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Mac or Laptop

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    #32
    ozt9vdujny3srf
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,152 ✭✭✭ozt9vdujny3srf


    Robby91 wrote: »
    Would you be able to explain (or link me somewhere that explains) why a Mac would excel when it comes to software development, or any other field for that matter? You've piqued my interest now (since I'm planning on doing software development in September and have been looking around for a laptop to buy) :P

    I've heard plenty of people saying the same thing as you, but I've never owned/extensively used a Mac. Is it a user-experience sorta thing, a software thing, or something else/a combination?

    OK, well there is plenty of stuff out there on why developers choose what platform to develop on. I can give you the reason why its good for me personally:

    I like that it's unix based. It can do a lot of the stuff Linux distros can do. Particularly with homebrew which allows easy installation of command line tools like wget.

    I like the keyboard and trackpad.

    There is some really cool mac only software:
    Particularly Transmit (an FTP client that I love) and TextMate (excellent mac only text editor). Of course there is a lot of software that does this in windows, but not as well for me. Alfred is a new task launching / search / productivity app which I love.

    It supports Eclipse and Netbeans which I use (cross platform).

    Python support out of the box.

    When you install macs developer tools, there is a lot of stuff that it does straight out of the box.

    As far as I can tell, almost everyone who develops for the web does so with a mac.

    This is kind of rambling, at the end of the day it boils down to my personal preference. If i didn't have a mac I'd be using ubuntu because I spend a lot of time using bash so wouldn't care to have to learn to use command prompt properly.(Although if you are writing software you'll probably end up installing a bash terminal emulator like cygwin anyway.)


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    #33
    Groinshot
    Registered Users Posts: 1,042 ✭✭✭Groinshot


    Can I say- You have to take everything with a pinch of salt. Most of the people here slate macs because they're overpriced pieces of junk.
    I bought a MBP about two weeks ago, and am delighted with it. I still need certain ties with windows so I have boot camp running. I wasn't able to find a machine of the same spec as my MBP available, never mind for the same price.
    They are expensive, I will say that, but it's a matter of taste.


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