On: Tracking developer build times to decide if the M3...

[Aurornis → mgaunard]

> That is simply impossible. You cannot fit multiple 16x PCI-Express cards in a laptop chassis

What does this have to do with compiling code?

Obviously, if someone needs x16 PCIe cards they aren’t in the market for a laptop anyway.

The only people comparing laptop versus desktop are those for whom both platforms can actually do what they need.

[Jtsummers → Aurornis]

> What does this have to do with compiling code?

Nothing. GP is making an assumption that all people need the same kind of hardware for the same kind of work as they do. None of my work touches on ML or heavy data processing (in the numeric sense), so hardware like that is useless to me and my coworkers. A beefier workstation is still useful (more cores, more RAM), but recent-ish laptops (post 2020 definitely, tail-end of the 2010s is still fine) provide more than enough horsepower.

[endless1234 → mgaunard]

Perhaps many people building code do not need multiple 16x PCI-Express cards in their day to day workflow, but like being able to move around with their laptop?

[serf → endless1234]

Yeah , perhaps -- but

>Apple Silicon devices can get the same performance as a desktop in a laptop size.

is still unequivocally wrong, bordering on belligerent marketing misinformation.

[endless1234 → serf]

For lots of workloads it is basically true, though. Not something exclusive to Apple laptops of course, others have also been capable programming workhorses for quite some years. It's just weird to say that no compiling should be done on a laptop - that might've been true 10 years ago.

[baq → mgaunard]

Not everyone needs multiple 4090s to do their work. If you do, your options are limited.

[duskwuff → baq]

And even if you do, you still might be better off running the GPU-bound tasks somewhere else and using a laptop to interact with them remotely.