Last weekend I went and purchased myself a MacBook Pro, best computer purchase of my life and here is why…

First off I am a linux guy. A hardcore linux guy in fact. I refuse to run Windows on any of my computer systems. I do run Windows inside of VmWare so I can test my development on multiple operating systems, but it is almost never on.

I have loved Macs for a long time, however because I am such a linux guy I could not resolve myself using OSX because many, no make that most, of the major features in linux that I use cannot be found in OSX. With the release of the newest Mac OS Leopard I have finally been able to make the jump. With each new OS it gets closer and closer to linux. Now Leopard has ‘Spaces’ which is a virtual desktop system. That was one of the main features that I could not live without. Spaces works great, I have actually and pleasantly been surprised with how nice Spaces works. Also Fink has become a more mature product that allows me to very easily to install any of the linux programs that I do not find a Mac equivalent for.

So far every piece of hardware I have plugged into the Mac has ‘just worked’. Even my cellphone! I was curious to see what would happen so I turned on the bluetooth and lo and behold a window pops up asking if I want to sync the cellphone with my Mac. I now have all the contacts from my cell on my Mac, and all the contacts on my Mac on my cell. It also synced all of my calendar items which delighted me as I put items in my cell calendar all the time and did not want to constantly have to check the phone against the Mac and vice versa.

Being a web developer I always run a full server so I can develop locally quickly and easily. Open up System Preference and with one click Apache is up and running. Works great too.

If you want my honest opinion Apple has the best hardware and always has. If you are willing to invest a couple more bucks than a pc and learn a new operating system I think you will soon love it like I do. OSX is super easy, a bit disconcerting at first but once you really start using it it comes almost naturally. And as with linux OSX has an almost godlike immunity to viruses and spyware just because of the design of the system itself. I am sure that as Macs become more popular more viruses will be written for them, but the closer Mac comes to linux the harder and harder it will get for viruses to be written to it.

Go get a Mac, you’ll love it!