--- title: Why I Moved to Mac from Windows as a .NET Developer description: A .NET developer shares their experience transitioning from Windows to Mac (M3 Ultra Mac Studio) as their primary development machine. The transition works... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/why-i-moved-to-mac-from-windows-as-a-net-developer-8zzp0vzzp twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Why I Moved to Mac from Windows as a .NET Developer | daily.dev og:description: A .NET developer shares their experience transitioning from Windows to Mac (M3 Ultra Mac Studio) as their primary development machine. The transition works... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/why-i-moved-to-mac-from-windows-as-a-net-developer-8zzp0vzzp og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/8zzP0VZZP.png og:image:alt: Why I Moved to Mac from Windows as a .NET Developer og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Why I Moved to Mac from Windows as a .NET Developer **[Nick Chapsas](https://daily.dev/sources/nickchapsas)** · 16 min read · 34 upvotes · 11 comments ## Summary A .NET developer shares their experience transitioning from Windows to Mac (M3 Ultra Mac Studio) as their primary development machine. The transition works well for modern .NET development using Rider or VS Code, with Parallels VMs handling Windows-specific needs. Gaming is possible through native Steam, Crossover, or streaming. Key motivations include frustration with Windows 11's instability and ads, better performance for LLM work with 512GB unified RAM, seamless integration with existing MacBook Pro travel setup, and superior terminal experience. The developer emphasizes that a Mac Mini with M4 Pro and 32GB RAM would suffice for most .NET developers, while their high-end setup serves specific creative and AI workloads. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@dominuszeikyu** · 5 upvotes > I used to be a Windows apologist since I faced little to no issues with Windows 11, but after switching to CachyOS last week. BOI WAS I WRONG!!! > > Linux is infinitely nicer than Windows **@cchristieii** · 5 upvotes > I do all of my personal .NET dev work in Linux with Rider. At work we have to use Windows because legacy software. **@nubprogrammer** · 3 upvotes > fair enough for the microslop **@jmichael** · 2 upvotes >  > > He's halfway to Linux. **@code\_chimp** · 1 upvotes > The .NET shop I work for has started embracing Rider more and more even though they have a slew of Visual Studio Enterprise and Pro licenses for the team. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Review of macOS for Serious Work](https://daily.dev/posts/review-of-macos-for-serious-work-udcrqbz9d) · The Coded Message · 34 upvotes · 1 comments - [Windows 11 after two decades of macOS: okay, but also awful](https://daily.dev/posts/windows-11-after-two-decades-of-macos-okay-but-also-awful-yhxvzok9p) · Lobsters · 2 upvotes · 1 comments - [Why I Use JetBrains Rider for .NET Development](https://daily.dev/posts/why-i-use-jetbrains-rider-for-net-development-euigejoa5) · This is Learning · 83 upvotes · 8 comments --- Tags: [#windows](https://daily.dev/tags/windows), [#.net](https://daily.dev/tags/.net), [#mac](https://daily.dev/tags/mac) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/why-i-moved-to-mac-from-windows-as-a-net-developer-8zzp0vzzp) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Why I Moved to Mac from Windows as a .NET Developer","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/why-i-moved-to-mac-from-windows-as-a-net-developer-8zzp0vzzp","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/why-i-moved-to-mac-from-windows-as-a-net-developer-8zzp0vzzp"},"datePublished":"2026-02-06T15:17:23.971Z","dateModified":"2026-02-06T15:17:45.978Z","description":"A .NET developer shares their experience transitioning from Windows to Mac (M3 Ultra Mac Studio) as their primary development machine. 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BOI WAS I WRONG!!!\nLinux is infinitely nicer than Windows","datePublished":"2026-02-18T16:57:17.586Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/8zzP0VZZP#c-Sn1QCAhPT","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Dominus Zeikyu","url":"https://daily.dev/dominuszeikyu","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/31802953?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":5}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"I do all of my personal .NET dev work in Linux with Rider. At work we have to use Windows because legacy software.","datePublished":"2026-02-16T14:03:31.216Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/8zzP0VZZP#c-e49yCLwiH","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Charles Christie","url":"https://daily.dev/cchristieii","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocLp_DWYR3cNHODDOZCcR3jk9y-Koc2aZmt5owWeWj9KZ1xX6Kkx=s96-c"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":5}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"fair enough for the microslop","datePublished":"2026-02-12T15:14:05.804Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/8zzP0VZZP#c-vxsYptSCC","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Atharv","url":"https://daily.dev/nubprogrammer","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--iKAhtmCU--/f_auto/v1760698008/avatars/avatar_EP7yoOu1w1OjIXSXdNYQq?_a=BAMAK+ZW0"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":3}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"He’s halfway to Linux.","datePublished":"2026-02-19T18:37:05.666Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/8zzP0VZZP#c-uZmmvgHH0","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"JMichael","url":"https://daily.dev/jmichael","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--Yj8tXNc4--/f_auto/v1768335072/avatars/avatar_dSlgvp69V3SOg2MWOSFlr?_a=BAMAMiZW0"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"The .NET shop I work for has started embracing Rider more and more even though they have a slew of Visual Studio Enterprise and Pro licenses for the team.","datePublished":"2026-02-16T20:55:27.040Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/8zzP0VZZP#c-1NBopjLd3","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Tim Goshinski","url":"https://daily.dev/code_chimp","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--_5X3OG7c--/f_auto/v1726237311/avatars/avatar_WhpHe2ngWJ9QbTYmApeA3"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}}]} ```