Ask HN: Is 13" MacBook good enough without an external monitor?

2•ShahinSorkh•1mo ago

I want to buy a 13" MacBook Air, but I'm not sure if I can have a comfortable development setup on its small screen without an external bigger display. I don't need to have multiple applications side by side I open everything maximized. It would be nice to be able to play some games (e.g Factorio, DF, LoL) as well.

I'm targeting 13" mostly because of its mobility as I'm planning to work on the go. As a side note: I never owned a MacBook. I appreciate any notes or tricks.

Any thoughts or advice?

Comments

AlexeyBrin•1mo ago

It really depends. Personally I find my 13" MacBook Pro to be good enough for when I'm on the go, but at home I connect it to an external display for programming. (It also depends on how good is your eyesight.)

I would have preferred the 16" MacBook Pro and I will buy a 16" when my current laptop becomes unusable (still going strong for now).

jsk2600•1mo ago

I worked on the same setup for 2 years while travelling a lot. You can get used to it, as long as you don't start connecting it to an external screen, then you'll find 13'' just small.

Consider purchasing an external portable screen to attach to the MacBook while on the go.

robthebrew•1mo ago

sure, but investigate Mission Control

How to shoot yourself in the foot – 2026 edition

Eight More Months of Agents

From Human Thought to Machine Coordination

The new X API pricing must be a joke

Show HN: RMA Dashboard fast SAST results for monorepos (SARIF and triage)

Show HN: Source code graphRAG for Java/Kotlin development based on jQAssistant

Python Only Has One Real Competitor

Tmux to Zellij (and Back)

Ask HN: How are you using specialized agents to accelerate your work?

Passing user_id through 6 services? OTel Baggage fixes this

DavMail Pop/IMAP/SMTP/Caldav/Carddav/LDAP Exchange Gateway

Visual data modelling in the browser (open source)

Show HN: Tharos – CLI to find and autofix security bugs using local LLMs

Oddly Simple GUI Programs

The New Playbook for Leaders [pdf]

Interactive Unboxing of J Dilla's Donuts

OneCourt helps blind and low-vision fans to track Super Bowl live

Rudolf Vrba

Autism Incidence in Girls and Boys May Be Nearly Equal, Study Suggests

Wellness Hotels Discovery Application

NASA delays moon rocket launch by a month after fuel leaks during test

Sebastian Galiani on the Marginal Revolution

Ask HN: Are we at the point where software can improve itself?

Binance Gives Trump Family's Crypto Firm a Leg Up

Reverse engineering Chinese 'shit-program' for absolute glory: R/ClaudeCode

Indian Culture

Show HN: Maravel-Framework 10.61 prevents circular dependency

The age of a treacherous, falling dollar

Ask HN: AI Generated Diagrams

Microsoft Account bugs locked me out of Notepad – are Thin Clients ruining PCs?