What's the laptop setup of your choice?

yzTyzT Member Posts: 365 ■■■□□□□□□□
in Off-Topic
I'm thinking on buying a laptop, but yet I'm not convinced for which setup go to. What would you choose?

A) Macbook Pro. Windows VM. Kali VM.
B) Windows laptop. Kali VM.
C) Delete Windows and put Linux (likely Jessie as my PC) as the main host. Windows VM, Kali VM.
D) Other: explain.

I'm not sure whether the Macbook worth. For lower prices there are high-end laptops with far better specifications. About Linux, probably there will be drivers issues of some sort. And Windows... Well everything will work, but I don't need Windows at all, just to run any specific tool occasionally.
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Comments

  • WafflesAndRootbeerWafflesAndRootbeer Member Posts: 555
    Linux has no problem with current hardware except for the odd piece of exotic silicon found on high-end notebooks. Older hardware is a mixed bag though. Just get a straight Intel laptop with the latest Intel CPU/GPU and WiFi hardware and you'll be set for Windows or Linux. Look into a Crucial 480GB M500 SSD as they are priced very nicely right now and of course, max out the RAM.
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  • MoabMoab Member Posts: 35 ■■□□□□□□□□
    Personally I don’t do Apple. I also believe that laptops are temporary 1 to 2 year life expectancy. So don’t spend a lot of money on it. Dual boot Win/Linux or VM is what I run
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  • AkaricloudAkaricloud Member Posts: 938
    If price isn't a factor give me a Retina Macbook Pro running OSX and Windows VMs. This is what I requested for work and it has been absolutely fantastic.

    Personally I'm not at a point where I'm comfortable spending that much on a personal laptop that I barely use. For home I just have a powerful, cheap refurbished Dell with a SSD.
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  • emerald_octaneemerald_octane Member Posts: 613
    Retina MBP + 27" + VMWare Fusion.
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  • gc8dc95gc8dc95 Member Posts: 206 ■■□□□□□□□□
    i5 2c/4t 3.2ghz
    16gb ram
    512gb Crucial SSD

    Windows OS with several VM's
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  • RouteMyPacketRouteMyPacket Member Posts: 1,104
    I use a 13" Macbook Pro Retina
    8GB RAM
    256SSD
    Parallels (Win7)

    No can defend! Hands down the best laptop I have ever owned.
    Modularity and Design Simplicity:

    Think of the 2:00 a.m. test—if you were awakened in the
    middle of the night because of a network problem and had to figure out the
    traffic flows in your network while you were half asleep, could you do it?
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  • YFZbluYFZblu Member Posts: 1,462 ■■■■■■■■□□
    13in Macbook Air:

    i7
    8GB RAM
    256GB SSD

    Runs great with a couple VM's spun up, for heavier lifting I switch over to my desktop.
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  • shodownshodown Member Posts: 2,271
    MBP. with 16 gig and VM ware. Been using the same machine since late 2009-2010. Works great. I'm sure it will last another 2-3 years
    Currently Reading

    CUCM SRND 9x/10, UCCX SRND 10x, QOS SRND, SIP Trunking Guide, anything contact center related
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  • JoJoCal19JoJoCal19 Mod Posts: 2,835 Mod
    I have a 15" MBP i7 with 16GB RAM and have been running Kali, Win 7, Metasploitable, and other OS' in VMs using VMWare Fusion and I'm tired of it. I managed to barter a practically new and unused Samsung Smart PC tab for a HP laptop with quad AMD A8, 8GB RAM (to be upgraded to 16GB), AMD Radeon 6750m and 6620G, and SSD and regular HD. It has a 15" 1080p screen. THIS will be my dedicated lab and IT computer.

    I prefer OSX for my everyday usage but nothing beats having a dedicated laptop for VMs and IT studying and work in my opinion. When it gets here tomorrow I will be throwing VMWare Workstation on it. To me, using Workstation is far superior of an experience to running multiple VMs in Fusion.
    Have: CISSP, CISM, CISA, CRISC, eJPT, GCIA, GSEC, CCSP, CCSK, AWS CSAA, AWS CCP, OCI Foundations Associate, ITIL-F, MS Cyber Security - USF, BSBA - UF, MSISA - WGU
    Currently Working On: Python, OSCP Prep
    Next Up:​ OSCP
    Studying:​ Code Academy (Python), Bash Scripting, Virtual Hacking Lab Coursework
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  • yzTyzT Member Posts: 365 ■■■□□□□□□□
    As I expected, many of you have Macs. I really don't like the Mac so much, but it is "like" a Linux (Unix) with a better support, that's why I'm considering it.
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  • RouteMyPacketRouteMyPacket Member Posts: 1,104
    yzT wrote: »
    As I expected, many of you have Macs. I really don't like the Mac so much, but it is "like" a Linux (Unix) with a better support, that's why I'm considering it.

    Look at it this way, what "can't" the Macbook do for you? ROI is good
    Modularity and Design Simplicity:

    Think of the 2:00 a.m. test—if you were awakened in the
    middle of the night because of a network problem and had to figure out the
    traffic flows in your network while you were half asleep, could you do it?
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  • gkcagkca Member Posts: 243 ■■■□□□□□□□
    yzT wrote: »
    As I expected, many of you have Macs. I really don't like the Mac so much, but it is "like" a Linux (Unix) with a better support, that's why I'm considering it.
    Well, it actually *IS* unix.
    PS I use MBP 13' with a couple of ssd's (one is in the tray instead of the dvd) and Fusion 6.
    "I needed a password with eight characters so I picked Snow White and the Seven Dwarves." (c) Nick Helm
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  • tpatt100tpatt100 Member Posts: 2,991 ■■■■■■■■■□
    I have a 13 inch MBP that I use VMware Fusion with CentOS currently. It's a well built laptop. Not sure what I would go with next time if I get a Windows laptop seems Lenovo gets good reviews on this forum.
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  • msteinhilbermsteinhilber Member Posts: 1,480 ■■■■■■■■□□
    I have a 13" MBP with the Retina display. It's great to use but it's not exactly a powerhouse compared to what I'm used to using. I primarily got it because we have started to support Mac's on our network. The downfall with these is what you buy is effectively what you get, you're stuck with the RAM as it comes configured and the SSD is proprietary though there are some options out there.

    If I wanted something like a mobile workstation for running VM's on and training purposes, a Macbook Pro wouldn't be my choice. I'd look into something like a Lenovo W530 or something in HP's Elitebook lineup which usually has a couple high performance notebook options.

    For me the MBP works out, because I don't use it as some kind of mobile powerhouse to run a bunch of VM's off. I'm using it for web browsing, email, console access to our Juniper equipment and other management tasks. I remote my vSphere lab for when I need to run VM's for training purposes.
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  • tpatt100tpatt100 Member Posts: 2,991 ■■■■■■■■■□
    Yeah I didn't get the Retina MBP so I could up the RAM to 16gb and put my own SSD in it. The Retina ones are thinner and lock you in with what you get.
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  • emerald_octaneemerald_octane Member Posts: 613
    msteinhilber wrote: »
    If I wanted something like a mobile workstation for running VM's on and training purposes, a Macbook Pro wouldn't be my choice. I'd look into something like a Lenovo W530 or something in HP's Elitebook lineup which usually has a couple high performance notebook options.

    Funny, I got a RMBP 15" exactly for this reason. With 16 GB of RAM & Fusion I can virtualize the full Windows Server 2012 Test Lab (4 Win 2k12 Servers, 1x Windows 8 Client) with ease.
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  • networker050184networker050184 Mod Posts: 11,962 Mod
    Anything cheap with nice specs Wipe it for whatever linux distro I'm messing with at the time.
    An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made.
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  • shodownshodown Member Posts: 2,271
    I have a MBP mainly because I'm a sucker for good design and clean lines. Other machines are catching up, but thats my favorite thing about a mac.
    Currently Reading

    CUCM SRND 9x/10, UCCX SRND 10x, QOS SRND, SIP Trunking Guide, anything contact center related
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  • White WizardWhite Wizard Member Posts: 179
    Not much for laptops since I've worked on so many that die so fast.

    You can get a surface pro right now for $500 (400 off as bestbuy has it only this friday and saturday i believe) or a refurbished surface rt for 180 online through ebay or microsoft.

    Pretty good deals imo.

    I've found most laptops to be junk besides the high end models such as dell precision, any entry level HP laptop you might as well throw your money away in my experience. Sony's wireless cards die out sooner then others and Samsung/ Lenovo I haven't encountered many problems with.

    I'd rather buy a used laptop or check out a pawn shop for some deals. Besides when its close to black friday, I wont buy a laptop brand new. ( so many awesome deals last year on i5 and i7 laptops)

    I'd run Kali.
    "The secret to happiness is doing what you love. The secret to success is loving what you do."
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