// HACKER NEWS — CYBERSECURITY
Decapitating a MacBook (2025)
This is a combined, single-page view of an original multi-part article.
Accepting that I need a Mac if I want to develop for Apple platforms.
I don’t tend to enjoy using Apple products. I want to be able to make my software available on their platforms though.
To publish apps for MacOS/iOS/iPadOS, you really need Apple hardware. Also, if I am to provide software for their platforms, and especially if I want to sell my work, I need to be able to experience my apps in the same way my users will experience them.
I tried Virtual Machines, probably had half a dozen MacOS VMs over the years in VirtualBox and QEMU/KVM. Getting MacOS working in a VM is difficult, inconsistent and (at least on my machines) performance isn’t great. Apple strongly does not want you doing this, you’ll always be swimming upstream.
I tried Codemagic, a continuous integration/continuous delivery service which lets you publish to various platforms including the Apple ones. It’s a great service and has a free tier, but it seemed that my usage would end up putting me in a paid tier, and that could get expensive for me quite quickly.
It’s also from-a-distance, and while Codemagic does allow remote login to the MacOS GUI it’s not the same as having a device in front of me, and if I want to thoroughly check the experience of using my apps on Codemagic’s remote machines (rather than just running builds) that’s going to quickly eat up any free minutes.
I can certainly see this being a solution for some situations — not mine.
For the first time in over 20 years of owning dozens of computers, I allowed myself to decide that I needed some kind of Mac.
Clearly Apple Silicon was what I needed in terms of power. I’ve preferred ARM processors for years and use them for as much of my work as possible. Apple’s use of specialised ARM chips and tight control over their hardware/software architecture means they’re in a good position to maximise performance-per-Watt… if I must paddle in Apple’s pool, Apple Silicon is a no-brainer.