Mac vs Windows: Why Do Software Engineers Prefer MacBooks?
Why do software engineers usually use MacBooks? Do they? StackOverflow says that the most popular technology among programmers is Windows, both for professional and personal use. 1 I know that in some areas...
Why do software engineers usually use MacBooks?
Do they?
StackOverflow says that the most popular technology among programmers is Windows, both for professional and personal use.1
I know that in some areas Macs very popular. They seem to be a status symbol among young, relatively wealthy software developers. I've been to coworking spaces where I have the only Windows laptop, though that was in Boulder, so…not a lot of poor developers hang out there.
And Mac snobs love to go on about how the Mac is so much better to develop on than Windows. I've used Mac, Linux, and Windows as my desktop environment, though, and I'm just happier with Windows, both for general usage and as a software engineer who develops code that will ultimately run on Linux.
Yes, when you're building for Linux, it is somewhat nice to be able to run things natively on your system—but in practice, Docker is the best solution to run a the exact set of servers your project needs for testing, and Windows has WSL2, where you can have a full Ubuntu install running in a window on your desktop, which is even more like a Linux install, so…
There will be plenty of people who say how much better it is to work on the Mac or on Linux. I think they may be protesting too much, so to speak. There are limitations to both the Mac and Linux environments, MacBooks are expensive, and Linux tends to waste a lot of your time getting things working correctly. These extra investments seem to make people insecure to the point where they love to insult Windows to help justify the time and money they've spent.
But really it's just a preference. A choice of what limitations you're most comfortable with. By all means, get a Mac or Linux laptop if that's what makes you happy. It's your money/time. Everyone needs a hobby, and your preferences are your own.
Windows laptops make me happy (or “suck the least” in the ways I care about), but I don't bother writing about how terrible the other options are, and how everyone should switch. I honestly don't care what environment you use, as long as you don't contribute code that only works on Mac/Linux. Then we will have words.