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Comment by seabird | Hacker News Reader

Most of the world is x86/Windows machines, developers included. I would bet that for every MacBook issued there's at least a hundred Precision/Latitude/ThinkPad/Optiplex machines that went into someone's hands. The Apple hard-on is from a specific region and culture where the technical "elites" have made a bajillion dollars working on shitty phone apps and other such light work where it's possible for your trackpad/keyboard to be the biggest issue. It sounds a bit mean-spirited, but I think it's pretty telling that as the gravity of the work increases, you see less and less Apple products being used to do it.

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No, it isn't mean-spirited at all. A lot of lucrative software development has been based around fairly trivial software, all things considered. The barrier to entry was dramatically reduced, the resources required for development were too, and the option to choose your favourite hardware became an option. I think some people might be offended by that, but the variation of required hardware goes in all kinds of directions. Look at working on firmware vs the web, for example. You'll probably encounter a ton of friction on a mac if you get into robotics.

> It sounds a bit mean-spirited, but I think it's pretty telling that as the gravity of the work increases, you see less and less Apple products being used to do it.

it does sound like envy. I hate macos post 10.8ish myself, but the hardware is pretty solid. my 12 year old Mac book air would be enough for my work although I have to use a windows laptop issued by work. I don't want to dox myself, but I'd say my work is of international interest even though it's quite niche.

There's definitely some envy -- the hardware is beyond solid. It's definitely bordering on the best there is if it isn't already there. macOS as a computing environment is just too far off the beaten path in too many ways to realistically deal with, which is why Windows absolutely dominates everything everywhere that isn't Bay Area web-based software companies. Not to say that Windows is particularly good, but for most people that actually need to drop $2500+ on a computer, it's probably better.

There's still an awful lot of Mac around.

It's very common in networking, sysadmin/devops, and web development in the UK, for instance. I go to a reasonable number of industry events and MacBooks are definitely the majority at these.

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