I feel like a lot of people shit on macs in the tech field and on the internet, preferring linux, windows or some combination. But, I'm attending hackathons/conferences/reading bios at big tech companies and it feels like everyone is on a macbook pro!
Is the native terminal and unix-ness really worth it? Is the build quality that excellent? Tell me your thoughts.


Also as an aside, I'm currently looking for a new development laptop in the computer building forum. There's probably some overlap so here's the link: http://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=76292962&f=189

This post was edited by RaveTheGo on May 7 2017 10:33pm

I don't know why a programmer would prefer a Macbook Pro. No clue about that, unless perhaps if they're programming for iOS or OS X?

If they're running Windows natively, then the Macbook Pro really is not much different from any other laptop.

I own a Macbook Pro 2015 Retina 13-inch. It was a hand-me-down, I was lucky to get it through fortunate circumstances. As far as build quality goes... the screen is excellent, the keyboard is very good, the case is beyond excellent, the trackpad is quite nice. The 'h' key is a slight bit more wobbly that it should be, the space bar is ever-so-slightly slanted to the right (probably from usage) -- seems to have happened with 3 laptops in a row for me though (slant is like 5 degrees, hardly noticeable). The webcam is very so-so. Brightness of the screen (nits) falls just short of what I'd want for the viewing distance (would be nice to get it 20% or so brighter -- like the newer Macbooks). Battery is good, but newer Macbook batteries are smaller. So, it's not like a Macbook is without build quality faults, speaking about it without talking about OS X. Speaking to OS X, I think it's wildly under-supported, and it's getting dated fast. I've encountered enough bugs on OS X (freeze ups, colourful screens of death, bootup errors) -- not a lot of issues, but an equal # to Windows. Difference is Windows drivers often bug out on me over time, requiring a reformat after a year to get back to normal functionality. Microsoft Excel (fully updated, legitimate version) doesn't run properly on OS X -- I run into bugs where certain graphics disappear, or formatting doesn't change/update until I restart the program. So... big compatibility issues with industry standard stuff.

However, my dad picked up a Dell XPS laptop (one of the newer ones with the ultra HD touchscreen). The build quality on that feels nearly just as good. The trackpad isn't force touch, but it's actually more accurate & very pleasant to use. Keyboard is great. Webcam is better. Case is real metal, some plastic, but feels top quality. Doesn't sacrifice performance for being 2cm thinner. Big thing: Touchscreen is actually really really nice to have, Apple says they won't be doing that (afraid of loss of iPad sales). Speaking to Windows OS, they've basically brought it up to pace to combat OS X, in terms of handling virtual desktops (swiping between a webpage, a word doc, and something else). I like to run any laptop in full screen mode, no task bar at top or bottom. I swipe to switch screens, or hover the mouse over the bottom to pop up the task bar. Gives more screen real-estate. My older Windows 7 laptop felt cramped because multiple desktops didn't really work like on OS X back then, just lost so much ability to work on the laptop as if I had multiple screens.

So uhhh... I don't really get the Macbook Pro hype anymore, after handling the Dell XPS. Imo, Windows 10 is just as good of an OS for basic day-to-day tasks, probably better for more advanced tasks, and the build quality of Windows-based laptops has gotten up to pace. Price-to-performance is also much better with Windows-based laptops... newer Macbook Pros went way up in price, and were plagued with bugs on release, problems with the batteries, problems with graphics on the 15-inch models, problems with their new touchstrip.

This post was edited by Canadian_Man on May 8 2017 12:25am

One thing that makes me want to get one is for vagrant + ansible for testing code deployment.

Using ansible from windows is possible I believe but a big pain in the ass.

I think this is an important point. If a Mac can fulfil your needs that it is a solid choice in terms of quality.

You will find many who argue against pricing but fewer against quality.

Tbh if you're looking for certain things from a laptop - screen quality/resolution, battery life, weight, ssd ... then mbp is not more expensive than simillar hp or dell or ms surface. Try bringing 15" acer on conference. Good luck finding power outlet. I know, I went through that

I love my 2015 mbp for all that. Oh and force trackpad? I stopped using mouse for anything but games. You can click it anywhere on the touchpad, not only bottom. And you can click it harder (second kinda click, deeper) for extra actions.
Build quality is great, but for this price point you shouldn't get anything less.

+ many of those people had their corporate buy them mbp, and they probably could choose between mbp and 2-3 other models.

I want to click deeper

I clicked deeper on your deeper

I don't use one but I wouldn't be opposed for dev work.

1. light weight and can get away from product owners since you can work anywhere (same with any lightweight laptop though).
2. native environment for web development
2b. PHP actually works on a mac
3. less shitty things corporations can install on your computer to slow in down (I'm looking at you DLP technologies).

I want a surface laptop

To add Macs are also just really nice right out of the box. There's less configuration and tweaking.