If I were really into conspiracies it would make me wonder if Microsoft is up to its old shenanigans to make sure that such-and-such a competitive application (Android and Android Studio) doesn’t work well on the latest OS platform (Windows 8.1 in this case). There is a certain irony (to me) that I have a better overall experience developing with the mortal enemies tools (Android) on Yosemite. As the slogan goes, with the Mac Mini It Just Works.

But I will call out that it’s easier to attach my Samsung Galaxy S4 to the Mac Mini than it is to connect it to the Samsung notebook running Windows 8.1. There are other little differences between the two editors that are too minor to note, but that still give the edge to developing Android in Android Studio on the Mac Mini better than developing in Android Studio on my Samsung Windows notebook. My biggest complaint is in how the Design tab renders my application design: it’s broken under Windows and looks perfect under Yosemite. And when I say exact, I mean the project was copied between the two systems without any intervening edits or changes. You’re looking at Android Studio version 1.2.1.1 running on Windows 8.1 Update 1 with all patches on top, and then running on Yosemite 10.10.3 (Mac OS X) at the bottom.

Android studio mac yosemite