[Russell Goodman]

The question:
I own a Dell pc laptop (just a mini inspiron 10) and will be upgrading this year. I am looking at all my options for a new laptop & have read many reviews on specs for typical £600 laptop PC's:
4-6GB RAM, dual core processor, 500GB HD, backlit keyboard, lightweight (no optical drive), SD card slot.

I am quite new to the world of web design & learning the fundamentals of the primary 'front end' languages such as CSS, HTML & Javascript etc.
Would an Apple macbook be worth the price/investment? I plan on my career being based heavily on web page design/maintenance. I was after some opinions from the WDF community more than Amazon/Techradar.

Also, why are so many tutorials/text books shown using the MAC OSX operating system than than Windows/PC systems & software?

[4colourprogress]

Macbook Pro definitely! The Air only comes in 11" and 13" which to me is far too small to be doing any serious design work for long periods of times.

I had a 4 year old 13" Macbook before upgrading but wanted to increase the screen size so I jumped up to a 15" Pro and the difference was awesome.

[Renaissance-Design]

Got a desktop as well? Air. Haven't? Pro.

Apple make good, solid well-designed hardware, and Operating System is down to what you feel most comfortable with; there are advantages and disadvantages to all of them. Don't forget, buying an Apple machine doesn't lock you down to OSX; you could run Windows or Linux on it just as easily.

A good rule of thumb is: when buying the tools of your trade, buy the best quality you can afford. At the moment I'm sorry to say that's Hobson's choice, only Apple are consistently bringing out well-designed, well-built hardware every time. The last really top-notch Windows laptop I saw was three years ago, and I'm still using it.

This post has been edited by Renaissance-Design: 03 February 2012 - 07:07 PM

[Russell Goodman]

Thank you for both of your replies!
The only thing that put me off a 15" was the weight but i'm thinking portability isn't that important plus I don't have a desktop at home - all the more reason for a wide screen with extra RAM, processor power & HardDrive. This has been helpful and i realise all the usual comparisons - if you're on a budget, go for a PC if you have the £'s go for a MAC (depending on what it's used for).
I want to see it as more of an investment than anything, as it's not going to be a toy as far as i'm concerned, and i'm not a gamer either.
For now, thanks.

Renaissance-Design, on 03 February 2012 - 10:28 AM, said:

Got a desktop as well? Air. Haven't? Pro.

Apple make good, solid well-designed hardware, and Operating System is down to what you feel most comfortable with; there are advantages and disadvantages to all of them. Don't forget, buying an Apple machine doesn't lock you down to OSX; you could run Windows or Linux on it just as easily.

A good rule of thumb is: when buying the tools of your trade, buy the best quality you can afford. At the moment I'm sorry to say that's Hobson's choice, only Apple are consistently bringing out well-designed, well-built hardware every time. The last really top-notch Windows laptop I saw was three years ago, and I'm still using it.

[Angelo]

You can buy a Mac Mini 2011. They have enough power for web designer needs (adobe photoshop, flash runs more than great), multimedia and games.

[Georgew]

Russell Goodman, on 03 February 2012 - 04:17 AM, said:

I am quite new to the world of web design & learning the fundamentals of the primary 'front end' languages such as CSS, HTML & Javascript etc.
Would an Apple macbook be worth the price/investment? I plan on my career being based heavily on web page design/maintenance. I was after some opinions from the WDF community more than Amazon/Techradar.

Also, why are so many tutorials/text books shown using the MAC OSX operating system than than Windows/PC systems & software?

Plenty of good laptops for £600. If £600 is your budget, don't get a mac. It won't make you any better at what you do.

Textbooks are showing off. There is no actual reason to have a Mac over Windows - they are just popular in this industry down to personal taste.

[porkchops]

Georgew, on 10 February 2012 - 12:47 PM, said:

Plenty of good laptops for £600. If £600 is your budget, don't get a mac. It won't make you any better at what you do.

Textbooks are showing off. There is no actual reason to have a Mac over Windows - they are just popular in this industry down to personal taste.

A mac certainly won't make you better at what you do (I'm pretty decent and I use a PC at work and at home).

However, Apple is the ONLY manufacturer that makes laptops that don't suck. I used to work in PC sales and repair and I constantly saw problems with a wide range of brands and price levels. HP, Dell, eMachines, Acer, Compaq, Sony, etc. All typically (barring the rare exception) produce machines that are ugly and made with low-quality components.

My advice? For laptops go Mac (I'm going to be getting a 13" Macbook Pro for my portable machine because I can't stand how substance-less the Air feels) or get a PC desktop. PC desktops are miles ahead of Mac stuff from a price/performance and reliability standpoint.

[andyl]

Literate, non-ignorant Windows/Mac users - this thread deserves a gold star, and to be locked before YouTube finds it.

I would say that OS X improves the workflow of a web developer, primarily because of Coda and the expose/spaces OS X includes. Having multiple desktops, ridiculously quick access to all open windows, iOS style app screen at the pinch of a hand - it just makes things easier. One of our mottos at work is, 'Windows; just adding that extra step to your life.'. Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean you need to buy a Mac - you could go the Hackintosh route, apparently it's legal.

I'm a Mac user, have been for 7 years so won't ever go back to Windows now. But, as I always say, if I'd been with Windows for those 7 years, I bet I'd be saying the exact opposite. Windows is decent, obviously, otherwise it wouldn't be eating Apple's OS market share for breakfast.

If you have an iPhone, iPod or iPad, and you have the money - it's kinda' a no-brainer. Macs will work better with them, full-stop, and they're not going to go away any time soon. They're the most popular phone, music player and tablet in the world (wow, I've never written that down - pretty damn impressive huh?). If you're one of those Androids, Windows would probably play ball a bit better with your device.

One thing's for sure - if you're going for a Mac, wait for the new releases in a few months. If your budget is £600, forget about Apple, but remember you'll be spending another £600 next year when the piece of feces Dell sells you commits suicide. Pay more, get more.

By the way, it's Mac, not MAC. THAT really grinds my gears!

PS. If you use Microsoft Office - stick to Windows. Office:mac is, well, naff.

This post has been edited by andyl: 15 February 2012 - 10:54 PM

[Renaissance-Design]

Andy, not like you to miss one of Apple's good points but I'll add that having a *nix shell is also a pretty big advantage for a LAMP developer.

[brightonmike]

Just to throw a curve ball out there, this should be worth a look, Samsung Series 7 Chronos 700Z5A.

It has identical specs to a Macbook Pro that costs £700~ more, and whilst it's not quite as good looking or well built, it shouldn't have any build quality issues and should last you fine for a good few years.

And, if you do insist on running OSX, as Andy said there's always the hackintosh option.

Worth a look if budget is an issue.

[CityCM]

Another vote for Macbook Pro here.

In our office we currently have a 24" iMac, a 2011 Mac Mini, a 15" Macbook Pro and 2 Dell Vostro Windows PC's. At home I use a HP Probook.

My preference is definately towards the Macs. They are so much better than anything Windows that I've ever used. One company I worked for had a Core i7 6-Core PC and our 24" 2.8GHz Core 2 Duo iMac feels much more responsive.

This year, we are hoping to replace all of our Windows PC's with new Macs (even if they end up being Mac Mini's) because they just work better.

[porkchops]

Renaissance-Design, on 16 February 2012 - 01:38 AM, said:

Andy, not like you to miss one of Apple's good points but I'll add that having a *nix shell is also a pretty big advantage for a LAMP developer.

Not to mention OSX comes with Ruby installed, makes life a lot easier if you're going that route.