I was a long time BSD and Linux user that changed to OSX when the first intel compatible version came around. Macs seemed to be similar enough to the power I was used to have on a Unix system, but not having any issues with hardware compatibility.
I always felt OSX a bit weird and missed all the freedom I had before, but... Buying a new computer or a new piece of hardware no longer required a full week of compiling kernels and customising the environment to my liking.
With time, the advantages started to fade... Hardware has more issues now and OSX is a cluttered environment with too many processes running for me to have a clue on what is going on. I have reached the point were the pros no longer compensate for all the cons...
So I bought an old Thinkpad, beefed it up with RAM and SSD and spent two whole weeks configuring everything to my liking, from the kernel up to the window manager.
It's been a few months now and I can say without any regret that I am happy again :)
I think the thing about mac and other laptops is that you can easily upgrade RAM and SSD in later ones. Mac is just too expensive. Just like you said a laptop can get a huge boast simply by adding RAM and SSD's. I also use windows at home with SSD installed for about 4 months now. The speed is magical. 🙌🏼
Yes, indeed Macs are extremely overpriced now. It is now impossible to purchase an affordable Mac with sufficient performance for development work.
That said, my biggest issue is not price or performance of the hardware per se, it's the fact that I got tired of the lack of freedom. I can not customize my software/OS the way I want to and in the end, the good performance of the hardware is severely crippled due to all the bloat in the OS.
I had a good decade running and advising people on using Macs. I have now returned to a Linux based OS and no longer recommend Macs to developers. I still believe they are the better option for the non-developer users if price is not an issue.
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I was a long time BSD and Linux user that changed to OSX when the first intel compatible version came around. Macs seemed to be similar enough to the power I was used to have on a Unix system, but not having any issues with hardware compatibility.
I always felt OSX a bit weird and missed all the freedom I had before, but... Buying a new computer or a new piece of hardware no longer required a full week of compiling kernels and customising the environment to my liking.
With time, the advantages started to fade... Hardware has more issues now and OSX is a cluttered environment with too many processes running for me to have a clue on what is going on. I have reached the point were the pros no longer compensate for all the cons...
So I bought an old Thinkpad, beefed it up with RAM and SSD and spent two whole weeks configuring everything to my liking, from the kernel up to the window manager.
It's been a few months now and I can say without any regret that I am happy again :)
I think the thing about mac and other laptops is that you can easily upgrade RAM and SSD in later ones. Mac is just too expensive. Just like you said a laptop can get a huge boast simply by adding RAM and SSD's. I also use windows at home with SSD installed for about 4 months now. The speed is magical. 🙌🏼
Yes, indeed Macs are extremely overpriced now. It is now impossible to purchase an affordable Mac with sufficient performance for development work.
That said, my biggest issue is not price or performance of the hardware per se, it's the fact that I got tired of the lack of freedom. I can not customize my software/OS the way I want to and in the end, the good performance of the hardware is severely crippled due to all the bloat in the OS.
I had a good decade running and advising people on using Macs. I have now returned to a Linux based OS and no longer recommend Macs to developers. I still believe they are the better option for the non-developer users if price is not an issue.