Don't Buy a Mac for Programming or Cybersecurity

As a iOS dev, i did make a AMD 3900 5700XT hackintosh, still worked for dev, it is not safe to just have a hackintosh for iOS development but you can still do your job with one, also a VM is a solution same as hackintosh is not a safe bet on long run or when new versions need support

Interesting that a Cybersecurity guy recommends a Windows PC and does not add a plug pleota of Antivirus and cyber security software at the same time.

I work with a Mac and virtual Windows sessions.
If they get compromised ( and they do sooner or later) , I just start a save copy.
I would never trust Windows as my foundation operating system.
BTW Linux is also fine but I like the more user friendly OSX system.

What about virtual box ? Id say plenty of ram and multi core cpu hacking you can make due with a dual core but for the type of programing you might want atleadt 32gb of ram and 6 to 8 core cpu

mi fi schif

Bullshit talk and use Windows for programming and Cybersecurity 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣you most be joking

I completely disagree. I was a software developer on PC switched to Mac and the experience was superior. Now, I'm in security and the Mac is still superior for my use. So much of my code ends up on the Linux server and I can build and test more effectively on my Mac than PC.

i was so close to buying a macbook pro 14, or on the fence of getting macbook air m2, sounds like even regardless of what I'm doing with a mac, a linux laptop or windows pc would give me more for less

It’s hilarious to me that you actually had to photoshop a good looking women next to you lol

wtf are you even talking about. Macs are great for SE

I would have loved to have watched this before I bought my MacBook Air m2 for my coding bootcamp. My desktop needs repairs and i wanted portability. Your Chromebook idea seems to be the best philosophy based on the experience you have is valuable to me. I’m interested in hopefully obtaining a cs degree because when I got accepted into PE the market changed. I like robots I think and AI and deep learning and stuff and ethical hacking. You da man.

Mac is absolutely perfect for me — a working programmer. For two reasons:
a) It is a UNIX system. You have a native bash/zsh, fully integrated into the system; all the tools you might need are either already there, or one "brew install" away (yes, I know, Homebrew is not shipped with MacOS, that's not the point), scripts written for Linux work 99% of the time. Linux, obviously, doing fine here, but Windows, despite adding Linux subsystem, does not.
b) It works. I want to be a good programmer, but I have no interest in being a good sysadmin. I don't want write kilometers of scripts, I don't want to even think of where I want to put my taskbar, I want to take that thing as it is, spend maybe half an hour adjusting a few things, and start working. Windows is doing fine here, but Linux is out of question.

As for monitors... your setup is definitely not for me. I can't understand how people work with big monitors, or with multiple monitors. For me 15" MacBook monitor is ideal. My desktop (iMac) is bigger, and sometimes I do feel lost — so, I'm considering getting rid of the desktop and just working on a laptop. In fact, I'm moderately comfortable coding on an iPad, using Servediter — not great, but passable.

As for VMs... I just don't, usually.

Spoken like a Windows C# programmer. You don't own a single ARM system aside from maybe that junk Chromebook.

Chromebook OS updates expire anywhere between 3-10 years after date of first manufacture. I've seen Walmart sell those cheap Chromebooks and the OS updates expire in a year or less. It's a security nightmare waiting to happen. I've had a Pinebook Pro for the last few years and I've upgraded it to LTE as well as added a 1 TB drive. For $250 I got a magnesium case with Linux preinstalled.

The majority of modern devices aren't running x86 anymore. ARM is now the vast majority of devices out there. I've moved most of my services over to ARM and plan to decommission my last x86 server over sometime next year.

RDP is crap compared to NoMachine. The text artifacts when I remote in drove me nuts while coding. NoMachine is free for students and works on way more systems.


Mac has better coding software for website development as well as managing virtuals. You also get the option of running Visual Studio and develop on Android or iOS. Eventually, you'll have to upgrade to Windows 11 with the stupid updates ruining the experience. Windows updates are always a pain in the butt!

Stop quoting iMac Prices when a Mac mini will do. PC systems bare cost are only cheaper if you build them yourself and don't have to do Windows Enterprise licensing. Microsoft's taxes are snuck in the back.

Dang man 32 MB of ram is a feat yet to be reached by the rest of us

I use a 3 year old Dell Precision 7540 laptop as my main workstation. It has a Xeon processor (single thread speed is critical for Solidworks and Adobe products) with an NVIDIA Quadro RTX 3000 GPU. It was about $4k when my IT department bought it for me. The docking station supports dual monitors so it does everything I need. If I had bought it with my money I would have gone with a tower and a MS Surface instead.

Engineering is a Windows world. The odd manager will be using a high end MAC laptop, but they are not really doing engineering. The hardware absolutely matters depending on the type of engineering you are using. Solidworks for example is very particular about the specific video card and version of video card drivers. In general it is possible to run Solidworks on some MACs, but it is not out of the box easy. So the tools you need to use can end up making the hardware choice for you.

That makes sense, I needed to hear it from someone. Thanks

Everything you say is true Ryan, but I use Macs, well, I'm ashamed to say it, because they're cool. Everything's so sharp and slick. But yeah running tons of virtual machines for IT sec, or tinkering with Linux like I do, you're better off with a windows machine with maxed out memory.

Multiple screen desktop is ONE TRILLION PERCENT the correct answer!

Know someone who did DoD/Fed Biometric programming in the 80s-00s, and they always had enough monitors to rival the bridge of the Enterprise in their home office

Another trick to stretch your budget: buy the second most expensive [whatever you need], you avoid the stupid tax & its specs will remain competitive for awhile

Having a laptop for programming, specially for university saved my ass too many times, i had a classmate who had a beefy desktop and he had to bring hard drive to class every day with a backup for the vm and spend 10 min importing all of the work in the desktop provided by the school

Meh. The most sensible thing said is that desktop capability (and extensibility) beats laptops, $ for $. And that mac RAM is a gouge. For the rest, the main thing missing is that a) Windows is a timesuck as soon as you need to adjust its deep configuration via clicks and clikcs and registry. And b) a developer power user is going to be in the terminal. And there…. bash/zsh far beats Powershell for interactive use (ps seems better for devops). A Mac gets you all sorts of Linux-like behavior, for a dev. You could also get Linux on a laptop. Windows is a different beast even with WSL. Lots of opinions - good thing. Presented as facts - not so good, but something this channel seems prone to.