Macbook is my primary machine at work. I also run Parallels so I always have Windows running in a VM that is fully integrated into the Mac OS. But the base Macbook won't cut it as your system will always be bogged down. Really need at least 16 gigs of RAM so you can give Windows eight or it will always be paging memory. Really though, the boot time of OSX and Windows is pretty short on a SSD so just going the Boot Camp route and restarting as needed is probably the better solution for a designer.

Hello,
is the 15" new macbook pro with 256GB SSD could run the VM well? is it fine with that disk space?
because i can only afford this macbook.
Thankyou.

What does your school advise or require?

My school environment are macOS (iMac), but they dont advise me to get a mac since i could use that mac to do my school project.
However, i do still need a personal laptop to do the project at home. So which would you recommend to me? macbook or windows laptop?
Thankyou.

Hey,

Will for my opinion, If i am developer, then i will prefer windows rather than mac. If i am executive the macbook is good one for business.

Thanks

Do you a link to the course you will be taking and what software you will be using?

Macbook is my primary machine at work. I also run Parallels so I always have Windows running in a VM that is fully integrated into the Mac OS. But the base Macbook won't cut it as your system will always be bogged down. Really need at least 16 gigs of RAM so you can give Windows eight or it will always be paging memory. Really though, the boot time of OSX and Windows is pretty short on a SSD so just going the Boot Camp route and restarting as needed is probably the better solution for a designer.

Hello,
is the 15" new macbook pro with 256GB SSD could run the VM well? is it fine with that disk space?
because i can only afford this macbook.
Thankyou.

The 15" should work (I have the 512GB version) but you may find that you will be running out of disk space. Even though Windows is running as a VM it still needs to be fully installed and Windows has gotten quite fat. Good thing though is if you use the Confluence mode in Parallels Windows programs open seamlessly in OSX and have no problems reading/writing files from the Mac drive so you don't have to have duplicates of all your files.

If you don't really need a Macbook then you shouldn't spend the money on one. I have a Macbook because I have to do iOS development but Unity works much better in Windows and Visual Studio is much superior to MonoDevelop so a Macbook with Windows VM is a good (but stupidly expensive) comprise. Worked paid for mine, no way I'd spend almost $3k for a laptop. If your course work is light to none on actual programming then a Windows machine would probably do you much better.

I've been doing all my dev work on my Mac, and it's worked out great for me. I would always redommend a mac. In general, boot camp style booting works best when you have more storage and memory.

I personally think macs are worth the money, but everyone has different requirements/opinions for that.

You're stuck with OpenGL 4.1 and no Vulkan with MacOS. At least for the time being and possibly fornever.

Maybe you can get the performance you need from those with a VM.

I don't support further API fragmentation with my $$$.

As a designer, you probably don't need an overly powerful machine, so you'll be able to save money by buying a Windows based laptop. If Windows is your preferred platform, then that's another tick in its favour. The only advantage I could see in getting a Macbook is if the software you'll be using for your course is either Mac-only or better supported for Mac.

Agreed. Find out what software is being used in the course first, then you can make the decision. Ultimately Mac is better for design, but if you aren't a fan of programming in iOS, then there's a huge point for PC merely because of the comfort factor. But being able to keep up in your course will be the first task. So again, check out the course software first.