[bfmalky]

I can't run Ableton or Lightroom on Linux, and Macs are almost 3x the cost of a similar spec'ed windows laptop.

The apps are quite specific to me, but I imagine there are similar killer apps for other windows users.

[account42]

Ableton or Lightroom both have some level of support under Wine but it depends on the version you need. But both also have alternatives and IME killer-apps tend to become a lot less important once users have sufficient other motivations. Nothing is really irreplaceable.

[bfmalky]

I would love to replace Lightroom, but unfortunately the alternatives just aren't as good.

There are good alternatives to Ableton, but once you get to know a DAW it is hard to switch. And running a DAW with an ecosystem of 3rd party VST plugins and low level access to audio hardware on Wine sounds like a recipe for a bad time, but I confess I haven't tried it.

So, yes, these things are possible, but it is still easier to just use Windows.

[deltarholamda]

>3x the cost of a similar spec'ed windows laptop

Man, I'm not so sure about that. The M-series Macbooks are just crazy good for speed and battery life. The basic bottom-tier Macbook is $1000 and will do for a vast majority of people. A $330 Windows laptop is going to be a phenomenal heap of junk. People were running Ableton on 16GB M1 Macbooks a couple of years ago.

[bfmalky]

Yes, the bottom tier MacBook Air is about £1k, but only comes with a 256gb SSD. You can get a decent windows laptop for about that price with 1tb of storage and 32gb of memory. A similar spec Mac is close to £3k. CPU wise they are all fine for real-time audio, but the extra storage really matters.

[BobaFloutist]

A $400 Windows laptop from Costco with a $50 memory upgrade is a pretty decent machine. Source: I'm using one right now.