Why Web Developers Don’t Need A Mac

I must say that my last windows machine, a Compaq notebook, ran Windows98 and then 2000 for over five years without a whimper. I sold it and last I heard it was still going strong. It came with ME, but since it wouldn’t let me install my PCMCIA network card drivers I dumped it immediately for 98. It did everything I wanted it to do; that’s the machine I learned PHP and web development in general on. I ran the BadBlue web server. I love the smooth Mac interface, and it’s always just been prettier than Windows (at least until recently, I understand - although I’ve actually never seen Vista or 7), but it’s looking more and more like I’ll end up replacing this 14" iBook with a Windows machine. I think I’ll wait until 7 is out, though. Unless I get a MacBook Air first...

Much like many here, I ventured into the mac world reading a list of nice ideals (most importantly, the consistency of everything) but wondering whether this learning curve was going to end in tears, scared that I’d find that all operating systems are alike.

It wasn’t true. I love working on a mac and find going back to windows slightly distressing, as it almost gets in the way of work. Not looking at individual details, but just abstractly, I now know why. Once you learn Cmd-Q, it always works, as do almost all other key shortcuts for every program running. The user interface is tidy and still functional, I can find what I want quickly, and things work as I’d expect them to.

Now let me be clear, I’m definitely a geek. I love making computers do what wasn’t intended, I program in many languages and have used linux and unix for years. Here’s why my home machine is a mac: When I want to do either work or liesure, the mac aids it without me even noticing. I don’t have to argue to do simple jobs. I get fancy graphics with no performance hit, the internet just works, as does sharing, and everything else. When I want to play, I get another box and put windows back on or linux.

The key is that Apple doesn’t sell you an OS, which runs on whatever elastic bands you have lying around. They sell you a product, a platform. You are obliged to buy their configured, optimised, tried and tested hardware and yes, it’s expensive, but that’s because it’s top of the range and guaranteed to work. Plus it’s quiet and looks good. The flexibility isn’t there, or the ability to play, but there’s a sturdiness that only designing an OS for a specific set of hardware can bring. And that’s why, for me personally, I am pretty Apple dedicated.

HOWEVER. I have tried Windows 7 and am very impressed by it. I’ll always buy a mac as my main computer, especially as it is rather the hub of my digital life (apple tv, ipod, iphone, you name it) but I have a laptop for my portable work - a £400 dell machine. It flies with Windows 7, the task bar is usable, things seem smooth and stable and nothing yet has hung for no reason. It had good drivers for all my hardware (in an RC!), where Vista required me to download them all myself. I’m still looking for a Coda equivalent for it, but everything else I can do as easily on both. In short, I think any Windows users who were not converted before will not find many reasons to convert after getting 7.

I have had a mac forever...started with the apple II way back in elementary school. I had a PC once, only because at the time it was a hassle to run a server on Mac and I was coding in VB (!?!?!?), but once macs went the unix way and I migrated to php there has not been any reason to get a PC again. If I needed to I could be very happy on a PC...but why would I if I could use a mac and be happier. I am a true mac addict, it just works for me.

IMHO there used to be more of a difference. Now it is simply a matter of preference...neither one is better than the other..both will get the job done.

Interesting discussion, at least I feel a little safer posting here than at other places in the mac vs. pc discussion... people are a lot nicer in the MODx world .

I’m a PC user, always have been. I have a HP Pavilion Elite desktop, and as far as laptops go I swear by Thinkpads and won’t buy anything else . I currently own a Lenovo T500 Thinkpad as well as an IBM T43P Thinkpad. I know Windows OS has it’s issues (and I’ve experienced most of them) but I can’t seem to get into using Macs. I’ve been living with Mac lovers for a few years now and so I have unlimited access to Macbooks, IMACs, etc, and actually used a macbook exclusively for a few months while i was repairing my Thinkpad. In addition, I am the resident expert so I get to troubleshoot and help with all things mac related... lol

Here are my thoughts, both Macs and PCs have their niche and do their job. I’ve surmised after a lot of reading and experimenting that it comes down to personal preference and what you use your computer for. I’m primarily a coder, not a designer. I work with several languages as well as needing to run mathematical modeling software (MAPLE, Mathcad, Matlab, Fortran, etc), as well as using programs like Labview, and I also work with Visual Basic and the .NET framework. Additionally, I like to open my PC and tinker with the hardware. In recent times I’ve been dual booting Windows with Linux (mostly Fedora) on all my machines because I’m trying to migrate to being (almost) completely open source oriented in the tools I use for most things.

For these reasons, and just as a matter of personal preference, a Mac just doesn’t appeal to me. I have to say though that the new unibody macbooks are sexy!! I think now that I seem to be drifting a lot into web dev and a little into design I might just give macs another try but I honestly don’t think I can ever migrate fully to macs. I am completely totally addicted to PCs

Just triple boot your Macs. It’s all Intel hardware after all.

lol true! I did it, and then felt guilty, apologised to it, and made it pure again.

I did note that W7 properly supports EFI now btw.

Quote from: coffee_bean at Jun 12, 2009, 07:54 AM

lol true! I did it, and then felt guilty, apologised to it, and made it pure again.

I did note that W7 properly supports EFI now btw.

I believe Vista x64 does as well.

Windows 7 is based off Windows Vista so quite a few of the features in 7 will be found in Vista. I believe EFI is one of those features. In general 7 is a much more improved version of Vista with lower system requirements, and more software compatability. Yes, some programs that hated Vista work in 7! All I know is the virtual machine testing I have done with 512mb of memory have been rather impressive, if only my native rig didn’t die, but that’s what I get for using a busted computer

Yes Windows 7 is much less of a resource hog, it runs as fast as XP on my netbook (Atom 1.6Ghz 1GB RAM). Aside from that, most improvement is focused on usability though there is nothing really spectacular (yeah of course I am an OS X user so...).