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?

3 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.