I’ve been thinking about getting a macbook pro for coding as it would be very handy with the long battery life and being very thin and easy to carry when I travel. What are your opinions on this subject? I’m currently focusing on web development, but would like to possibly get into making iOS apps in the future (that probably gives me my answer right there haha). Is there anything as far as web development that can’t be done on a mac?
I have been trying coding for about a month and do everything on an acer 11 chromebook. I’m not a hardware expert but I know I’m lacking in cpu power. I’ve been looking at the mac book pro from afar. But honestly for where I’m at it doesn’t matter. Eventually, I will want to learn how install and run things locally in my own IDE. Between codepen and cloud 9 I have been able to at least dabble in things like php node and git. From what I’ve seen as far as higher end people, it has been a lot of macs. I m gonna keep my eye on this thread…I had asked something similar a while ago and got answers all over the spectrum, because at a certain point its personal preference.
If you want to create Microsoft .NET applications, or manage Microsoft SQL Servers/databases…
Oh wait… you can install Parallels VM on your Mac and load Windows 10 and do it from there… never mind.
2 Likes
microsoft windows is the el capitan of computer operating systems?? that looks way cooler than my desktop i want a mac
I would give used Apple macbook pro’s a shoutout if you are tight on budget! Also check their certified refurbished section, Apple does rigorous testing for all their refurbished items and gives 1 year warranty, just like a new product. You can nab a good deal, especially if you are looking at last generation (without the touchbar) options.
2 Likes
Now that’s pretty darn cool. Thank you! I don’t think there’s any reason not to go with a mac after all :D.
I’ve definitely been keeping my eyes on those ;). I am really liking the latest model though, so I’m probably just going to have to spend retail. Unless I can find a good deal on a lightly used one on ebay. I’ve seen a few in the past. Thank you for the help!
Totally get that! The screen on the newest models is supposed to be the best, with the brightest contrast etc. Then again, even the new models pop up on the refurbished store certified by apple if you have patience 
1 Like
I agree! Now all I have to do is save enough money for it 
Lol!
OSX is a much faster and more stable OS than Win10. I’ve got a MPB and a MSi running win10. You can code just as effectively on either one, I prefer the Mac because over all it’s a smoother experience, that being said, you’ll run into several programs and games that wont work on OSX without you jumping through hoops like setting up an emulator or VM to run Win10 on. If you’ve got the money for one and don’t mind the compatibility issues (mostly for gaming) then go with the Mac.
Also, macOS is a certified UNIX system so you can use all sorts of handy command line utilities and such. I’m a Linux man but there are some very cool things a macbook pro has to offer a web developer. just don’t let them Apple you on their ecosystem and wall you in.
Linux on the other hand, has all that and much more to offer. Knowing your way around GNU/Linux is also helpful as a majority of webservers run Linux, Git has a lot of Linux flavor to it, as Linus Torvalds was involved with it early on. Node.JS is also a project of the Linux Foundation. I’d recommend at least considering it. There’s a small learning curve with a YUGE payoff.
Here’s the way I see it.
Win 10 – can’t run OSX (even in virtual environment). Can run other Win versions, and Linux in a VM
Linux – can’t run OSX even in VM. Not sure if it can run Windows under a VM? Don’t know if VMware or VirtualBox runs on Linux?
OSX – obviously running OSX. Can run other other Win versions, and also various Linux flavors in a VM.
OSX computer = obscenely expensive. Just wanted to add that in a semi-snarky kind of way. 
I’ve never spent more than $1500 on a computer, even a desktop, and intend on keeping it that way. 
There are only 3 real things that Mac has over PC:
-
You can run all 3 operating systems: Mac, Windows, and Linux as it was mentioned. Technically, you can do this on a PC too but Apple’s bullshit makes it much harder to accomplish.
-
Trackpad/Build Quality - I’m grouping these into one. if you’re the kind of guy who cares about how smooth the trackpad works and don’t like other build-quality issues, Mac may be your best bet. Never found a PC with a touch/trackpad anywhere near as good as a Mac. That said, build-quality wise, you can still find nice PC laptops, you just have to know where to look. MSi, Alienware, and Lenovo ThinkPad PROFESSIONAL all have outstanding build quality comparable to a Mac. HP, Chromebook, Surface, and pretty much anything you can find at a Best Buy are all trash unless it’s one of the above I mentioned. For me and many others, what we do to solve this issue is simply use an external mouse (and sometimes keyboard) as needed. I prefer this anyway, so the value of a nice trackpad is not very high for me… Certainly not $1,500 high.
-
Battery life out of the box seems to often be higher than PC.
Everything else, PC wins. PC wins in terms of actual computer part/hardware quality any day all day. PC wins with ease of upgrading/customization, PC wins for best gaming experience and support. I got my MSi for ~$1,000 NEW. The Apple computer with the equivalent hardware would have costed me $2,500. If $1,500 is worth a trackpad, some battery life, and you absolutely need Mac software… Knock yourself out buddy.
All that said, a developer friend of mine recently picked up a nice used Macbook Pro for around $600 with an i7, 16GB RAM, AND 1TB SSD. This was a killer deal! Even I would purchase one if I could find it that cheap and use it as another box. Even still, in a few years, he’s gonna be stuck at 16GB RAM. My PC has that… But it’s upgradable to 32GB whenever I want 
This is my professional opinion after using both Mac and PCs as a technical guy and now as a low-level software engineer for over 20 years.
4 Likes
Honestly, I do everything pretty much on my 2012 11" MacBook Air. It still works great, it’s pretty fast, and I also installed Windows on it, so there’s not much to hate. (Just to clarify, you don’t need Parallels desktop or VMWare Fusion to run Windows. The drawback is that without those, you must restart to switch operating systems (which isn’t much of a problem for me.)
EDIT: Make sure that, if you plan on installing windows, get a large amount of disk space on your laptop. I’ve had to deal with this storage problem for quite a while now, and I resorted to getting one of those small flash drives that I leave in one of my USB ports for 64GB of extra storage.
Hope this helps!