I'm a web developer: Which model should I get?

[Fynbo]

Hi,

Automatically I had already decided on getting the i5 256 8GB model, but then I thought: 'Do I really need it?'.

I work as a web developer and am currently using a MacBook Air 13" from 2013 with 4GB RAM and Intel HD Graphics 5000. In the office this is plugged in to a single Apple screen with a very high resolution. It's sometimes strugling a bit (but just a bit), and because of this and the fact that I'm really a Windows guy at heart, I'd like to get a SP4.

I need to be able to do the following on my device:

- Use Sublime Text 2 / PHPStorm
- Use Filezilla
- Use Photoshop for light use (basically just making some images have a transparent background, mostly)
- Have several browsers open at once with many tabs
- Use a mail program
- Have it connected to a single (or perhaps more in the future) high res screens

Which model of the Surface Pro 4 do you suggest for me? Storage space isn't really a problem for me. I get by just fine with my current 128 GBs in conjunction with Dropbox.

Also, one of the main reasons for me considering the SP4 is the pen. I often need to design web sites or write down ideas, and I'd love to be able to do a quick screenshot by pressing the pen and then drawing/writing with the pen in OneNote.

 

[badMojo69]

Get the m and you'll have the pen and just about the same performance you have with your current mac.

 

[GatsbyGlen]

I wouldn't go M3 for work like that, but that's just me. PHPStorm isn't really light on memory consumption. I think you would want at least 8GB of RAM to start.

It sounds like this would be plugged in most of the time? I would get the dock too. As for SDD, there is some chatter that the 128 is slower than the 256 that is released, based on benchmarks. Whether or not you would actually perceive this while using it is a different story.

 

[badMojo69]

They are already using a mac with 4gb ram and said its fine. Sounded like they are not concerned with more ram or faster drive. More like the pen was the deciding factor.

 

[Fynbo]

I wouldn't go M3 for work like that, but that's just me. PHPStorm isn't really light on memory consumption. I think you would want at least 8GB of RAM to start.

It sounds like this would be plugged in most of the time? I would get the dock too. As for SDD, there is some chatter that the 128 is slower than the 256 that is released, based on benchmarks. Whether or not you would actually perceive this while using it is a different story.

Yeah, I'll definetly be getting the dock. Most of the day it will just be docked.

Thanks for your replies, guys.

 

[cliveportman]

I'm a web developer, too, and have the same list as you plus:
- have GitHub and Koala running,
- Adobe Illustrator open with sometimes massive files

I bought the SP4 about two weeks ago and went for the i5, 8GB, 256GB and haven't looked back. It's not quite my main machine yet as I haven't got the Surface Dock yet but come first day back in January it will be. 8GB was important for me as one of the designers I work with produces such large Illustrator files, but without that I'd have gone for 8GB anyway as I want this to be my main machine for at least two years. The same applies to 256GB.

 

[The Werewolf]

The M is probably good enough, although for me, these days - I'd want 8GB RAM.

 

[Misterb]

Get the i5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJCL3nFfoMs

 

[onlysublime]

4 GB doesn't cut it anymore. 4 GB is for entry level PCs or users with basic needs. As a web developer, you should already have a sense of how much RAM is needed for various programs.

Here's what you said you need:

I need to be able to do the following on my device:
- Use Sublime Text 2 / PHPStorm
- Use Filezilla
- Use Photoshop for light use (basically just making some images have a transparent background, mostly)
- Have several browsers open at once with many tabs
- Use a mail program
- Have it connected to a single (or perhaps more in the future) high res screens

Here is Edge with 5 tabs:



Here is both Edge and Firefox running together:



That's 2 GB JUST for the 2 web browsers with a few tabs that's not running video. Not factoring OS usage, other program usage, etc.

Let's throw in some Chrome:

 

[m4600]

Another important consideration is Virtual Machines. Developers often use virtual environments to test how their apps and websites work on various platforms and with various versions of browsers. If you plan on running VMs, the m3 with 4GB is not going to be enough. And if you want to run several VMs at once then you may even want to consider 16GB and of course plenty of disk space: those VMs require a lot of RAM and a lot of storage space!