On Tuesday, February 25, 2014 5:00:14 PM UTC-5, 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.) >
There are a lot of posts here already, so I really only have one point to add. It depends on the nature of your development. If you are slinging Rails code and that's the majority or all of your work, I don't really think you'll see an appreciable difference between mac and linux. In my work, for example, I would prefer to do as much back end rails development as possible, but it usually doesn't end up that way. I inevitably end up using Omnigraffle to develop storyboards and inevitably in development I'll end up with some Illustrator and/or Photoshop work on the front end, even if it's just modification to a design passed to me by a designer. In these cases, in my opinion, a mac is worth having. I certainly wouldn't want to use Windows (I did for a whilte), and third party software options for Linux are limited (but they do exist). There are also online alternatives for some things such as project management. Just something else to consider. -- 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/1f6b29f6-3075-42f1-9bfc-c8e2ad237ce8%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
