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by elias94 1447 days ago
48MB? Nowadays laptop are sold with 500GB SSD and minimum of 16GB or RAM. What matters are the performances. The JVM outperforms all the electron and JS app out there. I would much prefer to download a 300MB app than use those slow JS web apps running on top of the browser.
2 comments
Tijdreiziger 1447 days ago
> Nowadays laptop are sold with 500GB SSD and minimum of 16GB or RAM.

I know we are living in a bubble as HNers, but this can be disproven quite easily. I opened the website of MediaMarkt (a major European electronics retailer) and clicked (literally) the first laptop I saw:

https://www.mediamarkt.nl/nl/product/_acer-aspire-3-a315-35-...

4GB RAM, 128GB SSD.

OK, maybe you consider that one too cheap (although there must be people buying it). Let's click the first 'reasonable' one:

https://www.mediamarkt.nl/nl/product/_acer-nitro-5-an515-57-...

512GB SSD but 'only' 8GB RAM. (And this is supposed to be a gaming laptop!)

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gregmac 1447 days ago
I've never used a java app that didn't feel like a total clunker, especially with time to start up. This includes simple little utility apps, like testing SMTP servers.

I won't dispute electron apps are also often slow, but there are counter examples, such as VSCode, that are actually reasonably snappy on fairly modest systems.

What's the counter example that runs on JVM where I might not notice it's running on the JVM? (I'll also freely admit I've spent the last decade avoiding java apps when I can, because I've never had a pleasant experience due to the combination of performance and early-2000s aesthetic. Maybe the situation is vastly different today and it's just me that's outdated)

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sudosysgen 1447 days ago
As far as Java apps that feel snappy, I would imagine Minecraft qualifies?

Otherwise on the JVM in general, something like jwhois is very snappy to start up.

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barbarbar 1447 days ago
Not snappy - but intellij is in my opinion a good Java app.
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kelnos 1447 days ago
"Not snappy" is an understatement. It's a memory hog, and can visibly lag (keystrokes and mouse clicks) on my 3-year-old laptop depending on the project I have open. I probably wouldn't use anything else for Java or Scala development, but ugh, I would not call it pleasant to use from a performance perspective.
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barbarbar 1447 days ago
"Is an understatement". You are probably right. When I think a bit more of when I have opened huge monstrosities of Spring boot apps then it is quite slow. But for small projects I think it is "okay" and very feature rich.
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