Why a Mac is just great for Frontend development

I have been using Macbooks since 2012 and I have never regretted it. I even tried to give Linux and Windows both a try for quite a while but I always returned to the Mac. Here‘s why:

The tasks of a Frontend Engineer

As a Frontend Engineer I have to think about solutions for the web and implement them. This means I am involved in the process of creating the design and layout, I need to decide which technologies should be used, I have to develop it and make sure that it communicates well to the backend according to todays standards.

This means the job has a lot to do with UI elements and software engineering. The Mac is a very good solution for this because it combines the best of two worlds.

The perfect combination

On one side I need to use Adobe Photoshop, Indesign and XD which gives me the flexibility to dive deep into the given design so I can take all the information that I need from it. This is the moment where Linux can‘t be used because it has no support for those professional applications. Of course you could use just an image or the webversion of an Adobe XD project but it doesn‘t give me the level of information I want from the design.

Now I need to use the CLI because I use Angular to develop frontend applications. I have my package management with NPM and use Git as a repository. Everything that can be perfectly used from the Mac Terminal. This is where Windows becomes an issue. There is no Unix CLI in Windows and if there is one then it isn‘t natively integrated. I used the Debian bash that has been integrated in Windows for a while but it just wasn‘t the same. Because Windows is not a Unix-based OS. There are ways to solve this issue in Windows by virtualization but it is much easier if it is just integrated as it is in macOS.

These are my main arguments why a Mac is just so convenient. It has a price for sure but you get a lot for it.

Many applications

Another key aspect are the wide range of applications on the Mac. You get way more applications that are available on Windows on Mac as well. Linux on the other side has the big issue that you can‘t just browse for software and download it. This is way more common on a Mac.

Opinionated Conclusion

This is of course my opinion and my daily life of development. Your experience may vary. But if you are a Frontend Engineer and you want to develop good applications from the start to the beginning then you might want to choose a Macintosh. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Talking about frontend: Do you know that you should (almost) never use !important?