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Depends on the kid’s hobby and purpose of the computer. I’ve always known that MacBooks are better for music making (especially driver hassle, audio signal reliability, etc.). Could I afford a MacBook as my first laptop? No. Did I buy a second-hand MacBook as soon as I could afford it, and have been happy with it since? Yes. As a teenager, I would’ve loved to buy a new MacBook for 500/600€.

I’m sure most other applications are less Mac-optimized, though (software development, 3d/graphics editing, gaming, …).

by carlosjobim6 hours ago|

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That's very true, and it's a great tragedy. Kids get skilled in troubleshooting awful computers instead of getting skilled in creative things which actually have future value.

As for piracy, it's just as easy on a Mac, and MacOS has more quality software than any other platform - unless you're talking about software used in factories and such.

But how many kids actually "save up" for a computer vs being given one by their parents or getting a hand-me-down from relatives? I would suspect that many parents would be more than happy to buy a Macbook for their kid if they showed that kind of interest.

by orbital-decay6 hours ago|

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I think you're making it sound like they're forced to build Linux from scratch while walking knee deep in the snow, uphill both ways. That's way too detached from reality and certainly it's not a "tragedy". Kids are not doing specialized things that only have future value, they tinker with everything. Usually on what's available, yes.

>and MacOS has more quality software than any other platform

This is simply untrue, and not something a tinkerer cares about on a general-purpose machine anyway (with my niece and son as n=2).

by carlosjobim5 hours ago|

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Windows have also always required a lot of tinkering and trouble shooting to make things work in a pleasant way.

But for Linux, the creative software simply isn't there in many cases for a kid to start learning. Unless it's programming, which is not everybody's talent.

A kid tinkering with any kind of creative software learns and absorbs important skills which they can build on later if they want to. These things are much more valuable than system troubleshooting or becoming skilled in a game.

by 2b3a514 hours ago|

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Blender, Audacity, Ardour, Inkscape, GIMP, Kdenlive, Puredata (programming, but visual), Krita.

Are these not creative software? Perhaps not industry standard, but what is industry going to look like in a couple of decades anyway?

by carlosjobim4 hours ago|

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Half of those are not good enough to inspire creativity in a child, because they are so cumbersome to use. The rest are good as far as I know.

You can't really compare Audacity to Garage Band or GIMP to Affinity (which is now free).

by orbital-decay2 hours ago|

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Perhaps I wasn't clear, I'm not saying kids rush to install Linux to run creative software, they're perfectly fine with Windows. I'm saying that nowadays Linux is another cool thing to try, as a father of one of those tinkerers. There's no way in hell he wants a Mac because it's so limited. Same thing about my niece, she's into electronic music since 14, and the only way she got into music making was pirating a ton of shitty and non-shitty VSTs and hosts and experimenting with synths on a desktop PC. She's an adult and using a macbook and legit software on her gigs now, but only because it's cool, everybody's got one, and she now has money to afford serious gear and dedicated machines for music making (another is a PC). Ironically enough, she always had an iPhone because "only smelly incels use Android" (her words).

I genuinely mean no offence, but you sound as an old serious man when talking about useful skills. Kids and teens are not doing this for their careers, they're doing this for fun.

by carlosjobim1 hours ago|

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> There's no way in hell he wants a Mac because it's so limited. Same thing about my niece, she's into electronic music since 14, and the only way she got into music making was pirating a ton of shitty and non-shitty VSTs and hosts and experimenting with synths on a desktop PC.

Garage Band is free with a Mac...

And Logic Pro is a cheap subscription or very fair price when somebody like her is ready to take the next step. Maybe they even have a nice uncle who'd like to pay for it?

by carlosjobim1 hours ago|

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> I genuinely mean no offence, but you sound as an old serious man when talking about useful skills. Kids and teens are not doing this for their careers, they're doing this for fun.

Yes, but depending on what you put in front of your kids, they're going to get different experiences when doing things for fun and curiosity. So why not help them a little on the way with the right tools and right toys? They'll find a way to get into the weeds and explore their curiosity one way or the other - isn't it much better that they learn about music or audio producing, or photo editing, digital art, or 3D modeling, instead of learning about how to fix the Windows registry or change a configuration file?

A kid will make a spreadsheet about dinosaurs if they only get to play with an office computer. Parents can help them by giving them something better to play with.