How to set up a developer laptop in one afternoon
Wael Sabra
My checklist for going from a fresh machine to a productive dev setup.
A new laptop is exciting until you realise how much needs installing. This is the order I follow to be productive in a single afternoon.
Start with the basics: system updates, a password manager and your browser of choice. Then install a package manager, Git and your SSH keys, followed by a code editor with your synced settings and extensions.
Next come runtimes: Node through a version manager, plus Docker if your projects use containers. Clone your main repositories, run the test suites and you are ready to work. Keep the list in a dotfiles repo and next time it takes half the time.