I was talking to a fellow CTO of a startup company based in the bay area. Apple occupied most of our discussions. Prior to the economic downturn, when the credit was abundant, CTOs were okay in buying  Apple computers for their developers.  Guess what? CTOs are now questioning the need to buy expensive Apple laptops for their developers.

Apple laptops definitely has the cool factor written all over it. But a Dell laptop with Ubuntu does bring the same functionality to the table. Since most of the developers use either PHP or Ruby (at least in the startup world), there is no need to have Apple computers - it’s a different story if you could afford it.

These days you could get an  excellent laptop,  Intel Dual core laptop with 3GB,  for around $500 to $700. Also  developers don’t need Microsoft office suite,  Google Docs and Open Office serves really well.  Bottom line, companies don’t have to shell out top dollars for a good development laptop.

Checkout Deals of America for dirt cheap on-going laptop deals.

Of course, if you are building an iPhone application or some super duper graphic stuff, you will need to go with  Apple computers.  This is an exception not the norm, unless you have the money to burn.

Disclaimer: We are Ubuntu lovers;  myGPSID runs on Ubuntu!!