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I used to be a Windows User, but then I moved over to OSX because it provides a rich Unix-style operating system with a great UI and lots of good applications. But diving more and more into Linux each day, whether it be Rails programming, web development as a whole or just low level unix stuff I find that OSX doesn't provide all that's possible then that of a solid linux OS does. I also find that macports and brew are not as powerful as something like yum or apt-get.

Is the switch over to Linux worth it? What are the best laptops/desktop computers to use for Linux? What are other pros and cons that I should consider?

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"Worth it" and "best" are going to be subjective, at best, and not really a good fit for this site. Pros and cons really depend on what goals you have in making the switch. Could you edit your question to make it more objective, and one that can be answered? (Not that a roundtable discussion of unix vs. Linux couldn't be interesting; it's just not a good fit for this site). – JRobert Dec 29 '11 at 2:44
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closed as not constructive by Stephen Jennings, techie007, Simon Sheehan, haimg, Sathya♦ Dec 29 '11 at 4:09

This question is not a good fit to our Q&A format. We expect answers to generally involve facts, references, or specific expertise; this question will likely solicit opinion, debate, arguments, polling, or extended discussion. See the FAQ for guidance on how to improve it.

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Okay, hardware is easy. Pretty much anything these days. As a former Windows user, if it runs Windows it should run Linux. There are accessory issues, but nothing too stressful these days unless you insist on using particularly obscure printers or Winmodems, so if you use a dial-up modem (really?) you may need to switch to a proper one. Wifi used to be a bit of a pain in the ass, but that has mostly been fixed these days.

As for why to switch from OS X? I won't lie: apt-get is a big improvement on the choice of MacPorts/Fink/Homebrew (they all suck in their own way). That said, if you are building websites or other server-based apps, it doesn't really matter whether you are running Linux or OS X. If you want to learn Linux innards, that's certainly a useful skill to know, but I don't see how OS X fails to be "solid" or is somehow only "Unix-style".

If you are running on a laptop, I'd recommend using something like Ubuntu (or Kubuntu, Xubuntu - I'm a big Xfce fan). If you want to be thrown in slightly more towards the deep end, try something like Debian or Arch.

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