Stuff a coder should buy?

Just buy the cheapest laptop (if you don't already have one) and then buy lots of backup SSDs to store your projects and some IDE's. Other than that, you can get software for free. Tutorials are on YouTube, Microsoft and JetBrains have free IDE's such as VS, VSCode and Pycharm, check out this shameless self-promotion: dev.to/wjplatformer/vscode-5bfp. In conclusion, writing text don't need a Nvidea 3060Ti GPU, a small laptop and a bunch of storage is all you need to BUY.


Edit: You of course, need to have a table and chair. And, depending on what kind of software dev you do, you need powerful CPU's. If you plan on doing AI or GameDev, it is wise to have a core i5 and above for intel (I have no experience with AMD unfortunately, but a 5600U or X should be fine).


Funny, I have the least powerful of laptops and can still run some Unity.

wrist rest for keyboard and mouse. Probably will not increase your speed, but coding will be little bit more comfortable.

e.g.: wyprzedazrtvagd.pl/pol_pl_Podporka...

• good office table — that I use as a desk
• good chair — because I do a lot of sitting on my keister
• good computer — I use an Apple iMac Pro (2017) and Puget Serenity
• second monitor — for easier side-by-side development (IDE on one, app on the other)
• good editor — I use Vim
• good font — I use Fira Code (I used to use DJR Input)
• good IDE — I use Xcode (macOS) and Visual Studio (Win 11)
• good ISP — to look stuff up on StackOverflow, MSDN, and Apple Dev Docs
• good keyboard — IBM Model M
• good mouse — Logitech or Microsoft
• endless supply of caffeinated beverages — my body turns caffeine into code

Since I don't do development on the road, I don't have a development laptop. But If I did... it'd depend on what platform I'm developing for. For macOS, it'd be a MacBook of some sort (the lighter the better). For Linux, it'd be a Dell XPS 13 developer edition. For Windows, it'd be a Lenovo ThinkPad or perhaps a Microsoft Surface Laptop 4.

I've determined that for laptops (for me), the lighter weight the better. That is the overall critical criterion. If it is too heavy the laptop never leaves my desk, so it might as well be a more powerful desktop computer. (Looking at my 13 pound Alienware 17 laptop.)

The only purchases that I actually ended up using were ergonomic things. Get an expensive office chair that has lumbar support, and a standing desk that can be lowered to sitting position.

In college I had one of those weird chair pillows for my bed. That was super useful too! I didn’t have money for a nice chair or desk back then.

Otherwise for typing/efficiency, the best thing you can do is practice. So buy yourself a few hours a week to practice your keybinds and stuff.

Also if you are addicted to caffeine like most of us, then getting an easy to clean coffee maker or super efficient coffee maker is a good investment.

Any laptop that Linux supports will be good enough. Really no need for anything else to be coding.

If you want to be coding faster, invest your time (or money) into creating (or buying) stuff that will fit your workflow. If you start buying shit like modern full blown IDEs then "any laptop" is no longer enough.

If you want to be a better programmer, buy books and read them. Books give you comprehensive knowledge (unlike knowledge scraps you often find online). There are also good quality free PDF books, but reading on a laptop screen sucks for me. So maybe an ebook reader?

Some objections:

I use $5 keyboard. I have three of those laying around in case this one I use right now breaks. I love them. You may think that's not very ergonomic. Just use an ergonomic layout, like dvorak. My wrists never hurt again.

I use a single monitor, and I have absolutely no idea why you would want more than one. Alt-tab sucks, but all of the operating systems / window managers support multiple workspaces. Browser? Ctrl-1. Email? Ctrl-2. Editor? Ctrl-4. That's faster than moving your head / eyes to another monitor, and I have a total of 8. On top of that, no need to ever touch your mouse to switch window focus.

Standing desk: I have it, but I seldom stand in front of it. Hard to concentrate for me in this position. However, I change its height quite often anyway. That's probably a good buy, even if you don't like standing in place much.

I also have a whiteboard. Good for memos and extra focused work, but most of the time pen and paper is simply better (and more portable obviously).

Overall, as we used to say: skill, not gear.

I'd say sanity. I mean programming ain't just putting random words ajd expect stuff to happen. A lots of brain juice is required to process stuff. Seen my colleagues breakdown cuz they can't center a Button literally.

Ne prepared for things don't always work you want. And keep in mind that you are human not machine. Keep yourself sane, atleast to q point.

That's what I'd recommend.

As for buying, well no matter what one buy, it all boils down, does the person know what they doing or not. You seem to have the machine for programming, well that's good,and i don't think you need anything except for books or tutorials for the language you wanna learn and master.

But I'll still question why waste money on mac when you can literally just buy a gaming laptop with that money and get even triple the power than that overpriced box of scrap? Or even better build a pc. Well that's still the person's own choice. Anyways Goodluck.

to START OFF, all of this is a bit over the top for me. - Honestly, if a person is starting off in coding, they should just focus on one laptop, whichever can do the job. - afterwards, a laptop stand afterwards so they don't dive into constant back pain and focus on making the job easier, one step at a time, in which he can recover financially and be stable in it, through the process.

I'm not saying "don't go for it" regarding the things you listed, but it's very expensive for someone STARTING in coding, to invest in everything you mentioned.

I mean, I've got half a decade under my belt and still don't have a sit/stand desk (of course, I'm not in a country that they come cheap), but you get my point.

It's little steps that get you far, in my opinion. And focusing on your health along the way, should ALWAYS be your priority.

Thanks for letting me share! :)

A second monitor is NOT an option, with JavaScript, for example, especially if you’re on a 13” laptop (mbp M1) like me 😅
I’ve recently bought a 35” 21/9 LG and my life has changed 👍🏻

Depending on your tastes or coding habits, you may want to consider additional monitors or a widescreen monitor to add extra screen real estate. This is good for having additional windows always open for live previews, code, socials, stack overflow, dev.to, etc.

• Logitech MX Keys (Bluetooth, Backlight, fullsize) expensive but I never want another one besides apple magic keyboard
• Standing desk (Ikea Idasen is really stable and worth the price)
• big monitor 32"+ or two 27"

haha, you put your submission on my thread. But again, programming can be done on the cheapest of Raspberries, but again, if you have enough money, buy a budget set or maybe a more powerful one if you plan on building AI training datasets fast or smth. Also, of course, chairs and desks are essentials (and a power supply, if you are really pondering over THAT).


A monitor for your laptop really IS helpful though. But don't need to go to big on that, I'm planning to get just a 27 inch screen.

For traveler and backpacker, get yourself used to blackberry keypad, ssh (for codespace or gitpod), and terminal code editor. Your phone is more handy than M1 Macbook.

A good chair, desk, and monitor stand to make sure you are working with good posture

Also, your set-up is way better than mine. When I'm opening Google Chrome, I use 100% CPU.

I have a single laptop (Lenovo Legion 5 15, AMD Ryzen 4000) and a Razor bluetooth mouse.

Dual boot Ubuntu 22.04 for dev work, and Windows 11 for games.

Things I bought are more w.r.t software:

1. 1Password
2. IntelliJ
3. ExpressVPN
4. DigitalOcean VMs
5. Namecheap domains
6. GCP archival storage
7. Google Drive storage

I may have missed many