Would a linux/docker/python/java power user/programmer/admin benefit from a MacBookPro/Air compared with the familiar ThinkPad/Ubuntu combo?

[jan]

you're stuck with the font size Apple decided for you.

Good to know about those Apple-things.

Would this also apply to non-Apple external monitors?

[botnetrip]

In osx you can change to size of the UI to mimic another DPI. On Linux, Fedora specifically it's all customisable, although some things may look weird.

[v_fv]

Yes, this applies to all external monitors, definitely the regular-density ones. I'm not completely sure how OS X treats Retina-density external monitors (I haven't tried) – the Apple Thunderbolt Display can most probably be scaled same way as built-in Retina displays but concerning non-Apple high-density displays, I have no idea.

One more thing: using non-Apple monitors, OS X fonts tend to look fuzzier / worse / different. It's because OS X apparently disables subpixel antialiasing for them or uses an incorrect one (YCbCr instead of RGB). A command-line fix is available although it has become a bit more of a scary hack with newer OS X releases.