macOS is actually pretty awesome. lots of FOSS people don’t like it simply because of Apple and because of how Apple tends to be a bit overbearing when hit comes to how it likes to do things. macOS has limited customizability, for example, which is something linux users like to go bonkers with. I get it. but there are still ways to do what you want regardless. lots of hacks and stuff.

But it’s the most widely-used and most commercially-successful distribution of UNIX in the consumer space, and the only one still around in any meaningful way. Apple managed to bring UNIX to the masses and to scale it from smartwatches to servers where others failed for decades, all in one, unified ecosystem of software and hardware products. Yes, Apple’s control over that ecosystem is too much for some to bear on philosophical grounds, but those objections usually turn out to be mostly symbolic when put to practical tests.

The other main objection is that Apple products tend to be in the “premium” range of pricing and are “anti-consumer” in that they’re difficult or impossible to repair or upgrade. Those are valid criticisms, however they affect a very tiny sector of users, so make what you will of that.

Note: Linux, currently, cannot run on Macs with Apple Silicon processors. great efforts are underway to make linux compatible with the processor, and AFAIK, the linux kernel itself runs on the AS processors, but the project hasn’t gotten much farther than that, being stuck on untangling the display adapter or something. The effort is, however, ongoing and should, hopefully soon, see a fully-compatible AS linux kernel with compatible AS linux builds n the near future.

True! I am still going to college and the school I will be transferring to requires a MacBook so I have to get one anyway.

I’m pretty sure you’ll like it, a hell of a lot more that Winblows anyway. like I said, macOS is UNIX (which linux was made to emulate), so they’re interoperable and have very similar architectures under the hood. macOS is defiantly different in its Apple-y ways, but still plays very nice with linux systems and also supports many linux software ports. There’s also a macOS command-line package manager called Homebrew that’s used to distribute many of these crossover software packages.

Does Mac OS have the same issues as Windows where settings change each update?

NO! macOS updates very rarely (if ever) break things, even with the legendarily persnickety Adobe apps, mostly because Adobe apps don’t have to hack shit in order to run on macOS, because macOS isn’t a dumpster fire of an OS like windows is.

Wine will suck ass with Premier, if it works at all. There ARE reasonable alternatives to use in Linux, unlike with PS or Illustrator.

PS in Linux is… ok…. depending on what you’re doing with it. if it’s basic stuff, you’ll get by. start delving into big boy stuff, and it struggles. Illustrator… I doubt it. I’d stick with a VM for both for major workloads until you really need bare-metal performance. This is something you will have to feel out for yourself.

fwiw, running photoshop through a VM would be pretty easy and pretty quick to setup with very little (if any) troubleshooting required, and it’s unlikely that updates would break stuff. I’ve done it many, many times.

The real problem is getting good performance out of it. Now, I don’t know OP’s specific needs or what specific Adobe apps he’s using. if it’s just Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign, he’s gonna be fine. if he’s got enough memory and he’s running the VM by itself, he shouldn’t notice much of any performance degradation until he’s got some gigantic files open in PS and/or he’s juggling a bunch of files between PS and Illustrator.

Now, if he’s trying to run AfterEffects or Premier, he could run into more serious performance issues and would definitely need to dual-boot if he wants to render anything. But he may not be using those apps.

Running those apps through Wine? THAT is the massive PitA that can take days to configure and troubleshoot and where an update can break anything— but it runs at native speed. Using a VM is pretty simple… just slower.

I went Mac. it’s UNIX, and far better than suck-ass windows… but there’s a real limitation when it comes to gaming… Linux is supporting more and more games and macOS isn’t so much… that might change soon, it might not.

Personally, I’m not so much of a gamer, and I really like the Apple ecosystem. I run linux on my server and love it, too, and macOS plays really nice with linux. But if gaming is big for you AND you need Adobe apps like I do, then you’ll have to dual-boot if you want your main OS to be linux.

As for learning the ins-and-outs: there’s a leaning curve we ALL go through, and you’ll always be learning more as you go. But there’s never been a better time to learn as there’s never been more resources to help nor more community to support you with any and every problem you could ever have. Now is a very exciting time for linux. it’s super.

So, if I were you, I’d consider the switch away from Windows. You can dual-boot (or run a VM) or find a way to run Adobe Apps via Wine (not sure how that works). Personally, I couldn’t live without them and am very happy with macOS, but it’s not for everyone. Maybe you’ll be able to live with dual-booting into windows for wen you need to work and living the rest of the time in linux. it’s a journey you’re just going to have to take.

best of luck to you!

many companies have multi-year commercial leases they suddenly can’t get out of and lots of office furniture they can’t liquidate. it’s a huge investment that suddenly worthless. (boo-hoo!)

I wouldn’t return to work if you offered me the whole building.

for my entire career, 100% of my work has been on the computer. once in a while, I may have some client interaction, and for that videoconferencing is fin 99.99% of the time. the 0.01% it’s not, I can go on-site. I’ve never attended a meeting that couldn’t have been an email or that couldn’t be handled via videoconference. what managers I’ve had fall into 2 categories:

• The Quite Ones: these are the good managers who send short emails regarding project needs/goals and periodically check in on progress, providing feedback when necessary.
• The Overbearing Micromanagers: jerkwads who feel the need to constantly insinuate themselves into my process and assert their position of power just for the sake of it, often negatively affecting both my workflow and the end-results of the project itself. They send huge, monotonous emails full of corporate-speak which say very little, set regular meetings that waste time and accomplish nothing, and set capricious, pointless policies which often change equally capriciously. I suspect this is done because they’re too incompetent to do their actual jobs and are designed both distract from that and remind us “who’s boss.”

Obviously, the first can be dealt with 100% remotely, and the second has positioned themselves, through being terrible at their jobs and being terrible people in general, to require workers to be present, mostly to justify their own jobs which would amount to nothing if there were no employees physically present to subject to their petty torments.

so, yeah, give me my own office? that’s not gonna cut it, as it changes exactly 0 of the reasons why I never want to return to the office, which are the commute, the stifling work atmosphere, the management, and the fact that there’s 0 reason to ever be there physically anyway due to the nature of my work.