but what's the fuss about too heavy to move to another table for pair programming? Isn't it easier to move only a chair to another table than to move chair and notebook to another table? If i have issues with my code and want a quick review or need extra eyes, I'll just call over my buddy to my table.

tundebabzy: This dear sir makes me drool

If i have issues with my code and want a quick review or need extra eyes, I'll just call over my buddy to my table.

Good point. I'm so used to taking my laptop around to show people things that I failed to realise that.

Seun:

Good point. I'm so used to taking my laptop around to show people things that I failed to realise that.

seun, i think you should get the first laptop you talked about. It might be an old model but we don't plan to use it forever. With great programmers/developers at your arsenal, you would be able to achieve alot and push nairaland forward in about a year and. Then you sell the laptops at a cheaper price. Add it up with the money your developers where able to make you get with their codes and then get an expensive laptop for them all

in larger more formally organized corporations this debate wudnt really be an issue.
You budget for efficient machines . considering their salient points .
depreciate the expense over an anticipated time period - e.g 3 years.
then sell off the items after theyve exceeded their estimated useful life.
rinse and repeat.
so say ur buying 10 lappies/etc @ 170k . and u expect to use them for 3 years.
that will be 1700 000. add shipping and handling costs and customs .
say N2 000 000.
divide by 3 = u get ~N666 667 /year.
deduct this from gross profit every year to derive ur net profit .
after 3 years - sell the machines for whatever their worth!.
if u want to be extremely frugal u may buy more high end machines and extend their useful life longer .

.

@kambo: The choice of which machine to buy to make programmers happy & productive cannot be made without reading about what programmers love and discussing it with some of them. Your post does not address the issue being discussed at all; please try again. If you really think I don't know that laptops can be sold after a few years, then I have nothing to say to you.

elvis10ten: at one point, I decided to do this, but to my dismay, the Dell XPS l502x was no longer in stock with the retailer I hoped to buy it from, though it was still listed on their website. So we will get the awesome desktops!

Seun: @kambo: The choice of which machine to buy to make programmers happy & productive cannot be made without reading about what programmers love and discussing it with some of them. Your post does not address the issue being discussed at all; please try again. If you really think I don't know that laptops can be sold after a few years, then I have nothing to say to you.

ur sarcasm is childsh. My point still stands . The depreciation bit is to illustrate a point not to "show u how 2 sell laptops after a few years". Besides, knowg how finicky programmers ar no one choice of tool can satisfy all so a unanimous conclusion is impossible. An i.t boss gets wat he likes , d employees confrm to the tools at hand not d other way round. Complaints are noted and adjustments are made within feasible limits and so d wrk place keeps evolvg.
U shd hav an open mind instead of this sarcastc stuff i'm seeing.

Seun: elvis10ten: at one point, I decided to do this, but to my dismay, the Dell XPS l502x was no longer in stock with the retailer I hoped to buy it from, though it was still listed on their website. So we will get the awesome desktops!

yah, your right. Just like one article i read, it says that programmers/developers should be in a place where almost everything is comfortable. Good luck, we wait for great improvement to nairaland. One love

Seun: elvis10ten: at one point, I decided to do this, but to my dismay, the Dell XPS l502x was no longer in stock with the retailer I hoped to buy it from, though it was still listed on their website. So we will get the awesome desktops!

Meanwhile, does your team develop on windows? I've avoided touching anything resembling windows 8 (apart from the phones) because their secure boot thingy makes it difficult to install any other distri

I suppose your developers are currently in Nairaland. Don't you think they are the right people to answer these questions?

tundebabzy: Meanwhile, does your team develop on windows? I've avoided touching anything resembling windows 8 (apart from the phones) because their secure boot thingy makes it difficult to install any other distri

I don't have a team of developers (yet), but I have read that the secure boot restriction can be disabled in the BIOS in most cases.

lordZOUGA: I suppose your developers are currently in Nairaland. Don't you think they are the right people to answer these questions?

As I said earlier, I don't have a team of developers but, even if I did, I would not rely on their opinions alone since I would want my decisions to work not just for them but for any other programmers I would be employing in the future. I appreciate everyone's insightful comments.

kambo: An IT boss gets what he likes. Employees conform to the tools at hand not the other way round.

I disagree with your philosophy. I believe that an IT boss should care about what his/her employees would love to have.