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Ask HN: Why should I switch to a Mac?

1 points by Brewer ↗ HN
Over the last few years Macs seem to have gained a lot of popularity. I can't step foot on my university's campus without seeing one.

I've always thought that Macbooks looked great, they are thin, sleek, and clean looking. Aside from that, why should I switch to a Macbook?

Right now I'm using an HP DV6 laptop with Ubuntu 11.04. I've been working with a combination of HTML, CSS, JS, jQuery, Python, Flask, and SQLite3 recently and I'll be doing some work with Java and C (working with robots via Webots) later on this summer. I'm a CS/Applied Math major and I intend on becoming a software engineer after I graduate.

Why should I switch to a Macbook? Should I keep using Ubuntu?

8 comments

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Khao
In my opinion, Macs in general have far superior hardware and the price reflects this also. For example, Macbooks have an enormous battery life compared to other laptops with similiar specs. As for the OS, it's really just a matter of personnal preference. I don't mind OSX but I prefer Windows, and since you're on Ubuntu right now I believe it might be even easier for you to switch to OSX.

I work on a mac but own an asus laptop running Windows 7 at home.

Brewer
I definitely could use the longer battery life. My HP DV6 that is one year old (as of today, I think -- bye bye warranty) can barely run two hours on one charge.
veyron
Things just work on a mac. There, I said it. The 4-click vnc server (apple -> system preferences -> sharing ->"Screen Sharing") puts a smile on my face every time. Not to sound like a fanboy, but after a few months I feel more productive on a mac than I ever did on a redhat or windows os.

I use office 2011 for mac liberally. And adobe acrobat X. And I run (on my macbook pro from 2008, but I think the new macbooks should be sufficient) windows and rhel5.5 in parallel, both via vmware fusion (I need the windows because hp iLO3 requires windows for the remote console, and rhel is nice as a staging area before pushing code changes to servers)

They are pricey though, so if cost is a concern you should steer clear.

What exactly do you want to do off the machine?

spatel
I switch to macs 5 years ago for the combination of a nice GUI on top of a UNIX OS.

I've never regretting that decision. The UI kicks ass. I never felt that Linux desktops could compare back then. I still don't believe their up to snuff yet. Correct me if I'm wrong.

The unix part is awesome, its been easy to get things up and running. I can get a full LAMP stack going with ease thanks to macports. Installing Python (multiple versions side by side) and Java is trivial. C is available by default. I won't deny there are some occasional problems but those have been few and far between.

dchamberlin
Switching from Ubuntu 11.04 on your HP to Mac/OSX will add the following:

- ability to use applications only available to Mac/Windows (like Netflix, Office)

- can buy/use Textmate

- a smoother GUI to work/play in

- the religious euphoria that comes with using iStuff

Ubuntu is working hard to improve the UI and have things "just work" but it's still lacking general adoption as a third pc/user platform. My laptop is on 11.04 but desktop is still Windows7 (+ 11.04 in Virtualbox) for that reason.

Brewer
What is so great about Textmate? I hear that, as far as text editors go, it's about the best. Personally, I prefer Vim.
dchamberlin
I don't use textmate either but it seems like the graphical editor of choice among Mac users. I like Vi/m from the terminal and I've progressed to using IDE's as well.
selectnull
I use Ubuntu 11.04 on both my desktop and notebook and I'll soon replace the notebook. In shopping around, Macbook Air was the best I could find. Two most important features, for me of course, are long battery life and low weight.

If I buy Macbook, since I never used MacOS full time before, I'll certainly give myself enough time to explore it and try to use it as much as possible: if I end up not liking it, I'll just install Ubuntu on it.