If you want to test web development in safari, buy a mac. If you want to develop in Xcode, buy a mac. If you want to build a iOS App, buy a mac. If you want to virtualize any kind of operating system, better buy a mac. If you are a developer, buy a mac. If in the future all people will know development, they will buy a mac. Now, you might have got all your doubts cleared and questions answered about buying a laptop for programming yourself. Before we proceed with the list of best laptops for developers, I would request you to select the operating system for your laptop.
I dread the disgruntled comments, emails, and tweets I’ll get because of this comparison, but hear me out. There are folks on both sides of the OS war who probably just aren’t aware of what the other side has to offer. In the spirit of full disclosure, like more than of the desktop and laptop world, I am primarily a user. I am, however, an iPhone devotee, and as a software reviewer, I have deep.
I’m not a Mac or Apple hater by a long shot. Rather than just framing this as an argument for one side or another, I’ll simply work my way through the standard operating system features, comparing Microsoft and Apple’s offerings along the way. Yes, each category will have a winner, and we’ll tally the points up in the end, but your choice of OS involves much more than just features, hardware and software support, and capabilities. It involves what the people around you use, your ecosystem (including your and ), your business needs, and your personality. Feel free to add your thoughts in the comment section at the end of this article, whether you're a Windows or a fan. Let us know why you're in your particular camp.
![Mac Vs Windows Laptop For Developers Mac Vs Windows Laptop For Developers](/uploads/1/2/5/4/125429078/870443435.jpg)
Both OSes offer clear and polished setup processes. You can use both without signing in to an account with Apple or Microsoft, but both offer a richer experience if you do.
You’ll miss out on syncing machines, voice assistants, app roaming, messages, and a whole lot of other goodies by not signing in. Microsoft lets you install the OS with your voice using Cortana. Apple installs updates through the System Preferences instead of in the Mac App Store.
Both automatically recognize and install drivers for standard hardware peripherals such as,. Winner: Tie. Both systems offer login options that go beyond the traditional act of simply signing in on your desktop. If you have a, you can easily sign into your Mac using your finger. Or you can log in with your or if they are close enough to the computer. But Windows 10 offers with several biometric login options. Face login is probably the coolest, and is available on most higher-end PCs, including all devices.
Windows Hello also supports fingerprint readers, available on laptops such as the. If you don’t have hardware that's compatible with either of those features, Windows will also accept a PIN.
Once you’ve booted the OS, Windows has the Start button and menu to access your most-used apps, settings, and documents. There's nothing similar in macOS, but you can pin frequently used apps to your Dock, or set up your desktop with your most-used programs and files. You can also use Launchpad to start apps that you’ve installed via the Mac App Store. Winner:Windows 10. Apple offers some great computer hardware options, but the selection is dwarfed by the massive availability of a diverse array of Windows PCs.
And that's not to mention nontraditional options like the, and the, which can all also run Windows 10. There's also a more diverse array of Windows-friendly peripherals available. As for internal components—things like the, and storage—there’s no contest. Windows gives you a lot more leeway in configuring a system with the components you want, and more flexibility to upgrade later. Winner: Windows 10.
Both operating systems offer a wealth of built-in utilities and apps. You get decent mail clients, calendars, calculators, photo and video viewers and editors, screenshot tools, voice recorders, and web browsers, and apps for maps, cameras, news, weather, and contacts. Microsoft throws in nifty Sticky Notes, Skype, Translator, and Xbox gaming apps. But macOS includes a superior video editor, a preview utility, and a streaming music service.
It also throws in the awesome music composition app and a full productivity suite. Winner: macOS. Both platforms have had time to develop rich ecosystems of software and services. Custom business applications are more likely to be supported on Windows, and macOS is prevalent in creative fields. That said, you can find plenty of good general business software for Macs, and Windows actually boasts more options in some creative areas, such as video editing. Both offer app stores that manage installation and updating, but sadly the app developers haven’t given the attention to these desktop stores the way they have to their mobile counterparts. Winner: Tie.
Both operating systems offer decent leeway for customization, but we are beyond the days of drastic interface overhauls. That said, both OSes offer choices in desktop backgrounds, screen item sizes, and screen savers. Dark modes are the new rage, and both Mac and Windows offer them. Mac’s version is a bit more fleshed out, however, with Windows File Explorer’s dark mode only coming in the October 2018 Windows 10 feature update.Both OSes come with excellent, plug-and-play multiple support, though Windows offers a bit more control. With Windows, you can span program windows across the multiple screens, whereas in macOS, each program window can only live on a single display. If you’re truly gung-ho on interface customization, I recommend, which offers a selection of completely different user interface shells. Winner: Tie.
The search box in Windows 10 displays at all times, and typing in it pops up a panel with file, app, and web results. My Mac-loving colleagues swear by Apple’s Spotlight feature, but I’ve never found it satisfactory. Both search features will do math; show you the weather, stock prices, and sports results; or find nearby Thai restaurants without breaking a sweat. Both OSes also now let you search with your voice, with Cortana on Windows and Siri on macOS (see the AI Helper section below).
On Windows, the voice and typed searches are a single entity, whereas Siri and the Spotlight search in macOS are not. Winner: Tie.
Apple finally introduced some touch capability in macOS, but it’s only available on certain Macbook Pros through the Touch Bar. Windows 10 has always had full touch screen support, and it offers a Tablet mode that lets you switch between using the screen and keyboard for inputs (provided, of course, that your laptop is equipped with a touch panel). There’s a good selection of on the market to take advantage of this. I use my exclusively as a tablet.
Pen input is another win for Windows. The support for styli on touch screens is robust, with incredibly good handwriting-to-text conversion.
You can use a pen anywhere you enter text. You can also use your voice for text input in any app in both OSes.
To do this in macOS, you have to specifically enable it. Once voice dictation is turned on, you can access it by double-tapping the Fn key. In Windows 10, just hit Windows Key-H (for hear) and you're off and dictating. Both work in any text field. Winner:Windows 10. Cortana arrived on Windows 10 a good year before Siri made it to the Mac, and is still more capable in a few important ways. Both can open apps and web pages, tell you the weather, change system settings, do math, control smart home devices, set reminders, send emails, and search the web.
Both can be invoked by voice. But Siri can’t log out of or shut down the computer, something I find very useful at the end of the day when I’m walking away from my PC. Cortana can now even send requests to Amazon's Alexa. Winner: Windows 10. Windows has been making great strides in integrating the OS with mobile devices. Apps for iOS and Android let you pick up on one device where you left off on another, even letting you send a web page from your phone to your PC’s browser. Android devices in particular are well served by Windows with the Launcher and Your Phone apps, which let you share documents and web pages and conduct SMS messaging across devices.
But despite these promising initiatives, Apple’s integration between macOS computers and iOS-running mobile devices beats what Windows offers. The macOS Notifications panel lets you send text messages by syncing up to a nearby iPhone, all your photos can be shared across devices in Apple Photos, you can transfer almost anything with AirDrop, and you can even engage in video calling with FaceTime between devices.
Apple Watch is yet another piece of the integrated ecosystem that Windows can’t match. For example, you can unlock your Mac when your watch is in proximity, and the same notifications flow to both. Winner:macOS. One of the most frustrating things for me about macOS occurs when I click on a running app’s Dock icon, and its window doesn’t appear on the screen. That's because macOS is more document-based, while Windows is program-based. So when you click on an app's icon in the Dock, you may just see its menu at the top, but no program window. In Windows, tapping a taskbar icon always brings up the associated program.
The macOS Dock has made strides over the past few years, with its nifty mouse-over magnification and Mojave's new feature that displays the icons of recently used apps. But the Windows taskbar is more functional. Hover the mouse over a taskbar button and you’ll see a thumbnail miniature of its program window. Taskbar Jump Lists let you see recent files opened in the app or jump to frequently needed actions in that program. Winner:Windows 10. This take could just be due to my greater experience with Windows, but whenever I work on a Mac, I’m frustrated by how program windows are managed and arranged. As mentioned in the Taskbar vs.
Dock section above, clicking on a Dock icon doesn’t always open the program’s windows. Microsoft's OS makes it easier to arrange windows on the screen. Want an app to take up exactly half the screen? Snap it to the left or right edge.
How about have it display on a quarter of the screen? Snap it to any of the screen corners. If you run apps side-by-side, the border between them can be resized. If you want to show or switch to the desktop behind any running apps, click to the very far right of the taskbar. The conveniences go on.
Both operating systems let you create multiple virtual desktops. Windows now combines the desktop switcher with the Timeline feature (as shown in the screenshot above). This does clutter the Task View screen, but it can be damned useful if you're trying to get back to a webpage or document for which you've forgotten the location. And finally, my favorite Windows window-management trick: Hold and shake the mouse key on a window title bar to minimize everything else. Winner: Windows 10. In recent Windows updates, the File Explorer has improved, with Quick Access being a favorite new feature.
This makes it easy to find the last file you saved, no matter what it was or where you saved it. The Finder’s Recents folder does the same thing.
Window’s File Explorer contains standard libraries for common file types such as Documents, Pictures, and Music. These are sort of metafolders to which you can add any other relevant folder. MacOS doesn’t offer a similar capability. One macOS feature that Windows lacks is the ability to have multiple tabs in a Finder window. Finder also lets you quickly preview files in the Preview utility. Both display previews of documents on the right side of the Explorer/Finder windows, let you choose which app to open a file with, and let you easily share files with a right click. Winner:Tie.
Windows includes at least two apps that let you enter the world of 3D and VR. The 3D Viewer app lets you, well, view 3D models in a pair of goggles or on screen, and Windows’ Mixed Reality Viewer app works with VR headsets exclusively, giving you a virtual portal to VR apps. Two of the most popular VR headsets— and —only work with Windows.
And we can't forget the device that runs Windows 10 called the HoloLens, which is all about augmented reality. Apple has made some progress toward VR support. You can edit 360-degree video content in with external enclosures for graphics cards that are VR-capable. Apple’s ARKit augmented reality only works in for now. Winner: Windows 10.
Hardcore gamers don’t even need to look at this section. While there are plenty of excellent games available for macOS, and there’s even a version of Steam for the platform, Macs typically don't allow the level of internal component customization that's possible with. When it comes to game selection, there are many more top-level titles on Steam that are compatible with Windows than macOS.
Even PlayStation games are available on Windows through Sony’s service, and you can stream games to your PC through the Xbox app. With Play Anywhere, games you buy on the Microsoft Store can be loaded on either your PC or your, including exclusives like Cuphead, both Forza series, the Halo series, Gears of War, and Sea of Thieves. The Windows 10 Game Bar, summoned with Windows Key-G, lets you record or stream your gaming activities to Microsoft’s Mixer community. Even Ubuntu is getting stronger support for Steam games than Macs, with offering support for more than 2,600 Windows games. Winner: Windows 10. This one is another no-brainer.
Windows PCs have fallen prey to far more malware than Macs in the recent past, including ransomware, spyware, botnets, and good old-fashioned viruses. But Microsoft is constantly beefing up its security, pushing Windows Defender updates, and even introducing anti-ransomware measures. Macs have a much cleaner record, but they’re by no means immune to vulnerabilities. Just look at the recent vulnerabilities, which affect both operating systems. Our security guru, Neil Rubenking, strongly recommends using.
Both operating systems offer built-in VPN support, and all of PCMag's choices are available on both platforms, so that category is a wash. And then there’s the issue of stability. Macs win on this count, too, mostly because Apple controls the hardware ecosystem (third-party drivers are a major cause of instability on Windows PCs). We’ve even seen blue screens on Microsoft’s own Surface computers. Those looking for the ultimate in stability, though, should check out.
Winner: macOS. Both operating systems include a good deal of support for users with disabilities, but Microsoft has consistently made more of a priority of this. Both have screen magnification, text narration, Braille support, sticky and slow key entry, and voice input, but with Windows, a blind person can set up the system by voice. Microsoft has even added the ability to, as shown in the photo above.
Microsoft has American Sign Language support by videophone and a free BeMyEyes app that 'connects blind and low vision people with volunteers for visual assistance through a live video call.' At a Microsoft Build conference, one of the company's developers, who is blind, demonstrated an AR app running on the HoloLens that described people's emotions to him in real time based on their expressions, using the company's Seeing AI technology. The company has even published a app for Apple's iOS. Winner: Windows 10.
We’ve tried to be fair and objective, and as you can see from the sections above, in many cases the two operating systems are at parity. And you'll have your own priority weights based on your OS needs. If gaming is everything to you, for example, then Windows is a no-brainer. If you're a creative type, then you’re likely better off with a Mac. So, without further fanfare, here's the final score tally: Apple macOS 3 Microsoft Windows 10 9 Tie 5 Do you agree? Are there other categories that should have been included in our evaluation?
Let us know in the comments.
Update: For those joining in late 2017, I've been hunting for a laptop with limited success. Read on for what I've settled on,. If you ask anyone who knows me, I’m probably the biggest Apple fan they know. Ask for a suggestion of what computer to get, and I’ll almost certainly either tell you the MacBook Pro, or to wait, because Apple is about to update its hardware finally. But recently, I realized I’d gotten tired of Apple’s attitude toward the desktop. The progress in macOS land has basically been dead since Yosemite, two years ago, and Apple’s updates to the platform have been incredibly small.
I’m a developer, and it seems to me Apple doesn’t pay any attention to its software or care about the hundreds of thousands of developers that have embraced the Mac as their go-to platform. Take a look at: the only feature of note is Siri, which is half-baked as it is, and the things that did get ported over from iOS are half-done too. On the developer side? Nothing, unless you use XCode — the same story it’s been for years. The only reason it’s still even viable as a platform for web developers at all is because of the incredible work the open source community does on the Mac toolchain (take a look at how easy it is to use Node, npm, Yarn or any of the other relatively new tools out there)., rolling it into the iOS team, and it shows.
The new MacBook Pros, released in late 2016, where interesting, but something of a half-hearted shrug in the direction of users: they’re okaymachines, but they sure aren’t interesting at all. Their hardware is underpowered, focusing on thinness and a gimmicky touch bar rather than power or functionality, the previous tentpoles of the Mac. To tell the truth, I’m a life-long Windows user that grew to be disillusioned by Microsoft after Windows Vista. It was obvious the company had no strategy or vision, and while Windows 7 smoothed things over a little, Apple’s side had something I wanted: everything worked together nicely. You could send iMessages from your computer or phone, answer calls wherever you were, and throw files to other devices with ease — and so I was tempted away in early 2013 when Apple released its second-generation 15' Retina MacBook Pro. That machine was my first real taste of Apple’s world, and I loved it. Everything was designed nicely, and worked well together.
Apple’s deep roots in Unix meant I actually finally picked up web development for the first time, learnt how to use the terminal deeply, and even gave back to some open-source projects. But, about the time I joined Apple’s world, the company’s attention pivoted. The Mac was no longer important, as the iPhone, iPad and then the iPad Pro became the focus of the company.
The message was simple: why do you even need a computer when a tablet and phone can do it all anyway? As a result, Apple’s focus on the Mac waned: the hardware didn’t receive an update for over four years, and then OS X, once regularly updated with interesting features, now only receives the scraps from iOS. If you want to see this in action, check out iMessage on Mac: the flagship feature of iOS, iMessage stickers, barely works on Mac. You started seeing this in almost everything: Airdrop, Apple’s much-touted feature that lets you easily beam files between computer and phone was my first taste of the company’s “just works” mentality — about 30% of the time it worked every time, and the rest of the time you couldn’t connect at all.
Then there was handoff, the heralded feature that let you work on one device, then seamlessly move to another. I don’t know if I ever got it to work with any sense of reliability. I'm out of apologia juice for defending Apple going with 4 USB-C ports on the new MacBook over a useful mix and keeping the MagSafe. ?? — DHH (@dhh) Meanwhile, Microsoft had licked its wounds inflicted by Windows 8, found a passionate new CEO in Satya Nadella, and started doing something interesting with Windows 10: it actually started listening, and implementing, features people wanted. I mostly ignored the Windows world until late last year when Microsoft introduced the Windows Linux Subsystem — basically a way to use a Linux terminal natively in Windows — which made me realize that development on Windows might actually be pleasant eventually.
I wrote back then that even this was enough to tempt me back to Windows, and it was a game changer: After waiting eagerly for the MacBook Pro refresh, then being utterly disappointed by what Apple actually shipped — a high-end priced laptop with poor performance — I started wondering if I could go back to Windows. Gaming on Mac, which initially showed promising signs of life had started dying in 2015, since Apple hadn’t shipped any meaningful hardware bumps in years, and I was increasingly interested in Virtual Reality but Oculus dropped support for the Mac in 2016 for the same reasons. Then, in October 2016, Microsoft unveiled the next version of Windows: Creators Update out of nowhere. It brings dedicated gaming features, full OS-level VR support, color customization, a people bar for quick chat and a lot more in a free update. I watched the event with my mouth open (it was the first time I’d tuned in to any Microsoft event in years), wondering how Microsoft was suddenly shipping awesome features out of nowhere. This, and seeing all the progress Microsoft was making with the Linux subsystem, as well as Apple’s lack of any meaningful progress, made me decide to make the jump back. I’m not a hater, I’m just tired of not being able to get a machine worth using.
It took me months to convince myself to do it, but I spent weeks poring over forum posts about computer specs and new hardware before realizing how far ahead the PC really is now: the NVIDIA GTX 1080 graphics card is an insane work-horse that can play any game — VR or otherwise — you can throw at it without breaking a sweat. I realized I’m so damn tired of, and started actually considering trying Windows again.
So, in February 2017, I found myself building a computer from scratch. I sold my 15' MacBook Pro (I now use a 12' MacBook for on-the-go productivity), and invested in building a desktop workhorse that would fit my needs and last for a long time.
I’ll spare you too much detail, but if you’re interested in my build you can - the machine is a bit of overkill, but given I want to learn how to develop for VR, it seemed to be a good balance of power and price for the long haul. Jekyll and Gulp living in harmony Now I’ve been on Windows for about six weeks, and while I was expecting to hate it, I’ve found myself impressed. It’s not perfect, but it’s clear Microsoft is sweating the details for the first time in recent memory.
I’ve got my development environment set up just the way I liked it on Mac, thanks to the Linux subsystem — everything from Jekyll to Gulp works exactly how I’d expect. I’d been worried about Microsoft’s high-density display support, since it was unusable in Windows 8 and even the original release of Windows 10, but Creator’s Update seems to be able to finally handle 4K displays without things just getting weird. On top of that? I can play recent games without the PC breaking a sweat, and I’ve started experimenting with VR. The HTC Vive is an incredible device, and I’m just at the start of figuring out Unity so I can actually create my own things for it. The experience hasn’t been all roses — I had forgotten drivers were a thing, and the quality of apps on Windows, while far better than I remember, is sorely lacking.
This seems to be getting addressed quickly thanks to apps: Slack, and are awesome, and stand out in the Windows world for being fantastic. It might seem small, but it's a huge deal I don’t say this lightly, but Windows is back, and Microsoft is doing a great job. Microsoft is getting better, faster at making Windows good than Apple is getting better at doing anything to OS X.
There’s a few things I sorely miss: Sketch, which I use a lot for quick design work, iMessage so I don’t need to keep pulling out my phone and a handful of other things but it’s easy enough to live without them. It’s clear to me from Apple’s language and sheer focus — cough killing the Airport cough — that all Apple cares about is iOS, and the iPhone. Maybe they’ll ship something awesome out of nowhere that really brings back its “productivity” play, but the company is busy trying to convince people that its ham-fisted iPad Pro is good for work. Over the coming weeks I plan to write about the great parts of Windows, how I got my development environment set up, the apps I use, and, of course, the bad parts. I’ll be honest, I can’t bring myself to leave Mac at work yet, because I’m not convinced there’s a good enough Windows laptop yet but maybe that will change over time. If you’re a Mac user sitting, waiting for Apple to maybe release a real workhorse computer so you can actually do your work, stop what you’re doing and take another look at Windows. It’s awesome, and now you’ll be able to get something with incredible power for a great price that’s actually worth using.
Update 11/10: For the last few months I've been looking for a laptop that can replace my trusty MBP and it's been more difficult than expected. I tried the but the fan noise was a little much - but I've settled on the Dell XPS as a excellent replacement and will post more soon ( to keep in the loop).