Should I BUY a MacBook for programming?
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- Опубліковано 11 вер 2024
- If you are a computer science student or just learning to code, this is my advice on buying a laptop for software development. As much as I like MacBook Pro's, this is why you probably shouldn't buy one for programming when you are just starting out.
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liked and subscribed immediately after he said "I'm not going to make you wait till the end of the video". thanks for being a decent human
I think learning to work around the limitations of low end hardware is really valuable for beginners. I got a nice $2k Thinkpad when I graduated high school, but before that I learned a lot with my old $400 dell laptop that I got in like fourth grade. Learning to work efficiently on whatever device you have access to can really help you to be more efficient once you can afford a better device.
Agreed. I have developed professionally on both Macbook and PC, and honestly there isn't that big of a difference. I have a Macbook M1 and I love it, but I would not spend $3000 on laptop if i was just starting. Also, if you are really into gaming and don't want to have two machines a PC might be a better option for you. You can do the exact same thing on either, so it just come down to personal preference and your financial situation.
if you're into gaming you just buy an ps5, xbox or Nintendo Swich, a Mac is needed if you do cross platform development for example.....and you need Safari to test things out , so..
@@lucajacovig8159 But Windows is needed if you do Windows development and cross-platform things can be built on PCs though (although not everything works as smoothly from what I hear). It just depends what applications and tools you'll need access to I suppose.
@@TheSoulCrisisYou can't build for iOS without XCode, which is only available on Macs unfortunately. I've tried it on a VM but the performance is terrible.
So, I had been using PC exclusively until I found out all the devs and most of the other employees with the company I'm interning with use Mac OSX. And while I could still technically use a Windows machine, the extra steps I'd have to go though to perform the same tasks was just not worth it to me. So, with the wife's blessing, I got myself a new 16" M1 MacBook Pro. And tbh, although there's still a bunch of things I hate about OSX, for coding, it has made my life a lot easier. So I will stick to coding on my Mac and everything else on my PC.
that is also what eventually led me to switch to macos too.
@@jamescross guess we’re all on the same boat 😂
I got the MBP 14 on launch and I couldn’t be happier with that. It changed my way of working, after almost 10 years of programming mainly on Windows machines.
@Piccione Viaggiatore Each laptop including macbooks there's always been that one thing more that i wanted. Another port, bring back the card reader slot, better handled multiple layers when video editing. For me i feel like the 14" is that laptop I've wanted for a long time. I don't have that nagging upgrade itch, which feels strange but satisfying.
exactly, this is the biggest thing, lowering friction
As a student no stick to windows, as a professional who develops production level code running on Linux. Mac has been a blessing in disguise. Setting up for developmental environment and your production environment is so easy man. Windows use to introduce problems and issues. So if you use Linux as servers to run your code I believe Mac OS waaayyyy better
Spoken the truth
Not worth to buy, totally worth getting one from your employer 😊
Which is an important point. Depending on where you live, lots of employers provide a laptop.
@@jamescross thanks a lot
Employer always provide me a Lenovo😔
@@yb-pq8ry Lenovo is awesome for programming.
I would warn against this, if you build applications on your employers property they have grounds to own the rights of your builds.
Binged most of your popular uploads, and I have to say this is a really good advice channel.
No annoying sponsors or padding/filler to get the video to 10 mins and the advice you give is very direct & practical.
Thanks a lot bro.
Much appreciated!
I've been a PC user ever since then moved to Linux before when I studied programming and I like the Unix and bash more for coding, it feels more natural to code in it unfortunately there's a lot of daily stuff that is quite complicated to use in Linux. Currently I use Windows but coding in WSL and it's so complicated to make stuff work than what it should be. So I decided to save money to finally get a macbook because of the M1 performance and it's closer to Linux experience than windows.
finally, someone who is having the same situation. thanks mate. i will go for mac as well.
@@lethiaa 1yr later and I still didn't regret my decision. The build quality of mac is really good. Window management in windows is still better for me but Mac being a unix based OS suits my needs. It is also still as fast as when it's new unlike windows laptops that feels sluggish just after a year of using it.
Fantastic video! Every word hit home. I'm about to start my Software Engineering BA, and your video was a real wake-up call. I’ve got a Windows Surface Laptop Go 2 and was teetering on the edge of splurging on a new Apple computer. But thanks to your insights, I think I'll hold off and see how things go. Appreciate the content!
hey so did u get a Mac or something else for ur degree?
I saved $1000 and wanted to buy a M1 MBA but i’m only 18 and starting in programming so for now I’m gonna stick to my parents old Acer laptop. Maybe next year, when I get better experience I’ll invest in a better laptop but we’ll see. Thanks for the video! It helps even a year later ^^
what lap did u buy? :D
I'm in a similar situation because I’m 17 and I’m in programmer school (idk what is in English) but my parents old dell laptop is almost doesn't. I’ve worked at schools pc but I want to programming at home and I don’t know which laptop/pc to choose. What did you choose?
(Sorry for my English because it’s not my first language and I’m still learning English )
Excellent take James. I got the M1 air a year ago and it's definitely a steal for just the general programming as such along with school work. It's an excellent buy for overall usage and portability, just the basic necessities and whatever one's needs be met. Going for other viable workspace options such as standing desk, quality ergonomic chair, monitors, keyboard, mouse, lightings, cable management, and even some plants for decoration is going to be so much more practical than whaling on a $2000 MacBook Pro in my personal experience, the rest of the money to buy for other spaces speaks volumes.
Unfortunately, the ONLY regret I have is not spending the extra for 16gb of ram as for longevities sake its going to be worthwhile.
I heard that M1 chips had issues when compiling python code, not sure if its the case now but have heard about it as people having issues.
Last year I was attending a full stack web development bootcamp. The instructions to install ruby and ruby gems on mac was easy using a couple of curl bash commands. Even when learning PHP using homebrew to install and boot up a server is by far the fastest and easiest. I try to follow along on my windows PC and found it difficult to install and correctly set up WSL2 and connect my account with SSH for git/github. I grew up with windows 2021 was my first year owning a macbook air m1 and I never looked back and switching I still own a gaming PC but anything development related I use apple laptops. I know a lot of developers try to be humble and drive beginners to use windows and cheap laptop and that is okay but also misleading them to not save up for a apple computers specially since most the guides are written for unix base systems and using zsh and bash terminals are the go to in the modern era
As a game developer for 10+ years, my personal experience has been to use a programming environment that most closely matches the primary target platform for the application being developed. Most companies expect some amount of cross-platform support when it comes to gaming and probably one of the most painful parts of that is working within any sort of virtualized/emulated environment in order to run and test your software. I absolutely love all of Apple's hardware, but with the most recent move to M1/M2 using ARM architecture, I cannot easily justify upgrading to one of those machines since there currently aren't any good solutions to provide an extremely performant x86/x64 working environment (at least none I'm aware of). If you are a student just beginning to set foot into programming, I would recommend doing a bit of research into your course requirements to see what the expectations are for your deliverable work to avoid wasting money on something that will not provide what you need. If you are learning on your own, take some time to research these platform/architecture limitations in regards to your own goals to also avoid wasting money. Personally though, if I didn't have the platform restrictions, I would most likely jump on one of the new M2 systems since they are surprisingly powerful and very well-built.
thanks for sharing your thoughts
Hi there, I’m doing game development as a side hobby (Unity3d and Roblox Studio), and will be starting university (Computer Science BSc) next month. Would you recommend an M1 Pro, M2 or just a windows laptop(new i7 H series + RTX 3050/3060)?
@@m7mdawa It really depends on the platform you're targeting, but generally the gaming industry revolves around Windows and PC development. That's not to say there isn't any gaming on Apple devices; just that PC/Windows is much more prevalent in the gaming industry. If you are planning on focusing on a game development career, PC/Windows is probably a good place to start and a safe bet for most of what you will encounter during a career. As a hobby though, I think working in whatever environment you are most comfortable and happy with will lead to the best results.
@@adamrexrode789 I’m feeling a new MacBook Air M2 with 16/32 gb memory is reasonable. Thank you dearly.
@@adamrexrode789 I’m feeling a new MacBook Air M2 with 16/32 gb memory is reasonable. Thank you dearly.
I gave you a thumbs up in the first 30 seconds for being honest and giving the answer upfront, then getting to the details. I've always gotten by quite well with Windows machines and VirtualBox VM's running my IDE's.
Currently, I have Macbook Air M1 and I'm in the beginning stages of learning software development. I am taking the self taught route. Thanks for the info; I feel a lot better about my Macbook.
How you like it and which set up?
same! got my macbook pro and just started self taught. started Odin Project
Hows is the self teaching going
No jokes i actually found my laptop in metal recycling container. I installed extra ram and a SSD drive and now it works flawlessly with vs code for web development
that's awesome!
I am backend engineer and I use MacBook Air on M1 16\256. This laptop is fully appropriate to my tasks and it's quite enough for me. Thanks
thanks for sharing your experience.
@@jamescross Thank you too
Is a 256 GB SSD enough?
@@Illia-s5e it depends on your requirements. If it comes to web development job, yeah! It's enough for me. If you want to use mac not only for job, you had better to chose 512Gb or 1 Tb
thanks a lot for starting the video saying your statement, UA-camrs are literally missing this essential step
I’m using hp elitebook 8470p (12gb ram, coir i5 2nd gen) for web development. I mostly use my laptop for react js, php apis and for webflow. It’s working fine for me😊
Hey, first year college student here, I feel like I'm intersted in many areas of cs, how do I decide which one I should start doing seriously?, Also any resources or yt channels would be helpful for courses like ML and AI, and also web dev, I started doing web dev initially did projects on html, css, js and then didn't go further to js frameworks.. by then got interested in the math of ML, so jumped into it, I feel like I'm doing bits of every career option, is this right?
@@pluto_5109 well it'd be fine if u were in school but now u r already in ur college, within 2 years u'll hv to sit for placements so it'd be a lot better if u master a particular field coz der is no use in being jack of all trades but master of none, i totally respect ur curiosity nd passion but thts the bitter truth
@@pluto_5109 Appreciate your enthusiasm, I'm also the same as you, by the way to which laptop you have settled with?
I'm a programmer for around 8 months, and I'm using a Lenovo Legion with Ryzen 5 5600H, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD and Nvidia RTX 3060 and 165Hz display.. I spend around 1400€ on this machine and is totally worth it!!
sounds like a cool setup
Just bought a MBA m1 and love the way everything looks/works. Totally worth getting rid of my Dell precision
MBA M1 is in my opinion the best deal ever for an Apple laptop. M1 Mac Mini would be the best deal for an Apple desktop.
I have a Windows laptop. Thank you for your honesty. I eventually plan on getting a MacBook further down my learning path.
I've been using Macbook Pro 2017 professionally since 2019, and it's working perfectly. Although I'm upgrading this year, my sister is having it for her first year of college.
Is it also good in programming??2017pro I need to start with it advance please
I am using a MacBook Pro early 2019 mod, however I am not just only programmkng, but also video editing and music recording/mixing/mastering. Great video!
Thanks. I now do all my editing on a macbook too. Sold my desktop. It's worked out well.
thank you so much! i am also doing music and studying computer science. i will buy a mac as well! thankssss
Great video.. I own a Zenbook Zephyrus Duo (RTX3080, 32Gb RAM, 2Tb SSD).. not because I need it for development (Python / C++) but because I also want to learn Unreal, play the latest games and run machine learning code with CUDA support. If I would only use this laptop for Python / C++ this laptop would be a terrible waste of money and a simple $500 laptop would do just fine. In fact, if I have a day of pure coding I mostly pick up my Google Pixelbook which runs on ChromeOS but has everything I need. Focus on your requirements and then decide.. don't fall for all the extras you most likely don't need.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with specific examples!
Prior to getting my first job I've learned with Lenovo Ideapad with i3, 4GB RAM (I've purchased 4 GB more), and 1GB memory of GPU (not related as I'm playing a lot of tanks). In 2018 - I'ts not so long time ago.
My first Ideapad costed me less than 400$ and when I'm hearing some questions from wannabe coders on what computer to buy in order to LEARN coding (not mentioning development on a 13 GB of code, 25 different projects with many dependencies solution) I'm feeling like a gruuuumpy old man.
Because If someone is planning to spend a lot of cash just to have a computer "To learn programming" - dude... Spend that cash on Udemy, Pluralsight and just quit your job while learning...
Had anyone seen a driving license student learning on how to ride with a Mercedes AMG ? You don't need 90 % of Apple MacBook's capabilities !
Unless you like to throw your cash away, or just want to shine with an bitten apple then go for it.
And as an answer for the video's author - I'm using stationary PC with i9, 16 GB of RAM and 1TB SSD win 11 Pro. And it's very good stuff for coding. No problems with multiple monitors so far ;D
Automotive System Engineer here, daily drive multiple devices:
1. Personal: VectorPro 5900HX, 3080, 64GB/2TB, dual boot Windows/Linux
2. Work: Lenovo P15 10855M, RTX 5000MQ, 64GB/1TB, Linux
Considering adding an Apple into the mix to try out the M2. These PowerBooks are wall tethers, so I'm willing to take a performance hit for mobility with return to the office work life.
The iPad Pro M2 coupled with a RPi4B 8GB seems like an interesting compromise. Docker remote could even be used to access the PowerBooks for sustained compute workloads. Being able to remote into either laptop from the iPad seems like a worth while endevour for the sake of mobility.
I'd consider a framework laptop for any young tech students due to its low cost and maximum repair and customizability.
I have been coding for 4 years now and I use a macbook pro m1 13'', I use it beacuse the terminal is amazing and xcode is available on macbook only. The only bad experience I have had with my macbook is the fact that java is not optimized for macos so my exprience on java was not great but everything else is a dream.
thanks for sharing your experience
What exactly were the problems with java? I'm still learning java and considering buying a macbook m1. Were these problems when mac came out or are they still there?
@@AntonVesnin I have the same question
I'm a CS Student and I am going to buy a mac. You're the only youtuber that opposed the purchase of mac and mentioned the dopamine rush for buying a laptop 😅😂
To be clear, I personally use macs and like them a lot. They are expensive though so it's not that I am opposed to them, but rather I am encouraging thoughtfulness in the purchase decision and suggesting that starting out it isn't a necessity for most.
@@jamescross thanks 🙏
I've been a software engineer since 2009. Dell XPS is hands down the best set of machines to develop on.
Software engineer must using Macbook Sir ? Or buy Windows ?
I need your reply Sir ..
Thank you so much 😊
Hey is macbook pro 2012 ok for programming
Mac is a must if developing for apples
#1 decision in buying any computer is price. Tech specs really have little to do with the final decision making. Aesthetics are probably the second most important decision.
I'm a web developer and currently my laptop is a Lenovo Ideapad Gaming 3 (Ryzen 5 4600H, 8GB RAM, 256 SSD and 1TB HDD) and it's a pretty solid one. The thing is that I want to learn iOS development for fun (maybe in the future build some apps) and that's the reason why I'm considering buy a new Macbook Pro M1 (16GB RAM and 256/512GB SSD). But if you're just starting any computer would do the trick, my brother in law is just starting to learn and today I helped him setup an old laptop just for him to get started (a Toshiba laptop from 2013 with a 4th gen Intel Core i5 running Ubuntu).
great points
Developer for 15 years, PC v Mac doesn't matter. Personally I use a Mac but on my current project I use a Windows VM. Really when you are starting out its about practice, just keep building, trying to learn best practices. I too started on a crappy Windows Dell.
I am a first year computer engineering student.what is your opinion macbook pro m3 or windows(asus)?
Switched to mac recently, best decision I have made
Once you go Mac, you never go back!
After I got a 16" M1 Pro from my work, Windows feels like it's far behind Mac OS. Though there are some things in MacOS that are infuriating(looking at you file explorer). I would just hate to give it back when I quit (soon 😅).
In my university days I used an Asus laptop on which I dual booted Windows and Linux and it was more than enough.
Nowadays I use a dual-booted desktop PC and an office provided Macbook.
Also I should mention that if you're going to be doing any iOS related development then Mac is pretty much your only option.
Thanks. I “had” to buy a MacBook for a code boot camp. I have a 2015 13 inch pro. It’s honestly a high quality product but the speakers are busted and there’s a couple dead pixels…while I could get a new MacBook, the cost isn’t justified. I could get an amazing gaming laptop for the same price AND SF6 😂💀
I appreciate you mentioning the iPad because that’s what I was considering using.
I am usually using a desktop PC for programming. I am also gaming on another desktop PC. My main gaming build has an AIO water cooling that makes an extremely annoying humming noise. So, I use my second build for programming, which has a Ryzen 5600G and ITX case.
I always had problems with laptops. My Acer Aspire V15 Nitro laptop's temp sensors started misbehaving and causing the CPU to scale down its frequency to the point that the laptop is no longer usable. My new Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon laptop had overheating problems from the day zero. So, I switched to Macbook pro, and I am happy. The only reason for using a mac notebook for me is the mobility advantage. If I didn't have to go mobile, I would not need a laptop.
I have an M1 and my girlfriend has an M2. So far, the only major problems were:
Visual Studio (not visual studio code) is not available on the Mac.
Dual booting Linux or Windows is not as simple as it (hopefully) will become.
And, standard x86 vs ARM issues.
I was hoping this video would talk more about CPU architecture, assembly language, dual booting, etc. This felt more like financial advice, which I’m sure most people needed to hear. These computers are awesome, but they are also trending. So, too many people will buy on emotion. However, I still wish I had more info on the true limitations that people who *already purchased*.
I am currently using a Asus Rog Zephyrus with 32 GB of Ram and two 1TB ssd nvme with windows and wsl - mainly developing in WSL and Tmux with Neovim as a full LSP but dual boot wit Pop OS when I really need linux . Did not make the whole switch because still I need to play with my kids. I've gotten my hands on a Macbook air m1 and the experience is full imerisible into the OS and everything is at your fingertips.
I'm been a software developer for many years and I use an x1 carbon, I think it's the perfect balance between portability, size and performance. it's pricey however lenovo has massive sales very often.
Hi Sir, i have one questions.
For software developer should I use Macbook ? Or buy Windows ?
Thank you :)
@@NoName-eu9bj windows but a high end laptop
I have a 2017 Macbook Pro that I used for the past 5 years, but lately I’ve started to do most of my work on windows. Windows Subsystem for Linux changes the game combined with VSCode. However, the whole Windows 11 thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth so we will see.
interesting. thanks for sharing
I agree with some points in this video, however based on my experience I also think that a Mac is generally better for programming vs windows for the following reasons:
Firstly windows limits your options as a software engineer, you can’t develop iOS applications only android, however you have both the option to develop android and iOS applications on mac, for some devs who are not into mobile this may not be a huge factor but I think it’s just nice to always have options as a dev, even with cross platform frameworks like flutter / react native, you still cannot test apps on iOS simulator or deploy, you are once again stuck with windows
Secondly, Mac OS is based on UNIX which Linux is also based on, and most severs (I think about 70%) run some sort of Linux/UNIX OS, and if anyone is going to go into devops/cloud (like I tried to do), I noticed it could be a bit inconvenient and slightly annoying having to switch between using the windows commands on my local machine, and the Linux commands on a sever, if I had a mac I wouldn’t have this inconvenience, again this probably won’t bother other people the way it bothers me but it’s still worth mentioning
Thirdly I’ve noticed a lot of tutorials online tend to take a mac book first approach, this might be wrong but it’s just a personal observation, also I’ve had real difficulties installing certain things on windows (like docker), and these same difficulties are virtually non existent on mac, even tho wsl is a thing I still think max is better streamlined, again this is a personal observation might not be true
Lastly I think if your sole goal is software development in general, a Mac is just a batter overall option, especially if you’re well in the Apple ecosystem, however like mentioned in the video, I don’t think a Mac will necessarily make you a better developer, a lot of people still use windows no problem, but for me at least a Mac is an absolute must have if you can afford to get one
thanks for sharing your thoughts
i got a dell latitude workstation for $170 on Amazon refurb. It's a $700 laptop. No GPU but everything else. Its a good coding notebook. I also have a late 2015 retina macbook pro it's macos 12 monterey and i'm having issues getting xcode installed. i had to download an old version and the download is sluggish for some reason over my 1 gig/ sec network it is turning the download into a 3 hr download. i have a desktop where i create youtube videos, essentially editing in 4k and 1080p and rendering in 4k. The PC is a work station and gaming PC and works well for Photoshop and Video Rendering / Editing like Da Vinci Resolve. I got the macbook pro for $250 refurbed on ebay. I took a gamble on the battery but its good. It did not come with an A/C adapter and I had to drop $30 on that at my local PC store instead of Amazon.
Im about to go off to college and probably going to go with a mac. Alot of the games I play are compatible with mac and arent very resource heavy. I also use software such as blender and fl studio which is also compatible. And from a developer standpoint I've heard alot of people say its nicer to work with (plus wanted to try at ios development). Im pretty confident that im sticking to this path and have been programming for a while now, so i dont really see any downsides and i am willing to pay the price
I'm using Macbook Air M1 (16gb ram) professionally (iOS Development) and I'm very happy with it. It is very light and handles all the tasks quite fast. I have an unconscious desire to get Macbook M1 Max with 32 gb, but I just don't think that $3k is worth 2 more CPU cores
Before knowing aws and setting up homeserver, I usually recommend my friend to go with window or anything beside MacBook if they have taken any assembly code classes. Because that x86_64 assembly code does not work on intel or m1 mac. But now I change, I fully commit and recommend getting macbook. You can build a lot of things with Mac these days.
I work as a professional software dev. I recently decided to ask for a MBP when I switched jobs.
I kind of regret it to be honest. The reason is I have to re-learn a lot of keyboard shortcuts, and the Swedish Mac keyboard is even worse than the standard PC keyboard when it comes to writhing characters like {. To write this I need to press shift+option+8. That's ok on the laptop apple keyboard, but really sucks on any external keyboard I connect to the Mac. And of course some keys are flipped when you use a USB keyboard and you need to fix that with manual re-mappings. And what do people recommend me? Use an US keyboard! Well, then I have to learn to type on that as well.
So as nice as a Mac is, if I could go back in time, I would just order a Think Pad. No need to re-learn anything.
I already struggle to be productive, I don't need another distraction when learning new languages for example.
Interesting. Thanks for sharing.
I'm a third year computer science student interested in full-stack development. Currently on my second internship and I initially bought the M1 Air due to its affordability and portability, but after using it for 1 1/2 years I realize I would benefit from more RAM (i.e. at least 16GB) and a fan. I'm debating upgrading or just waiting until my next summer internship since the company will likely send me a powerful macbook model.
'and a fan' that means is your macbook air1 quite hot ?
Do you suggest 2019 macbook pro (16gb RAM 512GB ssd, 16 inc ) Do you think I can still use it for coding another 3-4 years?
I've been using a 7 year old Asus laptop that has held up surprisingly well, only considering updating for more RAM.
I purchased a brand new 2012 model MacBook Pro in 2016 (to keep dvd and cheaper upgrades haha), exchanged the hdd for ssd and updated ram to 16gb. So far so good for learning. I like to keep machines for 8 years. 🤞
I keep Vmware on for any Windows needs. Thinking about trying Parallels.
Very nice!
Hey is it still working fine to code?
@@benishadnan4471 Yes, working fantastic. Just having trouble finding a good reputable battery that functions properly.
I am using a Framework 13 Amd running windows and fedora. Why? Because thats the only way i can sleep tonight. I dont want to support devices that are suffering from planned obsolescence or that are software locked by the manufacturer.
Macbook Pro M1 Pro... i bought because it's unix-based and the hardware and design are a pleasure to use.
My last Macbook pro lasted 10 years (i actually still use it for some projects).
mine have lasted a long time too. my kids were still using my first one from 2011 until last year when the youngest broke the keyboard. never had a windows laptop last that long.
In my 2nd year of CS. Im using a windows desktop. Im getting an air not because I need it, but because I want to start with ios development, and the flexibility of using a personal computer anywhere is great.
good reasons to get one.
I’m a newbie to programming, I use a 2012 13” Mac Pro, I updated the drive to ssd, it’s still hanging in there.😊
mid 2009 at here with ssd and 8gb ram
@@Ali-qj9yv i want to get that one of 2012 pro for software development how do you see ? Pov : i have a a 512ssd
The employer provides this to us
I am planning to buy a MacBook because of compatibility issue. Specially working with different OS.
i'm using the "HP Dev One" but i'm switching to the "Framework 16" in 2024
I use vim for coding, and using vim through wsl in windows suck, especially when docker is added into the mix. So I switched to macbook m1 pro (unix core so I can use vim natively) and will never look back.
I started with a 7 year old i3 2nd Gen with 2 GB of built-in RAM and was using it for over a year at work. Laptops from 10 years ago aren't going to be stumped by whatever you managed to code in your first or second year of programming. Unless the game is AI where you can just pay for Colab on cloud or something. Same for docker.
Have used mac as personal machine for years along beefy windows desktops(mostly for gaming) and I will never pick windows as dev machine. I'm not saying they are bad or that mac os is better by any means. It simply comes down to preference. I love spending less time configuring my environment and being able to use the terminal. Everyone always bring up linux in windows but the thing is I don't want to set that up. I also tried buying a high spec windows laptop with an rtx 3070 and as soon as I heard the airplane half a foot to my left start taking off I was like YEA RIGHT! Portable gaming for what? I'm not starting that thing up with people around me lol.
i hear you. my m1 macbook pro is so quiet.
"do you need macbook for software development in uni" this was what I searched and this video was the first to pop up. Needless to say this video is exactly what I'm looking for.
I always wanted to try what it would be like coding on mac. I am a web developer and have been using only Windows 10 and 11, I also did react on a mobile project. I can say that it is not necessary if you are a web developer since most of your work will focus on, you guessed it, websites. But during my experience doing react, I can say that it would have been easier owning a mac to check if it's working on ios. Besides, why spend money for work when you can spend it on yourself! Just my opinion. Great coding!
i also learned on windows
I wouldn't mind the best of both worlds, Windows for general work and gaming while a Mac for development work. I wouldn't mind trying that in the future, so far I'm a Windows boi.
Employer like giving MacBook Pro to staff due to the longevity of the Mac can last and less problem that virtually do not need help desk to support
False! The only IT teams doing that are startups with tons of VC funding 💸 💰 or FAANG companies. The rest are heavily PC.
The only times Macbooks are given out are for front-end website developers or AWS cloud engineers of any kind (Data scientist, Devops, Data Engineer, ...etc).
@@akin242002 thing is changing. We are using Windows in our company no dull but because we have a delegated IT department to manage them + we need active directory to manage resources. it is not effective . tons of company is changing to BOYD and more and more using switching to MAC
You can buy a macbook air m1 or m2, they perform better than a lot of i7 or i9 intel laptops and they last forever, there are people using macbooks from 2012 still
Used a Lenovo flex 6 to learn/college and now m1 Mac for iOS app development.
Honestly I’m using a iPad gen 8 with a mechanical keyboard to learn it’s nothing fancy but it works and I’m on free code camp so it’s very user friendly surprisingly, humble beginnings
best to use what you have to get started
@@jamescross yessir, thanks for also being a mentor like figure on this platform your words and advice goes a long way
I have it too
Can you tell me how !
you can buy any machine that can run okay a virtual machine, it will take longer to do stuff through a virtual machine, but technically you can use macOS and windows on a linux laptop with a virtual machine, I write this from a 2019 16 inch base model macbook pro tho
yup. use what you have to get started.
Going to take out my 2016 HP , upgrade the ram and ssd to start my Networking class. Delete everything and install windows 10. Very interested in software to but I want the degree in hardware, then if I want to I could even land a web developer job with it.. who knows. Thanks for the info! MacBook pro would be cool but I already have a gaming computer plugged into Samsung Odyseyy G9 5120x1440. I need Mac experience but good call on waiting a bit.
I am currently learning code on a old Toshiba laptop I bought off of co-worker that is running Unbuntu for $15 bucks. LOL! Not ideal, but it does the job!
If it gets the job done... that's what matters
@@jamescross Heck yeah! My goal is to get a Front End Dev job with and then upgrade from if possible. I appreciate all your videos and insight into the industry.
at the price point apple silicon will beat out any other chip. Also as a software dev for work the only reasonable os you can use is either linux or mac. unfortunately linux isn't as popular and so some simple apps like excel isn't available on it. Windows honestly isn't a reasonable solution theres no native terminal and my time coding on windows id spend half of it dealing with some issue where it cant install a package or some other obscure windows error and unfortunately there just isnt a lot os support online for windows youll see plenty of stack overflow posts using mac or linux and the solution is to just copy a line and paste it into your terminal but with windows it just isnt that easy.
Even for a seasoned senior developer, i cannot stand MacOS. The Mac hardware is super nice though. Linux is just so much better. It just gets out of my way.
I am using whatever laptop my company buys for me :D
I don't know if I should get a Windows laptop (a lot of options) or a M1 MBA 16GB.
I already have a powerful desktop PC which I use with Linux for coding and it works great but because of it, I've been without a working PC for a few days on different occasions.
I would like to get a laptop that I can use just for work so I don't have to rely on my PC to be working.
I would like a MB for the better laptop experience (Windows is good for laptops but not so much for coding, and Linux sucks), the stability, and for the iOS support.
I currently do web and mobile development.
I am student working on PC and I have recently bought a MacBook 2020 i7 for $500 in ebay for programming outside home like library, and mostly because of my inner child dreams of having one of the apple products like ipad or mac. So buying it closed my gestalt and moreover, I have a device which I can take everywhere whether it's a university or other country, as I do travel at least once a year on summer vacation.
I also have a Windows Laptop and I usually dropped my projects there for assignment interviews/works at the university, but it's quite heavy to take it with, including heavy charging cable and these all weight like 3-4 kilos. With Mac it's much easier that way :)
I've been loving Linux for about a year now, and now the terminal is my new home for productivity.
I'm still running my Acer Chromebook N7 11 from my school, and I think I've been using it far beyond what it was meant for. Running Ubuntu on it instead, no Chrome OS. It only has 16 GB of eMMC, and 4 GB of RAM. Only about 1.5 GB free to install dependencies for new projects, so I have to only work on some things at a time.
For how goofy this setup is, I love it a lot! Definitely in need of an upgrade.
I have a MacBook. I use it for work and I am learning to program with it. I purchased it because it is convenient.
I’ve bought an M1 MacBook Air and for now, that’s doing me fine. Eventually when I want more, I want to move up to a desktop anyway
the newer airs are cool
@@jamescross I have to admit, after being a lifelong user of Android (mostly Google) and Windows (Lenovo) products, moving over to Apple’s ecosystem has actually really impressed me for the sheer user experience. Just so streamlined!
I’m a masters cs student and i still use a MacBook Air 2015 with Ubuntu linux
I just love your content and the way you make your videos. It makes me feel that your trying to help someone out and not just making a video to make money off of it (which is not a bad thing! but some people's content is just garbage and fake and it feels they made the video just for money rather than benefiting people AND making money at the same time). Liked and subscribed.
thanks for the feedback Abdallah! I appreciate it.
I am using a Toshiba Satellite laptop that I bought in the Summer of 2015! The battery sucks, so I just keep it plugged in all the time. I started using The Odin Project (Thanks :) and went the virtual machine route which is going great.
nice
I was thinking of getting a Thinkpad Carbon X1. I'm too hooked with Windows ecosystem. I'm still able to do Web Dev and Machine Learning with ease.
thinkpads are quite common in a lot of areas of software development
I think the correct answer is: It is not necessary
true
I have a 2020 MacBook Air. So far so good.
I use a MacBook air (M2) and it works fine for me. I use it mainly for programming in C to build software for Microcontrollers and as a hobby writing Computing Code... i can recommend it blindly!
If you asked me about this 5 years ago I would say - go with Macs. Back then Macs had better screens (as for me they still do, but there are many great options with color accurate displays in the PC laptop world), better keyboards, better batteries, more stable software. Nowadays other laptops became really good in terms of hardware and after the release of Windows 11 the software part is also covered. I think Macs still have better displays and the best battery life, but If those are not critical to you - definitely get a PC laptop and save some money for a good external display.
Sorry but this not true at all.
I used Hp Elitebook with Windows 11 which company gave me 2 years ago. I hated it.
Now I am a contractor and bought a Macbook Air, it's soo much better and smooth than Hp.
Windows laptops generally sucks. I like desktop PCs but you can't carry them around.
I'm using DELL XPS 15. Works well.
Well... Im not a big windows fan, rather i use linux, but my choice made me to buy gaming powerful laptop for game development as my bachelor specialization (IMO if u guys wanna try yourself as game developer etc go for PC, gaming laptops suck, they are heavy, battery sucks, overkill specs when u are studying etc) but at the end i regret game dev for AI engineering and now i will sell my laptop for something thinner, lightweight, smaller screen, better battery and we are going instantly to macs beacause my goal is web/mobile development. Im macos fan, maybe not special mac but macos, the os in apples laptops make HUUUUUUGE diff comparing to windows, linux is fine, but when i need to open some apps, I just cant, bcs its linux, thats why i use PC with windows and laptop with linux which is more often, 80-20 time % for linux obviously :D And the winner is macbook at the end of all, I can code whatever i want I can open all apps and everything works perfectly (windows sucks, heavy os with a lot of issues)
Here's the thing I just finished 3 different recruitment calls from 3 different boot camps/schools all unrelated to each other and they all said I needed to go out and buy a MAC. I didn't even have to ask they all said it to me "if you are serious about being in the field of software engineering" 😩😩
interesting. what type of bootcamps / area of software development?
@@jamescross Flatiron, General Assembly and Hack Reactor. I'm signing up for the Fully Immersed software engineering program. Front end as well as some back end, full stack Talked to all three this week, each 15 Min conversations they asked me questions to get to know me and then they told me about their programs what I would be learning as well as career placement help afterwards but unprovoked I didn't have to ask they all told me I needed a Mac now GA did say I didn't need a brand new Mac but they all said I needed a MAC for class. I even tried to give some push back they said for what we would be doing in the next 12- 15 weeks(depending on which school I picked) I needed to invest in a MAC. I really like GA especially with their payment plan of over two years income agreement but with zero cash I need a MAC fast and idk where or how I'm going to get one smh.
it's great they told you up front. kinda goes along with what i mentioned about the benefits of having a laptop that aligns with the curriculum. It's easier to follow the instructions they are providing. In this case that would be macos.
So what is the best laptop for coding that I should buy ?
I currently use an m1 macbook air, and a Windows gaming pc, while I was learning programming in college I was using a $150 Thinkpad with Linux on it
great example of making it work in college!
Linux is great. That is what I use when learning web development. I prefer my Linux distro with its tiling windows and custom keyboard shortcuts over macOS any day. It's cheaper too.
@@rtlau-mk4di I used bspwm + sxhkd on an arch linux machine in college, also played around with OpenBSD for awhile
tried using Linux on a desktop and had nonstop bluetooth and wifi issues (across multiple operating systems), tried 3 different dongles for bt and wifi, each had their own set of problems, so I just got my m1 macbook and haven't looked back since
I'll probably change my Windows pc to a linux pc when Windows 10 stops receiving security updates
Honestly I spent $600 on a 2019 MacBook Pro that was in great and on eBay. You could also make a note that you do NOT need brand new laptops and pc's Shop around eBay is my number one. There are MacBook Air's 2019 for $400 on eBay that work great.
0:21 I am a senior developer that uses both windows and Mac, and Linux
lol. What system to use well that is easy. Anything with a basic gui.
No matter how I try to love Mac or use windows, I always end up tempting in to home and code on a rhel dev vm. It just feels like it is my comfort zone so a lot of this really in end comes down to what you like.
That said as in video don’t go dropping cash on stuff not needed. Learn over time. Each system will have its own issues to deal with. For me, I generally go either Debian or rhel.
I very very rarely peek outside. Mac is cool but meh. Only got one because was curious about the m2 chip. For what it does it is great, but you can have solid programming machines for relatively cheap.
Even your grandmas old notebook will do at start of journey.
Started on a cheap windows machine, switched to a 2012 mbp in 2014 and everything went better for me. Now I’m on a 2021 14” m1 pro and a love it. Been a startup founder since 2020 and a professional software engineer since 2018
love my 14" m1 pro
Thanks dude, perfect timing 👍
my pleasure!
I agree and when i have much amount of money then i buy mac pro with max chip because i really want😂
I use a MacBook Pro 2020 Intel
And I had to get it after joining my current company. Our codebase is pretty huge, and starting up services locally took longer for me on Windows than for my teammates who were using MacOS. Switched within a month and I've loved it.
Gives you the UNIX power of Linux with the GUI power of Windows, but better in some cases.
Best of both worlds.
Also made me get an iPhone for all the ecosystem pluses.
nice
Do you recommend Mac with intel for programming? Bc my teachers told me that we are gonna use SQL but with Mac I can use it😢 and they told me to buy a windows but I love iOS systems
@@ainhoaitzacasero8460 you can use SQL on Mac, I’m a Software Engineer and I do so
Unless your teacher is referring to Microsoft Server SQL (Microsoft’s SQL) then you can’t install it natively on MacOS, but there’s a workaround
I can show you how to install it if you want
@@colorred3591 Thank you for answering so fast and taking the time to do it. English is not my main language so I’m going to explain myself as best as I can.
This September I'm going to study a course about the development of web applications bc I want to be a front-end developer. So when I applied to study this course, one of the teachers told me that some of the apps that we are gonna learn don't work on mac. But I saw comments saying that does not true and I'm very confused. I don't like windows and I would rather buy a new mac knowing that I can use most of the programs than buy windows.
So I would appreciate it if you can explain to me the difference between the SQL of MAC and the SQL OF Microsoft 🫶
If it's too much, sorry. I'm very motivated to study this and work in tech so I want to ask and find information but it's so difficult 😭
@@ainhoaitzacasero8460 you’re welcome
Firstly, there’s no “SQL of Mac”
SQL is a language like English.
While English exists independently and has its rules and syntax, there is no English without a dialect.
You can either speak British English, American English or any variant of English. But there’s no “default English”.
In the same way, SQL exists independently, but needs to be run somewhere, so like English, SQL has variants depending on whose version of SQL you install.
The most popular is PostgreSQL
Another popular one is MySQL
So English is a language but to speak it, you need to use one variant like American English or British English.
SQL is a language but to use it, you need to install a variant like PostgreSQL or MySQL.
Other options happen to include SQLite and Microsoft Server SQL.
So it’s not like Mac has their own SQL and Windows has theirs. No.
Microsoft Server SQL is just one of the many variants. But because Microsoft owns it and owns Windows, they made it exclusive to Windows.
Sort of like how Apple made iOS and made it exclusive to iPhones.
So if you want to use Microsoft Server SQL on MacOS, all you need to do is install an extra app that will run it for you.
He is right, all IDEs will slowly move over to cloud. The backend compilation will happen directly on a VM or docker container....
Bdw... I use a Samsung s22 ultra with Nexdock wireless and compile codes on a ubuntu VM in AWS... Who am i to judge 😅
Well I’m a Computer Science and Robothics student
Owner of an M1 MacBook Pro and man
unless you are a total fan of the OS and you know what you’re doing have a go, if not, don’t you dare! It’s a total mess and it sucks to be an early adopter
Now it works better, but in the beginning python wouldn’t even work due to compatibility issues with ARM, same shit with C/C++.
After many work arounds and some trickery, managed to actually make it barely WORK, up to this date I still have issues with compilers and librarys.
If you are a CS student You’d be better of with a Windows medium range laptop, and if Mac OS is still you preferences I’d suggest you still hang in there ARM based MacBooks aren’t there yet for coding :(
thanks for sharing your experience. a good example of why i think it's good to use what you have until you know what you want to do or need.