Mac. Any MacBook is also going to be better than any Windows laptop they'll give you.

In general, if gaming isnt a concern. MacOS easily outclasses Windows in almost every respect, from battery life to device quality to out of the box convenience + POSIX by default so it's more familiar than Windows' main character energy.

Just get Mac for the better screen alone, windows computers feel so cheap in comparison.

It depends on your work to be honest. I was given the same choice and went with Windows because everyone else is using Windows, and most of the existing documentation etc. is done with Windows in mind. So if you'll be like the only person using a Mac, just be aware you may be the first one to encounter various issues. But if that's not a concern, then I'd probably go with the Mac.

You should choose mac, I'm sorry to say.

You'll get a familiar-feeling terminal and it's not vibe-coded broken nonsense. The hardware is high-quality and the trackpad is actually quite nice (assuming you're getting a laptop, I have no experience with mac mice).

My work macbook has never tried to force so-called "AI" in my face either, which I gather every windows machine does these days.

I would have to use windows because every time i touch an iOS device i have no idea what the fuck i'm doing.

but the ribbon says NOT AS SMART AS THEY THINK

Ba'al, and it's not even a question.

You can never go wrong going with the storm gods*, and many scholars argue Molech wasn't even a recognized god rather a type of sacrificial ritual.

Mac by a mile don't even think about it 100% Mac. There are already like 50 comments saying Mac and I'm still commenting to say do a Mac. Windows is so, so bad.

I got no idea what you do, which makes most analysis questionable, but Mac (unix) is like 90% Linux (for the layman at least).

MacOS has its own annoyances and is quite opinionated, but Mac hardware is so amazing.
I have a M1 Pro and for work I had a M3 Pro. These things are beasts. You have no idea how it feels to do computationally intensive tasks with literally 0 fan noise because the fans just don’t need to spin.

Also MacOS doesn’t require an account.

But bottom line is with customization and time you’ll get used to it. I’d pick Mac over Windows any day if I could choose only one.

macOS will feel much closer to Linux since they are both unix-y.

Ten years ago, I would have recommended windows, but I use the latest windows at work and it is complete dog shit. Sooo much bloat and clunky interfaces, it's a pain in the ass to use.

I've never used MacOS before, but I can't imagine they've fucked up as bad as windows.

Get a mac you silly willy. I hate to say it but my works provided m4 macbook pro is a fucking great machine other than the edges are really sharp and this is annoying.

You can get a windows if you’re a masochist i guess. Mmm love me a good office HP shitpoo with 3 minutes of battery and melts itself to death from the corporate bloatware that for some reason is never installed on the macs

I lwk get fits from having to use MacOS (/hj) because every time I've tried it, it seems to assume that I'm braindead or smth

Also I will always choose a good ThinkPad (even if it runs Windows. But properly managed enterprise Win is relatively OK) over a MacBook tbh

Also WSL 2.X is such a huge win, since you can actually use a good dev environment and don't have to bother with Mac workarounds and other Apple exclusive BS

I'd lean towards Mac. It's still got some quite annoying aspects, but they're mostly fairly minor compared to using Windows for tech work. The only thing that would lean me towards Win would be if there are specific tools/apps that work better on it that you need to use day to day.

MacOS is a bit like a mid Linux distro if you ignore/disable the bulk of the Apple crap. And on the hardware side it's some of best laptops.

You can use stuff like homebrew or nix if IT allows it.

Mac 100%. More cohesive ecosystem for work and won't shove ads in your face nearly as frequently as Windows will.

As someone without that choice and saddled with Windows, the best thing to say about 11 in this situation is that you can install the Linux subsystem and work in that as much as possible.

That is, if they give you local admin access or allow this install via their group policies.

This is not an endorsement though, MAC might well be better. I have no personal experience with it though.

if they're giving you a computer, find out exactly the specs of the work machines on offer and compare.

the problems with with mac are mostly related to cost (you're not paying) and the walled garden (you're not planning to install anything non-work related anyway) so just using one for work won't make you an apple fanboy. but maybe they have old macbooks and recent surfaces as the options, and the windows machines are just better - find out if you can.

mac os is annoying in different ways than windows (more paternalistic, less openly enshittified) but the hardware is dramatically superior

Mac.

Be glad you get to pick lol.

I have a million criticisms of apple and generally find the OS to be a pile of shit but undeniably the experience is better than windows. The close marriage of hardware and software is terrible for the purchaser/owner but good for a user.

The office suite is better. The default UI is generally nicer

I also had only this choice, but I asked if I could change to Linux if I get a windows laptop? They said as long as I am doing the work, all good.

I will bravely recommend Windows. You can use WSL for a POSIX CLI, and the keyboard shortcuts are much closer to Linux. It's obviously got problems but Linux has been working to get users FROM Windows so the opposite direction should be a bit friendlier.

I am on MacOS for work and it is infuriating. Why do they feel the need to have a different keyboard with command and control? Want to jump to the address bar in your browser? Can't use alt+d like everywhere else, use ctrl+l!

No native window snapping either, I have despised using my machine. For all the "it's so intuitive" I hear and having used Mac like a decade ago for several years it's all ass backwards.

i think you should be forced to use windows

Mac, as long as it's not too locked down that you can't install some UI tweaks. Windows is not a serious operating system.

You can run Linux in a VM and the performance is actually very good, as long as you don't use shared volumes between the guest and host, which slows it way down, and as long as you use a fast hypervisor. That's what I did when they forced me off of Linux and onto Windows, I ran Linux in a VM and they're fine with it because they can still monitor you from the Windows side.

If you're setting up a Linux VM and they give you a license for Parallels or VMware, you can choose Mac and install your Linux VM on that. Otherwise, Hyper-V on Windows will give you the best performance for a Linux VM.

I don't want to feel like a mac dipshit tho

i should think it beats being a windows dipshit complacently accepting built-in adware and catastrophic vibe coding-induced bugs

gotta agree with the majority as someone who uses both linux and mac. it's very comfortable switching between the two, although macos technically counts as a bsd. also i use aerospace to make my interface more i3-like, if that's what you're into