KevinZaki

I am going to buy a laptop because i will be starting college doing Computer SCience and Mathematics, I was wondering for programing what is the best operating system

nasaboy007

This is just gonna start another OS war with "mac is teh superi0r" vs "wind0wz r00lz, mac sux!", so I'll just give you the answer straight up.

The best operating system is whatever you prefer.



Reasoning: Both Windows 7 and Mac OSX have their merits, and both are highly polished OS's, so either is good. You can do computer science on both platforms especially since a lot of CS schools simply let you SSH into their own machines and force you to do all your work there, meaning what machine you personally have is meaningless. If you are still undecided about which OS you prefer, I'd suggest trying out both for some time (find a friend who has it and see if you like it or not). One major aspect you have to consider is the price, being a college student and all. Windows based laptops will be a fraction of the price of an equivalently powered macbook, so if money is important, windows machines are the way to go. Also, if you plan on gaming, native windows hardware (rather than using something like bootcamp) is the better alternative.
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/programming/709506-a-macbook-or-windows-os-laptop.html

I'm personally a sophomore CS major and I use Windows 7. My one word of advice is that if you go for a Windows machine, pick a company that is renowned for its quality hardware (I have an Asus, GREAT hardware specs / longevity) rather than some crappy hardware that'll die in a year (read: HP).

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defaultuser

Windows on a lappy that has no issues with a Linux partition.

Try doing .net on a Mac.

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rheenacute

wow, this is a neverending question...
I think between Mac and Windows has their own plus and minus. Yes, usually mac is little bit expensive than PC, but this doesn't mean Mac is better.
If you works with graphics, I suggest you to use Mac, but if you just working with standar task, better if you using windows 7.
Anyway, windows is more easy to update and modified, also most of programs and hardware using windows as their OS.. that's why I'm using windows until now (but I have a Mac too for some purpose)

Peter

100% agree. The answer wholly depends on the languages you will be learning. Both have their strong points with some languages and weak with others.

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decent

I would prefer PC, because its cheaper than Mac.
So you should also go for Windows PC.

rolandkeys

Maybe you are more clear now, with all these answers. So be sure on what you're gonna work and then you'll know the best option.

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Smiler

My friends likes to use MAC when doing graphic designs, video editing, and photo editing. You can also these things on Windows PC. If its was up to me I would pick Windows because its very versatile and there are so many more software available for it.

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nicholas

If you can afford it, go for a Mac, since you can run both Mac/OSX and Windows on it, among others (actually you can also do it the other way around and run Mac apps on a Win machine via a virtual machine (like Parallels or VMWare). Otherwise, stick with a Windows machine as it will have everything you'd need, usually (but not always) at a far less price, so you get great bang for your buck.

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jtheory

I'm a software developer. Windows 7 isn't bad, but I've hated many of the earlier versions of Windows, but been forced to use them, simply because there are so very many Windows users out there. Because that's where the users are, there are more options available for software (including more free options), and the Windows version of cross-platform tools (like the Eclipse IDE, like various database software, etc. etc.) is better tested/ released first/ better supported in forums, and the simple fact that most of the users of the software or web apps I write are windows users means that I have to test there anyway. There are lots of things -- like an FTP client, for example, where there are many good free options on windows, but the only usable versions for OS X cost money.

The big exception is if you're interested in iOS development. Apple really has that locked down -- you pretty much have to use their development tools, their programming language, their packaging tools, their app store, etc. if you want to sell software for the iPad or iPhone.
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=709506

There is also some server software that runs most reliably on Linux -- and if you do any web development, at some point you'll be using Linux, but you can cover that base by setting up a VM on your windows machine, or having a cheap hosted virtual server at a host somewhere.

Katzenback

yes all have their own advantages

Windows:
advantages - more popular, many applications can be installed, the familiar,
deficiency - often get a virus, sometimes hangs

Macintosh:
advantages - good looks, smooth, not complicated, rare virus
deficiency - a lot of applications which can not be installed, can not play the game (if you like games)

Brujah

Mac OS X if you'll be interested in writing apps for iphone/ipad/ipod, etc... It also helps if you'll be doing any server stuff, since OS X is *nix and most of the same tools will already exist on your machine in a familiar environment.

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defaultuser

Not the OS though as this is a violation of licence last time I checked. Has this changed?

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anil.singh

For starting jst start ur programing with windows os after go with unix and linux