On 25/02/2014 22:00, Jason Hsu, Rubyist wrote: > I realize this is off-topic, but I understand that an overwhelming > majority of Rubyists use Mac computers and not PCs. I currently use > Linux-powered PCs. Yes, I ditched Windows years ago just like many of > you. Using Linux on a used PC is the cheapest way to compute. (I've been > able to buy a 4 or 5-year-old PC that works for as little as $40-$50.) > > I'm interested in purchasing a Mac to put myself on the same page as > other software developers. (I'm used to Linux distros that provide the > look and feel of Windows XP.) I will use the Mac for software > development projects, but I intend to stick with my Linux-powered PCs > for general computing. (I don't want to get locked into the Mac world, > because it's so much more expensive. Also, there is a case to be made > for being versatile.) > > I'm thinking of buying a new mini (starts at $600), a new MacBook > (starts at $1000), or a refurbished MacBook (starts at $850). > > Some questions: > 1. How much has OS X changed over the past several versions? Is > something from 5 years ago obsolete? Linux, on the other hand, is free. > Any current Linux distro will work very well on a 5-year-old PC, and > there are even some Linux distros (like Puppy Linux and antiX Linux) > that work well on PCs that are 10 or more years old. > 2. Is it just me, or are used Macs so exorbitantly expensive as to > defeat the point of buying a used computer in the first place? I looked > at Craigslist and found a number of used Mac laptops selling for as much > as a new one. Most of the Macs selling for a few hundred dollars or less > were very old, such as G4s. (I understand that those are 10-15 years > old. Good luck getting even $100 or even $50 from a 10-year-old PC.)
I "switched" from OS X to using Linux virtually full time after OS X went from Snow Leopard to Lion. Apple's insistence on making the OS more iOS centric & their slapdash approach to anything in the command line area is, I find, infuriating. If it wasn't for MacPorts I'd give up using it completely The price I find, of course, exorbitant. For a new Macbook Pro (I have a 2008 model), I could buy a couple of servers, a desktop machine & a laptop with the same money & I also find using CentOS/Debian for the 'ops' world & Fedora/Ubuntu for the 'dev' world far more solid & flexible than anything Apple can offer. Also there is far more work in the Linux world than the Mac world from my perspective (systems administration). I also find it irritating that OS X is FreeBSD based however small the differences. My two bob. Cheers, Phil... -- currently (ab)using Arch Linux, CentOS 6.5, Debian Squeeze & Wheezy, Fedora 19 & 20, OS X Snow Leopard, RHEL 7, Ubuntu Precise & Saucy GnuGPG Key : http://phildobbin.org/publickey.asc -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Talk" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rubyonrails-talk/530DC2AB.9000203%40gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
