# Favored development environment **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [February 9, 2009, 3:28pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/favored-development-environment/159865 "2009-02-09T15:28:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![agilehack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@agilehack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/agilehack)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2009, 3:28pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/favored-development-environment/159865/1 "2009-02-09T15:28:11Z")
I am about to purchase a laptop strictly for development (ruby & rails) and then leverage my existing large screen monitor with it when in the office. Laptop monitor for running tests, large screen for development etc. Wondering what the consensus is now on most ideal environment for rails at this point? Macbook pro + textmate? Pc with unbuntu + vim(or whatever)? what are most professional rails shops using at this point? Any good articles on the pros and cons of each enviro? I suspect most are using the apple environment and for good reason but before I make the sale I wanted to see what everyone thinks. thanks ---
**Author:** ![agilehack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@agilehack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/agilehack)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2009, 3:45pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/favored-development-environment/159865/2 "2009-02-09T15:45:14Z")
There is no « consensus » on the good environment for developping in rails. This is a matter of … and cost ! A MacBook is a fantastic computer but is it costs at least six times the price of a basic Dell Inspiron 15 (for example), which could also fit to your needs. In my mind, if you only want to run a text editor and some ruby scripts, there is no need for a macBook. An y recent laptop with any Unix OS will do what you want. ---
**Author:** ![agilehack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@agilehack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/agilehack)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2009, 3:49pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/favored-development-environment/159865/3 "2009-02-09T15:49:22Z")
use whatever you are most comfortable with. mac/textmate is a good combo. linux/kate is IMHO good, too. even windows might be alright for some people. there are people outthere that prefer to use an IDE. there are many around and some of them run on most OS. personally, i like linux better than mac, because i’ve been using it for my desktop-pc at home for a very long time. i got used to its look and feel and love the console. mac is alright, too. textmate is a great editor with tons of plugins. once you get accustomed to a mac, it’s actually really nice to work with. the main thing is: you should feel good using whatever tools or operating systems. as i already said in another (very similar thread): i don’t think it’s a very good idea to try to learn how to use a new operating system whilst trying to master a new language/framework. so if you are a beginner, my advance would be: don’t change whatever you are running (maybe later). ---
**Author:** ![agilehack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@agilehack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/agilehack)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2009, 11:26pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/favored-development-environment/159865/4 "2009-02-09T23:26:55Z")
Have you considered a Linux VM? I have XP as the main OS because it the corporate way (e-mail, office, etc), but all the Rails work in done with Ubuntu 8.04 LTS running under VMWare - Eclipse Ganymede works fine as my Rails editor. Now if I could just get it to understand HAML, I’d be all set. ---
**Author:** ![agilehack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@agilehack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/agilehack)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2009, 4:04pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/favored-development-environment/159865/5 "2009-02-09T16:04:09Z")
I agree 100 percent with these posts. Unfortunately I am currently using windoze + e-text editor and command line for most work and it has been fine for basic learning etc. but it is clearly time to move up and on because of ruby/rails. So either way I will be dealing with some new ground either unbuntu on a PC (cheaper) or a mac. I have taken some classes lately and been trying to collaborate with other rails guys and mac seems to be across the board but that could just be who I have sat with. I am ok with a mac or unbuntu on a PC but wanted to get a sense of what most professional environments would be using in the rails community too. I would hate to be ultra comfortable with one and find out that my first Rails job tends to use something else entirely particularly if it was easy to vet out up front. I am sure either is fine, its what you prefer, I was just trying to take the temperature to see if 90 percent said mac or maybe in the real world 75 percent were actually using a pc with some unix distro ---
**Author:** ![agilehack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@agilehack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/agilehack)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 8:22am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/favored-development-environment/159865/6 "2009-02-14T08:22:34Z")
I do all development and deployment on variations of Ubuntu. I run 8.10 on my desktop, 8.04.2 on my laptop, and 8.10 Server on my development server. I use Vim exclusively and it works well for me. My recommendation is to give Ubuntu a try if you are looking at a PC and see how you like it. ---
**Author:** ![agilehack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@agilehack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/agilehack)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2009, 1:31am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/favored-development-environment/159865/7 "2009-02-10T01:31:47Z")
AgileHack, I work in an in-house Rails shop for a fairly large site (we are a team of about 7 developers, not including operations and QA). We use OSX on PowerMacs and Mac Minis with Textmate and git. Some are starting to poke around with MacVim and others swear by Netbeans. Secondly, everyone uses OSX for dev personally except for one guy who uses Debian. Largely, everyone chooses OSX and Macs, its not a forced decision. All the vendors who come in to staff augment or work on other projects from respectable Ruby/Rails shops always show up with Macbooks. For what it’s worth, I don’t use a MacBook pro, never have. I think they are too much $$ for RoR dev. I use a bottom of the line with extra RAM. H ---
**Author:** ![agilehack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@agilehack](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/agilehack)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 4:50am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/favored-development-environment/159865/8 "2009-02-14T04:50:56Z")
thanks everyone- that was helpful