Hi, i was looking for some help in deciding whether I should buy an imac or not. I am a web developer and I have been using Windows for over 10 years mainly using software such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver and currently have been using a 13" Sony Vaio Laptop.

 

More recently I have been doing alot more responsive websites and this is where having a bigger screen would help as checking the different screen sizes, writing code etc would all be on one screen but I just want to make sure Im making the right decision and was looking for some advice to make sure I have considered all aspects of the purchase beforehand.

 

The other concern I had was at present its only the 5K iMacs that are available and I have read that designing on this screen might not actually give me a true picture of what normal users (without 5k screens) would actually see on their screens and this has put some doubt in my head, so thought I would ask the experts.

 

Hope somebody could advice, would really appreciate it.

If you're on about the 27" iMac then yes I believe it's now only available in 5K, the standard 21.5" iMacs are still available.

 

Most "normal" people don't use Macs, the vast majority of those run Windows on either desktops or laptops of which screen display quality is rarely up to Mac standards so when developing it's always handy to have an "average" Window system to check things on - that is at least using an "average" quality monitor.

The biggest plus with Mac is the operating system is built on top of unix, like most severs are. Unix command line is superior and a lot of modern development tools (many of which are command line based) are built to run on unix.

 

Look at speakers at dev conferences, or workshops / see workshop screening on places like Frontend masters they are almost always using Mac...

Edited December 6, 201510 yr by rbrtsmith

Just to bump a post, MM has a Mac for sale ... http://www.webdesignerforum.co.uk/topic/84197-for-sale-apple-imac-retina-5k-27-treat-yourself-its-christmas/#entry501322

For over 10 years I used PCs and Windows but a month ago I switched to Mac (Macbook Pro with Retina display). If I'm to compare to Win 10 the advantages are not that big, the powershell is pretty powerful in Windows too and I can't say productivity had really improved (I'm a web developer too)...maybe a 5% increase because I can do some things faster ?

 

Also, Mac is a love or hate thing, why not try it out from a friend or install Hackintosh to see first if you like it, OSX is really really different from Windows and you need a lot of time adjusting to it.

I don't understand this. You seem to be saying you're thinking about buying a mac and switching to an entirely different, unfamiliar OS because it has a bigger screen? Unless I'm misreading your post... If this is the case, may I suggest an alternative? Buy a larger monitor. It's probably cheaper.

For over 10 years I used PCs and Windows but a month ago I switched to Mac (Macbook Pro with Retina display). If I'm to compare to Win 10 the advantages are not that big, the powershell is pretty powerful in Windows too and I can't say productivity had really improved (I'm a web developer too)...maybe a 5% increase because I can do some things faster ?

 

Also, Mac is a love or hate thing, why not try it out from a friend or install Hackintosh to see first if you like it, OSX is really really different from Windows and you need a lot of time adjusting to it.

 

I guess you don't do much work with Node, Redis, Jekyll and many other CLI based stuff. Git was also awfully slow to get support on windows. This is all because OSX is built on Unix which windows does not have.

Even something like setting up Sass on a Mac is trivial but on windows you have to jump through a whole load of hoops to download ruby etc.

 

I had been using windows since the mid 90's and I always resisted the whole Apple thing, until I had to work in the command line in my job, where I got a mac at work and my windows laptop at home, within a few weeks my productivity on the Mac was considerably higher than with windows, so much so I was happy to pay the extortionate price and buy a Mac Book Pro and it really is paying dividends now. Especially as I practically live in the terminal now.

Edited December 11, 201510 yr by rbrtsmith

I've been using a Windows PC forever and spent the last 4 years freelancing using a 17" Sony Vaio.

 

Like rbrtsmith I resisted getting a Mac. However, fed up of the small screen I upgraded to a 27" 5k imac this week and I couldn't be happier with it.

 

The huge screen is great. The trackpad 2 is good and I find it much better than a mouse. The gestures make everything much quicker.

 

Things do look different on the imac compared to my laptop. But this is mainly just the colours - they look amazing on the new screen. I actually see what the designer sees now. Size wise, the display is scaled. So if you are viewing it on the standard setting, you are actually seeing a resolution of 2560 x 1440. If everything were in 5k it would be tiny! So I expect designing in it would be fine.

 

I have found myself more productive and I got used to it so quickly, despite being a different OS. Only problem I have at the moment is I keep pressing the @ symbol rather than the " when coding as they are in opposite places on the keyboard.

 

I wouldn't go back to a PC now.

 

I guess you don't do much work with Node, Redis, Jekyll and many other CLI based stuff. Git was also awfully slow to get support on windows. This is all because OSX is built on Unix which windows does not have.

Even something like setting up Sass on a Mac is trivial but on windows you have to jump through a whole load of hoops to download ruby etc.

 

I had been using windows since the mid 90's and I always resisted the whole Apple thing, until I had to work in the command line in my job, where I got a mac at work and my windows laptop at home, within a few weeks my productivity on the Mac was considerably higher than with windows, so much so I was happy to pay the extortionate price and buy a Mac Book Pro and it really is paying dividends now. Especially as I practically live in the terminal now.

 

As a PHP developer things haven't changed much in that perspective. I'm using the same IDE (PHPStorm) and for the php, apache, mysql stack I'm using Ampps which is similar to Xampp/Wamp on Windows. Installing a custom apache w/ PHP, MySQL on OSX is much harder than on any OS, on Linux you just use your distribution installer, on OSX you have to compile each extension and a lot of hassle with compiling all dependencies and what not.

 

As a PHP developer things haven't changed much in that perspective. I'm using the same IDE (PHPStorm) and for the php, apache, mysql stack I'm using Ampps which is similar to Xampp/Wamp on Windows. Installing a custom apache w/ PHP, MySQL on OSX is much harder than on any OS, on Linux you just use your distribution installer, on OSX you have to compile each extension and a lot of hassle with compiling all dependencies and what not.

 

Getting PHP and MySQL running on my macs took about 5 minutes, it couldn't be simpler actually. A few clicks with MAMP and you're done. I'm not sure where you're getting this information from but it is incorrect.

Edited December 11, 201510 yr by rbrtsmith

Like a few here, I have been a Windows user for best part of 15 years, and last month I bought a Macbook Pro, for developing etc.. I've not put it down since.

 

The Terminal like what Robert has been saying makes life super easy, I can't say I live in it but I certainly make sure it's one of the first apps I open, Macs come bundled with a lot of useful developer software already install, for example there is a flavour of apache2 installed and ruby, which is extra useful if you're looking to run sass on you machine.

 

In my experience setting up a Windows machine vs Setting up my Mac for developing the Mac wins hands down.

 

If you have the cash make the jump you won't regret it!

Macs are dope!

The simple answer is buy the product that meets your requirements, rather than thinking that you have to have a mac because that is what everyone else has. If your budget allows it get the best possible computer you can, I don't think as a web designer the spec needs to be that high, it's not as if you are rendering videos and 3d environments.

The simple answer is buy the product that meets your requirements, rather than thinking that you have to have a mac because that is what everyone else has. If your budget allows it get the best possible computer you can, I don't think as a web designer the spec needs to be that high, it's not as if you are rendering videos and 3d environments.

 

As mentioned previously (The term web designer is pretty vague and could mean only design or a designer that also devlops) that for developers the unix CLI system is becoming more and more important, so many modern front-end tools either do not work in non-unix environments (Windows) or they have been unofficially ported and as a result often have bugs or unexpected crashes etc.

This of course does not apply for those who only design.

Edited January 6, 201610 yr by rbrtsmith