Mac or PC for Web Design? End of the Battle

Last updated on October 5th, 2023 at 09:35 am

It’s no secret that the fundamental tool in any web developer’s arsenal is their P.C. – and a significant part of it lies in the operating system they choose to work with. If you are new to web development and are currently searching for a laptop to work with, you might be wondering which operating system works best.

Well, in reality, there is no straightforward answer to this. Another person’s preference might not fit your needs. In contrast to some iOS or other types of application development software, the tools for web development are all independent of the operating system. We’ll discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each characteristic of a designer laptop.

Read on to find out more.

1. Performance

The performance category belongs to Mac. When it comes to the perfect retina display, the Macbook Pro is every web designer’s dream machine. It is lightweight, has a sturdy aluminum body, and has a high-resolution IPS display with perfect color reproduction.

Since every web designer’s needs are different, It’s important to consider choosing a monitor that is compatible to use with your Macbook Pro. Hence, as you plan to buy a laptop, it’s good to invest in the best MacBook Pro monitor. It will give you a great user experience plus it’s a bonus to your work as a web designer.

2. Terminal

It’s possible to install any terminal on any operating system. For instance, Windows can run Linux under the hood. However, its default terminal is much more comfortable than the command prompt and power shell combined when it comes to Mac.

That is why it is preferable to use Cmder on Windows. You can copy-paste in the terminal and edit the text almost like an ordinary text editor. Additionally, you can set up a hotkey and open it like a console in games with Ctrl + ~. You can also install the full version with pre-installed git, ssh, and other development tools. Both the lightweight and full versions come at no cost– they’re both free.

On the other hand, macOS has other alternatives. Similar in functionality and speed is iTerm23. Therefore, you can still have the same experiences on Mac, but generally, the default terminal is better on macOS.

3. Font Rendering

Mac has classically been better at rendering fonts according to a design perspective. Well, typically, that’s an issue that is up for debate. But in the past years, Microsoft and Apple took different approaches to how they chose to render fonts. This significantly made a massive impact on designers’ impressions.

The basic idea is that Windows renders for readability resulting in a sharper typestyle. In contrast, MacOS renders for visual appearance resulting in a style close to what you might see on a printed page. MacOS was also the initial computer with several typefaces built into the O.S.

In more recent times, Apple has established interest in incorporating classic typefaces in their O.S., while Microsoft has constantly commissioned knock-off typefaces like Arial and Segoe. For this reason, designers have always felt more respect for their community from Apple compared to Microsoft.

4. Virtualization

As much as Windows gets frequently compared to Mac and Intel, Windows has more applications for virtualization. This means as a web developer; you can closely mimic a production server. Additionally, you get to spend less time configuring and maintaining engineers’ development environments.

Additionally, it makes it possible to enable Microsoft Hyper-V from the power shell in a single command. On the other hand, Mac has fewer options. New Macs with Apple silicon processors have no variants at all.

5. User Experience

The Apple system incorporated a drastically improved interface and functionalities. Both were developed through UX processes that Apple put in place even before companies established what UX was.

In recent years, web developers have come to prefer more minor features that conform well with design workflows and aid them in accomplishing their work with ease. A good example is mission control functionality which was previously known as Expose.

Apple has constantly maintained a wonderful gesture and short-key suite, seamless across various products, giving an extraordinarily intuitive and predictable experience. One impactful feature is Photoshop Documents (PSD) which can preview the file thumbnails. This is a feature not available in Windows, but it’s beneficial for designers to save time.

6. Consistency and Appearance

Designers appreciate Apple’s business model as they build operating systems and the hardware that runs them. This makes room for a seamless experience, where Apple controls what happens to the user from the first interaction to the last.

Windows don’t have this luxury. It sometimes leads to a total disconnect between tangible and intangible software. This means two conflicting priorities, philosophies, and even target audiences could work together on the same product.

7. UNIX-Based Operating System

UNIX/LINUX are operating systems that used to work in favor of MacOS as they were essential to programming. Additionally, Linux was always more secure than Windows. However, as time goes by, it is possible to install Linux within a few clicks and run it directly in Windows. Hence, no points to either Mac or Windows.

8. Windows Management

In this case, Windows earns its name and does it effortlessly. Windows can throw application windows around and snap them into halves or quarters of the screen quickly. This is very useful especially if you have multiple large monitors.

On macOS, doing the same requires you to drag windows by their corners from click zones. Hence, as a designer making the leap from Windows to macOS, you’ll be surprised by how unpleasant the experience is.

Conclusion

Generally, both Mac and Windows are helpful in one of two ways for web designing. A PC with Windows is enough for web development. Choosing to work with either is all dependent on preference.

But if you are going for software and quality, then Mac will allow you to work effortlessly and save ample time setting up and supporting the development environment. But generally, both of them are comfortable to use and can work accordingly to meet your needs.