MACBOOK vs Win10 vs Linux Machine for programming

[Callum Stringer]

I am a programming student and I am going to buy a new laptop for programming.

I know a mac-book has more advantages but does anyone have experience or information?

[Sauron]

Just now, Callum Stringer said:

I know a mac-book has more advantages

No it doesn't, it's purely a matter of preference. I graduated in software engineering with a refurbished thinkpad x220 running linux, you don't need to spend more than 300$ on a laptop for university programming unless you really want to.

[WereCatf]

Macbook ain't got any more advantages when it comes to programming in general than any of the other choices. A Macbook only has an advantage if you're planning to do OSX or iOS - apps, that's it, and otherwise it's all about taste -- choose whichever appeals to you the most.

[Tabs]

If you can justify the cost of a mac, then it gives you the option of coding in any environment you wish. You can bootcamp to run Windows 10, and Windows 10 (thanks to WSL) lets you run basically every standard linux toolchain.

 

But is it worth it? I dunno, I guess that's up to you to decide. A last-gen ultrabook like the 2016 models of Dell XPS 13 and Dell XPS 15 are going to be as fast as you'll need for almost everything, and they'll be a hell of a lot cheaper than anything apple side, with the only real downside being you lose access to xcode.

[Callum Stringer]

Just now, WereCatf said:

Macbook ain't got any more advantages when it comes to programming in general than any of the other choices. A Macbook only has an advantage if you're planning to do OSX or iOS - apps, that's it, and otherwise it's all about taste -- choose whichever appeals to you the most.

that was the main advantage in my view of getting a MAC so I can use X-Code but I am not sure if its worth paying so much more. Is there another way to simulate OS System on a windows mashine?

[Phentos]

3 minutes ago, Callum Stringer said:

mac-book has more advantages

Apple's marketing teams are spot on with drilling that drivel into consumer's heads.

 

Honestly I'd go with Windows for the excellent Visual Studio. Linux is a great alternative as well, though I am far less familiar with what utilities that offers.

[Callum Stringer]

Just now, Phentos said:

Apple's marketing teams are spot on with drilling that drivel into consumer's heads.

 

Honestly I'd go with Windows for the excellent Visual Studio. Linux is a great alternative as well, though I am far less familiar with what utilities that offers.

the advantage i meant was the usage of xcode, i can simulate windows to use visual studio if i wanted to

[WereCatf]

1 minute ago, Phentos said:

Apple's marketing teams are spot on with drilling that drivel into consumer's heads.

 

Honestly I'd go with Windows for the excellent Visual Studio. Linux is a great alternative as well, though I am far less familiar with what utilities that offers.

The beauty of Linux is that it works exceedingly well even in a virtual-machine, and most of the programming-tools are actually available for Windows and OSX, too. That said, Linux and all the various tools makes the programmer in me happy.

[Callum Stringer]

2 minutes ago, Tabs said:

If you can justify the cost of a mac, then it gives you the option of coding in any environment you wish. You can bootcamp to run Windows 10, and Windows 10 (thanks to WSL) lets you run basically every standard linux toolchain.

 

But is it worth it? I dunno, I guess that's up to you to decide. A last-gen ultrabook like the 2016 models of Dell XPS 13 and Dell XPS 15 are going to be as fast as you'll need for almost everything, and they'll be a hell of a lot cheaper than anything apple side, with the only real downside being you lose access to xcode.

well i heard rumours that the new keynote would be student based which would make a good oppinuity to get one on the cheaper side. As there might be a new release

[WereCatf]

1 minute ago, Callum Stringer said:

the advantage i meant was the usage of xcode, i can simulate windows to use visual studio if i wanted to

If you want Xcode, then get a Mac. It's quite that simple.

[Tabs]

Just now, Callum Stringer said:

that was the main advantage in my view of getting a MAC so I can use X-Code but I am not sure if its worth paying so much more. Is there another way to simulate OS System on a windows mashine?

No, you can't. "Hackintosh" would be the term for a traditional pc that runs osx... but you wont find anything like that being discussed here. Even if you were able to run osx on a normal machine, it won't install xcode since xcode requires a linked and registered Apple developer ID that won't validate on non-apple hardware.

 

It's up to you. Is paying 2x+ more for a macbook justification for having access to xcode? I'd say no, unless you're damn sure you'll need it.

[Phentos]

Just now, Callum Stringer said:

the advantage i meant was the usage of xcode, i can simulate windows to use visual studio if i wanted to

X-Code can only create macOS and iOS apps as far as I'm aware.

 

Visual Studio can do everything, including apps for the aforementioned platforms thanks to all the plugins available for it. 

[Callum Stringer]

Just now, WereCatf said:

If you want Xcode, then get a Mac. It's quite that simple.

is it possible to get xcode other than that. Like i heard about hackintosh but the hardware has to be correct for it to work

[Callum Stringer]

5 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

The beauty of Linux is that it works exceedingly well even in a virtual-machine, and most of the programming-tools are actually available for Windows and OSX, too. That said, Linux and all the various tools makes the programmer in me happy.

What are advantages with Linux, I have not used it much

[Tabs]

Just now, Callum Stringer said:

is it possible to get xcode other than that. Like i heard about hackintosh but the hardware has to be correct for it to work

No. It doesn't even work there. You need a mac to use xcode. That's the only advantage you get versus a regular laptop of any kind for the tasks you said you'd be using it for.

 

So you need to ask yourself: Does access to xcode justify the added expense - to you - of buying apple versus buying a regular machine that has access to virtually ever other programming toolchain?

 

Only you can answer that, since only you know what kind of programming you're going to want to do, and what environments you eventually want to work in.

[Phentos]

3 minutes ago, Callum Stringer said:

is it possible to get xcode other than that. Like i heard about hackintosh but the hardware has to be correct for it to work

Trust me, you do not want to set up a hackintosh. MUCH more trouble than it's worth. 

 

I had to set up a Hackintosh system on my laptop for a class as part of a project (don't ask) and it was a infuriating nightmare.

[WereCatf]

14 minutes ago, Callum Stringer said:

is it possible to get xcode other than that. Like i heard about hackintosh but the hardware has to be correct for it to work

The likelihood is that you'd spend a lot and lot of time trying to set up a hackintosh and end up with something that still doesn't work right, and if you tried programming something in it and your code crashed, you wouldn't really know for sure if the problem was with your code or with the hackintosh itself. That is to say, don't even think about it.

[Sauron]

16 minutes ago, Callum Stringer said:

that was the main advantage in my view of getting a MAC so I can use X-Code but I am not sure if its worth paying so much more. Is there another way to simulate OS System on a windows mashine?

You can run a virtual machine (which is what I did). Either way I only had to use xcode for one course, and it was optional. Realistically you won't need to use it unless the school specifically requires you to buy a mac.

9 minutes ago, Callum Stringer said:

What are advantages with Linux, I have not used it much

Easy package management, up to date libraries and tools, unix-like structure and best of all - it's free. Either way you can try it yourself in a virtual machine to see if it's for you.

[Callum Stringer]

2 hours ago, dieegoperi said:

The main advantage of getting a MacBook (Pro 15, Air doesn't get this advantage in programming) is that the screen is pretty good, the battery is huge and the performance/OS is fast and clean. If you can afford a Macbook and don't want to play videogames, yeah, go for it, but listen: I had to sell mine because bootcamp was crap and I needed Linux distros, VMs didn't offer me the performance i was looking for.

So, new Intel 8th gen are pretty good for programming: low consumption, pretty fast and "cheap", you don't NEED MacOS/Windows/Linux, just get whatever you want

What Linux Distro Vms weren't giving you enough performance?

[TLCH723]

Remember to get a bigger screen. If you are learning, or not, is better to have a browser open next to your editor with the terminal in the corner.

[lacion]

i would say the hardware option depends a lot on what you're doing. you say programming but you do not specify.

 

it is widely different to be doing simple scripting (nodejs, python, go, php etc) that doing more demanding things like ML, AI, CV etc. if you doing the latter i would suggest getting something that would allow you to plug hardware that will allow you to do what you want, else your going to burn a lot of money on cloud.

 

if your going to be working on IOS app you will need xcode, but that said you can rent a mac mini cloud style and use that to compile. 

 

i recently left pure OSX world and started using windows 10 (for gaming and GPU selection for Machine Learning) and i miss osx a lot (brew makes a lot of things very easy, and the docker integration too) in windows in order to get the same thing i used to have (this is very spesific to my requirements) im running an hyperV VM and a xserver in windows to run everything.