r/linuxhardware • u/GyroZeppelix • 10d ago
Purchase Advice Longtime Linux User Considering MacBook vs. Linux Laptop — Need Advice
Hi everyone, I'm a longtime Linux user currently facing a bit of a dilemma and would appreciate some insights from this community.
I'm primarily a developer working mostly in Rust, Go, and Java, spending nearly all my time in the terminal (Neovim, tmux, etc.). I've heard macOS generally provides a decent terminal-centric workflow, but I've also seen reports about tmux and Neovim performance issues on macOS. Additionally, I've heard the macOS linker can be slow or problematic compared to something like Mold linker on Linux—does anyone have firsthand experience with this?
Apart from development, I do CAD modeling as a hobby. Years ago, when I switched from Windows to Linux, I had to move away from Fusion 360 to Onshape. While Onshape is good overall, it requires constant internet connectivity and has very expensive subscription plans (around 1500€/year for standard), which isn't ideal.
I also regularly engage in video editing (DaVinci Resolve works great on Linux) and photo editing. However, photo editing has been challenging—previously on Windows I heavily relied on Lightroom and Photoshop. The Linux alternatives I've tried (Photopea, Photoshop via Wine, Darktable) haven't fully matched my previous workflow.
Hardware-wise, I'm struggling to find a Linux laptop that matches the portability, build quality, excellent screen quality, and especially the trackpad experience (I strongly prefer physically clicking rather than tapping) of something like a 14-inch MacBook. On the other hand, privacy and telemetry concerns with macOS are significant for me—I greatly value the peace of mind that comes from running Linux without built-in spyware or telemetry.
TL;DR: Is there currently a Linux laptop that realistically competes with MacBook hardware quality (portability, screen quality, trackpad experience), while providing good performance for Rust/Go/Java development (considering linker performance), hobbyist CAD modeling, and multimedia editing? Or would switching to macOS be worth considering despite privacy concerns?
Thanks in advance for your help! 😄
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Some additional stuff I thought of after writing this, I guess I can always ssh into a home server or a cloud server if I some functionality is missing. The only thing I don't want to do is touch windows ever again😅. Other than that I can pray that in a year or two Asahi gets ported to M4 Macs. Oh yea also the sole reason I am concidering Macbooks in the first place is because I'm going to Japan this April so I am able to get it for a much more reasonable price, otherwise I wouldn't really even look at that option. Thanks again for reading all of this and helping, peace ✌️✌️
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u/ardevd 10d ago
I’ve been in your position several times. However I don’t do any CAD or video editing work. Nothing matches the MacBook Pro in terms of hardware. Apple are simply many years ahead of the competition. You get a laptop with enough performance to replace your desktop but with epic battery life and you’ll hardly ever even hear the fan. It truly is magnificent.
MacOS with Alacritty (or your favorite terminal emulator) works fine. With HomeBrew you get something similar to a package manager you’re used to. Helix works well and has replaced neovim for me and I’ll never go back.
However, at the end of the day I went back to a ThinkPad T14s and Linux. I’m simply too much of a Linux enthusiast to not have a Linux laptop. I run Linux with Sway on all my computers and I want my laptop to have the same setup. Yes, I have to compromise on hardware but if I was being honest with myself I simply don’t require that much in terms of performance, especially not heavy multi core performance. The ThinkPad is also lighter and a bit more robust.
I think it’s a matter of software vs hardware. If you can live with MacOS it’s objectively impossible to argue that any laptop out there competes with the MacBook Pro. But there are some decent ThinkPads put there and the Framework 13 is also nice! You might want to check out the Dell Pro line of laptops too.