0. Software engineer
1. 14” MacBook Pro - M1 Pro
2. My current laptop is about 4 years old. Historical, I’ve updated more frequently, but every time I think of doing it I don’t see a point.
The M1 has held up amazingly well, a new one would give a minor speed update for some stuff. I don’t use my personal laptop a ton these days, and don’t push it very hard.
My work laptop is the same chip, just a large screen. It’s off lease at this point, so I’m due for a new one, but I’m not feeling it as an issue where I’m reaching out about it.
My past justification was that Macs held their value well, so I could sell my old one, get a new one, and always be pretty up to date, for a more modest price. With the M1 Pro, I think I may have skipped an entire upgrade cycle already, and will likely skip another one. It is also possible that it feels more like that because Apple is finally shipping regular updates again. For many years during the Intel period, the update cycle seemed random, which I did not like and it made the upgrades less predictable.
Software engineer, last laptop was Dell Inspiron, I use it until it breaks in a way I can't fix. Laptops typically last me 7-10 years.
However, I decided to switch away from laptops entirely when my last one broke. Towers fit my situation much better.
0. SWE turned manager against my better judgment
1. MacBookPro M4 base model.
2. roughly 10 years ( my last one was a MCP retina 2015, and before that linux notebooks lasting about the same time ).
As long as possible.
0. Software developer
1. Current laptop is HP EliteBook 835 G7 (16 GB/256 GB SSD).
2. I bought the current laptop secondhand for few hundred a year ago. I expect to get 5+ years out of this one.
Previous laptop was MacBook Pro (15", mid 2015) that I would probably still be using, but I need to change it's keyboard and haven't bothered to do that yet. That lasted for 8 years on my use.
0. Founder
1. MacBook Pro 2019; Asus G56rj; Asus F15
2. Still using them, MacBook is old~ish, but still working, the heavy lift for containers, etc running on a separate home-lab machine, but still good. Battery is not decent anymore (~2-4h). The Old g56rj is my homelab (16gb mem). The F15 is for local LLM & stuffs that requires a dedicated 4xxx GPU (image processing, compiling, local ai tests)
Software. I typically use Macs. Previous one lasted 8-9 years (still working but bad battery). Current one (apple silicon) probably gonna last me the same time
In a professional setting, about 5 years. Just various office work, nothing to intense.
In personal life, currently 17 years. Lenovo T400 still rocking on. Beyond SOME web browsing there just isn't anything yet that heavy that demands anything more than this thing.
17?! Holy cow that's a really long time. What OS do you run on it?
0. Engineering Manager, but I still write code.
1. I don't. I have a Mac Mini. I don't quite understand why people have laptops at home if they always use it in the same place. I spent years getting my office setup to be great so I don't need a computer I can move around.
2. Mostly dependent on what shiny new Mini is available. I had an 8GB M1 for 5 years, then moved to an 24GB M4 Pro last year because local AI looked fun. I'll probably upgrade to an M5 later this year because there are tangible improvements in the hardware.
A laptop hooked to an external monitor and keyboard is basically almost the same experience IMO. And it gives me the optionality of taking it the few times I travel (tho i can see how some people would decide not do that)
Taking your puzzlement at face value...
> I don't quite understand why people have laptops at home if they always use it in the same place.
A lot of people wil be using it from the sofa or generally in a shared space where it's not convenient to have a permanent computer setup.
Those who usually use it in one place may want the flexibility of occasionally using it from the coffee shop or while on vacation.
Those are people who don't use their computer in the same place. A laptop is great for them. I know plenty of people who only use their computer sat (or standing) at the desk in their home office. And yet they still insist on buying a laptop. It's odd.
What do you use when not working?
As the question was 'personal laptop'. Your work Mac mini may stay in your office, but electronic device do you use for non-work? Just your phone?
Ok, I don't know anyone at all who does that. Your friends are odd.
Most people I know who use a laptop do that.
They have it in one place and never ever use it anywhere else? Do you know why?
Thanks! What do you carry when you travel?
If it's for work, my work laptop.
If it's not for work I won't be using a computer, so my phone is enough.
Recently retired software developer. Still using a crappy 2015 Acer laptop for hobby projects since I figure that whatever performance I'm getting it will be heaps better for most other people using my software
Software Engineer, use it partially for private and professional purposes.
In historical Order: Thinkpad X201, Then a Thinkpad T450s, currently a Macbook Air M2, usually in the biggest configuration.
Usually I use it about 7 years. Not because it doesn't work anymore, but because it gets too slow for what I am doing with it. In one case it was the switch from C++/C# to Rust and the compile times became unbearable. The next switch might be because of LLMs.
That's basically one of the main reasons I'm trying to switch my M1 Air.
I used to change more frequently but since I got a MacBook Pro M1, the original one, I am still waiting for something significant better.
0. Developer
1. Lenovo L340
2. I often find that ~5 years is about the right time to change so i can stay somewhat in touch with the current tech. I often get lower-spec devices as i mostly work via remote machines though
0. Developer
1. Dell Latitude 7490
2. As long as I can.
I think I've been on the Latutude for about 4 years now, but it's a second-hand device coming up on seven or eight years old. I generally don't need much oomph for the stuff I like to do at home (I don't game for example).
I had a series of XPS laptops, but the battery life in use was poor and they tended to need the battery replacing quite quickly (puffy batteries - possibly because they run quite hot).
Prior to that I'd been on second hand Thinkpads, with the X220s still kicking around somewhere in case the main device dies.
I reckon the current Dell has at least a couple more years in it for my purposes. It has 64Gb ram so until website bloat gets out of control I'm good I think.
I have a fairly fast mini-pc with oodles of ram on the network that I use as a sacrificial yolo machine for Claude, and an elderly desktop machine with a decent GPU for local running of LLMs. The latter is noisy and in practice it hasn't been turned on for months.
I hate Macs, but envy you the battery life and spiffy Arm CPU (yes, I know about Asahi, but until one can safely entirely wipe MacOS from the Mac I'm not interested).
0. founder
1. m1 max 32gb
2. i bought it used for $900, i'll use it until it no longer works for my needs (build speeds, running docker stuff locally) and then i'll get whatever future renewed macbook i can get on amazon for 900-1000 bucks
Thanks for the response. Do you run any LLMs locally?