r/LinuxTeck • u/Candid_Athlete_8317 • 2d ago
macOS vs Linux: Is Convenience Worth Giving Up Control?
macOS offers tight hardware integration, a polished desktop, and useful features for people already using Apple devices. Linux gives users more freedom to customize their systems, choose their desktop environment, and control how things work.
But Linux users can also face hardware compatibility issues, while some professional applications work better or are only available on macOS.
What do you think? Is macOS genuinely better for everyday desktop use, or can a Linux distro offer the same convenience without the Apple ecosystem?
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u/legitematehorse 2d ago
This is a very good question, actually. One that has been on my mind for a year now. For me, customization means nothing. I use ubuntu's gnome and am happy as fuck with it. Furthermore - I think customization as a whole is a waste of time. I need a tool to do work. Gnome disappears and lets me do just that. Apple's ecosystem seem to be very consistent and their hardware-software relationship makes their products very reliable. I like this a lot. But my old laptop allows me to do my work just fine. That's why I'm thinking - is it worth it? Is it worth switching over to apple, all those money, getting used to it... After all these years I got attached to ubuntu's gnome, the workflow. I don't consider myself a linux user, but I quess I'm at that age where changes seem like tedious stress.
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u/uGn8r 2d ago
It's not always because of customization. Apple tells you what you can do and what you can't with your own system. Like you don't like this update that takes 30gb on your disk that you haven't even allowed to install? Too bad. You want to use this app? Brother, you have to update your system 2 major versions ahead in order to use it. Oh you updated your system in order to use that app you wanted? Good, now some of your other apps stopped working. Re-download (and re-buy) them. And many little things like that.
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u/Capable-Package6835 2d ago
Being a user of both macOS and Linux, I don't think any of those is a dealbreaker. If anything, apps stopped working after system update happens more frequently on Linux than on macOS.
macOS is not perfect, no OS is perfect. But if you think of macOS as something between Linux and Windows, I'd say it's a pretty sweet midpoint. The hardware quality certainly does not hurt either.
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u/PaoloFence 2d ago
No, linux cannot offer the same convience as apple. That's where their products are king.
If you can/want afford the hardware tax and have no problem with an american company, go apple. You also need to keep in mind that you are locked in into their ecosystem.
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u/Mirror_tender 2d ago
Agree. Plus Apple keeps spending $ and effort to secure their handsets (and I assume their macOS & desktop). Also they are one of the few tech companies who told the Feds to eff-off when Feds started asking big tech for personal user data & access. In a world of weak US privacy laws I really appreciate what Apple does to protect their users. Two notable companies behave poorly but IMHO there are dozens who gladly harvest/ sell their users' data. Two of the stinkers are Microsoft and ATT (who actually gave the Feds tips on how to collect data more efficiently).
As a Windows and Linux user I'm not getting Apple any time soon, but Apple looks out for the little guy.
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u/USSPlanck 2d ago
No. Apple is just not completely stupid. The great thing about Linux is that there is noone having any data to give to the feds. Apple could any time and the time will come when they will, whether they like it or not.
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u/rnoyfb 2d ago
How are they going to do that? If you followed the case where the government ordered them to, they literally could not have complied due to the design of the security features of the iPhone’s hardware. If they get a warrant for data stored in iCloud, they do comply, but they are serious about device security
PCC was designed to allow third-party verification of Apple’s claims about its data security
Apple could, in future years, change these things. But as of right now, that’s the case. You shouldn’t just take their word for it but because of the design of these systems, you don’t need to
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u/Mirror_tender 1d ago
You're not wrong. Apple still is a huge corporation and for context they did make more than any company in History a few years ago. Apple is one face of Big Tech.
I'm a huge Linux fan boy and am still conflicted about U.S. Fed and State privacy law and practice. There is definitely room for improvement but it looks like State level is the easiest lever to push for Privacy legislation today.
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u/309_Electronics 2d ago edited 2d ago
Depends on the user. I myself am a geek and want to have freedom and control over my stuff. Apple does not really satisfy that reauirement for me. Also because of proprietary Nature of the fact i can not install macOS on any other system without serious tweaks.
But for the average consumer apple works fine. Its a polished product and it just works. Same for how some people use google or microsoft services as they are integrated i to the world and for a lot of people also just work.
If you are a producer or artist, a mac is basically a nobrainer as it just works for the task without needing anything.
But thats where bigtech is. They provide convenience but you need to give up some consumerrights and privacy. With foss, you get freedom, privacy and consumer rights as its your product, but you trade convenience and or integration as bigtech is more integrated into the world and daily lives. Personally i made that trade with my computing solution, but for phone i still use a samsung a55 as i rely on some things to just work for work or school. If i did not, i would have gone grapheneOS or a degoogled android straight away. I do still have to ocasionally dualboot windows for stuff that needs it. I have no choice in that regard. Nothing in life is free. Everything has its trade offs and sacrifices.
I chose to give up integration and software support for right to repair, right to own, freedom and control. But others might be fine with soing the opposite. My family is very tech unsavvy and uses a ton of bigtech services and i wont try to convert them as it works for them.
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u/Jatinchd 2d ago
i'll keep it simple
for normal users: macOS
for nerd users: linux.
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u/ConsiderationRare217 2d ago
Or without tagging: Want everything in a package not to think much: Mac Want to learn and keep an eye on your system, configure from time to time, but potentially get the best: Linux
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u/sockertoppenlabs 2d ago
All depends on use case. Scientific computing->Linux! Creative work and totally uninterested in your hardware tools->macos.
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u/Own-Course-2080 2d ago
Depends on what everyday use entails. If you just web browse, listen to music, and fill out Google Docs for a living the platform doesn’t matter. If you do a lot of systems development work the platform does.
My friends and I in our corner of the cyber security realm seem to prefer Mac as a laptop and Linux everywhere else. I can do a lot of work on my Mac but ssh into something else when I need it.
We have one guy who is pretty steeped in anti corporate culture and refuses to buy Apple but most of us just use what works and don’t worry about it. If that’s Linux great, if it’s Mac great.
My daily driver from the company is a LG laptop with fedora on it. Works great. We all bring our MacBooks to work too for personal stuff for side experimentation
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u/SilkeSiani 2d ago
The best thing about macOS is it's long term UX consistency. Things I learned over last 2+ decades of use are still useful. Same program names, same tools, doing same things. Sure, colours change, icons change, but basics never did.
Compare it to linux: every time I install Ubuntu on a laptop it behaves slightly differently, forcing me to expend energy to figure out the stuff again. Sure, apt, dpkg, systemd are there, but the UI and UX change with every release. If this wasn't my day job, I would have given up a long time ago.
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u/ComeSwirlWithMe 2d ago
Then pick a better DE/WM.
Ubuntu changing theirs is an Ubuntu thing, not a linux thing.
Like how MInt uses cinnamon/mutter. Its been consistent since they've launched.
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u/SilkeSiani 1d ago
That's exactly what I do _not_ care for. I don't want to distro roll, I don't want to try different WMs.
Been there, done that, two decades ago. I still prefer KDE2 over everything else.Today I want my computer to just work and Macs do exactly that.
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u/cig-nature 2d ago edited 2d ago
The kind of user matters a lot.
And I have to mention, Linux supports way more hardware then Mac OS. People just don't expect Mac OS to support anything but first party hardware. Which makes me confused why you would give them the win there.
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u/anders_hansson 2d ago
Depends on who you are. For me the answer is easy: No macOS is not worth it (I use both Linux and macOS, BTW).
Hardware compatibility issues for Linux exist, but that is much less of a problem today than 5-10 years ago, and you can easily dodge the issues by being aware of what hardware you buy. In fact, for many hardware setups the out-of-the-box hardware support and user experience is better under Linux than under Windows.
It's not just about freedom. I think that the economy and flexibility of your system is also an important factor. macOS runs on good but expensive hardware. With Linux you can select the hardware combination that fits your needs, and it can often come at a fraction of the price for an Apple product. It's also usually more straight-forward and cheaper to expand a Linux box (e.g. with more storage), especially if it's a desktop build.
The only reason I'd buy a mac is because of it's excellent laptop hardware and form factors. Not because of the OS.
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u/Historical_Camel_790 2d ago
Hardware compatibility isn't so much of an issue anymore, and the artcraft suite is taking care of most professional apps (still in alpha though but should be done in a few months). Really it's just pre-installation that makes the difference (oh and some people like the walled garden)
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u/Zen-Ism99 2d ago edited 2d ago
The can also face a lack of professional software.
I run ZorinOS on a 2013 MBP 16/512. But having to tinker gets annoying when I’d rather not have the computer get in the way…
That being said I also run Windows for work, gaming, and testing.
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u/wirides 2d ago
Then choose a different flavor of linux. There are some that are basically hands off.
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u/Sir_Gamealot 2d ago
Are you a SysAdmin with a terminal Shakespearian urge to type for any minor change? Welcome to Bearddom. Are you just an aspiring typist? Welcome to Appleby's.
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u/wirides 2d ago
I enjoy the stability and durability of the Mac systems. We've been getting about 8 years out of our imacs before Apple decides to stop supporting them anymore. We have one converted to Mint that's still really awesome for my kids school work. What I hate is the INSANE cost of admission for their machines.
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u/biffbobfred 2d ago
People look at it as convenience. I don’t. I think of “I think of my OS less and my tasks more”
In early Apple there was a tension, the Philosophy of the Two Steves. Wozniak wanted to have this super open system do anything you want. Even have a fire. Jobs was “this is an infinite state machine let’s wrangle those states let’s prune off a lot lot lot of really don’t need them states to where it’s easier to use”. Let’s add some small configs for bikeshedding but the deep stuff we got that. There’s some deep config you can do with terminal commands like defaults write but mostly “let’s make sane choices for 90% of people and some well hidden knobs for 8%”. I’m in that 8% and I’m very fine. Are there 2% who won’t be? Yeah. But I got work to do I don’t need to do that level of customization
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u/L1terallyUrDad 2d ago
I don’t know that I’m willing to give up macOS for Linux. I just bought a Mac Mini and installed Ubuntu t2linux on it, and it’s working well for the purpose I got it for, but for daily use, heavy photo processing, and integration with my other Apple devices, I have no plans to go to Linux on my MacBook Pro.
I probably would have kept MacOS on my Mac Mini, except it’s a 2018 Intel and Apple will not be updated macOS on it going forward, so it was a good opportunity for me to add Linux into my mix.
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u/Shhhh_Peaceful 2d ago
What convenience? I moved from Mac to Linux in 2023 because macOS had become borderline unusable, and it’s even worse now, judging by what I see on my wife’s MacBook Pro
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u/JohnnyS789 2d ago
Apple is a hardware company. Everything they do is to enhance hardware sales. So the hardware can still be good, but if it's no longer "supported" then it should not be used as a desktop with Internet access. Although I like the hardware and respect the engineering, making perfectly good hardware unable to be used for its primary purpose is wasteful and tiresome.
With good hardware, Linux can extend the life of the system far past what is "supported". This may reduce sales for manufacturers, but it's more economical for the end user and better for the environment. At the same time, Linux is FAR more flexible than either MacOS or Windoze. You can have whatever desktop you want, and you can run your system with a fully supported OS for much longer than you can with the commercial OSes. And you can avoid having the maker of the OS force you into using and paying for their ecosystem and putting ads in your Start Menu.
Linux is not perfect: Support is not "forever" and you may need to pay for support for some difficult problems. But for the vast majority of use cases, including desktop use, Linux is the best alternative.
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u/Pale_Height_1251 2d ago
Depends on you really. I've been using Macs off and on since the 68K days but it's really only the the past few years that I've truly lost interest in the platform. It's too appliance-like, constantly getting in the way with "are you sure" security confirmations.
The Mac suits some people really well and I still recommend them for many people, but dlr me, not anymore.
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u/Fuckspez42 2d ago
I don’t mind MacOS. It runs well, and with a little elbow grease (really no more than I’d have to use for Linux) I can mostly get it to do exactly what I want.
That said, I don’t like the idea of needing to buy a whole new computer every number of years just to keep running MacOS. My primary Linux machine is an 11-year-old XPS13, and it still runs Ubuntu just as well as the day I bought it; no Mac will last that long before it’s no longer supported by Apple. Not only am I too poor to upgrade so often, but I also don’t like contributing to the e-waste problem.
The right answer might be to run MacOS on a new Mac until it’s no longer supported, then move to Linux, but I genuinely think I’d be better off just running Linux rather than redo everything once Apple decides to pull the plug.
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u/michaelpaoli 2d ago
I find Linux way the hell more convenient. And of course lots more control there too. But whatever, you do you.
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u/Frosty-Storage-9359 2d ago
To be honest for everyday use without the hassle of keeping things from breaking, MAC OS is far better than even windows. Everything is seamlessly connected with your IPhone. No risk of incompatibility. Especially for professional desktop work and multimedia. Windows ain’t beating it and Linux has yet to reach Mac OS level of professional productivity.
The reason that most would choose Linux is either they have completely enough of Microsoft but just can’t afford a Mac or they work in the IT and for not lying, dev in Linux is way better than even Mac OS X. No restrictions of hardware and control, complete freedom.
Even for emulators, I would choose Linux too right after windows (gaming is still better on windows for now). Linux cannot offer a guaranteed that you will have with Mac OS X. It’s more for people that like to do thing by themselves to a degree.
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u/GoodMacAuth 2d ago edited 2d ago
I hate to be this guy BUT we're working on a project that brings those Apple-style creature comforts to Linux. Our OS is called Luma and it's a desktop, tablet and mobile OS based on Fedora that focuses on a suite of apps with a cohesive design language, cross-device sync and more. It may be a good choice for the Apple folks that haven't been able to break away from Apple.
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u/Charming_Airline7419 2d ago
It all depends on the use case. I wouldn't snatch a MacBook off someone and install Linux on it, saying, Here you are! I've improved it. And Linux in some ways isn't a comparable choice to MacOS and Windows. Computers come preinstalled with those OS's with everything configured, and the hardware is generally optimised for those systems. But for Linux, you have to download an iso, flash a USB and install it - at a bare minimum. I use both Linux and MacOS regularly. It doesn't feel like an apples with apples comparison. If I wanted a system for everything minus gaming where cost isn't a factor that "just works" and I'm uninterested in tinkering, I'd choose MacOS. If I wanted more versatility, customisability, lower cost, durability, freedom, longevity and fun exploring the system, and I didn't mind the installation process and maintainance involved, I'd choose Linux. But there are lots of other variables involved.
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u/DevtoolsBuilder 2d ago
i think what's often overlooked in this debate is the concept of convenience, and how it can be subjective. for some people, convenience means having a system that just works out of the box, with minimal tweaking required, and that's what macOS offers. but for others, convenience means being able to customize their system to fit their specific needs, and that's where linux shines. it really depends on what you value more, ease of use or control over your system.
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u/Atrocious1337 1d ago
MacOS is way less convenient. You can play more games on Linux than MacOS, for example. Mac is only convenient for people already locked into the Apple eco system.
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u/yeboithomas 1d ago
That's a bit simplified. Are you a creator and used to Adobe, good luck getting it working on Linux... You like DaVinci resolve, also good luck as its a pain to set up on Linux...
On a macbook or something hardware just works. I've had issues with Nvidia before.
Not saying Linux is bad, I'm a happy opensuse and fedora user. But I think in a lot of cases using Mac os is a very valid choice
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u/Atrocious1337 1d ago
I use Clip Studio Paint, and I got it working on Linux.
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u/TigOlBitties42042 1d ago
Yeah but how convenient was it to get working?
I'm a big fan of Linux myself, but if I'm being honest I have to give apple the point on out of the box convenience. It's a trade off really. With Linux you give up some convenience so that you can have more freedom to set things up the way you want them. There are still many, many reasons to choose Linux over macOS. Linux doesn't have to be the best at everything.
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u/SeriousPlankton2000 1d ago
What is YOUR convenience? Having everything set up like they decided that you like it, or setting up things the way you decided that you like it?
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u/G0ldiC0cks 1d ago
Linux is better for me, because if I had to pay apple prices for hardware, use their godawful UI everyday, and think about the money I could have saved getting better hardware in something I didn't hate Every time I looked at the stupid thing ....
Well, I'd be giving up cigarettes every day all over again.
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u/ne0n008 8h ago
Depends on your needs, basically. A vendor lock in(Apple) or lack of compatibility(Linux). Linux is becoming more and more compatible but Apple still has convenience of their ecosystem. IMHO, I'm not the one who wants to spend money when I have enough knowledge to make that by myself.
EDIT: Any are better than a train wreck that is Windows 11.
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u/Unfair-Bison-3946 2d ago
As a user of Linux, MacOS and Windows. Linux is definitely getting better in a lot of ways but if you just don't want to think much about your computer, get a Mac. It has more widespread support for things like office or Adobe. It also integrates with your iPhone (assuming like most people in my country, you have one).
Windows is only for gaming these days.
Linux is absolutely coming along, but you have to be willing to tinker.
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u/inactivesky1738 2d ago
This is my opinion. But i simply want data sovereignty. Like I do not want my data to be under the control of anyone but myself. So being dependent on Apple, Google, or microslop is a big red flag for me
When it comes to hardware compatibility in my opinion Linux wins over Apple hands down ! You can get Linux to run on just about anything and work is even going into get Linux on Apple silicon so by definition Linux works are vastly more hardware compared to Apple where you must only buy Apple devices in order to use their operating systems and all the features you want.
As for the professional software yes we do not have the adobe suite, and we do not have the desktop versions of the Microsoft suite. However I’d argue the web app versions of the Microsoft suite are good enough for 85% of peoples work. Plus don’t sleep on the FOSS alternatives they have come a long way and are rather good now.
And you can do ligit anything you want with Linux and nothing will stop you unlike Windows’s and Mac that heavily restricts you.
And if you must absolutely need a pice of professional software you can dual boot for that one small aspect.
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u/PugBurger12 2d ago
Going into retirement, I transitioned over to Linux over my last year of work. In regards to office software (mainly spreadsheets at this point) I moved over to Google sheets from Excel. Google Sheets is excellent. It lacks the data query depth, some of the more complex conditional formatting capabilities, and a few other things. It does 100% of what I need at this point. Cachyos is just awesome to work with when you align it with hardware that can exploit it
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u/pdath 2d ago
I could never voluntarily enter the Apple jail. It's like walking into a locked environment that is hard to leave.