I'm curious about the hardware landscape in web and mobile development. Specifically, I'm asking about professional settings—what kind of machines do companies typically assign to their developers? I recently bought a Mac for college but I've noticed that most professors focus on Windows systems and seem unsure about troubleshooting on Macs. With tools like Visual Studio not available on Mac and having to seek alternatives, I'm concerned about transitioning into the workforce. I thought Mac was popular among developers, especially for mobile app creation for both iOS and Android, but I'm beginning to doubt this. What's the real situation?
4 Answers
In my experience, bigger corporations usually have contracts with manufacturers like Dell or HP for their Windows machines, which makes them more common overall. But at smaller companies, I've mostly used Macs, since they offer a good development environment for apps.
From what I've seen, Macs tend to be favored by mobile developers since they allow for both iOS and Android app development, while Windows is geared more towards Android alone. For general software development, it seems like Windows machines are more prevalent in companies.
Totally agree! As an Android developer who occasionally helps with iOS, I've found that Macs are essential for that dual-platform work.
I’ve worked at several places and used everything from Windows to Mac and Linux VMs. Macs often provide a consistent hardware platform that companies like due to their lock-down features and ease of wiping them remotely. Plus, for many programming tasks, MacOS has an edge because it’s Unix-based, aligning more closely with Linux systems we typically deploy to.
The cost of Windows machines is definitely a factor; they're usually cheaper, especially laptops. If you're comfortable on your Mac, there's no need to switch just because of troubleshooting. For web dev, a Windows PC isn't strictly necessary, but it might be useful for Windows-specific tasks.
Yeah, I’m just now figuring out how to use VMs for Linux class, and it seems like a hassle to set up a whole new OS just for one IDE.
That’s interesting! I thought it was the other way around too. Seems like there’s a mix depending on company size.