Personally, I prefer a PC with grub and a large number of partitions with different OSs available as needed, and a shared partition for VMs. The gotcha here is that you need to do your research and get PC hardware you like. I recommend a Dell XPS laptop, I've found them to be awesome, and I believe they offer some with backlit keyboards now. You can also get XPS M1210's on ebay for $400, and that's a nearly perfect 12" laptop. I'm currently using an XPS M1330, and I like it a lot.
I've never had luck virtualizing Mac and getting acceptable performance. That's not really what your asking, but personally, I also can't stand the Mac GUI. I really like the Compiz Fusion and Gnome desktop environment available in modern Linux distributions. I love how I can tweak it to look exactly how I want (I'm not sure if you can do this on OS X). I'm actually certain that Compiz increases my productivity (being able to make a terminal just transparent enough to read text in a window behind it is sooo useful), or scale any window to size while keeping the full window viewable. Additionally, all the tools I use run from Linux. I can fire off an XP VM when I need to, and keep a separate installation of Windows available for my iPhone. I guess the biggest thing is to make sure you get something you will be able to use effectively. When I use OS X I'm still within the learning curve window, so it reduces my productivity. I've committed to the Linux desktop for long enough that anything else slows me down to some degree. I think it's really a personal choice about which platform you want to be your primary one. My vote is for a Dell XPS laptop running Linux. On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 8:16 AM, Butturini, Russell <[email protected]> wrote: > I've been wondering the same thing. What is the benefit of OSX vs. buying a > PC at a lower cost, blowing it away and loading your favorite Linux/BSD > distro? I'm not saying that's necessarily the best way, but like Robin I'm > curious about the advantages of one vs. the other. > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Robin Wood > Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2010 5:18 PM > To: PaulDotCom Mailing List > Subject: [Pauldotcom] mac vs pc (non-fanboy answers) > > I've been looking at getting a new laptop for a while and I'm trying > to compare a PC and a Mac. I know that a lot of security people are > moving to Macs and I'd like to know why. For half the price, or less, > I can get an high spec PC so why are people moving? Is it OSX, is it > availability of tools, hardware quality or what? > > I'm particularly looking at the Macbook Pros, probably the 15". > > I know this will probably start a fanboy fight but I've got to ask. > > Robin > _______________________________________________ > Pauldotcom mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.pauldotcom.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pauldotcom > Main Web Site: http://pauldotcom.com > > > ****************************************************************************** > This email contains confidential and proprietary information and is not to be > used or disclosed to anyone other than the named recipient of this email, > and is to be used only for the intended purpose of this communication. > ****************************************************************************** > _______________________________________________ > Pauldotcom mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.pauldotcom.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pauldotcom > Main Web Site: http://pauldotcom.com > -- -- Benjamin C. Greenfield, CISSP bcg [at] struxural.com Domains and Hosting for Less from Struxural: http://www.struxural.com _______________________________________________ Pauldotcom mailing list [email protected] http://mail.pauldotcom.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pauldotcom Main Web Site: http://pauldotcom.com
