This might be an age old question but do read the answer below. It is because people need computers for different purposes. In a large corporation with 100′000 employees attached to a corporate network, you simply can’t hook everyone up with Macs, They aren’t designed for that sort of scale and they lack the huge variety of admin tools for managing the networks, mass deployment of software, etc. So it’s Windows. Period. If you work in a design agency with a dozen people and you like sparkly things, then you’ll be happy with a Mac. You’re paying up to twice the amount of money for the same amount of storage space and processing power (or more if you have a Mac (not book) Pro. But all our design agency partners use Macs, because they are so accustomed to Adobe products running great on Mac. Nowadays, they run just as well under Windows. I work about 50% on Mac and 50% on Windows. I actually enjoy working in both environments, but could honestly kick Microsof
The field of programmers is very diverse, the people, the tasks, the real needs also are. As are the usage patterns. Some of the reasons why I am using old laptops (this is a Mac environment I am having): We would really need desktops, but are using laptops. Battery life, screen quality do not matter much. We have several monitors connected, already have SSDs, big memories, attached keyboards, mouses. Connected outside storage terabytes. Connect to outside systems, tools. The machines are always plugged in into power, always on the net, most of them are always running. We use virtual machines. The emphasis goes away from using only one machine. We use several machines, not just one laptop. The machines are under very heavy use, are worn, torn, but still working great and flawlessly. Kinda attach to our hearts. Since we use several machines, they get their own personalities. Every one of them is having a different role. We remember their roles. We use different m