Any suggestions on best configuration?
So this is not the answer u want but MacOs is the best IMO for Meteor development. It just works. I have no issues with Windows at all but every time I’ve helped folks get set up on Windows it’s a bit of a wrestling match to get it sorted out.
My 2 cents.
I am sure others will actually provide helpful feedback of the flavor you seek 
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Agreed, anything MacOS 
… 8 gb ram min will make your life nicer, 16 gb is better… Meteor runs Node.js for you and MongoDB for you on your local machine. Your other dev app loads are probably going to just be Chrome & VS Code
For cheaper alternative you can go with pretty much any Linux machine. I personally use System76.
Right now I have Adder WS with i7 processor, 32GB of RAM and M.2 SSD and it is amazing, but there are cheaper alternatives for similar setup. For example in the past I had two Lemur Pro models with similar specs (though in those days the max RAM used to be 16GB, but today you can get more) which was great for traveling.
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Yes, actually I struggled with 2 things yesterday:
Powershell version
All instructions are written for Mac first.
So, it maybe not the Windows is guilty but Mac-oriented instructions.
Also, considering Meteor build times, desktop PC is better for most of the work? I mean, efficiency can be 1.5x compared to mobile processors.
I work at home with Ubuntu (Xubuntu) and at work with MacOs and to me there is no difference in developer experience: both awesome! A slight win for Linux is installing Os dependencies (like ffmpeg for video encoding) directly from the official source repos.
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Depends what your budget is. I have a Lenovo 120S which cost me about 200 EUR two years ago, running Ubuntu 16. I also have a Macbook Pro from 2018. Both run Meteor perfectly. I would highly recommend the Lenovo with Ubuntu for a student or someone on a tight budget - you can do just as much on a device like that as you can on a computer that costs 10x as much.
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This should do the job
| Type | Item |
|---|---|
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 3.5 GHz 16-Core Processor |
| CPU Cooler | Corsair H150i PRO 47.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler |
| Motherboard | *Gigabyte X570 AORUS ELITE ATX AM4 Motherboard |
| Memory | Corsair Vengeance LPX 64 GB (4 x 16 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory |
| Storage | *ADATA XPG SX6000 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive |
| Video Card | MSI GeForce GTX 1650 4 GB D6 AERO ITX OC Video Card |
| Power Supply | *Corsair RM (2019) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply |
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-05-04 10:02 AEST+1000 |
In reality, a PC running linux is going to give you the best experience per currency unit.
Windows does work, but file operations are slower in general, so you will get longer build times on the same hardware. That might be a trade off you’re willing to make for the other benefits of Windows
Generally speaking, single threaded performance is good because javascript is single-threaded.
Many cores can also be useful because some parts of building do happen in new processes in Meteor. It’s also useful so your dev tools and other software can run side by side at full speed.
A SSD is essential, given the huge number of file operations involved in building Node projects.
And lots of RAM is always good, especially if you plan to use Docker alongside other tools
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yea i’d say anything with an ssd and 8 gbs of ram should do the trick. the cheaper the better
I’m always running out of ram, even with 16Gb.
Probably because I’m running 5 electron apps plus chrome, firefox and other utilities 
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yea thats a heavy workload
I have noticed that with multi-window chrome and firefox there is no choice but to have at least 24Gb of memory without having to worry about memory. With 32Gb you can feel like a memory mogul and reboot once a day only )
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I just ordered a Lemur Pro! Super excited for it.
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What specs? Let us all know how things go after you had some time to play with it.
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| 1Ă— Pop!_OS 20.04 LTS (64-bit) with full disk-encryption | |
|---|---|
| 4.9 GHz i7-10510U (1.8 up to 4.9 GHz - 8MB Cache - 4 Cores - 8 Threads) | $199.00 |
| 1Ă— 16 GB DDR4 at 2666 MHz (8GB+8GB) | $65.00 |
| 500 GB NVMe Seq Read: 3,500 MB/s, Seq Write: 3,200 MB/s | $129.00 |
| No Additional M.2 NVMe Drive | |
| 1Ă— Upgrade to WiFi 6 | $59.00 |
| 3 Year Limited Parts and Labor Warranty | $225.00 |
Planning on keeping my MBP as a non-moving video production machine because it keeps breaking. I’ll prob upgrade the ram at some point on this Lemur too.
Upgrading the RAM is a good choice in the future. Looks pretty solid.
Obviously SSD is essential.
If you want to compile iOS apps then you probably need a Mac. Having said that, I use Linux and managed to get OSX running in VirtualBox, which is frowned upon and quite time consuming to get working, so if time==money then just buying a Mac would be more cost effective ;-). Having a real Mac would make testing/debugging easier on a real iPhone via USB - I can’t get that working with VirtualBox.
With my setup even 8GB RAM is pushing it when you have the xCode iPhone emulator running inside OSX running inside Linux. Even without virtual box, after running for a while node.js and Chrome devtools seems to eat up the RAM, then if you have Android Studio runnning as well… 16GB should be your minimum.
Just get a Mac. Get one for me while you’re at it!
You say “notebook/PC”. Definitely go notebook - the best thing about webdev is that you can do it literally anywhere. I regularly do it sitting under a tree in a park while throwing a ball for my dogs while my daughter is in class. No reason to be tied to a desk! Learn to touch-type and learn Vim keyboard shortcuts, and you’ll never need a mouse again!
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I agree with you but I am used to having 2-3 monitors ) Though many laptops nowadays can be put in docking station quickly. But why work with laptop on the table? Better keep it for flexibility and use desktop power plus have extra PC for backup/recovery.
This might be a bit unusual but I have a very cheap linux server running at home.
- HP Thin Client t510
- 16GB RAM
- 128GB SSD
It’s running with nginx as a reverse proxy.
Mongo & VSCode (codercom/cdr) running in docker.
I have a couple domains configured with subdomains.
code.x.com points to the vscode environment.
dev.x.com points to the meteor run environment (proxy to port 3000).
staging.x.com points to the deployed application on my server
x.com points to hosted production application.
What this means is my dev environment is available from any browser I want.
This could easily be replicated using a cloud hosting platform, but I like having this local.
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If you need Cordova for IOS the options are limited to Macs only.