I was about to say something similar, his dev enviroment is perfectly fine with linux, why not try that as well? It's not a very steep learning curve for simple shell commands in everyday tasks. Debian-based distros like ubuntu or debian desktop are rock-solid, fast and reliable, and popular enough to find quick answers when stuck.

For the record, I'm working with similar technologies(sql, go, linux boxes) - mostly with a text editor (ST3) on a few different machines: Best experience is with a desktop running ubuntu on a dual 1920x1200 screen setup. My 2015 macbook air is still blazing fast (running el capitan), and a smaller 2010 thinkpad running ubuntu is also pretty fast and stable to work with. All machines have i5 cpus and SSD disks, though.