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What are positive and negative points if I choose Mac OS X over Windows for XHTML, CSS, JavaScript and Photoshop and little PHP work?

Does the Mac have good free software for XHTML, CSS and JavaScript coding? I've been working on Windows from last 7 years on various Windows machines but now I'm planning to buy a new fast machine again. so I'm thinking should I buy a Mac or a Windows PC again.

I don't want to buy any other software for webdesign except Photoshop.

EDIT:

I found these positive points on Mac OS X:

  • In Mac OS X we can test website in the Mac version of Safari
  • We can develop iPhone applications and can use iPhone simulator to test our site if we are making iPhone version of any site
  • In Mac OS X we don't have to worry about viruses and spyware. like windows

I found these negative points on Mac OS X:

  • In Mac OS X is not so much good for .NET development
  • Macs are costlier than Windows PC and laptops
  • Above 80% people are using Windows PC not Macs, so IE is still the most used browser in the world so checking compatibility of web based things in IE would be better in Windows PC than Mac OS X.

Still have more questions?

  • Will I feel more speed on a Mac than Windows PC in multitasking?
  • It is known Mac OS X is not good for .NET development but does Mac OS X have any advantage over Windows for PHP, WordPress, Joomla and XHTML/CSS development?
  • Is a Mac better for cross browser testing than Windows?
  • Does Mac OS X have good free or open source software?
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@Rich Bradshaw - Thanks for editing. from now on i will use OSX to refer MAC PC. – metal gear solid Nov 22 '09 at 8:57
@Rich Bradshaw - should i change Mac to OSX in question title? – metal gear solid Nov 22 '09 at 9:18
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Basically Apple's computers are called Macintoshes, and the current system on them is called OS X. (Operating System 10) For most people Mac and OS X are pretty much the same thing, but they aren't quite as older Macs didn't run OS X. PC just means personal computer, so specifying Windows is needed. Hope that makes sense! – Rich Bradshaw Nov 22 '09 at 20:41
+1 for this info – metal gear solid Nov 24 '09 at 7:00
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13 Answers

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that thing that you were talkig about for using the mac safari, you can just use adobe's brwser ab, which tests on all the browsers. So no matter what OS you're on you can check browsers that you may not have and also ones that run oon different Os's. For software development I would recommend a PC as it has access to etter processors, and t is also cheaper. For $1100 you could get a very very nice PC whereas you would only get an average Mac.

I prefer PCs

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also PCs have better spee now with Windows 7 and the Intl i7 processor line – Prakhar Dec 7 '09 at 21:20
sorry for the typo. The product is Adobe's Browser Lab, which is for free, and works from your browser – Prakhar Dec 7 '09 at 21:23
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Yes, for $1119 you can get a loaded Dell Studio XPS 8000 desktop with Core i7 from Best Buy that is about ~$300 or so cheaper than Dell Direct. Compared to the Mac Mini, you're getting a lot more performance and value. – Joe Internet Dec 7 '09 at 23:33
ok i would go for new PC in place of MAC mini – metal gear solid Dec 8 '09 at 6:07
Prakhar, an "average" Mac is already a very, very nice PC. All of Apple's offerings (except to some extent the mini) are high-end. That isn't to say that their prices aren't too high sometimes (but this is usually due to price stagnation during the run up to an update). – eyelidlessness Dec 14 '09 at 18:10
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I have found for Web development I can do everything on my mac except of course .net stuff. I have an apache server, php and mysql installed locally, and do everything with Zend Studio and Photoshop, it works great. I prefer to do web development on my mac, C++ and C on my linux box and .net on the PC.

Since you can do most of the core work on each platform, it comes down to personal preference. Here is what I've noticed:

Mac:

Better hardware for graphic stuff. It just seems to handle photoshop very very well.

Many graphic designers feel more efficient using a mac, the interface is definitely more powerful when you get to know it.

The operating system is a lot like linux, which is what a lot of sites are hosted on. So when doing PHP development and the like, it's much easier to do it in a similar environment, especially for really custom stuff.

Viruses and spyware are not as much of a threat, which is good for work machines.

PC:

.Net development - Not easily done on a mac.

More programs are available for the PC. Things like site crawlers and SEO/Promotion programs are often windows only.

Windows is better if your site is hosted on a windows machine, for the same reason mac is good for linux hosting. Similar environment.

Cheap. No question PCs are cheaper, and you can get a lot of good hardware for a lower price.

I hope this is what you're looking for. Good luck!

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There is mono for osx: mono-project.com/Mono:OSX – FeatureCreep Nov 22 '09 at 8:18
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And there is an IDE available as well: monodevelop.com/Download – Dave Van den Eynde Nov 22 '09 at 8:29
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Thats why I said "not easily done". Mono is great, and they're coming along good, but they are still only at .net 2.0 functionality, and we're going into 4. There are tons of features you miss out on, and if you're developing desktop software for windows users, you can't do that. I'm not trying to trash on the mac, but for .net development you may as well buy a cheap PC. – Jeremy Morgan Nov 22 '09 at 8:39
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"The operating system is a lot like linux". It's actually a certified UNIX – hasen j Nov 22 '09 at 9:20
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The virus/spyware argument is actually a moot point. As long as you aren't an idiot, Windows Vista/7 (and XP in limited user mode) is just as safe as OS X – Charlie Somerville Nov 22 '09 at 9:26
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up vote 4 down vote

One advantage for OS X in web development is that it's Unix. It will more closely resemble the majority of server environments, and share many similar tools.

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After 8 years web developing/designing on windows machines, I did the switch last year, and ever since then, i don't regret it at all. Mac is more stable, faster, software is 10x better than on windows. Less freeware, but less crapware too. In the end i'm much more productive.

Also, i do a lot of usability testing nowadays, and there is a software that's perfect and cheap : silverback . No equivalent comes close on windows, unless you want to cash out 2000 EUR.

For development, i work on Netbeans, use filezilla and Mamp Pro for local webserving. I love the way files are organized on a Mac: much leaner than on windows, and the interface as a whole does not get in your way. On a mac, User experience is central, and it shows.

Last but not least, you can run Windows on a Mac (via Parallels (freaking awesome!!), or the built-in bootcamp or as a full installation). So you can test your work on more configurations with less hustle.

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Exactly my story! :) – Nimbuz Nov 22 '09 at 10:18
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up vote 3 down vote

The biggest negative point is that font sets on Windows and Mac do not intersect. And seeing that most web users use Win, it may get tricky to debug your designs without knowing how the pages will look like on Win.

Tahoma, Verdana, Trebuchet MS, Segoe UI, all those nice and ubiquitous fonts are not available on Mac.

As to Photoshop, there should be no difference where you run it.

Of course, .NET development if you'd like to do it one day will not be available to you. There may be an option to try Mono, but it's nothing like a real thing, just playing catch-up. Visual Studio and SQL Server won't run on Mac.

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and can we check IE compatibility on MAC? – metal gear solid Nov 22 '09 at 8:51
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Mac OS has bundled the Microsoft core web fonts, including Tahoma, Verdana, and Trebuchet MS, for the past few major releases. – Josh Lee Nov 22 '09 at 8:53
Jitendra, you'll need to run IE in Windows (either in Bootcamp or a virtualization solution like Virtual Box or VMWare). – eyelidlessness Nov 22 '09 at 9:06
are these virtualization solution free for MAC and how do we need to purchase and install Windows too on same machine to run that windows in VM? – metal gear solid Nov 22 '09 at 9:57
VirtualBox is free. You only need a windows licence. – Tomas Markauskas Nov 22 '09 at 11:48
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up vote 2 down vote

If talking about web development, then Mac scores big time with TextMate. Super awesome Editor!!..which you don't get on PC (although TextMate is commercial software, but it's worth all the money) :)

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you are forgetting the many super awesome windows only editors ;p – Michael Baldry Nov 22 '09 at 8:22
I have worked on a number of windows only editors..but nothing like Textmate :) – Adit Nov 22 '09 at 8:24
e-text editor is a windows version of textmate – metal gear solid Nov 22 '09 at 8:44
Jitendra, E is inspired by Textmate but is not created by the Textmate developer. When Textmate 2.0 comes out (if?), E will not necessarily be updated to be compatible with it. – eyelidlessness Nov 22 '09 at 9:08
HTML-Kit on Windows... – Joe Internet Dec 7 '09 at 23:25
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up vote 2 down vote

Will i feel more speed on a Mac than Windows PC in multitasking?

You will feel more speed in an environment that you are comfortable in and does not get in your way. This includes the windowing system, file manager, file transfer clients, text editors, etc. It is possible to switch to a new operating system fairly quickly, but the learning curve is always there, and there are many small differences that will get in your way the first time you encounter them.

Switching to Unix for the first time is challenging, but the skills you learn will transfer to any of the myriad Unix derivatives.

Does OS X have any advantage over Windows for ... development?

I would imagine that most PHP-enabled web servers run some form of Unix — often Linux or BSD. OS X has BSD underpinnings, so you are less likely to run into issues if you develop on a Mac than on Windows. Most of PHP is platform agnostic, but this is still something to think about.

The best tool for web development is one that you are good at. I happen to prefer a cross platform editor.

Is a Mac better for cross browser testing than Windows?

Probably. You can run multiple versions of IE under Wine, and any other browser that you'd want to test in — Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari — runs on both. Virtualization is still a good idea for testing in IE, though, and you can have different VMs with different versions if that's important.

The application bundle-oriented approach to installing applications on OS X means that it's easier to have different versions of a browser installed side by side.

Does OS X has good free or open source softwares?

There are MacPorts, DarwinPorts, and Fink. They have many thousands of packages that you can install easily. On Windows, you're hunting down binaries from various web sites.

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Can i test IE compatibility on OSX without buying anything? – metal gear solid Nov 22 '09 at 10:07
Since you already have Windows, you can install it in VirtualBox, which is free. You can also download IE and run it in Wine, which doesn't need a Windows license. – Josh Lee Nov 22 '09 at 10:24
Recommending IE testing in WINE is a bad idea. WINE just isn't mature enough to be sure that IE is behaving as it would natively, and support for newer versions of IE lags by years. – eyelidlessness Dec 14 '09 at 18:14
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up vote 1 down vote

Will I feel more speed on a Mac than Windows PC in multitasking?

Maybe, but only because Macs typically use top-of-the-line hardware, while on PCs you are more likely to find out that a significantly cheaper option suits 90% of your needs, and go with it.

Does Mac OS X have any advantage over Windows for PHP, WordPress, Joomla and XHTML/CSS development?

No. All of those work equally well in Mac and Windows, and have the appropriate tools. You can run all related servers on either, or use a VMWare\etc. virtualization setup to set one or multiple Linux/BSD-based hosts for a more realistic setup.

Is a Mac better for cross browser testing than Windows?

You can't run MacOS from Windows (legally/without using a hacked verstion). You can virtualize Windows on a Mac. Since Safari came out for Windows, I do no longer think this gives the Mac an advantage - testing for IE7/8, Moz, Chrome, Opera, Safari covers 95%+.

Does Mac OS X have good free or open source software?

Yes, although many of the most lauded Mac programs cost relatively dearly.

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up vote 1 down vote

Positive: You can post screenshots in the slick-looking OSX Safari with the OSX window decorations clearly visible. It says "I use a Mac". Taking it from there, though, that could be negative or positive...

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up vote 0 down vote

Well a MAC would probably have a monochrome screen and only a numeric keypad and slot for your ATM card. Oh wait you meant a Mac? :)

I have a feeling someone will close this thread soon as not programming related. But anyway, the way I see it is you can easily run Windows on a Mac. Can't easily run OSX on a PC.

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But i've seen many non programming related not closed questions on SO – metal gear solid Nov 22 '09 at 10:16
And what are the benefits if we close any question? – metal gear solid Nov 22 '09 at 10:18
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up vote 0 down vote

I recently started writing code on the Mac (about a year ago) and the thing that is most irritating is the mapping of the Home and End buttons (they usually go to the top or the end of the page on OSX. On windows and linux they go to the beginning or end of the line. I have found some fixes, but they are not universal).

Otherwise it works ok.

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If you take some time to learn OS X key bindings, you may find that they are quite a bit more powerful (and quite a lot better standardized across applications) than those available on Windows. The equivalent of Home is cmd-left arrow, and the equivalent of End is cmd-right arrow. There is also cmd-up which places the cursor at the top of the document, cmd-down (end of document), opt-up and down (paragraph boundaries), opt-left and right (word boundaries)... Textmate (mentioned in another answer) also adds ctrl-left and right (intra-word boundaries like case change or underscore). – eyelidlessness Nov 22 '09 at 9:11
Most web browsers I've ever seen have Home and End go to the top or end of the page. – Josh Lee Nov 22 '09 at 9:15
jleedev, what FeatureCreep is describing is the behavior of Home/End in an editable text field. For the most part, Windows and OS X treat Home/End the same in non-editable or non-text contexts. – eyelidlessness Nov 22 '09 at 9:26
But i'm planning to buy Mac mini apple.com/in/macmini/specs.html and in "Mac mini" I will use keyboard mouse and monitor of my current Windows PC. Would i face any problem if i use my current PC keyboard with "Mac mini" ? – metal gear solid Nov 22 '09 at 10:43
@eyelidlessness: Yes, the problem is that my "muscle memory" will make me hit Home and End without thinking and then it is already too late. I have to locate the part of the code again. For me, going from windows/linux to mac development, this was the most irritating part. That and the code completion in XCode. – FeatureCreep Nov 22 '09 at 16:22
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up vote 0 down vote

The two things I like on MacOS are BBEdit and the Terminal. That is just for php and other web coding, but I find it invaluable. If you are comfortable at a command prompt, having a full posix system under the pretty MacOS interface is really handy. The DOS prompt in Windows is painful by comparison.

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I'm not aware of a Mac version of Notepad++, so there's that. But I guess I'm just partial to it.

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