Hardware is usually important to techies. I see no shortage of discussions and debates about this laptop or that. I see people asking about this machine or that ( the W530 looks niiiiiiiccccceee) and as various Surface tablets are announced, I often find people blogging about what they like or debating the merits on Twitter. In the SQL Server world, there are a few very impressive hardware setups at people's homes.
I ran across this post about life at Stripe and there was one benefit listed that caught my eye. In the post, the author says "New employees are asked to send in specifications for their dream machine, which is then built and waiting for them on their first day." I think that's a great benefit, and it shows that the company values their employees and wants to ensure they start off with a little excitement.
This Friday I wanted to ask you what you'd do if that were offered to you. Most of us working for corporations get the same type of machine as all other technical employees, but imagine that isn't the case.
What machine would you specify if your boss gave you the choice?
Personally I like my MacBook Air. It's small, light, comes on instantly, and I find myself really enjoying OSX. The one thing it lacks is some horsepower, and if I need more I'd have to look at either one of the new Macbook Pros or the Lenovo 530. The former is very tempting right now, but the latter would allow me to replace my desktop as well since it can drive four external monitors.
If you could spec out your machine when starting a new job tomorrow, what would you want?
Steve Jones
The Voice of the DBA Podcasts
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