Does anyone have any strong opinions or feedback about using Laravel Herd on a MacBook Pro vs. Framework Laptop?
To give you some backstory, I’ve been on the Laravel train since v4.x. Up until v11.x, I did all dev work related to Laravel on a local network dev server (connecting remotely if away from the network). I’ve recently come out from under my rock and switched to Herd, which has been fantastic.
I currently do all my dev work on a Windows 11 desktop with a 7950x CPU and 96GB RAM. I find myself only using my local dev server now for handling complex jobs and Horizon issues, since Horizon cannot be installed on Windows. Given that I have a dedicated dev server, doing some WSL2 workaround isn’t worth the squeeze.
I’m indifferent to Windows vs. Mac; I’m just looking for the best performance/convenience. Cost isn’t a big factor, but I want to be able to justify any extra expense if there’s a tangible benefit.
So my question to anyone is: if you’re using Laravel Herd on a laptop, how has your experience been? Do you have any opinions on Mac vs. Windows in terms of performance, not OS preference? Have you run into limitations with RAM?
I’m currently considering MacBook Pros (M2, M3, M4) with over 32GB RAM and a “Max” chip or a maxed-out Frame.work laptop.
I've been using Herd for quite a while now, but I never faced any issues with memory usage, it's rather Chrome and NPM/Node that uses up the resources. Herd is basically just a nice graphical tool to extend Laravel Valet, and help you install the dependencies (NginX, PHP, Node, NPM, DNSMASQ), and with the pro version, the RDBMS.
Developing and testing with php / webserver / mysql is never cpu or ram constrained
I use an M1 Mac mini at home and a M2 macbook air when on the road. The only thing that affects me is the size of my screen.
MANY people run their production sites on a single CPU and 8GB of ram so any spec will do these days.
@Snapey Agreed
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