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Mac (potentially) for Engineers/Developers who use Windows.. Recommended or not? What issues did you encounter?

shabaz

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone has made the transition from Windows to Mac and what difficulties were encountered. (I don't wish to move to a Linux desktop; as much as I love Linux for development, I would not like it for a desktop).

I need to start considering replacing my laptop, and it's tempting, from looking at the hardware specifications alone, to buy a Macbook Pro. 

However, I will have some legacy software that uses Windows. ARM64 Windows can run in a VM, and ARM64 Windows will perform x86 emulation, but I can't tell if x64 emulation is supported. I also have no idea, with typical engineering software, what problems may occur with connecting USB devices like debuggers. I don't know which hypervisor is most suitable for that.

For sure I'd need to move over to native Mac software to minimise the need to bring up a VM, but for a year or two at least, I'm sure I'd need a Windows VM to make as much of a transition as possible.

Depending on the above, I'd also need to think about whether it is worth it - because there would be a productivity hit since I've never used a Mac (apart from for a week or two about 15 years ago, when I decided to give it a go, and I didn't get on with it. Maybe I didn't make enough effort).

Any thoughts/opinions are gratefully appreciated!

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  •   Hi mate, why not use Linux, try what I use Debian 12 -64bit with Cinnamon, for the desktop! I have been using this a long time I started with Mint which comes with Cinnamon but Mint updates were a pain.  You have to remember that if you go with Apple it is a PC that you can't change modify, or upgrade, shall I go on? My Desktop Currently:

    imageOS- Debian 12 bookworm x64
    Cinnamon 6.1.0-13-amd64
    CPU AMD Ryzen 5 5500 x 6
    Memory 31.1Gb

    HD 4 or 5 one of them is a dedicated boot  500Mb now 1G /export/home/username is on another drive. 

    Graphics AMD RV770 Radeon HD 4780 which I will swap out for a beast from MSI (my buddy donated it) 

    Try this with the freekeh MAC I dare you!!

    image from eBay

    My Server BTW is an OLD AMD Phenom with maybe 8Gb of RAM But I have a 3 x 3TB Raid 5  this may have Debian 10?

    I will have a new server when I finish building it ( this came from my buddy as well)  This thing has 2 Zenons and a crap load of memory.. and all I have to do is put the drives in and hit boot!  ~~ Cris

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  •   Hi mate, why not use Linux, try what I use Debian 12 -64bit with Cinnamon, for the desktop! I have been using this a long time I started with Mint which comes with Cinnamon but Mint updates were a pain.  You have to remember that if you go with Apple it is a PC that you can't change modify, or upgrade, shall I go on? My Desktop Currently:

    imageOS- Debian 12 bookworm x64
    Cinnamon 6.1.0-13-amd64
    CPU AMD Ryzen 5 5500 x 6
    Memory 31.1Gb

    HD 4 or 5 one of them is a dedicated boot  500Mb now 1G /export/home/username is on another drive. 

    Graphics AMD RV770 Radeon HD 4780 which I will swap out for a beast from MSI (my buddy donated it) 

    Try this with the freekeh MAC I dare you!!

    image from eBay

    My Server BTW is an OLD AMD Phenom with maybe 8Gb of RAM But I have a 3 x 3TB Raid 5  this may have Debian 10?

    I will have a new server when I finish building it ( this came from my buddy as well)  This thing has 2 Zenons and a crap load of memory.. and all I have to do is put the drives in and hit boot!  ~~ Cris

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