In the early naughties I would have said Apple was worth the extra cost. My 2002 laptop still works fine. But now I would suggest Linux for coding and Chromebooks for general use. I had to get a laptop with windows installed about a month ago to run course software. It’s a brand new top of the range machine and it’s running windows 10 and the bugger takes forever to get it’s buggy ass into gear. Modern Apple build quality is terrible and overpriced. A hackintosh solution might work with some people but to be honest Chrome or Linux is the answer for most user types.
Whenever this topic comes up, all the Linux people come out of the woodwork to suggest Linux. But in reality, there’s not that much to suggest it. User interface and compatibly are worse, the applications aren’t there. So there just isn’t enough to make the switch, which could be pretty costly.
I think that the computer that most people will be using in the future will not be one like how we think of computers today. There are three main problems with the GUI paradigm of today:
- Management of files
People don’t know how the filesystem works. And when I say filesystem, I mean the hierarchy of files on a disk. Folders, files, saving, etc. This is why I think auto-save in OS X is a great feature. Managing files in a traditional desktop system is burdensome to most users. This is why something like the Chromebook or iPad is better for people. - Management of windows
Most people just full screen them anyway. A full window management system is not required. - General hard-to-use-ness
The traditional GUI has built up so much UI debt that it’s hard and/or bad to remove it. So, to get rid of all this debt, you need to build a whole new system that doesn’t have all the hang ups of the traditional PC. For example, when people update their PCs/Macs, they are always very cautious when doing so. Updating an iOS device is done so almost carelessly. So, needles UI debt should be no more.
This is why I’m betting on the iPad for the future of computing. Capital F, Capital C. It removes all of this UI debt in what I see is the best way possible. It’s finally a computer for the rest of us.