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I've been developing on both MacBook Pro's and Windows laptops for 15+ years now, on a daily basis, and I can confidently say that Windows laptops are superior

I've been developing on both MacBook Pro's and Windows laptops for 15+ years now, on a daily basis, and I can confidently say that Windows laptops are superior to MacBook Pro's for development in every way. Cost... well, not much to say there. You can get more powerful Windows laptops for 2/3rd, sometimes half the price of what a MBP costs. MBP's latest generation is a regression in keyboard and toolbar. Not just the keys and their travel, but even simple things such as where the arrow keys are located are a nightmare for me, even after two years of using a MBP on a daily basis. And of course, there are no keypads in the Apple world, which I really enjoy having to move around (page down/page up/line end/line beginning/etc...). Windows' many consoles and bash compatibility have caught up to MacOS. Even if you don't use the bash subsystem, you can download a console today and use bash + git + ssh in a matter of minutes. Even my dotfiles are now shared by Windows and MacOS with no problems. Connectors... oh boy. I have to carry a huge hub with my MBP at all times just so I can connect my laptop to screens, or phones for charging or development, or head phones, or... I could go on and on. Bottom line is I always dread having to use my MBP these days while I look forward to my Windows machine.

majkinetor 7y ago
Exactly my experience. OS X is for me like returning to Windows 7, dev included. I tried to love it, used it more then a year for everything, but Windows is simply much better platform since last CEO.
m_mueller 7y ago
I've also switched but up to now Mac Terminal is still far superior to anything I can find on Windows, including much touted 3rd party emulators like cmder/conemu. Keybindings, scrolling, tabbing, drag and drop, copy/pasting and colors just work incredibly well out of the box on Mac, even in Linux land I don't know of a terminal emulator that good. I have high hopes in this new windows terminal. Other things that are still better on MacOS compared to Windows: Keybinding consistency, system settings, PDF handling, system/app config system, backups and restores, migration assistant, system search. Its file system is also better for many small files. But still, for me the tradeoff is worth it because I can't stand butterfly keyboards, they are that bad.
- OJFord 7y ago
  Really? In what regards? Everyone I've ever seen using macOS doesn't use Terminal.app - iTerm is popular, I use Alacritty. What Linux term isn't faster, if nothing else, than Terminal.app?
  - m_mueller 7y ago
    See, speed was never my issue - terminal is plenty fast enough as I tend to not output more than I can mentally process. What matters to me is consistency of function and ease of use. And I pointed out pretty much all the reasons why for me Terminal was best. I never tried anything else on MacOS because I didn't have any need. Another thing I didn't mention is security - MacOS comes with integrated Keychain out of the box. Even Linux servers are still annoying in that regard with ssh-agent, as it doesn't unlock Keychain with SSO. On Windows I just gave up and use password-less id files on an encrypted drive.
hammock 7y ago
What's your favorite Windows laptop these days?
mpfundstein 7y ago
Heya. Any windows laptop you could recommend? Thanks
madeofpalk 7y ago
> Windows laptops are superior to MacBook Pro's for development in every way ‘Windows laptop’? Historically, the Mac(book)s strength was its superior hardware quality. Both in "fit and finish", but also more tangible things like it’s trackpad, keyboard, and robustness (please remember I said historically). These are traits of specific hardware models. What Windows laptops do you think are superior to Macs?

majkinetor 7y ago

Exactly my experience. OS X is for me like returning to Windows 7, dev included. I tried to love it, used it more then a year for everything, but Windows is simply much better platform since last CEO.

m_mueller 7y ago

I've also switched but up to now Mac Terminal is still far superior to anything I can find on Windows, including much touted 3rd party emulators like cmder/conemu. Keybindings, scrolling, tabbing, drag and drop, copy/pasting and colors just work incredibly well out of the box on Mac, even in Linux land I don't know of a terminal emulator that good. I have high hopes in this new windows terminal. Other things that are still better on MacOS compared to Windows: Keybinding consistency, system settings, PDF handling, system/app config system, backups and restores, migration assistant, system search. Its file system is also better for many small files. But still, for me the tradeoff is worth it because I can't stand butterfly keyboards, they are that bad.

OJFord 7y ago
Really? In what regards? Everyone I've ever seen using macOS doesn't use Terminal.app - iTerm is popular, I use Alacritty. What Linux term isn't faster, if nothing else, than Terminal.app?
- m_mueller 7y ago
  See, speed was never my issue - terminal is plenty fast enough as I tend to not output more than I can mentally process. What matters to me is consistency of function and ease of use. And I pointed out pretty much all the reasons why for me Terminal was best. I never tried anything else on MacOS because I didn't have any need. Another thing I didn't mention is security - MacOS comes with integrated Keychain out of the box. Even Linux servers are still annoying in that regard with ssh-agent, as it doesn't unlock Keychain with SSO. On Windows I just gave up and use password-less id files on an encrypted drive.

hammock 7y ago

What's your favorite Windows laptop these days?

mpfundstein 7y ago

Heya. Any windows laptop you could recommend? Thanks

madeofpalk 7y ago

> Windows laptops are superior to MacBook Pro's for development in every way ‘Windows laptop’? Historically, the Mac(book)s strength was its superior hardware quality. Both in "fit and finish", but also more tangible things like it’s trackpad, keyboard, and robustness (please remember I said historically). These are traits of specific hardware models. What Windows laptops do you think are superior to Macs?