Smallest possible machine for web programming?

2 pointse59d134d8y ago4 comments

I use 15 inch MacBook Pro for work. My personal machine is 13 inch MBP. I like to stop by coffeeshop and work on personal projects until traffic dies down. However, carrying both machines at same time is a bit cumbersome. I could leave my personal machine in the car but prefer to keep it on my person in office. It gets really hot in summer and we don't have covered parking always.

So I am looking at smaller personal machine that I can carry with me to work. My personal projects are mostly web based, I have various VPS for dev work.

So here are some options:

1. Surface Pro is the first option that comes to mind but it is almost as big as 13 inch MBP.

2. 10.5 inch iPad Pro is next option, not perfect setup but many blog posts about using it as main dev machine with certain apps. Bit expensive for what it is though.

3. Pixel C - 10.2 inches. Looks good but older and storage options are limited.

3a. 8-10 inches Android tablets (not sure which one). Again these will be limited but it seems people are able to make them work. Will need to buy a keyboard, don't see many clean solutions like iPad pro.

Anyone here has any suggestions?

4 comments

twobyfour8y ago

I've been working on an elderly 11" MacBook Air a bunch. Don't love the 16:9 screen ratio, and I've been spoiled by retina screens at work, but it's perfectly adequate for local development on small projects or to SSH into a server. And it weighs barely more than a tablet plus keyboard.

The 12" MacBook is probably perfect (even lighter, better screen), but a bit pricey for the use case. Maybe a secondhand one when the Air kicks the bucket.

PaulHoule8y ago

I like a cheap android tablet plus a cheap Bluetooth keyboard and cheap Bluetooth mouse. It costs 1/3 of what those 2-in-1 machines costs, and will make the people who showed up at the hackathon with a mac jealous (at least as far as style)

Just make sure you don't get one (Google Nexus) that can't do WiFi and Bluetooth at the same time.

irlib8y ago

MacBook 12’ would work for most webdev work much better than any tablet while being much less in weight and size than mbp 13’.

ApolloRising8y ago

11 inch macbook pro?

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