The Mac Dev tools kick ass, but if you want to stay cross platform (e.g. Python or Java for example), then you are probably as well on Ubuntu as anything else.

The Mac Dev tools kick ass, but if you want to stay cross platform (e.g. Python or Java for example), then you are probably as well on Ubuntu as anything else. Certainly, if I had the same requirements, I might want a TP running Ubuntu. If you like the Mac hardware (shiny, vents at the back, beautiful underneath) get a Mac laptop, since you can run Ubuntu or Windows easily on it. I'm really a Mac guy, but I run Ubuntu on my remaining non-Apple hardware, and it works great. It always seems a tad smoother than OS X for mainstream Unix dev, e.g. No faffing with Fink or Ports etc.