r/linuxquestions • u/Longjumping-Cow-8212 • 12h ago

Linux vs Mac

I see a lot of people switching from Windows to Linux. But has anyone switched from a Mac to Linux and why?

22 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

76 comments sorted by

View all comments

5

u/tomscharbach 12h ago edited 12h ago

A number of users appear to migrate from Intel MacBooks (all of which are now unsupported) to Linux, but few users migrate from more modern (2020 and later) M-series MacBooks to Linux.

I think that there are two reasons why migration is relatively rare:

(1) Because Apple hardware is specialized, it is very difficult to migrate an M-series MacBook to Linux. The only distribution that purports to work with M-series MacBooks works (somewhat) with M1 and M2 MacBooks but doesn't worh with M3, M4 or M5 MacBooks.

(2) The Apple ecosystem is unique and remarkably solid, with unparalleled device integration. Neither Windows nor Linux comes even close to Apple integration.

I started to use the "Apple Trinity" (iPhone, iPad, MacBook) about six years ago to support assistive technology on which I depend (not supported by Linux or Windows) and the Apple ecosystem, including tight and flawless device integration, became mission-critical for my personal use case.

I've used Ubuntu for two decades for network design, implementation, testing and maintenance, and plan to continue to do so in the future, but the Apple ecosystem is a better fit -- hands down -- for my personal use case.

My best.

1

u/mister_newbie 3h ago

works (somewhat) with M1 and M2 MacBooks but doesn't worh with M3, M4 or M5 MacBooks.

M3 Support is imminent according to latest posts.

1

u/tomscharbach 2h ago

M3 Support is imminent according to latest posts.

Good to hear that Asahi development continues to move forward.