You're surprised you got bullshit from the bullshit machine?
No way... some really smart tech guys told me it will be worth a lot of money some day.
No, some dipshit tech bros were bullshitting you.
Holy shit, that's impossible, they make a lot more money than I do, so they must be right somehow.
Did people really not read this as a joke...?
Better for what? The question in isolation is fairly meaningless.
The advantage of Mac is it's more widely used and thus more widely supported (for things that are supported at all). You can just buy an apple computer from a trusted source and it'll work. Linux doesn't quite have that yet. If more people move to Linux , you'll find better drivers and stuff.
It runs on generic hardware so you don't have to pay the Apple tax.
Fair point, but also, the M4 Mac mini is $500 for a pretty competitive chip, 16GB RAM, and 256GB on-chip SSD. You can beat that with a PC (and probably get a bit bigger drive, like 500GB, and you'd be able to upgrade), but you wouldn't save that much money. The Windows license puts it over; of course, the idea is you get someone to sell you one without a Windows license and install Linux. But if they aren't including Windows, they aren't selling in enough bulk to get the price down. There are a bunch of little computers from China that are competitive, but do you trust them? Up to you, I guess.
The other option, I went over in my top-level comment, is to find a gently used office PC that can't be upgraded to Windows 11, like a 7th gen i5. It's not gonna be competitive, performance wise, against that M4 Mac mini, though, but you might get it for like $100 from eBay or something, so maybe it's fine.
To add to your point, not only does it run on "generic" hardware, it runs on "whatever" hardware.
The mac mini and mac studio give the user a lot of bang for their buck. Those who say "Apple tax," I'm convinced, haven't looked into the Apple settings or used the ecosystem for what it's typically used for... I actually think Apple is worth the money for a lot of people, it just depends on how you typically use the computer and what you need from it
I'm more asking about why a typical Mac user would switch to Linux mint, wondering this in response to something I heard someone say to me. I think maybe, that person just really likes Linux Mint, and wants everybody to use it.
Well, if you have an old Mac (like Intel era), I think Linux would be a good target if your Mac isn't supported anymore. I'm not sure what Linux distros run on Apple Silicon. Linux being a bit lighter weight would mitigate some of the issues Mac guys have with certain Intel Macs (overheating). And certainly breathe new life into the machine.
I'm not quite sold on Mac Studio. For high end, I don't want something that's all on one chip and can't be upgraded. But that's what Apple Silicon is all about. Just seems like someone who needs that much computer would be better served by a different kind of machine. For cheap consumer grade computers, Macs are kinda hard to beat, but at every price point, there are other options. Hard to say what the best is. It would depend on the user.
Personally I find the MacOS interface to be horrendous. Window management is bad. The Mac apps are always opening my files instead of the third-party ones I designated as default. It's messy.
Other than that my primary concern with MacOS is that you can only run it on insanely expensive, irreparable, unupgradeable, disposable hardware.
With Apple, its really important to go into the settings right away. I've heard macOS described as extremely easy and user-friendly, and that's true when it comes to just using the machines, but it's also very adjustable. The settings is actually a pretty complicated series of menus, even though it seems straightforward, some settings take a few clicks to even find.
The price point is a valid comment... really expensive hardware compared to what one could get for the same amount of money.
I dunno what you mean.There's nothing in the settings that will solve my problems with MacOS or I would have just made them already.
There's also the shitty "Gatekeeper" that says "no, we don't recognize this software, you can't install it" and you have to go into the terminal and disable it, only to have it re-enable itself at a later time. I've also had it refuse to turn off Bluetooth. Anytime my computer tells me "no", it makes me fuckin irate.
It's only saving grace is that Apple has not yet filled it with a bunch of ads and tracking.
Macos doesn't solve the ownership or customisation of OS problem that windows also has.
Mint does. Don't like how macos does something? Too bad.
Don't like how mint does something? Someone likely already has a package to fix it.
LLMs don't "understand" anything. They are predicting what text matches your prompt. If you don't understand what an AI is saying, it's not saying anything
The way AI works, it's likely to pick up on your style. I.e. if you ask with slang words or spelling mistakes, it's going to answer very colloquially. And this translates to meaning... Once you ask "stupid" questions, it's going to mistake that for a creative writing assignment. And I think your question is a bit alike »What's better, oranges or papayas?« That's just a weird question and you'll get a weird answer. Linux and MacOS are very different things. Used by different people for different tasks. None of them is "better" without any context given.
Who typically uses Mint, in your opinion?
My wife and some relatives? Along with countless other people... We have a zero electronics devices with fruit on them -policy, in this household. But we do provide Lightning cables for guests... I mean MacOS doesn't even run on a Thinkpad without several stunts and a day of work involved... You need to patch the UEFI, do something to the graphics, patch the ISO, or happen to have the exact right model. And it violates the terms and conditions. So MacOS isn't really an alternative, is it?
What does your wife usually do on the computer?
Whatever people do on computers... Surf websites, do emails, online-shopping, organize documents, vacation pictures, paperwork, type letters, draw diagrams, watch videos, do video conferences, stuff related to hobbies... I mean she isn't a programmer or designer by trade or anything like that, but computers are just useful tools for a lot of things.
Wen I was a kid, my mom had a website where she talked about different pies she invented, or something, I don't really know.
Does your wife have her own website about things she made?
Nah. She doesn't. And I think the days of Blogs and personal websites are mostly a thing of the past. These days people doomscroll on Instagram. But I have some fond memories of the good old times as well. I used to have friends (of different genders) who would write publicly about technology, sugar-free recipes, I knew someone who did styling videos on Youtube. But that toned down as we all grew older and got other things to do, and the internet changed as well.
That sucks, I miss blogs a lot, we should all do blogs again.
Me too. I guess the internet is going to change soon anyway. AI Slop is going to displace a lot of things. And these cooking recipes don't really work. So there will be a demand for genuine, human content. And the only way to tell is if you have some connection to the creator. So we might see a revival of human connection online. At least that's what I hope will happen... And seems lots of people are fed up with social media as well.
This is has happened already with Minecraft servers
The problem is asking a fundamentally subjective question in a way that presupposes it to be objective truth.
If you instead asked,
What are some advantages that Linux Mint and macOS have over each other?
…you might get more useful answers—from people, that is. AI will just give you what you think you want to hear.
Linux = Libre
MacOS = Jail
Don’t ask AI things if you don’t understand them and their limitations.
If you have a desktop/laptop, you run Linux.
If you have a Mac, you run OSX.
Im not sure where you’re going with this OP, unless you’re looking for purchasing advice. It’s kinda like asking if a car or truck tire is better, with the answer being “well, do you have a car or a truck?”
I actually got into an argument with one of my friends, but yeah, I am kind of looking for purchasing advice I guess you could say.
The answer to the tire question, is that I have many cars and trucks and SUVs, a few I use regularly and a few that are sort of rotting in this vacant lot next to my home but I swear they'll be worth something in the future if I fix them up, which I totally will.
Well, the next question is “what do you do when you drive?” Cars and trucks have wildly different roles they’re good at.
So basically, what do you want your computer to be good at doing? That dictates your hardware purchase and the OS you will end up using.
Ignore the downvotes. Mint or Debian or Fedora can be great on Macs earlier than 2016.
Well, each one has pros and cons. *UNIX (I'm including *Linux and *BSD only, since masOS is technically uses a Unix-like kernel and *BSD code) systems tend to provide more control to the user, as they are Libre Software; however, the code can be rather clunky (especially in GNU+systemd+Linux distributions), and is much less secure.
What is Libre Software?
Libre Software is one in which you have the following freedoms:
1: Run the program for any purpose
2: Study the program by any means
3: Modify the program code in any manner
4: Distribute the program at any price
Depending on the Libre Software license, there can be conditions:
1: In any copies which you distribute, you must provide credit to authors of which code you used, and keep the license notice (example: Expat license)
2: If any patented techniques are on the code, you must provide rights to them (example: Apache 2.0 license)
3: Any code on the program is also licensed under it, and you must pass down the same freedoms and obligations; this can be either per-file, or more commonly, for the entire program, although exceptions can be made for other programs using it as a library (respective examples: MPL 2.0, GPL 3.0 or later, and LGPL 3.0 or later)
4: There must not be any system (e.g. DRM) preventing people from replacing the program with a modified version of it (example: GPL 3.0 or later)
macOS, on the other hand, is much more restrictive, but much better security (the best out of any desktop OS).
while you're probably looking for some very tangible reasons in a bullet list of how its better, there's really one foundational reason and everything else is a distant second.
Linux (mint or otherwise) is your OS that you use on your hardware. Period. It's not going to tell you how to use it, what is allowed, what is right, or anything of that nature. It's yours. Have at it.
It’s not
You should ask the AI what the advantages are of Linux Mint over macOS. You should then ask the reverse and compare the pros and cons from both angles.
Note that the AI is just going to aggregate Reddit posts and dress up the language a bit. But you should get good information.
As a macOS user typing on a Mac mini (M2 Pro) running macOS 26.2 Tahoe, I will say that Linux is better for gaming via Proton. We have the Game Porting Tool Kit (GPTK) but this is not really user facing. We have paid options like CrossOver, and there used to be a free option called Whisky, but it's been discontinued. Linux is kind of awesome for gaming and like, most games run on Linux now. (I choose to game on Xbox and Switch, but that's beside the point.)
I think macOS is a slightly more polished product, but the trade-off for Linux is, you can run it on more hardware (like if you have an ageing PC and you don't want to get a Mac — or, if you can find a decent PC for the price of an M4 Mac mini, which goes for $500), and you have more control over the software. For example, it just came up again in the Windows communities that Windows 11 can't move its taskbar to the sides or the top like it's done since Windows 95 through Windows 10. macOS has a menu bar that is stuck on the top always (always has been) but it has an application dock on the bottom that can move to the left (but not the right, nor can it sit on or under the menu bar at the top). In Linux, not only can you put your system bar wherever you want it, I think you can customise it to have more than one (like you can go macOS and have a menu/system bar and dock, but you can put them where you want them).
I personally wouldn't choose Linux over macOS, but if I did, I would start with Ubuntu. Personal preference. And, while I wouldn't trade my MacBook, I could use Linux on the desktop. I wouldn't hate it. I like my Mac, but if I got ahold of an older PC, like something a company was getting rid of because it can't run Windows 11 (say, a 7th generation i5 with 16GB of RAM would be nice), I'd wipe the drive and put Linux on it. I would not try to make it a Hackintosh (I'm honestly not gonna do the work). Coming from an office, it would likely be sold without a drive. So I'd get a cheap SATA SSD (like 500/512GB) and put Ubuntu on it.
Anything Snow Leopard and before > Linux Mint > Current macOS.
But why?
I‘m a big fan of FOSS but it really depends on what you’re looking for. For work I’m completely fine with a Mac because I have a proper terminal and don’t have to deal with windows. It’s a walled garden so I don’t spend any time thinking about what I would do, I just focus on shipping code.
I think the price of Mac Minis and some of the MacBooks is actually competitive for what you get. This is not because I think Apple is good value for money, but because I think other hardware has become so much more expensive.
If you want to run something that you can customize and that’s forever free and yours, Apple is obviously the wrong choice tho
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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