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Discussion on: Setting Up a Fresh Ubuntu 21.04 Desktop as Personal Computer

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Venkatesh KL • Edited

If someone had asked me this question 2 years ago I would have given a straight forward answer startup time. It's back in those days when my 16gb, i5 processor powered laptop(with a brand new SSD) used to take atleast 3-5 minutes to boot up & be usable. I mean, the startup was slow & is there was a TTI(Time To Interactive) for OSes windows would go at last.

However my perspective has changed recently. I use Ubuntu as my daily driver as it's what we use at work. Recently I've noticed that startup time & reboot time of windows have come down significantly. So now my points to use any linux system for development would be as below

  1. Being able to install docker & nvm comfortably. I use them in a daily basis so, it's better if it's easy to install & use.
  2. Being as close to your production environment, Unless you're hosting your applications on windows servers.
  3. Being able to work on even a decently powered machine(Average processor + 4-8 gb of memory + hard disk drive).
  4. Finance budgets. I know this doesn't apply to big oraganizations as they purchase licences in bulk, but startups which are not having great baking may consider running with minimal finances. So the developer machine bay not be brand new MacBook at all.
  5. Personal comfort. I've been using Ubuntu for almost 5+ years in a row. So I'm more comfortable there so that's an obvious choice.

If at least 3/5 comes as a Yes, then go for a Linux machine.
Point 4 is very prominent though of others. If you have budget you'd obviously go for a MacBook, so you may not even reach this place. So chill out.

Cheers 👍