Why aren't MacBooks the go-to computer in finance?

This is because Excel kind of sucks on Mac, compared to its Windows version. Also, there are a wider variety of laptops/computers that support Windows, so the ability to purchase a cheaper one (and cheaper at scale for companies to hand out to employees) is more available for Windows.

They're popular at every university, they aren't used for lots of large companies probably due to cost, incompatibility with software and hardware.

Back in B school, kids with Macs had to work from the library computers for homework assignments because Macs didn't have Pivot Charts in Excel.

I’m a Mac fan but the new keyboards are garbage and the excel shortcuts are a nightmare.

Lol if someone uses a Mac for finance, don't even bother talking to them again. Davey Day trader vibes

Windows is superior for business. The only reason why people fanboy Macs is due to connectivity with their iphone, ipad, iCloud, etc... and are seen as a status symbol as many colleges. I've heard of people spending their whole summer savings on a low end macbook air or regular macbook just to have a mac product and then they realize the specs are absolutely garbage and are worse than what's in your phone. Also you're not using facetime and imessages on the job so it doesnt even matter why people want to use a Mac other than the UI.

Also a good point to mention since we're all facetiming/ zooming from home. Macs do not have great cameras.

Macs arent as configureable. You dont need most of the things Macs provide in their machines and if you do need something it comes with other technologies that just drive up the price.

Window computers are just more customizable for a business use case.

Macs are popular in SWE though due to Unix.

Honestly has very little to do with excel from the banks POV. Since when have they cared about key strokes? Every time windows is updated shit changes. Beyond excel (you could go on all day), it is easy to overlook the massive amount of integration and wildly outdated equipment that feed in to your daily activities.

I won’t pretend to have any true understanding, but think of all the associated systems, networks, software, virus protection, cables/connectors, communication channels, coding/processing etc. This stuff has been built in to the infrastructure of a bank over the last 20 years. Long story short, you can’t take that foundation and simply stick a mac in to it. We often forget the tangled web behind some of the tasks we do very easily.

Hopeful for the day that the hyper-focused design aesthetic, functionality, and durability of macs can just have a Windows OS (not virtual)...

honestly i just use my MBP for porn lol

Accounting Major, is that you?

I just spent 5 hours yesterday trying to install Windows 10 on a PC that had no administrator priviledge and that needed a full system reset etc... I spent 4 hours using my wife's older mac to find a workaround to produce a compatible file IOS on a USB stick - unfortunately as her Mac computer was a bit older Mac discontinued updating it. In the end I found a by-pass using the PC spending only 30 minutes on it.

Problem number 1: Apple makes its software and hardware irrelevant after a few years Problem number 2: It's not compatible with most machine etc... Most software is written for PC - the majority of the world is on PC Problem number 3: We mostly all use PCs in the office world Problem number 4: Your IT personal need a nimble structure to work with and has been trained with PCs not Mac.

Sure Mac can be alright - my father put in a Lynux structure on an older Mac and it's a decent work hose. Bottom line, for the price you can build much cheaper using PC - Apple produces a nice user experience and UI for people who only need to browse the internet and something that works. The computers look sleak and well designed, it's no wonder people like them.

Someone mentioned their 3 year old Apple laptop working better than their new PC - no fucking wonder if you buy a shit spec PC it will be worse... It's a ridiculous point.

EDIT: PC means personal computer so technically a Mac is a PC, but you get the gist....

Use emulator/bootcamp to run Windows parallel with Mac OS.

Tip: I took my Bloomberg keyboard home for wfh setup, if you really love a different keyboard get an external one.

Though in my world model building has moved on from Excel. Mac use BSD kernel similar to that of Linux and it’s better for processing and memory management and this for coders is more important.

People that don't like PCs don't like them because they've probably used one of the crappy budget ones where you spend more time trying to fix the pc then your actually using it.

If you get a top of the line PC/Laptop like let's say $800- $1200

You surely won't be disappointed.

Macs are seen as more reliable because they're only targeted toward the higher end audiences that are willing to spend the extra on the Mac for consistency

or

just stuck in the apple ecosystem.

For finance? PCs are better because programs such as excel work better and they're just more customizable to ones needs.

As someone who was a Mac user through college and still has a Mac as my personal computer, I would throw my computer out of the window in frustration before lunch time if I had to work on a Mac.

You guys arent just remoting into your desktop?? If you add a windows/mac keyboard to your Mac, it acts just like your windows machine in the office.

Edit - have had to reprogram my entire keyboard for some reason so dont recommend it lol

Macs are go-tos for programmers. Finance people use windows for Excel and PowerPoint. When you code, many use Mac now.

Okay listen. I use my personal Macbook. When I joined the place, I asked if I can work with my own machine and they were fine with it.

Aside from the fact that no legitimate financial services firm uses Mac, Microsoft Office is a nightmare on Mac's.

Imagine working without the alt key