Adam Bien's Weblog
Mac for development? But not for a mobile developer - or how to run Mac OSX on thinkpad
In the java development community Macs are widely spread and used. I'm also considering to buy a new notebook and thinking about buying a MacBook Pro.
The problem is not the software (Mac OS X is absolutely o.k.), but the hardware. My current thinkpad has a docking station, so it takes about 1 second to put it into for charge, connect with 1GBit Lan and work with external keyboard, TFT, mouse, loudespeakers, headset etc. Is it possible to do something similar with the mac? I mean: to be mobile and have desktop experience at home?.
The next issue is a little bit funny. I have about 4 batteries, so I can work nearly 12 hours (e.g. in an airplane) without charging stops. It seems like it is not very easy to change the batteries in a mac (you need a coin or a screewdriver ???). Perhaps the internal battery are already powerful enough? (I don't think so).
I do not like to mention the Java 6 support here...:-)
Everything else is fine, but without a convenient dock and additional battery pack, MacBook is not the best development platform for a mobile developer...
It's like Web 2.0 and SOA, I just can't get it :-)
Sorry for the off-topic post, but I'm just curious about the opinions of Java Mac Developers - perhaps there is a secret dock and battery packs... Perhaps it is a better idea to run Mac OS X ...on a thinkpad :-)
Posted at 03:34PM Jun 04, 2007 by Adam Bien in Fun | Kommentare[4]
[This entry is based on / extends my books: Enterprise Architekturen, Leitfaden fuer effiziente Software-Entwicklung and: Java EE 5 Architekturen, Patterns und Idiome]
>Everything else is fine, but without a convenient dock and additional battery pack, MacBook is not the best development platform for a mobile developer...<
perhaps for VooDoo Consultants? I heard they don't need much battery power for their presentations... :P
but it could be worse, at least you have not to buy a new MacBook if its battery is empty... ;)
Gesendet von Michael Bien am June 04, 2007 at 04:01 PM CEST #
Ciao Adam. :-)
Docking station: I'm not aware of any. I doubt a secret one might exist since there's no such thing as a single bay for a docking station.
Batteries: on the MacBook Pro you don't need any tool to change them. Just two locks to shift. 3 hours is a reasonable estimate (mine last less, but I actually didn't take care of it properly).
Java 6: Apple is getting me nervous :-)
Gesendet von Fabrizio Giudici am June 04, 2007 at 04:14 PM CEST #
there is a poll on this topic on java.net:
http://www.java.net/pub/pq/160
Gesendet von Michael Bien am June 04, 2007 at 07:09 PM CEST #
Check http://www.bookendzdocks.com/
Gesendet von Matthias am June 04, 2007 at 07:42 PM CEST #