Some thoughts. Macs do cost more than the alternative but I've found them to be well worth the cost difference. I have never been comfortable with what passes for (hardware or software) support on the PC side of the computiverse. That said, Linux and the rest of the open software world make a very solid development base if you can puzzle out a stable hardware base.
I've packed my MBP across the country on the back of a motorcycle more than once and it just works. It was new in 2010 and has always had the most current (developer) release of software installed. I would buy new - I'm still using an iMac from 2004. It's PowerPC based and doesn't run the latest version of anything but Firefox. Still works great for music and movies though. If you buy an old machine it will be eclipsed by the software long before you'ld like. I would also invest in a Mac developer's license - it's worth the cost to be close to the Apple development community. Rick On Wednesday, February 26, 2014 5:46:22 AM UTC-5, Peter Hickman wrote: > > Speaking as a long time Mac user I have to say that if you are comfortable > with Linux on a cheap laptop then there is very little *more* you would get > as a Rails developer in moving to a Mac. > > If you are deploying to a Linux server (as opposed to a Windows server) > then a Linux laptop will get you to a comfortable place to do your work. > The extra you get from using a Mac is probably all in the mind :) > > Having said that all the Macs I have ever owned have been ultra reliable > and lasted years before they needs to be replaced (which has more to do > with technolust and a credit card burning a hole in my pocket than any real > need). However I tend to view PC hardware as disposable and if they last > two years I will consider myself blessed. PC build quality tends to be > abysmal unless you are prepared to fork out a great deal of money. > > TL;DR > > A Linux laptop is 99% of what you need. The 1% more you would get from a > Mac could be a very expensive 1% > > > -- 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 rubyonrails-talk+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rubyonrails-talk/4fea4e7f-26c1-461c-b1ec-034809d2bfd3%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
