I am really struggling making a decision to get the new Macbook Pro 14, I had even ordered one already with 32GB and 1TB, looked a long time at that 3200€ before clicking the button and just cancelled the order again. I was wondering if others have the same thoughts.
Short background: I use my laptop 95% for development, mostly web, including docker. My current Macbook Pro 15 2011 died two years ago and I resurrected it with Ubuntu. The reason it died was probably Docker, it was running at 105% every day for multiple months, and performance was still very bad. After switching to Ubuntu I could not believe how snappy everything was again, not only Docker.
With Macbooks before M1 it would have been easier, because you could run everything plus you had the best OS, but those have other problems (Keyboard etc). Now I somehow cannot justify spending so much for being completely closed in the Apple system and getting worse performance doing dev stuff.
I think the M1 is superior when it comes to video, graphics etc. what seems to be the core target group of buyers for Apple. But for development I think the best times are over. Working as a freelance dev on my last jobs actually most were running Linux.
Only problem is getting a setup that runs with current hardware, and then I just found out that you can actually order a Lenovo X1 Carbon with Ubuntu preinstalled, it just has a long wait time (> 6 weeks).
What probably annoyed me most with the new Macbooks, is that not only is everything soldered, but they take 460€ tops for getting 32GB Ram - even by Apple standards this is ridiculous. For Lenovo it was 50Euro to get 32GB :))
So what do you think? Is anyone getting a M1 Pro for doing dev stuff? Or maybe using a normal M1, maybe even a Macbook Air and using it with Docker (Postgres, Redis etc)? That would be another option I am thinking about...
Curious on your opinion and experiences!
I ordered a Thinkpad in July with a ship date of 10-14 days. The ship date has basically slipped to March of next year. I check the ship date every week or so and it bounces around a lot, telling me they have no idea when it will actually ship. I can't even imagine what will happen if they ship me a defective laptop and I have to get it replaced.
I'm 95% at the point where I'm going to cancel the order and switch to either a Framework laptop or a Macbook Pro.
This doesn't help answer your question, but if you need the laptop soon, The X1 Carbon may not be the answer.