The Best Computer for Starting with Coding (2026)

“What computer should I get for learning to code?” is one of the most common questions I get from beginners. And for the first time in my career, I’m changing my answer.

I’m not going to play YouTube games with you. In my opinion, the Mac Mini M4 with 24GB RAM is hands down the best starter machine for anyone who wants to learn to code in 2026. Stick around if you want to understand why.

Now, I’ve used a Windows PC for most of my career. Windows is the most common OS in businesses, and much of my professional coding was done in C# using the .NET Framework. Until around 2015, the .NET Framework was Windows-only. When .NET Core was released, true cross-platform finally arrived. So, a Windows PC just made sense for me.

So the question is, why would someone like me, who built their whole career around Windows, suddenly start recommending a Mac?

Price to Performance

First, the price-to-performance ratio is really good. I personally purchased one of the cheaper Mac Mini configurations because I teach a lot of students, and they’re usually on a budget. It has the regular M4 Chip, 512GB hard drive, and 24GB RAM. The cheapest base model has 16GB RAM, and as I always tell people getting started, if you have extra budget, put it into more RAM. The MSRP is $1000, but I found it on sale at my favorite computer store, Micro Center, for $850. This was an incredible bargain.

The M4 chip is fast and efficient. Now, I know that 512GB isn’t a very large hard drive today, but Apple’s hard drive upgrade pricing isn’t a good deal at all. So I picked up an external hard drive enclosure from UGreen that supports Thunderbolt 4 and slapped a 2TB Samsung M.2 drive into it. There are some affiliate links below if you’re interested. Adding 2TB directly from Apple is $600, going the external route was only $200. I install all my apps on the main drive and keep all my code, data, and media on the external drive. With the external drive, the total setup cost was about $1,150, since I already had a keyboard, mouse, and monitors.

I have the Mini connected to two 1440p monitors and run my IDEs, databases, and cloud-based AI assistants with no issues at all. Also, the Mini’s compact form factor makes it ideal for dorm rooms and smaller workspaces. The fans are also very quiet. It’s a great build.

Unix Terminal Experience

Second, the terminal experience is superior to what you get out of the box in Windows. The Mac terminal uses Unix commands and directory formats. This means that when you learn enough coding to start deploying your applications to servers, you’ll come in with a good foundation and won’t need as much translation as a Windows user. And with command line tooling like HomeBrew, getting your environment set up is actually easier than what you go through on Windows.

Yes, I’m aware that Windows also has package managers, but they’re just not as good.

Windows Enshitification

Third, we need to talk about Microsoft and Windows. I’ve been increasingly annoyed with Microsoft over the last few years, but it was a boiling-frog scenario. I didn’t realize how bad things were getting until I started using the Mac.

Deep Breath

Time for a rant.

The first thing I noticed is that I wasn’t being bombarded on macOS to buy a whole bunch of crap. No in operating system ads for Edge, OneDrive, Microsoft 365, Teams, or any of that other crap. As a professional, I want to use the tools I choose, store my files on my own computer in my house, and not have AI tools scanning everything I own. I have a backup strategy, it works great, and I want to be left alone about it. I didn’t fully realize how intrusive and nagging Windows was until it wasn’t there anymore.

I also must address CoPilot. It’s by far the worst AI assistant, and I’ve used them all. But Microsoft seems hell-bent on putting it everywhere in the OS. I have big concerns regarding security and privacy with these moves. LLMs are easily compromised and can be prompted to expose confidential information. Most of the security professionals I work with are horrified by the push to grant them access to critical files and system functionality.

We’re also seeing some significant quality issues with Windows updates. Just this year, they’ve managed to break localhost, prevent mice and keyboards from working in the recovery environment, break smartcard authentication, and brick people’s hard drives. They’ve been laying off developers and mandating increased AI usage. I don’t think I’m alone in thinking the product quality is trending down.

Now, I know that switching operating systems is a learning experience. It can be a bit jarring, especially if you’ve been on Windows your whole life. So, I’ve been documenting and recording video of getting your macOS set up for software development. I’ll be releasing some videos on YouTube, but I’m actually building a full course, and I’m giving it away for free.

Here’s what the course covers:

• Understanding the Mac File System.
• How software conceptually works, this is your application development primer.
• Using the terminal, configuring the shell, and using the most common commands.
• Installing and configuring development tools for the most popular programming languages.
• Installing and configuring Git, setting up a GitHub repository, and the basic Git commands solo developers should know.

The goal here is to take complete beginners from “I want to get started with coding” to “I’m all set up and ready to start learning to code”.

To get the free course when it launches, head over to SkillFoundry.io and create a free account. You can also enroll in the other free courses that are already available.

Happy Coding!

LINKS

My Configuration: M4 with 24GB RAM: https://amzn.to/4njLiSh

UGreen Enclosure: https://amzn.to/3L5VjFc

Samsung 2TB M.2 Drive: https://amzn.to/3JwTcK1