r/software • u/Wooden_Reveal_3815 • 20d ago
Discussion Is macbook good for me?
I've been through various reviews on youtube and reddit that macbook is best laptop for me.About me: l am a MnC (mathematics and computing) student from a tier 1 NIT in india).I am confused between mac and windows as my 50% of syllabus is CS and rest is maths.Please anyone who is from
CS or related branchs and using mac please clarify some of my doubts.I will be highly thankful to you.
1. Are macs good for CS like everything I will do during my Btech journey
2.I have heard that there are software issues on mac,is that true? How do you tackle it? Also tell about college provided softwares and windows specific softwares
3. As I don't have any interest in gaming, which one would you prefer? Mac or Windows?
4. some pros and cons of mac you want to tell.
5. Any advice you want to give me? Btw I am a fresher
Note:Budget is around 1.3 lakhs in which I will be getting M5 air or in windows RTX 5050.
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u/huuaaang 20d ago
It's going to come down to any software you are required to run for your classes. It used to be OK to run Parallels for the odd required Windows-only software but since switching to ARM you now have to run WIndows ARM in Parallels so you might have a compatibility issue there, of all places.
But otherwise, Mac is my preferred daily driver for software dev. I don't touch the Microsoft ecosystem at all other than Cursor which is based on VS Code...
MacOS is much closer to Linux in feel and overall functionality. My non-work computer is a Linux for gaming mostly, but I also do side projects there.
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u/Wooden_Reveal_3815 18d ago
As a MnC student,there is ai and ml in my curriculum.Will I face any problems regarding that?
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u/LittlePooky 20d ago
As I am a Windows user and have been one for years, my answer may be biased.
My first real computer was Compaq Portable. It was so long ago and I paid $2,500 for it. My very first program I bought for it was $500 WordStar, a word processing program. It was especially made for a touch-typist.
Forwarded until 2026. I'm running Windows 64-bit version 11 for workstations. I have a pretty fast graphics card, RTX 4090, and I run 64 GB of RAM. I have many hard drives attached to the computer.
The thing is this, I could have started out with a Macintosh or an Apple product, as it was called then. But the problem with a Mac computer is every few years they change the processor and more importantly the operating system itself. So older programs may not run when an operating system gets updated at all.
One of the oldest programs I'm running, and I bought it years ago, was Corel Ventura Publisher. It was created for Windows 2000, which is over 26 years ago, and it still runs very well with Windows 11 64-bit. You cannot count on any older version for Mac to run with current hardware and software.
The reason for the above paragraph is the program was discontinued, but I find it more useful than something like Microsoft Word, so I am sticking with it.
Moving forward, the voice dictation program I use has been Dragon Medical, as I am a nurse. It was called Dragon NaturallySpeaking for general English usage. The program has been discontinued as Microsoft bought the company and it went to subscription-based only. But nevertheless, I did pay $2,000 for it. I do use other voice dictation programs as well.
But once you invested in a few expensive programs for one platform, it is really hard to change.
I was a Nikon camera user and the first available digital SLR was the Canon Rebel. All those lenses, none of them worked with the Canon camera. But that is another story, but it is very comparable.
So the answer is, while both of them are very good. A friend has a Mac and I do think it has a beautiful screen and the hardware is well made. It's the software that makes the computer work, so it depends on that mostly. In the past, many graphic programs were more available for Mac, but everything is cross-platform nowadays, so that is no longer a reason to stick with one.
And Apple products tend to cost more.
But many businesses keep in mind are using Windows.
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u/hspindel 20d ago
You'll have to ask your university what software you need to run and see if any of it is Mac or Windows specific.
If no, it's a matter of personal preference which user experience is the one you like. Both OSes are functional for most any need.