Recommendation - Mac v Windows

[metulburr]

I can't install some of the programs needed to code

I find a lot of times that people consider an old computer obsolete when it does not have to be. You can overwrite the OS with linux and rejuvenate the computer for free. I dont mean a virtual box either. I mean delete the old operating system. I do this a lot with Windows desktops. Older computers with a fast linux can be great for average tasks of programming or surfing the web even (not gaming though). I just recently retired a windows laptop from 2006 by installing Arch Linux overtop of Windows Vista. When Vista became obsolete i just deleted it and installed linux. The only reason i threw it away recently was because i dropped it and broke it.

If your interested in linux there are so many distros its a little overwhelming which one to choose. Distro Watch can gives some insight. Kubuntu is just Ubuntu with the KDE desktop environment. You can install these environments in and out of any distro though. That just comes prepackaged with KDE. Same with Xubuntu uses the xfce environment (a lightweight one). You can install xfce desktop within another distro to make it more lightweight for older computers. You dont need to install Xubuntu to do this. You just need to install the environment. AKA You can install Ubuntu and determine it lags the computer too much. then install xfce to eliminate the lag and work from there.

Before Mac, I used Python on Kubuntu. It was nightmare. I switched Kubuntu > Ubuntu and it became more bearable. KDE ( for some strange ( = weird ) reasons doesnt work with Python nicely.

Ubuntu and its variants are considered one of the clunkiest distros. And KDE is the clunkiest environment of them all. An old computer would be better suited with Arch Linux or similar. If one is not savvy enough for Arch Linux, they always have stripped versions of ubuntu such as Linux Lite. I often use this OS for Windows users that does not want all the bloatware of Ubuntu or has an older laptop.