I've been a professional C, Perl, PHP and Python developer.
I'm an ex-sysadmin from the late 20th century.
These days I do more Javascript and CSS and whatnot, and promote UX and accessibility.
I used to know someone who used a Mac Mini years ago, and used to bring it into the office in the same way other people brought a laptop. I mean, it is really portable even if Apple never push that to their audience as a feature. They're not bad for what they are, but then again, what are they for? They're a laptop without a screen, in a box.
I use a laptop when I want to use a laptop (e.g. sitting on the sofa) and a desktop when I'm at my desk. Means I don't have to unplug and re-plug everything. When I'm at work I use a MacBook Pro, and the hassle of fixing everything multiple times per day because it's so bad and remembering resolutions and mirroring settings, etc. means it's a poor choice for me.
As far as affordability goes, you might think that it's more expensive to have two separate machines, but it's not, because as a developer I don't need a huge amount of processing power (it's not the 90s and I'm not compiling behemoths in C) and I don't need a Mac. So my development environment cost about £500 I think.
On top of both our prices, if affordability is a concern then you need to add costs for a good monitor, keyboard and mouse, and perhaps factor in a desk and lighting if you don't already have a space set aside.
Oh, then I added an extra ~£200 and upgraded the desktop into a decent gaming machine... yeah, sorry about that.
Going back to your broken laptop, though, when you say "the ports broke" what do you mean? All the ports physically broke off? If it's possible to rescue it then you could put it in a desk drawer to hide it and use it as if it were a desktop. For example, as a silly suggestion, if the ports are wobbly then just glue those cables in place (!) and never touch it again. On the other hand, if it's just, say, one of the USB or TB ports then you can daisy chain the others. Finally, if you've been quoted $800 for a replacement board (probably not including labour) it might not be required. You could take it to a reputable third-party repair shop (i.e. not Apple) for a separate quote.
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I used to know someone who used a Mac Mini years ago, and used to bring it into the office in the same way other people brought a laptop. I mean, it is really portable even if Apple never push that to their audience as a feature. They're not bad for what they are, but then again, what are they for? They're a laptop without a screen, in a box.
I use a laptop when I want to use a laptop (e.g. sitting on the sofa) and a desktop when I'm at my desk. Means I don't have to unplug and re-plug everything. When I'm at work I use a MacBook Pro, and the hassle of fixing everything multiple times per day because it's so bad and remembering resolutions and mirroring settings, etc. means it's a poor choice for me.
As far as affordability goes, you might think that it's more expensive to have two separate machines, but it's not, because as a developer I don't need a huge amount of processing power (it's not the 90s and I'm not compiling behemoths in C) and I don't need a Mac. So my development environment cost about £500 I think.
On top of both our prices, if affordability is a concern then you need to add costs for a good monitor, keyboard and mouse, and perhaps factor in a desk and lighting if you don't already have a space set aside.
Oh, then I added an extra ~£200 and upgraded the desktop into a decent gaming machine... yeah, sorry about that.
Going back to your broken laptop, though, when you say "the ports broke" what do you mean? All the ports physically broke off? If it's possible to rescue it then you could put it in a desk drawer to hide it and use it as if it were a desktop. For example, as a silly suggestion, if the ports are wobbly then just glue those cables in place (!) and never touch it again. On the other hand, if it's just, say, one of the USB or TB ports then you can daisy chain the others. Finally, if you've been quoted $800 for a replacement board (probably not including labour) it might not be required. You could take it to a reputable third-party repair shop (i.e. not Apple) for a separate quote.