Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Why Run Linux On Macs?

Posted by timothy on from the horses-for-courses dept.

jones_supa writes Apple has always had attractive and stylish hardware, but there are always some customers opting to run Linux instead of OS X on their Macs. But why? One might think that a polished commercial desktop offering designed for that specific lineup of computers might have less rough edges than a free open source one. Actually there's plenty of motivations to choose otherwise. A redditor asked about this trend and got some very interesting answers. What are your reasons?

9 of 592 comments (clear)

  1. a better question by kuzb · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why run a mac at all if your goal is to use Linux? PCs are a ton cheaper and in most cases just as good.

    --
    BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
    1. Re:a better question by C3c6e6 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      and in most cases just as good.

      Well, that's where I respectfully disagree! PCs might be cheaper but I have yet to find a PC that is "just as good" as a Mac, hardware-wise. For instance, I find the trackpads on Macs highly superior than those on PCs. Also, display quality is unparalleled, IMHO

    2. Re:a better question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Which is because those PC's counted in those margins are low end and mid range models. When you move into the high end, the margins grow much closer and even beyond Apple with companies like HP, Dell, Lenovo, etc. Companies like Samsung, Toshiba, Asus, etc do not even compete for the high end.

      Try adding more memory to the competition's laptops, it's almost exactly the same. And yes, it's been proven that people aren't paying attention to the finer details when making these comparisons...such as using low power DDR when others were simply using standard DDR. You're right about them becoming a worse deal over time.

    3. Re: a better question by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 4, Insightful

      When I run Windows, it's safely in a VM inside OS X.

    4. Re: a better question by TWX · · Score: 4, Insightful

      ...and apparently no one got the joke, since Macintoshes don't have internal blu-ray drives or software to play blu-ray discs...

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    5. Re:a better question by danbob999 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Try to do the opposite now. Build a $800 desktop PC and try to build a Mac with similar specs and look at the price. You will end-up with that expensive Mac Pro.

    6. Re: a better question by BasilBrush · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Most people buying an iMac get the base version, not the 5k display one.

      You complain about anecdotes, then pull that out of your ass?

    7. Re: a better question by retchdog · · Score: 4, Insightful

      perhaps, but what can linux do that OS X cannot?

      --
      "They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
  2. Actually, not a single interesting answer by davids-world.com · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Sorry, but I couldn't find interesting answers in that Reddit thread. It's mostly that people choose to run OSX over Linux, and why.

    The few GNU/Linux users do it for idealistic reasons, or because they're developers, or because they like the latest OS on very old cheap hardware and don't mind to deal with whatever this entails.

    The more interesting question is really if freedom exists when you never make use of it. (Do you actually hack the kernel or fix somebody's proprietary binary-only drivers as a GNU/Linux user?)