Torn Between a MacBook and a Windows Laptop for Development

If the Windows-only programs you use are ones you use often, I wouldn’t recommend a Mac. If you only use them occasionally, getting by with a VM is an option, but on an ARM Mac, running a Windows VM is heavier than you’d expect, so you need to take that into account.

Oh, I didn't know that.

I used a Mac for three years and then switched back to Windows. The reason was simply that using Windows-only tools was a hassle. WSL2 has gotten so good these days that I don’t really have any issues with development either. But this varies so much from person to person that hearing other people’s opinions isn’t very useful lol

I admit there are plenty of Mac-only tools and the dev ecosystem is convenient, but the decisive problem is that you use Windows-only programs "occasionally." Depending on whether that "occasionally" means twice a month or every week, the conclusion changes completely. Count the frequency first, then decide.

I disagree. These days, with WSL2 on Windows, you barely notice any difference in development productivity compared to a Mac. In fact, Windows laptops are often the better choice—especially ones that allow hardware upgrades or offer better performance for the price. Take what the Mac fanboys say with a grain of salt lol

Agreed — once you use a Mac, you can't go back to Windows.

Any source for that? Is there even a statistic behind the saying “once you go Mac, you never go back”?

For pure development, yes, a Mac is more comfortable, but needing Windows-only software is the wildcard. First check whether Parallels or a VM can cover it. Also ask whether your company provides virtualization licenses. If the software is tied to a hardware serial, there are many cases where it won’t run in a VM either, so if you don’t check that, you’ll be in real trouble later.

Well, that's a bit much. When people say "you can't go back," it's because they don't want to reset their development environment setup—not because the performance or productivity is overwhelmingly better. If you definitely need a Windows-only program, then you should just go with Windows. The criterion for choosing shouldn't be "you can't come back," but what you actually use and how much you use it.

If it’s company equipment, isn’t company policy more important? The first step should probably be to ask IT whether any of the security software, VPN, or internal solutions don’t support Mac. If you pick based on developer gut feeling, you’ll be the only one regretting it later when things get inconvenient.