Programmer wanting to move from windows to mac

Hi,

I've always been a Windows user and been programming mostly in the .Net family.
I started to look in the open source family for like 2-3 years (node.js, React, etc...) and it seems that most of the issue I got is often related to my OS (Windows) and must people seems to program on Mac these day.

So I am starting to look into buying a MacBook Pro. But two things stops me from doing it.
1. I HATE the touch bar. I want a real ESC key.
2. The incurved keyboard key. I prefer standard chicklet keys.

Is there a model that doesn't have these issues with the same hardware?
If so, is it a right time to buy one or the next gen is around the corner?

Thanks and sorry for my english,
Joce

 

I bought the MacBook in my sig for VMFusion and development (three actually two for dev, one for backup), but I've officially hit the 16GB wall to upgrade my 2012 MacBook Pro 15 Retina, so I'll be taking the Hackintosh Laptop route and see how that goes. You might want to do the same if the touchbar and the keyboard which is love/hate are major sticking points. I adapted to it but it was never close to one of my favorites and I used an external keyboard 99% of the time.

 

Maybe pickup a '15 MBP 15" refurb, full warranty, save ~$300, can add AC. I realize it's a little behind the hardware curve, but it's still reasonably fast, plenty of GPU with 370X option (even for some light gaming, 3D work). I do all my general computing on that spec machine, including XCode, and all my open source based dev work (like you pointed out, with the *NIX foundation, you see quite a few developers using them in that capacity). Mostly I use it "docked" with dual 24" displays an an external mouse/KB.

I have a big spec Windows laptop for AR/VR work, and as another .NET dev machine - however, I use Bootcamp for .NET on the Mac pretty regularly, keep projects sync'ed across both using DropBox). I also have Parallels though I rarely run it any longer, it was OK, allowed concurrent access to both Windows and MacOS services which was handy, but generally I'm in one coding silo or the other (and with the extra machine I can easily juggle two different project types).

 

As someone who had a MacBook Pro for more than 4 years as a daily personal driver and currently uses one at work, I will repeat the same advice I give to anyone who is considering a Mac but still has strong ties to Windows: Unless you have a specific need or desire to run MacOS, do not buy an Apple computer.

 

Hackintosh route 100000000000000% better than anything apple can produce. takes patience to set up correctly but when it was finished, my m18x crapped on anything apple produced and was more powerful than their imac, and more portable.

 

Maybe you can buy top notch hardware and install Linux for web development.

 

...Or just spin up a Linux virtual machine on your current computer. Or, if you are really inclined to, a macOS virtual machine.

 

It really depends on what the person needs for a support channel. I'm working on a mobile project (app, API), it's a _major_ client, it's significant revenue, and as a professional developer, I have to focus on the deliverables, have immediate needs in the event of an issue, so having 1st party hardware + software, with a physical support resource < 30 minutes away is a critical part of my decision.

If you're kind of knocking around in MacOS for fun, hobby-ish type use, don't have business critical concerns, a Hackintosh is a terrific option (I've built several over the last decade, even one in a rack case ).

 

This is probably the best option, if you just want access to a *NIX environment, don't need anything Apple specific (i.e., XCode), don't have any specific interest in MacOS (or related services/apps). If you're just doing some light open source work, I'd drop a streamlined VM on your Windows machine (your being the OP )