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Joseph Torres
6,281 PointsPC's or a Mac for Web Dev?
Hello everyone, as I go through different sites and Youtube videos, I noticed that most developers I've all us Macbook's instead of PC's. Is this a fad or is there a real thing to this? I have an HP Envy with great specs that I think does the job however am I going to need to need a Mac once I get into a company? Thank you.
6 Answers
andren
28,558 PointsFor web development it does not matter at all. All popular web development text editors and IDEs I can think of support both Windows and Mac (often Linux too for that matter). And web development is not a very CPU heavy process since you usually don't need to compile anything, and even if you do it's not very resource hungry.
As far as web servers are concerned they are often designed with Linux in mind first rather than Windows or Mac OS, but there are more than enough Windows ports and alternatives so using Windows is not an issue. Though familiarizing yourself with Linux and how the terminal works at some point would probably not be a bad idea if you intend to work with server side coding.
Macs are necessary if you intend to develop apps for iOS or other apple systems. Other than that you will be able to develop pretty much any kind of program using pretty much any language while using Windows.
Dzims Dreijers
9,173 PointsBoth will do the job, but there are many things that I think are easier to do or set up on Mac.
Alexander Davison
65,469 PointsI really highly superbly recommend using a Mac
It is better designed for programming.
rays0
16,293 PointsWith Mac it's a bit easier to install and run open source apps. And everything is more polished. Although today with Windows PowerShell and Visual Studio Code, it's never been better to do web development on Windows. Like andren mentioned, it's more about which apps you prefer to use. Also, if you are talking specifically about laptops, then keyboards also play into consideration. Some of the older HPs and Dells have very good keyboards. IMO the typing experience is nicer than the modern Thinkpad keyboards.
Joseph Torres
6,281 PointsThank you so much for your reply. I have an HP Envy with an i5 processor, a 250 Gb SSD, and 16Gb RAM which I think should suffice until I get a Mac in the near future. I saw that you mentioned VS Code. I have been fiddling with Brackets however I keep hear about VS Code. What your opinion on that and what are the best extensions for it? Thank you so much.
rays0
16,293 PointsTo be honest, I haven't used VSC for any length of time, I do like the interface better than notepad++. Built in git integration is nice.
stjarnan
Front End Web Development Techdegree Graduate 56,488 PointsIf you have a HP Envy there's no need for a Macbook (Unless you want to release an iPhone app). If the company wants you to use a Mac then they will most probably provide you with a computer :)
Hopefully this reply wasn't too late, good luck studying!
Joseph Torres
6,281 PointsThank you so much, I'll stick with my Envy.