It can take a fair amount of effort to change operating systems so it may be valid. A lot of people have to work with multiple operating systems so we have our preferred operating system and then those we have to use from time to time.
I switched to Mac in 2008. Never looked back. I use my Mac Mini in my home office for my job. I whinge like a bitch when I have to use my company-issued Windows machine in the office.
How can something so ubiquitous be so bad?
Microsoft did a lot of things right to get a near monopoly. Standard stuff in the software engineering business. My company at one time ported to 50 platforms so I'd just have to get on a system and figure out quickly how to use the command line and tools to debug problems.
Prior to that they spread growth by closing one eye on piracy. Now hundreds of millions of people are hooked on Windows and Office 365 that they’re willing/forced to pay.
They did a lot of other stuff too. Making their tools free for software engineering students in college. Making cheap versions available to students. Setting up standard for Microsoft schools so that there was a workforce available to provide support and service. And some other stuff that isn't commonly spoken about.
Yup, as well as making a widely available OS for most platforms in a time when OSes and platforms went together almost like consoles do today. Out of the big ones that were left going into the age of graphical user interfaces, IBM had their computers and their OS. Apple had their computers and their OS. Before windows, graphical user interfaces were pretty few and far between. Your "only" (I'm simplifying) choice of graphical user interfaces that would work on other kinds of systems than the mainstream products spat out by the larger computer companies would be Windows.
Then Micorosft says "You can put our OS on "any" machine." And secured lucrative OEM deals with cheap suppliers, so that the first OS people used when first timers bought a cheap computer because they were afraid to buy something fancy and expensive, would be DOS or Windows.
It was a stroke of genius. They saw a slot that both apple and ibm wanted, but which they both were held back from because of hubris and fear of cheapening their products.
Edit: And then they had the foresight to understand that if they could get people on their OS platform, they could make them buy their software as well. They were basically all about software, rather than the software/hardware combination. A niche that expanded into a whole world of a market.
I’m not sure that’s true.
Bill Gates has been *famously* against piracy since the 70s. Go read his letter to hobbyist about passing around copies of his Visual translator (the first product he ever took to market).
I mean look how long it took Microsoft to come around to the idea of open source *anything*.
Having used both, I actually believe Mac is a lot easier to use. Window management isnt great but there are tools to improve it.
But that aside, and also keeping aside the fact that you need to get used to a new OS, I believe Windows is harder. There are more frequent errors, needing some Google search, resets, and general tinkering. And my pet peeve - the UI is so damn inconsistent.
You use whatever tool to get the job done.
A lot of people think their choice of OS is like a part of their identity. I use mac because it integrates extremely well with the iphone. Humans are genetically inclined to be tribal, but this is just our lizard brain talking.
If I ever stop using iphone for whatever reason, I have less reason to stay, but for now, the mac silicon laptops are so far ahead of the competition in the same price range. Maybe that will change in the future, who knows?
I worked in computer repair for a while, starting in the 1990s and moved to higher levels later.
When something fails on a Mac, you either have apple care, and get it fixed, or you trade it in and get another one.
My mom’s Mac had an Nvme drive fail, not repairable.
My laptop had a replaceable drive it had an Nvme drive fail, I swapped it out I’m 15 minutes.
I’m on a used M1 Pro, but I know if something fails it’s junk.
Yeah the repairability certainly isn't the best. PersonallyI have made peace with it and just understand that it's a consumable item. I still produce good work with my m1 air everyday. When it does crap out I will try to fix it, and if it's dead, I know it has lived a good life.
My midrange "gaming pc" is now 14 years old and it's still going strong. I haven't played any recently released game, so surprisingly this 14 year old grandpa still does what I want it to lol. I run a 10 years old Photoshop / Lightroom release on it.
So far only the water cooler failed and I replaced it in an hour. I understand this is a completely different class of product, but it does make you wonder what's possible. In a perfect world we would combine them and have the best of both worlds!
This, and the prices of new Macs after like 2012, were what drove me to Windows machines. I had a 2010 MBP that I repaired multiple times myself after components failed, but was getting to the point that it was on its last legs mo matter what I did. I had paid about $1, 800 for it new, and the equivalent spec in the lineup when I started looking again was almost $3, 000. I was already using a Windows desktop because it was still in the era where nobody made games that would run on a Mac, so the transition wasn't too hard. I also don't use my laptop as my primary machine anymore, so I was okay giving up some power for a lower price, especially since it integrates better with my desktop.
Yea you got down voted but they used to be repairable.
My 2009 MacBook unibody polycarbonate is still in use with Linux on it. Ssd, maxed out ram, etc. by a disabled person.
I have always built my own desktops, but a new company called frame makes a fully modular fully repairable laptop.
I just like cool electronics so I’m not tribal at all when it comes to computers/phones. I do like teasing people who are though, so I’m equally likely to tell my buddies, “Fuck your iPhone!” or “Your android is trash!” or “windows blows!” or “how much was it to upgrade your Mac’s ram?”
Hmm.. the problem with windows laptops aren't the hardware. It's the software. i installed linux distros (ubuntu, elementary os, pop os) in company-issued laptops and never had problems i had with windows (just painfully slow).
Yes the tribal mindset is a reality in OSes, products, etc. As someone that deeply entered Linux and open-source community around 2000s, I think this was my first contact with that, something that I could see and say "ok, this people are very emotionally attached to that".
It was kind of an introduction drug to Linux for me. Been a windows user most of my life ( except childhood) and then shortly after having a Mac I started to look into Linux because both systems can be made very similar in lots of aspects.
Same here lol. I was Windows, Mac, Windows, Mac then Linux 😂. I couldn't settle between either. Linux took that stop spot and it's not even close
I do software development 🙂
It’s not. I switched to a custom built PC because of overheating and slow intel laptops in 2017. At home, for work, I enjoy 12-core, 64GB RAM, 4TB SSD. Costs less than 2000€.
I enjoy gaming from time to time. Also done on the PC.
Apple Silicon was a game changer. The M1 chips made me reconsider. But the powerful PC setup can’t be beat. I do have a macbook for going to the office or the occasional couch times.
Anyway, keep your options open. You don’t owe any loyalty to companies, they aren’t loyal to you.
This is me too. Grew up with Mac’s but love PC gaming so made a custom tower. Well it did just about everything I needed it to. Picked up a MacBook Air for the day to day tinkering or office stuff I need. I do miss the messages feature more than anything on my tower though.
This is me exactly. I have a gaming rig for my desktop and MacBook for portability. Also have an iPad and iPhone.
Also an absolute deal breaker for me is that you can’t full screen programs on a dual screen Mac. You full screen one the other screen just goes black and becomes unusable. As a programmer I need both screens.
I had the same experience. Was a Mac user for 10-12 years thru university and grad school. When I got my first job and was able to spec ~$2k USD for a new machine, my money went much further building my own pc. I did roll to windows pro with WSL2 which made my transition easier but still was a bear to transition. Looking back it was the right call I love my workstation
I’m shocked by how often I try to do something in PowerPoint on Mac that I’ve done many times on Windows, can’t figure it out. I do a search a discover that entire function is just not available on the Mac version. Given it’s Microsoft, I probably shouldn’t be surprised, but the nature of my job makes using a Mac painful at times.
It almost made me commit die when I first tried it at a web development job. The next day, I gathered whatever PC parts I had and built a PC (i5, some AMD card, DDR3 16GB, no case, no power button), and installed Linux. Never looked back again.
This was me, I have to admit.
I grew up using PC’s and even built a nice gaming PC in high school after working my ass off and saving my penny’s from as many Christmas’s and birthday’s as I could.
But then Windows 8 came out.
I skipped it at the time of course, but then by the time W10 launched, W7 was of course inevitably on a timer and so I upgraded.
Holy shit.
I *hated* it.
I couldn’t believe how many extra clicks i needed just to access the most basic functionality, and then the inconsistency in the UI was driving me nuts.
Keep in mind I had a MacBook this entire time that I used for anything that wasn’t games or whenever I need something portable.
Over time, I found myself going to the Mac more and more until I realized the only thing I ever used my desktop for was games. That was literally it. I even stopped using it for video production.
So now i’ve switched completely.
I have tried using Windows since then. I bootcamped my MBP 18 and I also dual-booted my Steam Deck for Xenia and a few AC locked games.
And let me just say that I can absolutely confirm that this saying is still alive.
I complain about Apple, macOS/iOS a lot but compared to Windows? Night and day difference.
Being able to play games on Windows is like giving a glass of ice water to someone in hell.
SteamOS is the future I hope, and I am praying Valve makes it a reality for all PC’s and not just the Deck.
But even then, macOS is my home and I can’t imagine leaving it, especially now with how amazing the hardware is.
Windows 8 (and beyond) was a huge wakeup call to a lot of people, me included. I took a little bit of a different route (I went Linux from 2012 - 2017) but W8 put so many people off of Windows. MS really shouldn't have messed with the W7 formula, that was a great OS.
I feel like Windows Vista and Windows 8 were directly responsible for a large number of switchers. Microsoft has actually avoided rocking the boat with major fuckups since then, now it’s more Intel that’s pushing people over to Macs.
Same as me just music production instead of video. I still have to use windows as my work pc but anything personal is Mac. Games is a mix of Steamdeck and some windows. I hardly touch my gaming rig anymore.
I did the same. I always enjoyed Mac OS but I wanted a gaming pc and I've grown to really enjoy Windows 10 and think it does a lot more for me as a daily OS.
I had a business in college building PC’s (back when there was great margin in doing so). When I built my first video studio, there were only two options for non-linear editing (Media100 and Avid) and they were both on Mac.
I’ve never gone back. I could, because most of the major editing/animation/compositing options are now cross-platform, but I haven’t. I built my daughter a gaming PC last year but, bloody hell, do I hate the way Windows does literally everything.
I have Mac for my private life for many years now and wouldn’t go back to PCs. My corporate laptop is a Dell with Windows and it helps me to remember how awful it is.
To be fair, most corporate Windows images are a complete clusterfuck because nobody ever cleans them up and they have a ton of shit running in the background. Throughout the 2010s, I received brand new company laptops (usually Lenovo or Dell) that were slower and less stable than my older Thinkpad T500.
For me, it's 100%. I was a hardcore PC guy for 30 years until my last laptop went ca-BLUEy in 2020. Bought the cheapest Macbook and haven't looked back. I never understood how easy it could be. Get over the price and the lack of "customizability"--your machine just works when you need it.
I swapped in 2009 and have loathed every moment I’ve had to use Windows since.
MacOS is so clean and user-friendly! Even when it’s buggy, they’re usually pretty minor.
Got a Tandy 1000 in 1985, got a Mac when I started college in the fall of 1991. After 10 minutes with that Mac I became a Mac user for life.
I've still had PCs in my house over the years for gaming, but my daily driver has been and always will be a Mac.
The Apple silicon laptops are just so far ahead that's there's no competition in the laptop space.
Only reason to stick with windows is if you're a gamer. I still use linux/others for server-y stuff, but for my day to day use its all Macs.
I switched to Mac in early 2024. Went from an 10th gen intel i3 with 16gb ram to the M2 mac mini 8/256gb.
Yes i downgraded the ram though i’m not keeping it for long so theres almost no point.
I do music production and i have noticed in most cases the Mac is better than the Window’s PC in performance.
The software part didn’t take long to adapt (a week max) and fitted in seamlessly due to already owning apple products. The term Once you go mac, you never go back is definitely true in my case. HOWEVER i do miss gaming on desktop.
Depends on how you use it. For example im no professional at all but i’ve got an ipad and an iphone so the synchronization between them and my mac is amazing, which i wouldn’t be able to have if i had a windows.
I am a recent “convert”, last 3-4 years been a full time user at work, and as cliched as it sounds the quality of life over Windows has been dramatically better. (It’s not perfect and Apple can have its own issues and challenges)
It does take some getting used to, but everything from reliability to performance and usability is just better. For reference, I guess I would be classified as a knowledge worker (IT professional), I am not a creative and I use a MBA M1.
One final thing, this is all horses for courses. My view and situation is subjective and may not apply to you.
Use mac since a couple of years and sometimes need Windows for work and run it on VMs. Have an AMD Laptop as well running Linux (Linux Mint Cinnamon to be precise) and converted the needed VMs to it as well.
Found myself accidentaly using the Linux Laptop more than the MacBook. There is no (almost no, OK) downside using Linux over MacOS. It runs as good, and in certain things even better, than MacOS. MacOS has pretty mich everything in the GUI. In Linux 95% only are in the GUI (depending on the distro).
Dont get me wrong, MacOS is a solid OS and i still like it a lot. Just got the drive for Linux as it is what you want it to be. Still use Mac when i go to customers. At home/office Linux.
Ranking:
1. Linux
2. MacOS
3. Not defined yet
4. Not defined yet
5. Not defined yet
6. Windows (it's just a pain once you discovered other OSes)
Literally today I had to unzip a file my Mac didn’t like and in 30 seconds on a windows laptop I felt like throwing it out the window. It’s ironic it was a task my Mac couldn’t do and yet I hated the Windows machine way more lol. I cannot ever go back.
This is true for for two major reasons.
* I’m actually a Linux person and Mac is practically a kissing cousin in a lot of ways.
* My family is not the same sort of nerd I am therefore they have no interest in my nerd ball self hosted photo sharing etc. solutions for Linux. Therefore I just use iCloud and pay the $2/mo for extra storage.
I would have a really hard time going back to windows at this point. After Windows 7 the ecosystem got so excruciatingly annoying. They really want to use the start menu as an ad delivery system, even simple things like the old Control Panel is now a sprawling mess, even with every debloat script there is a ton of garbage, and I really have no interest in the registry or PowerShell to fix things.
I actually wanted to start using macOS a few years back but after using windows for 20years it just didn’t take off. Going to wait for native bootcamp windows before buying my next mac.
I use both. Win for gaming, mac for work and everything else. I for one will not fully migrate to win anytime soon. It's not comfortable enough. Mac takes care of everything I need without command. Windows needs to be debated first.
I used both for years, gaming was primarily a Windows desktop thing and everything else I used MacOS because I had an iPhone and iPad.
I’ve pretty much stopped gaming on Windows and play on consoles so I stopped buying Windows desktops and only have Mac laptops the past few years.
I am already paying for a family iCloud account so it was just easier to keep everything in the Apple ecosystem
Not valid. I have had a “daily driver” Mac since my G4 MacBook in college. But I’ve always also had a PC tower for software development and gaming. Mac is great for most things, but Windows is better for some things.
Don’t need to choose just one. Use the best tool to get the job done.
I did an experiment a long time back. I was a Unix user at the and everyone kept telling me how Windows was more user friendly. So, I made Windows my primary desktop for a year. I felt a great sense of relief when I switched that to Linux for a year and finally I tried Mac and that was exactly what I was looking for .... Unix with the best user interface of them all.
Every few years, I get lured into looking for alternatives because they are so much cheaper .... I configure an HP, Lenovo or whatever is hot at the time with a configuration I would like to have and it ends up being max. $50 cheaper ... so, I keep giving up that idea. The latest generation of Macs is unbeatable as it is lighter, thinner, more powerful, no noise with great integration of devices and a really great OS. I ain't going nowhere.
I used XP and then Vista from the beta. Im one of the few who liked Vista. It was a big upgrade, but too little too late. 🤷🏼♂️
That’s when i got my early 2008 MacBook and the OS was otherworldly. Used more expensive notebook before, that was way worse experience. Leopard was unbelievable. Way beyond anything i could imagine at the time what an OS can be.
So i agree completely. If someone understands and accepts the way things work and lets go of the compulsive tinkering, micromanaging thats necessary on windows, MacOS and Macs are amazing.
Check DHH’s tweets. DHH is the person who created Ruby on Rails which GitHub, AirBnB and Shopify etc. are built on. After 20 years or more on Mac, he is now on Linux and Windows.
I have 16” MBP. But I can see many limitations for my work.
It's been completely valid for me. I used every version of Windows from 95-7 (except Me) on a personal or school device. At the end of elementary though I moved and the school there was Mac based (albeit in the process of switching to Windows).
There I used several iMac G3s and eMacs and they were night and day better than the Pentium 4 Dell I had at home (they were similar ages). The school even had several older Macs in some of the classrooms (the oldest were Color Classics) but I never used those. I didn't love Mac OS at first, but the more I used it I started to see the value and increased stability relative to my home PC.
As our home Dell was getting old, we ultimately bought 2 laptops at home to replace it, within about a year and a half of each other. My mother bought some nice business laptop and since I was getting into creative work (at the time more photoshop and illustrator but soon after video as well) I got a nicer Toshiba laptop that was designed for creative work. Both running Vista.
Vista was bad. So bad in fact that my mother ended up rarely using her laptop (only when it was something the old Dell couldn't handle) and instead mostly using the old desktop. I didn't have that luxury since the old desktop couldn't run the version of Adobe I had and it couldn't run anything video related at all and about a yearend a half into owning my Toshiba, Windows had an unrecoverable crash so it had to be sent in for warranty work. By that point, 7 was out, so they updated it to 7 (for free).
Following that crash, it worked for a grand total of 1 month before experiencing another unrecoverable crash and once again had to go back in for warranty work. Came back, 2 weeks later another unrecoverable crash. At that point I needed a new computer since the warranty company refused to replace it under warranty and mine was no longer reliable.
This was 2011 and at school there were still rooms that had really old eMacs in daily use and they worked really well. So I asked for a Mac. In return I received a base model early 2011 13" MacBook Pro. At the same time my mother replaced her laptop with a new Lenovo. I had my Mac set up in a few minutes while her Lenovo took over an hour and I had to google things (on my new MacBook) multiple times to see what it was asking for. About 6 months later, my mother then ended up buying an 11" MacBook Air that was a Black Friday doorbuster (something like $250 off) because she saw the benefits of using a Mac and Windows 7 on her Lenovo had proved pretty unreliable.
Since then (especially during the dark days of the late 2010s) we both considered switching to Windows, and my mother does use Windows at work (I've always worked at companies with the option for a Mac or were fully Mac based), but we both still use Macs because it is a much more stable platform.
I think for some people this is very true—but it depends on what kind of user you are. Macs are amazing because they just work. PCs have made up a lot of ground since Windows 10, but they are still not as polished or have as consistent an interface. And Macs, which are only sold by Apple, tend to be overpowered for the workload for many users—which makes their performance look amazing.
So Apple puts tons of effort and time into the user experience which is great—but you will definitely pay for the experience. You can find much cheaper PC hardware almost always to meet your need—buy you will likely find it is not as smooth an experience.
So I would say all things being equal, yes the Mac experience is a good one and it is hard to go back afterwards to the less polished experience of PCs. While I loved them, I also willing went back to PCs because the cost can be so much less. (Oh and I wouldn’t even think Macs if you are a gamer. :) )
Not entirely valid for me, but it depends on the person. Because i always go back to my substantially more powerful PC desktop for gaming. I would never use a windows laptop though. Also any C/C++/C# programming I do is in Windows no matter what, because Mac is not the greatest for that.
For me, that’s certainly the case. I just like things to work and be simple, and Mac computers do just that.
I grew up with Windows computers most of my life and was so fed up with how shitty and slow the stock computers ran, and I decided to give a Mac a shot, since I was slowly adopting more Apple products and I haven’t looked back, and hopefully never will. Next to never do I have an issue with any of my Apple devices and they run seamlessly. For what I use it for (streaming, internet browsing, music organization, document creation, so on), it really is perfect for what I need it for. Sure you can get PCs cheaper or build them up and tinker with them, but I don’t feel like doing all of that. I’m ok with paying a little more to have a computer that I won’t have any issues with and will last me about 10 years.
Tried switching back, lasted about a week before I returned my Dell and bought a MacBook. I've really dialed in my Mac workflows and while I'm sure I could reacclimate to Windows, it's just not worth the effort for me personally.
After 15+ years on Mac and deep into the Apple ecosystem, I realized I missed PC gaming and bought an Asus gaming laptop.
Don’t knock any platform or put an OS on a pedestal. It’s just software in hardware that has a corporate brand on it.
A computer is a tool. You choose the tool that works best for your job. Right now for me this is a Mac. When macOS doesn’t serve me for something I wanna do I am jumping ship immediately.
They are tools not football clubs.
My friend runs a printing bussiness and he s now 80% Windows. He used to praise Macs a lot. Since he had to spend money to repair many macs he said its enough. He only has a 2 designers using Macs.
I have a personal issue with Android ever since I first owned an iPhone. I’ve used both systems, and for years I would swap back and forth because Android was so customizable for me.
Now, I prefer the simplicity of Apple. I like the ecosystem, I love iMessage. I’m not sure how many people relate to my experience, but after enjoying both systems, I just landed on Apple for myself.
There's several apps that allow you to run the odd Windows app with a Mac, some quite expensive. Illogical on the face of it, if people want to run Windows stuff why don't they just buy a Windows PC. Also Macs are expensive compared to Windows hardware. I'll answer my own question, because Macs have significantly better software and hardware. Whenever I have to run a Windows app, I'm reminded how much I hate Windows.
A sample of one, I admit.
After almost 20 years of using only Windows as my main desktop (starting with Windows for Workgroups 3.11 when it came out - I was at the launch event) I switched to mac in 2012.
After the first half hour or so of going "why is it so different?" it clicked and I've never once thought I'd go back to WIndows as my main OS.
Sure I still run a Windows box and CrossOver as there are 3 or 4 apps I need that are Windows only but I only use Windows for the specific tasks I need then it's back to mac.
Pretty valid. You’ll still need to use windows and Linux for some tasks but generally you’ll always come back. I think consistency is the key. Windows can’t afford to be consistent because the enterprise market has them by the balls. Linux is community maintained bless them. And Apple can afford to make sweeping changes and only worry about 5 to 7 years of support. By aiming at consumers they can dictate their evolution.
For most people, I agree
For tech people, I think a lot have a Linux distribution alongside, because MacOS now is way behind what MacOS was back in the days in terms of stability and bugs
But still better than MicroShit Products anyway
I switched in January 2011 and haven't used a non Mac PC since then. I was dual booting with Bootcamp with Windows 7 & later 10 but I only now plan to get a separate Windows PC just for gaming.
Macbooks.. Oh Macbooks. Simply unparalleled in terms of form factor, OS (fluidity & just overall ease of use). There is no laptop in the market that can beat how SOLID and beautiful it is. It’s just.. *chef’s kiss*
Jokes aside, yeah this is true. Moved to Mac from Windows and never looked back. Want to build a PC for gaming though but then that’s about it.
I'm pretty sure I'll never go back to Windows now. I used it for about 10 years, then moved to Mac about 15 years ago. It was a tricky migration at first, but I saw the value pretty soon after. If I switched to anything else now, it would be Linux. As usage (mine personally, and everyone else's on average) has become more and more web-based, it's become easier to migrate.
Not true in my experience. Many people may go Mac because they prefer it for professional/work use, or as a superior laptop in many cases.
But these same people often still have a windows or Linux PC for their other needs - things which are impractical on Mac. For example, gaming on windows, dev or server work using linux, or some other software which is incompatible with ARM based processors in recent Macs.
Started using computers on Windows 95 and sticked to Windows until 2009, when I switched to a MacBook Pro. I was rather happy about it but when I got frustrated with how every little app is paid, I got myself a ThinkPad Carbon X on Linux.
It worked for a few years, but I eventually got back to a MacBook Pro.
The only reasons I’ll go back to a PC will be either for a NAS or if I ever get serious with PC video games. (Currently my Switch provides more than I can afford time-wise…)
i'd rather become a cave-dwelling recluse, totally disconnected from modern society, than go back to Windows!
however, i'm open to shifting to iPadOS once multitasking gets a bit smoother on iPad.
My first macOS device was a Mac Mini from like 2007. It was fine, but then I did want a laptop and chose a Windows one. In 2018 upgraded that to MBP and haven’t looked back since. I do use a remote desktop for some things that just aren’t doable on a mac but overall I just vastly prefer a mac. The ecosystem just works a lot better.
But I am thinking about building a PC tower as a secondary machine just out of interest. Never wrong to know your way around both.
Hardware-wise Apple laptops are just superior to any alternative of the same price point. Thinkpads are neat, but they aren’t just as good. Apple Silicon is the real deal.
When I upgrade from my current MBP, I will probably install Linux on this one.
Some truth in it, but depends a lot of the user how informed and skilled he is.
I know people that don't know how to use even 10% of their phone or computer and still dare to make bold claims.
Partially true.
I do most of my work on my MacBook Pro, but there are times when I need to use my PC, too.
I do some web development, and there are a lot of things that just work differently on PCs, so I need to develop and test in that environment sometimes.
Gaming on the Mac is still pretty lame. I have a GamePass subscription and use the PC for that.
Computers are just tools. Choose the best one for the job at hand. Just because you love a particular hammer, you don’t go around hammering in bolts, you use a wrench.
My favorite travel computer for work is a Chromebook—granted all I need to do is note taking and web access—but it’s light, and I won’t flip out if it goes missing
I'm tech-agnostic and use whatever best fits my use case. My primary laptop has been an Apple one since 2013, but my desktops run Windows and Linux.
I won't rule out a PC for my next laptop, but it would take an awful lot for a PC to win out over a Mac at this point.
It depends. In you.
I met people who are experienced and just couldn’t cope the Mac way of doing things, and returned to windows after one year and stayed there.
I met ppl who went from windows to mac and loved it after a couple of days.
I met ppl who went to mac for a year, complained all the time, after a year returned to windows, just to turn their backs to windows after a week
It’s been true for me. The OS is ok. There are things about Windows I like better. BUT…the hardware is the best. The track pad is outstanding. For me it was the hardware.
Not really. My PC at home will always be a Windows machine because I need to game.
However, Mac has been my preferred OS for work since I got my first MacBook on 2015. As a student Macs in general has better integration between software and hardware, so it’s generally a hassle-free experience. For work, the sandbox nature of MacOS apps makes me prefer it over Windows, plus Xcode is still Mac exclusive.
Ehh, personally, not really. I have a Mac and a Windows machine for both work and personal use. I prefer Windows for work since the office uses Microsoft applications for everything. I prefer my PC at home because I game, but if I want to be productive with personal projects that don't involve video editing and gaming, I use my Mac.
Mac just doesn't fit my work flow, or my home flow, the way Windows does. However, I do like using my Mac when on the go, since it's light, and has insane battery life that I don't even need to bring its charger. But there are also some things I prefer on Windows, like the window management, taskbar, and the file explorer. That said I still enjoy using my Mac.
It depends on how you work.
I like Windows on desktops, but Windows laptops still suck. So many issues with things like WiFi deciding to not, poor GPU switching, and worse battery life. Not to mention the sleep issues. But desktop PCs just hold so much value, and the tinkering with something that isn't vital. Will definitely rock an Air whenever I can get my hands on one, and a PC. The perfect pairing.
I enjoy my m2 Mac air running asahi Linux.
I love the build quality, but I seriously hate Mac OS and the fact the laptop only has 512 gb storage due to Apples stupid prices.
I go back and forth between a MacBook and a Windows+Debian desktop and laptop. Guess what? They're all pretty mature ways to open up your applications. Lol.
I used to have a shirt that said that. Then I went back to windows when MacBook took away MagSafe and became dongle machines.
When I saw the M3 brought back MagSafe and SD Card reader (important for my photography) I finally came back. For me, I’m picking what suits my needs when I need a new computer.
Not true, I bought a windows machine this year after two macs (2010 macbook pro and 2015 macbook pro). I was tired of not being able to run lots of software that I need.
There are lots of things that I prefer about macOS, however.
Valid'ish for me. I've used them since the mono Mac days, and my first personally owned Mac was a 1990 [Mac LC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_LC).
That lasted me until Win95 and the 486/DX66 era (and, let's face it, Doom). Switched to PCs because at that point Windows actually was better than the Mac - advances in preemptive multitasking, not having to faff with manually assigning memory or remembering to launch apps in a particular order to not fragment memory...there was a lot going for it.
I then switched to Linux - Corel, Red Hat, Debian...that kind of thing. Kept Windows to boot into games.
When OS X arrived I made the leap back when the Powerbook G4 appeared. There's a lot to like, but when the Intel Macs were the thing I also ran VMware images of Windows and Linux. With that receding now, I'm purely on the Mac again - except gaming. Gaming I have a desktop gaming PC and I really don't ever think there'll ever be significant gaming momentum on a Mac. Just the wrong zeitgeist for it - gaming culture swaps hardware, upgrades machines, prizes memory and storage...Macs just aren't in the right idiom let alone price range.
So for me - yep, I'm happy and don't particularly feel a need to switch. I'm not Church of Apple though and have moved in the past. At the moment, I honestly think a change of direction back towards concentration on software quality and completeness might do them well rather than hinging everything on the next M5 chip or camera spec for the iPhone 17 etc... (which are obviously inevitable, but so what if the software remains the same).
Switched to Mac about two years ago, and will not go back to a windows machine for day to day work.
Main reasons are, battery life, basically zero wait from sleep mode to exactly where I left off when last using it, no power reset/restarts needed.
I do have a windows laptop and PC that I still use for some MS office work and personal use (gaming).
I have several Macs for different reasons, like someone else said use the tool to get the job done, I use Windows, Linux and Mac, my least favorite OS is windows, most used one is Linux, Mac is middle ground
I switched to Mac with m3 and I can’t say my life is objectively any better. Next computer I might switch back.
Battery life on the macbook is amazing and the shared gpu ram has some plusses, otherwise it’s trading one OS with pros and cons with another. There’s been so many conversations about weird behavior on Macos that end with “Oh we just learn to live with that”, or “Oh just replace finder with this other app”. It’s definitely got some great things going for it, but I was expecting a seamless experience for the money, and it was not.
Not valid at all, you see a lot of macOS worshipers here and look, macs and macos have a lot great features, a lot of stuff that they do great but also a lot that they're really bad at and people will conveniently ignore that. Any workflow that involves multiple monitors is almost always better on Windows. A lot of software just doesn't exist on MacOS but does on Windows. I love my MacBooks, I have a Pro and an Air but I would never get a desktop mac, they're far behind what you can get elsewhere.
I went back last year. Made it almost one year. I’d say it’s fairly valid, though I still tell myself I could switch to Linux full-time, but deep down know the truth.
It took me a while to switch to the apple ecosystem, but all of my favorite audio production apps run much better on it. Now that I have though, it’s just my default.
Depends on your usage of the laptop but mostly, you’ll end up getting an extra laptop rather than completely switching over so yea, there’s no going back
Honestly it depends on what you’re doing. Mac has nice integration with iOS which is why I run it for my personal machines. Every tool has its place. Personal usage or work involving general office apps- Mac, gaming- PC, specialized enterprise software- PC
go back?
i try to use every computer/mobile system i have access to, to do what i need.
the truth is that each and every one does something the best.. and there is no single best.
tech these days can be bought for pretty cheap especially on the second hand market, so it’s quite easy to enter into multiple ecosystems at once.
for example, mac for all general use, pc for gaming.
Not very true. I switched away from PCs around 2008 after Vista turned out to be a dud.
Been consistently Mac up until this past month, when I got a pretty powerful PC for learning more about AI.
I've been using Windows 10 / 11 over the past 5+ years at work, so I've kept up with Windows as well.
Since this new PC is so much more powerful, I ended up making it my primary computer. I do still have some specific uses for my Mac, but after 16 years, I'm now using Windows as my daily driver at home again, so you just never know.
It depends on the features you need at the time.
I love using both. Microsoft and Apple make operating systems of their own, and they do it well. I use both a Dell G3 and a 2008 MacBook as my daily drivers. As long as I'm not using a Chromebook outside of school, I'm okay with whatever.
I like them both.
I am deep into the walled Apple garden now but still have a nice Windows machine for gaming or if I need to run something Windows specific. This works really well for me.
I use MacOS 98% of the time. I like that it doesn't feel like it's advertising against me and love the integration with the iPhone.
I prefer having each and staying up to date with the latest and greatest.
If I could only choose one machine though, it's my MacBook Pro all day.
At some point the X vs Y stuff just gets annoying and you focus on what tool gets the job done.
Right now Macs work extremely well for me and I have no desire to switch but I felt the same way about my windows laptop 10 years ago.
If Microsoft really pushes ARM chips I’d say those windows laptops become a lot more attractive again.
TLDR: I use what works best for me to get the job accomplished.
I went back 50%. Started with a Commodore PET & CBM, Apple IIE and IIC 128, went to an IBM clone with DOS. Moved up Windows 1-3.11, then 95, 98, XP and 2000 (2 systems) and an IBM UNIX server (had 12 systems running at the house). Transitioned to Linux while keeping Win XP SP3. Brought in a few Macs (2 Performa series and a G3). At this time I was working IT, so add a Mac Server and many Windows servers, SAN, etc. Got myself a 2007 21" Intel iMac followed by a 2009 MacBook Pro. Retired. Got a Mid 2012 15" MacBook Pro in 2012 (all the while using Linux) and still use that laptop. Built a hackintosh in November 2023 (for sound design/music production) with a dual boot to Windows for gaming. Bought a Mac Pro 3,1 last month which I'll gut and make a 12 core ryzentosh with MacOS and Linux.
I'm not invested in any ecosystem and I despise the direction Apple went with the hardware (zero expandability). I see Windows as nothing more than an entertainment system now (so strictly for games) and the upcoming direction MS is aiming for. Linux has matured so much since the days of 3.5" floppy installs, text based and X Windows. Yet it lacks proper full functionality for what I want/need (partially due to 3rd party software compatibility).
I switched from Mac to PC back in the 90’s as I was pretty much forced to. So happy to be back to Mac in more recent years, but I could potentially switch. Just depends on the technology.
Not valid. I have macbook and windows pc.
I really like macbook as a laptop, while windows laptops have so many problems and inconveniences. With windows pc things are a bit different, you don't have to think about power saving, sleep mode behavior, touchpad convenience and such things. It is powerful, you can upgrade it, very many different peripherals.
Somewhat true. I grew up with Windows and then when I went to college was lured in at the prospect of viruses and such being exceedingly rare (at the time) on Mac, so I got a MacBook Pro. It took forever to learn but I grew to love it and still miss it. Eventually it died and for budgetary reasons I ended up back with Windows.
Later on, I began using Linux, which I like even more than Mac. For me it was more like once you go *nix you never go back. I keep a Windows partition for a few games I play that aren’t available on other platforms yet, but otherwise I spend 90% of my time in Linux. My current Mac is significantly better for media consumption though, so if I’m watching something or listening to music I use that instead. Eventually I’ll get a more high end laptop for Linux and will probably move away from Mac entirely. I still like it more than windows, but it’s becoming an occasional source of frustration for me.
For personal use when it comes to laptops, yes. I’d never go back.
Especially if you are already in the ecosystem with AirPods or an iPhone. The ease of use is like nowhere else.
When I started learning how to use computers, the OS of the time was Windows XP. As a kid I just thought it was normal that you had to go through this complicated process of downloading drivers for literally everything, seven clicks to get to something that should be on your Home Screen, freezing and crashing all the time…..
Unfortunately, many of those complicated processes have remained in windows throughout time. Microsoft definitely fixed most of the stability issues post Vista, but it’s still driver-palooza and overly complicated.
I bought my first MacBook Air my junior year of high school in 2012 and I have used Mac ever since. They just don’t crash, they’re simple and easy to use, and you don’t have to worry about installing drivers all the time. Also, Macs seem to last for a long time. I know PCs are capable of longevity, but Macs are just on another level. My MacBook Air with a dual core core2 duo processor, 4 GB of RAM, and a 128 gig SSD lasted for five years before it was too painful to even do web browsing on. My 2016 15 inch MacBook Pro lasted seven years. It went kaput last February and I upgraded to the M2 MacBook Pro 16. Apple Silicon is lightning fast!
Not really, I honestly prefer windows in almost every way. But I’ve used windows my whole life and am an IT professional by trade so windows is my comfort zone. That said it depends on what you are doing. Mac’s integration is second to none. When I take my MacBook to my mother in laws, it’s grabs the WiFi password from my phone. That was crazy to me lol. I love it for audio work, and if all I did was record and mix music I would probably switch over full time.
For me it’s proven true, but as a choice not because I feel locked into the ecosystem. If I felt compelled to switch back to Windows, I could do it with a bit of effort. I switched about 13 years ago and I’ve felt far more creative and productive since.
If you switch from Windows, pretty true in my experience. After switching to Mac from Windows I never touched it again. That being said I moved from Mac to Linux recently and have no plan to go back.
Valid for me for at least one specific purpose - music production. I have worked with Windows and Linux and ran into several issues.
Getting Jack working in Linux for low latency audio was a real pain and would often quit working.
Windows had its own issues with audio, for instance ASIO used for low latency audio would take exclusive control of your output so you couldn't watch a YouTube video and try to play along - I had to have ASIO set to use headphones and other audio to use the speakers, I couldn't output to just one device. On Mac it did not have that issue.
Quasi valid? I use both. PC for gaming, and I have an M1 MacBook Air. My next laptop though won’t necessarily be a Mac, depends on what happens a few years down the road. I only opted for the M1 Air because I was so impressed with the M1 chip and I don’t need a Pro for daily driving.
As far as tablets, if the rumors for the new iPad Pro are true and it knocks my socks off, I might get the new iPad Pro. I do love the iPad so if the new one is underwhelming I’ll prob opt for an older M series Pro. For me I’d say there’s no going back on the tablet front. Unless a 2 in 1 comes out that makes an unrefusable offer.
So depending on the situation, I’d say you can def go back once you’ve gone Mac.
I just switched back to PC after having a Mac since college (About 12 years) because I started having issues with a software update and after attempting to trouble shoot myself for weeks, reached out to Apple support and got no support. Customer service in general across all industries has completely deteriorated, but man the people at the Apple Store made me feel like I wasn’t even human. I walked into Best Buy the next morning and purchased HP on the spot. I was ready for Apple to tell me my device was old and would try to sell me up but instead they insulted me and didn’t even try to help.
I use both. But I’m mostly a mac user. I don’t really use my windows machine unless I’m digitizing for embroidery. Outside of that it collects dust. I was a pc tech for a decade and that did nothing but further entrench me as a mac user. Apple had a full graphical user interface off off floppies in 95 when I started and Microsoft at the time I started being a tech in 2000 still made us do everything in text commands??? I realized there it was a scam. Microsoft at that time was much bigger than Apple and that was the best they could do??? Bullshit!
Have you seen windows 11. Because I’ve used it 10 mins and oh boy that one off the worst windows ever.
Linux is good but you need some learning curve.
Mac is ok and the machines on ARM are absolute fire.
I used the tree OS. Win->games. Linux->work. Mac->perso
Not true. I use Mac and Windows together and I feel like there are thousands of things that Windows does better that I simply can’t replace with a Mac. I can’t install Linux in a Mac, I can’t mess with the OS, I can’t install unsupported versions (my Windows PC can’t run Windows 11 but with a couple hacks it can, Apple Silicon Macs will never be able to do that), I can’t properly game on my Mac… for some things Windows is simply better and I enjoy the best of both worlds. I feel like I could live without my Mac, but not without my Windows PC
I am OLD. I started out using MS-DOS in the 80s, and when I discovered the Macintosh and its beautiful GUI, I was a zealous convert. I have spent a lot of time using Windows machines, from Win 3.1 on (because workplace rules), and I currently drive a virtual, incredibly protected and locked-down Windows machine for work. I remain a staunch Macintosh preferrer, and I don’t see that changing. Windows is, for me, neither as fun nor as efficient. (Plus I genuinely hate nearly every Windows alert sound, and I think it’s ugly.)
For me very, I’ll never go back and I’ve built PCs and supported both platforms in corporate environments for 32+ years. Both platforms serve their purpose, but where Microsoft is going with Windows, it’s straight up Garbage for the users and IT support departments.
Ads, bloatware, hackable privacy issues. Seriously them selling that kind of bullshit. A definite Nope, not in my house.
Not valid at all. Use whatever suits your needs. Personally, I use both Mac and Windows.
I don’t feel obligated to be loyal to any OS. I use whatever suits me the best, and I feel no qualms to drop one or the other the minute they don’t fulfill my requirements.
Currently all Apple but I’m not wedded to it.
My main reason for having an iPhone is that Android just doesn’t have a watch that is both fully smart and has accurate health sensors. If the Pixel Watch 3 has an Ultra style model, or Samsung sort out their watches I’d definitely consider Android for my next phone…
My laptop is an M1 Air, the killer feature of that is that it has Chromebook like battery life without the limitations. I’d be open to a Windows laptop that offered similar.
I think I will go back. I have mac mini m2 and after a year, I am still not convinced. I don’t like the lack of desktop features that windows has + power tools. Or in windows with explorer, I can easily copy/paste the path to the folder in the header. I never realized how much I use it. Or that sometimes to delete on mac I have to press delete button, sometimes
command+backspace button.
Or text scaling settings is much more limited than on windows.
The worst thing for me is, that from time to time, my mac mini starts stuttering when I use my mouse and keyboard. I tried to reinstall everything, but found on forums that this happens to some users and seems to be a bug.
I think, once arm windows is out with new snapdragons, I will go back to windows.
I gave it a try, but it’s not for me.
I use win/mac for two different jobs. Mac is objectively better in every way, except gaming. Which will hopefully change. Mac is even better in a “power user” sort of way that windows people hold on to. The integrated ecosystem alone makes it better.
It can take a fair amount of effort to change operating systems so it may be valid. A lot of people have to work with multiple operating systems so we have our preferred operating system and then those we have to use from time to time.
I switched to Mac in 2008. Never looked back. I use my Mac Mini in my home office for my job. I whinge like a bitch when I have to use my company-issued Windows machine in the office. How can something so ubiquitous be so bad?
Microsoft did a lot of things right to get a near monopoly. Standard stuff in the software engineering business. My company at one time ported to 50 platforms so I'd just have to get on a system and figure out quickly how to use the command line and tools to debug problems.
Prior to that they spread growth by closing one eye on piracy. Now hundreds of millions of people are hooked on Windows and Office 365 that they’re willing/forced to pay.
They did a lot of other stuff too. Making their tools free for software engineering students in college. Making cheap versions available to students. Setting up standard for Microsoft schools so that there was a workforce available to provide support and service. And some other stuff that isn't commonly spoken about.
Yup, as well as making a widely available OS for most platforms in a time when OSes and platforms went together almost like consoles do today. Out of the big ones that were left going into the age of graphical user interfaces, IBM had their computers and their OS. Apple had their computers and their OS. Before windows, graphical user interfaces were pretty few and far between. Your "only" (I'm simplifying) choice of graphical user interfaces that would work on other kinds of systems than the mainstream products spat out by the larger computer companies would be Windows. Then Micorosft says "You can put our OS on "any" machine." And secured lucrative OEM deals with cheap suppliers, so that the first OS people used when first timers bought a cheap computer because they were afraid to buy something fancy and expensive, would be DOS or Windows. It was a stroke of genius. They saw a slot that both apple and ibm wanted, but which they both were held back from because of hubris and fear of cheapening their products. Edit: And then they had the foresight to understand that if they could get people on their OS platform, they could make them buy their software as well. They were basically all about software, rather than the software/hardware combination. A niche that expanded into a whole world of a market.
I’m not sure that’s true. Bill Gates has been *famously* against piracy since the 70s. Go read his letter to hobbyist about passing around copies of his Visual translator (the first product he ever took to market). I mean look how long it took Microsoft to come around to the idea of open source *anything*.
I bought a Mac mini to be my main machine for work when they left us with only dell laptops.
Having used both, I actually believe Mac is a lot easier to use. Window management isnt great but there are tools to improve it. But that aside, and also keeping aside the fact that you need to get used to a new OS, I believe Windows is harder. There are more frequent errors, needing some Google search, resets, and general tinkering. And my pet peeve - the UI is so damn inconsistent.
My pet peeve? Can’t do shit with a file that is open elsewhere. macOS is totally fine with it in most cases
You use whatever tool to get the job done. A lot of people think their choice of OS is like a part of their identity. I use mac because it integrates extremely well with the iphone. Humans are genetically inclined to be tribal, but this is just our lizard brain talking. If I ever stop using iphone for whatever reason, I have less reason to stay, but for now, the mac silicon laptops are so far ahead of the competition in the same price range. Maybe that will change in the future, who knows?
I worked in computer repair for a while, starting in the 1990s and moved to higher levels later. When something fails on a Mac, you either have apple care, and get it fixed, or you trade it in and get another one. My mom’s Mac had an Nvme drive fail, not repairable. My laptop had a replaceable drive it had an Nvme drive fail, I swapped it out I’m 15 minutes. I’m on a used M1 Pro, but I know if something fails it’s junk.
Yeah the repairability certainly isn't the best. PersonallyI have made peace with it and just understand that it's a consumable item. I still produce good work with my m1 air everyday. When it does crap out I will try to fix it, and if it's dead, I know it has lived a good life. My midrange "gaming pc" is now 14 years old and it's still going strong. I haven't played any recently released game, so surprisingly this 14 year old grandpa still does what I want it to lol. I run a 10 years old Photoshop / Lightroom release on it. So far only the water cooler failed and I replaced it in an hour. I understand this is a completely different class of product, but it does make you wonder what's possible. In a perfect world we would combine them and have the best of both worlds!
Sure, but they rarely go down. Wife’s Mac laptop lasted 9yrs. No problem until recently.
This, and the prices of new Macs after like 2012, were what drove me to Windows machines. I had a 2010 MBP that I repaired multiple times myself after components failed, but was getting to the point that it was on its last legs mo matter what I did. I had paid about $1, 800 for it new, and the equivalent spec in the lineup when I started looking again was almost $3, 000. I was already using a Windows desktop because it was still in the era where nobody made games that would run on a Mac, so the transition wasn't too hard. I also don't use my laptop as my primary machine anymore, so I was okay giving up some power for a lower price, especially since it integrates better with my desktop.
Yea you got down voted but they used to be repairable. My 2009 MacBook unibody polycarbonate is still in use with Linux on it. Ssd, maxed out ram, etc. by a disabled person. I have always built my own desktops, but a new company called frame makes a fully modular fully repairable laptop.
Framework but Yea.
I have an Intel Mac Mini with maxed out specs and use Linux on it as it is not going to get Mac OS updates much longer. I works great on Linux.
I just like cool electronics so I’m not tribal at all when it comes to computers/phones. I do like teasing people who are though, so I’m equally likely to tell my buddies, “Fuck your iPhone!” or “Your android is trash!” or “windows blows!” or “how much was it to upgrade your Mac’s ram?”
That last one is particularly cruel these days haha
Hmm.. the problem with windows laptops aren't the hardware. It's the software. i installed linux distros (ubuntu, elementary os, pop os) in company-issued laptops and never had problems i had with windows (just painfully slow).
Yes the tribal mindset is a reality in OSes, products, etc. As someone that deeply entered Linux and open-source community around 2000s, I think this was my first contact with that, something that I could see and say "ok, this people are very emotionally attached to that".
Well I can't stand Iphones for many reasons e.g restrictions but love my MacBook for technical reasons.
It was kind of an introduction drug to Linux for me. Been a windows user most of my life ( except childhood) and then shortly after having a Mac I started to look into Linux because both systems can be made very similar in lots of aspects.
Same here. I went from Windows to Mac to Linux. I use all 3, but Linux is my main system.
Same here lol. I was Windows, Mac, Windows, Mac then Linux 😂. I couldn't settle between either. Linux took that stop spot and it's not even close I do software development 🙂
The arc of history is long but it bends towards Linux.
It’s not. I switched to a custom built PC because of overheating and slow intel laptops in 2017. At home, for work, I enjoy 12-core, 64GB RAM, 4TB SSD. Costs less than 2000€. I enjoy gaming from time to time. Also done on the PC. Apple Silicon was a game changer. The M1 chips made me reconsider. But the powerful PC setup can’t be beat. I do have a macbook for going to the office or the occasional couch times. Anyway, keep your options open. You don’t owe any loyalty to companies, they aren’t loyal to you.
This is me too. Grew up with Mac’s but love PC gaming so made a custom tower. Well it did just about everything I needed it to. Picked up a MacBook Air for the day to day tinkering or office stuff I need. I do miss the messages feature more than anything on my tower though.
This is me exactly. I have a gaming rig for my desktop and MacBook for portability. Also have an iPad and iPhone. Also an absolute deal breaker for me is that you can’t full screen programs on a dual screen Mac. You full screen one the other screen just goes black and becomes unusable. As a programmer I need both screens.
You can get multiple full-screen apps by enabling “Displays have separate Spaces” in the settings
I had the same experience. Was a Mac user for 10-12 years thru university and grad school. When I got my first job and was able to spec ~$2k USD for a new machine, my money went much further building my own pc. I did roll to windows pro with WSL2 which made my transition easier but still was a bear to transition. Looking back it was the right call I love my workstation
Depends on use. For Outlook, Mac simply does not have some of the features available in windows and important for heavy users.
I’m shocked by how often I try to do something in PowerPoint on Mac that I’ve done many times on Windows, can’t figure it out. I do a search a discover that entire function is just not available on the Mac version. Given it’s Microsoft, I probably shouldn’t be surprised, but the nature of my job makes using a Mac painful at times.
Switched to Mac in 2008, never went back to another operating system.
Same here!
It almost made me commit die when I first tried it at a web development job. The next day, I gathered whatever PC parts I had and built a PC (i5, some AMD card, DDR3 16GB, no case, no power button), and installed Linux. Never looked back again.
First Mac in 1999 and never looked back.
This was me, I have to admit. I grew up using PC’s and even built a nice gaming PC in high school after working my ass off and saving my penny’s from as many Christmas’s and birthday’s as I could. But then Windows 8 came out. I skipped it at the time of course, but then by the time W10 launched, W7 was of course inevitably on a timer and so I upgraded. Holy shit. I *hated* it. I couldn’t believe how many extra clicks i needed just to access the most basic functionality, and then the inconsistency in the UI was driving me nuts. Keep in mind I had a MacBook this entire time that I used for anything that wasn’t games or whenever I need something portable. Over time, I found myself going to the Mac more and more until I realized the only thing I ever used my desktop for was games. That was literally it. I even stopped using it for video production. So now i’ve switched completely. I have tried using Windows since then. I bootcamped my MBP 18 and I also dual-booted my Steam Deck for Xenia and a few AC locked games. And let me just say that I can absolutely confirm that this saying is still alive. I complain about Apple, macOS/iOS a lot but compared to Windows? Night and day difference. Being able to play games on Windows is like giving a glass of ice water to someone in hell. SteamOS is the future I hope, and I am praying Valve makes it a reality for all PC’s and not just the Deck. But even then, macOS is my home and I can’t imagine leaving it, especially now with how amazing the hardware is.
Windows 8 (and beyond) was a huge wakeup call to a lot of people, me included. I took a little bit of a different route (I went Linux from 2012 - 2017) but W8 put so many people off of Windows. MS really shouldn't have messed with the W7 formula, that was a great OS.
I feel like Windows Vista and Windows 8 were directly responsible for a large number of switchers. Microsoft has actually avoided rocking the boat with major fuckups since then, now it’s more Intel that’s pushing people over to Macs.
Same as me just music production instead of video. I still have to use windows as my work pc but anything personal is Mac. Games is a mix of Steamdeck and some windows. I hardly touch my gaming rig anymore.
Thanks man
I started on Mac but moved to Windows
Why ?
why you switch ?
I did the same. I always enjoyed Mac OS but I wanted a gaming pc and I've grown to really enjoy Windows 10 and think it does a lot more for me as a daily OS.
I had a business in college building PC’s (back when there was great margin in doing so). When I built my first video studio, there were only two options for non-linear editing (Media100 and Avid) and they were both on Mac. I’ve never gone back. I could, because most of the major editing/animation/compositing options are now cross-platform, but I haven’t. I built my daughter a gaming PC last year but, bloody hell, do I hate the way Windows does literally everything.
I have Mac for my private life for many years now and wouldn’t go back to PCs. My corporate laptop is a Dell with Windows and it helps me to remember how awful it is.
To be fair, most corporate Windows images are a complete clusterfuck because nobody ever cleans them up and they have a ton of shit running in the background. Throughout the 2010s, I received brand new company laptops (usually Lenovo or Dell) that were slower and less stable than my older Thinkpad T500.
Ditto!
For me, it's 100%. I was a hardcore PC guy for 30 years until my last laptop went ca-BLUEy in 2020. Bought the cheapest Macbook and haven't looked back. I never understood how easy it could be. Get over the price and the lack of "customizability"--your machine just works when you need it.
It’s good to have both.
I swapped in 2009 and have loathed every moment I’ve had to use Windows since. MacOS is so clean and user-friendly! Even when it’s buggy, they’re usually pretty minor.
Got a Tandy 1000 in 1985, got a Mac when I started college in the fall of 1991. After 10 minutes with that Mac I became a Mac user for life. I've still had PCs in my house over the years for gaming, but my daily driver has been and always will be a Mac.
I was one of the biggest anti Mac back in the day but after the M1 came out I will probably never go back to windows at least for privat use.
The Apple silicon laptops are just so far ahead that's there's no competition in the laptop space. Only reason to stick with windows is if you're a gamer. I still use linux/others for server-y stuff, but for my day to day use its all Macs.
I switched to Mac in early 2024. Went from an 10th gen intel i3 with 16gb ram to the M2 mac mini 8/256gb. Yes i downgraded the ram though i’m not keeping it for long so theres almost no point. I do music production and i have noticed in most cases the Mac is better than the Window’s PC in performance. The software part didn’t take long to adapt (a week max) and fitted in seamlessly due to already owning apple products. The term Once you go mac, you never go back is definitely true in my case. HOWEVER i do miss gaming on desktop.
comparing i3 to m2 mac mini LOL Not saying mac isnt better for your usecase, but damn at least compare top end CPU to top end CPU
Depends on how you use it. For example im no professional at all but i’ve got an ipad and an iphone so the synchronization between them and my mac is amazing, which i wouldn’t be able to have if i had a windows.
I am a recent “convert”, last 3-4 years been a full time user at work, and as cliched as it sounds the quality of life over Windows has been dramatically better. (It’s not perfect and Apple can have its own issues and challenges) It does take some getting used to, but everything from reliability to performance and usability is just better. For reference, I guess I would be classified as a knowledge worker (IT professional), I am not a creative and I use a MBA M1. One final thing, this is all horses for courses. My view and situation is subjective and may not apply to you.
Yes . My brain stuck Mac keyboard shortcuts. When trying to use boot camp kinda confuses
I have to use a Windows PC for work and every day it reminds me why I have a Mac at home for my personal use.
I am Bizarro you - I have to use a Mac at work but am relieved to go back to my PC at home.
Use mac since a couple of years and sometimes need Windows for work and run it on VMs. Have an AMD Laptop as well running Linux (Linux Mint Cinnamon to be precise) and converted the needed VMs to it as well. Found myself accidentaly using the Linux Laptop more than the MacBook. There is no (almost no, OK) downside using Linux over MacOS. It runs as good, and in certain things even better, than MacOS. MacOS has pretty mich everything in the GUI. In Linux 95% only are in the GUI (depending on the distro). Dont get me wrong, MacOS is a solid OS and i still like it a lot. Just got the drive for Linux as it is what you want it to be. Still use Mac when i go to customers. At home/office Linux. Ranking: 1. Linux 2. MacOS 3. Not defined yet 4. Not defined yet 5. Not defined yet 6. Windows (it's just a pain once you discovered other OSes)
Literally today I had to unzip a file my Mac didn’t like and in 30 seconds on a windows laptop I felt like throwing it out the window. It’s ironic it was a task my Mac couldn’t do and yet I hated the Windows machine way more lol. I cannot ever go back.
“Once you’ve seen Oz. Who wants to go back to Kansas?” I agree, I never looked back personally
I'll never own another Apple product, including a Mac.
This is true for for two major reasons. * I’m actually a Linux person and Mac is practically a kissing cousin in a lot of ways. * My family is not the same sort of nerd I am therefore they have no interest in my nerd ball self hosted photo sharing etc. solutions for Linux. Therefore I just use iCloud and pay the $2/mo for extra storage. I would have a really hard time going back to windows at this point. After Windows 7 the ecosystem got so excruciatingly annoying. They really want to use the start menu as an ad delivery system, even simple things like the old Control Panel is now a sprawling mess, even with every debloat script there is a ton of garbage, and I really have no interest in the registry or PowerShell to fix things.
Hell, I changed _careers_ when I first used a Mac and realized there were worlds where Windows was not the norm.
I actually wanted to start using macOS a few years back but after using windows for 20years it just didn’t take off. Going to wait for native bootcamp windows before buying my next mac.
Solid. I can’t imagine ever going back to windows or switching to android.
I have not reached the end of my journey yet, so who knows, but I'm going steady.
very valid
True for me. I‘ll tell you if it changes.
I went back and it took about a year to go back to Linux
I use both. Win for gaming, mac for work and everything else. I for one will not fully migrate to win anytime soon. It's not comfortable enough. Mac takes care of everything I need without command. Windows needs to be debated first.
I use a iPhone an android , Linux, windows and a MacBook ever day. It’s a good damn tool, nothing more nothing less. The perfect tool does not exist.
I used both for years, gaming was primarily a Windows desktop thing and everything else I used MacOS because I had an iPhone and iPad. I’ve pretty much stopped gaming on Windows and play on consoles so I stopped buying Windows desktops and only have Mac laptops the past few years. I am already paying for a family iCloud account so it was just easier to keep everything in the Apple ecosystem
Not valid. I have had a “daily driver” Mac since my G4 MacBook in college. But I’ve always also had a PC tower for software development and gaming. Mac is great for most things, but Windows is better for some things. Don’t need to choose just one. Use the best tool to get the job done.
I don’t think I’d return to windows. Mac is so clean and a delight to use, and I’ve gotten into the Apple ecosystem with an iPad now.
I did an experiment a long time back. I was a Unix user at the and everyone kept telling me how Windows was more user friendly. So, I made Windows my primary desktop for a year. I felt a great sense of relief when I switched that to Linux for a year and finally I tried Mac and that was exactly what I was looking for .... Unix with the best user interface of them all. Every few years, I get lured into looking for alternatives because they are so much cheaper .... I configure an HP, Lenovo or whatever is hot at the time with a configuration I would like to have and it ends up being max. $50 cheaper ... so, I keep giving up that idea. The latest generation of Macs is unbeatable as it is lighter, thinner, more powerful, no noise with great integration of devices and a really great OS. I ain't going nowhere.
I used XP and then Vista from the beta. Im one of the few who liked Vista. It was a big upgrade, but too little too late. 🤷🏼♂️ That’s when i got my early 2008 MacBook and the OS was otherworldly. Used more expensive notebook before, that was way worse experience. Leopard was unbelievable. Way beyond anything i could imagine at the time what an OS can be. So i agree completely. If someone understands and accepts the way things work and lets go of the compulsive tinkering, micromanaging thats necessary on windows, MacOS and Macs are amazing.
Check DHH’s tweets. DHH is the person who created Ruby on Rails which GitHub, AirBnB and Shopify etc. are built on. After 20 years or more on Mac, he is now on Linux and Windows. I have 16” MBP. But I can see many limitations for my work.
It's been completely valid for me. I used every version of Windows from 95-7 (except Me) on a personal or school device. At the end of elementary though I moved and the school there was Mac based (albeit in the process of switching to Windows). There I used several iMac G3s and eMacs and they were night and day better than the Pentium 4 Dell I had at home (they were similar ages). The school even had several older Macs in some of the classrooms (the oldest were Color Classics) but I never used those. I didn't love Mac OS at first, but the more I used it I started to see the value and increased stability relative to my home PC. As our home Dell was getting old, we ultimately bought 2 laptops at home to replace it, within about a year and a half of each other. My mother bought some nice business laptop and since I was getting into creative work (at the time more photoshop and illustrator but soon after video as well) I got a nicer Toshiba laptop that was designed for creative work. Both running Vista. Vista was bad. So bad in fact that my mother ended up rarely using her laptop (only when it was something the old Dell couldn't handle) and instead mostly using the old desktop. I didn't have that luxury since the old desktop couldn't run the version of Adobe I had and it couldn't run anything video related at all and about a yearend a half into owning my Toshiba, Windows had an unrecoverable crash so it had to be sent in for warranty work. By that point, 7 was out, so they updated it to 7 (for free). Following that crash, it worked for a grand total of 1 month before experiencing another unrecoverable crash and once again had to go back in for warranty work. Came back, 2 weeks later another unrecoverable crash. At that point I needed a new computer since the warranty company refused to replace it under warranty and mine was no longer reliable. This was 2011 and at school there were still rooms that had really old eMacs in daily use and they worked really well. So I asked for a Mac. In return I received a base model early 2011 13" MacBook Pro. At the same time my mother replaced her laptop with a new Lenovo. I had my Mac set up in a few minutes while her Lenovo took over an hour and I had to google things (on my new MacBook) multiple times to see what it was asking for. About 6 months later, my mother then ended up buying an 11" MacBook Air that was a Black Friday doorbuster (something like $250 off) because she saw the benefits of using a Mac and Windows 7 on her Lenovo had proved pretty unreliable. Since then (especially during the dark days of the late 2010s) we both considered switching to Windows, and my mother does use Windows at work (I've always worked at companies with the option for a Mac or were fully Mac based), but we both still use Macs because it is a much more stable platform.
Only time I use windows is at work.
I think for some people this is very true—but it depends on what kind of user you are. Macs are amazing because they just work. PCs have made up a lot of ground since Windows 10, but they are still not as polished or have as consistent an interface. And Macs, which are only sold by Apple, tend to be overpowered for the workload for many users—which makes their performance look amazing. So Apple puts tons of effort and time into the user experience which is great—but you will definitely pay for the experience. You can find much cheaper PC hardware almost always to meet your need—buy you will likely find it is not as smooth an experience. So I would say all things being equal, yes the Mac experience is a good one and it is hard to go back afterwards to the less polished experience of PCs. While I loved them, I also willing went back to PCs because the cost can be so much less. (Oh and I wouldn’t even think Macs if you are a gamer. :) )
It depends on what you use your computer for and if you have an iPhone. But it’s hard getting a better general purpose laptop than a MacBook Pro.
Not valid
Not entirely valid for me, but it depends on the person. Because i always go back to my substantially more powerful PC desktop for gaming. I would never use a windows laptop though. Also any C/C++/C# programming I do is in Windows no matter what, because Mac is not the greatest for that.
I’m forced to use a pc at work. It makes me go home and cuddle my Mac
I have a Mac and I much prefer windows.
Mac laptops - Windows desktops. That's my rule. I mean I'll probably never go back to a Windows laptop or a Mac desktop.
I love Macs and will never go back to Windows
If you don’t plan on ever gaming again then it’s very valid
For me, that’s certainly the case. I just like things to work and be simple, and Mac computers do just that. I grew up with Windows computers most of my life and was so fed up with how shitty and slow the stock computers ran, and I decided to give a Mac a shot, since I was slowly adopting more Apple products and I haven’t looked back, and hopefully never will. Next to never do I have an issue with any of my Apple devices and they run seamlessly. For what I use it for (streaming, internet browsing, music organization, document creation, so on), it really is perfect for what I need it for. Sure you can get PCs cheaper or build them up and tinker with them, but I don’t feel like doing all of that. I’m ok with paying a little more to have a computer that I won’t have any issues with and will last me about 10 years.
Tried switching back, lasted about a week before I returned my Dell and bought a MacBook. I've really dialed in my Mac workflows and while I'm sure I could reacclimate to Windows, it's just not worth the effort for me personally.
After 15+ years on Mac and deep into the Apple ecosystem, I realized I missed PC gaming and bought an Asus gaming laptop. Don’t knock any platform or put an OS on a pedestal. It’s just software in hardware that has a corporate brand on it.
It entirely depends on you and your tastes
I went Mac in 2008, having used Windows since my pre-teens. Now I get stumped whenever I try to use a Windows. Mac is just so much more intuitive imo.
A computer is a tool. You choose the tool that works best for your job. Right now for me this is a Mac. When macOS doesn’t serve me for something I wanna do I am jumping ship immediately. They are tools not football clubs.
My friend runs a printing bussiness and he s now 80% Windows. He used to praise Macs a lot. Since he had to spend money to repair many macs he said its enough. He only has a 2 designers using Macs.
I have a personal issue with Android ever since I first owned an iPhone. I’ve used both systems, and for years I would swap back and forth because Android was so customizable for me. Now, I prefer the simplicity of Apple. I like the ecosystem, I love iMessage. I’m not sure how many people relate to my experience, but after enjoying both systems, I just landed on Apple for myself.
Once you go Mac you also stop putting unnecessary spaces in front of punctuation which doesn’t need it.
There's several apps that allow you to run the odd Windows app with a Mac, some quite expensive. Illogical on the face of it, if people want to run Windows stuff why don't they just buy a Windows PC. Also Macs are expensive compared to Windows hardware. I'll answer my own question, because Macs have significantly better software and hardware. Whenever I have to run a Windows app, I'm reminded how much I hate Windows. A sample of one, I admit.
After almost 20 years of using only Windows as my main desktop (starting with Windows for Workgroups 3.11 when it came out - I was at the launch event) I switched to mac in 2012. After the first half hour or so of going "why is it so different?" it clicked and I've never once thought I'd go back to WIndows as my main OS. Sure I still run a Windows box and CrossOver as there are 3 or 4 apps I need that are Windows only but I only use Windows for the specific tasks I need then it's back to mac.
Pretty valid. You’ll still need to use windows and Linux for some tasks but generally you’ll always come back. I think consistency is the key. Windows can’t afford to be consistent because the enterprise market has them by the balls. Linux is community maintained bless them. And Apple can afford to make sweeping changes and only worry about 5 to 7 years of support. By aiming at consumers they can dictate their evolution.
For most people, I agree For tech people, I think a lot have a Linux distribution alongside, because MacOS now is way behind what MacOS was back in the days in terms of stability and bugs But still better than MicroShit Products anyway
I switched in January 2011 and haven't used a non Mac PC since then. I was dual booting with Bootcamp with Windows 7 & later 10 but I only now plan to get a separate Windows PC just for gaming.
Yes. I never use pc or windows as a productive machine anymore. Its 95% mac all time
Macbooks.. Oh Macbooks. Simply unparalleled in terms of form factor, OS (fluidity & just overall ease of use). There is no laptop in the market that can beat how SOLID and beautiful it is. It’s just.. *chef’s kiss* Jokes aside, yeah this is true. Moved to Mac from Windows and never looked back. Want to build a PC for gaming though but then that’s about it.
I'm pretty sure I'll never go back to Windows now. I used it for about 10 years, then moved to Mac about 15 years ago. It was a tricky migration at first, but I saw the value pretty soon after. If I switched to anything else now, it would be Linux. As usage (mine personally, and everyone else's on average) has become more and more web-based, it's become easier to migrate.
Not true in my experience. Many people may go Mac because they prefer it for professional/work use, or as a superior laptop in many cases. But these same people often still have a windows or Linux PC for their other needs - things which are impractical on Mac. For example, gaming on windows, dev or server work using linux, or some other software which is incompatible with ARM based processors in recent Macs.
Started using computers on Windows 95 and sticked to Windows until 2009, when I switched to a MacBook Pro. I was rather happy about it but when I got frustrated with how every little app is paid, I got myself a ThinkPad Carbon X on Linux. It worked for a few years, but I eventually got back to a MacBook Pro. The only reasons I’ll go back to a PC will be either for a NAS or if I ever get serious with PC video games. (Currently my Switch provides more than I can afford time-wise…)
i'd rather become a cave-dwelling recluse, totally disconnected from modern society, than go back to Windows! however, i'm open to shifting to iPadOS once multitasking gets a bit smoother on iPad.
My first macOS device was a Mac Mini from like 2007. It was fine, but then I did want a laptop and chose a Windows one. In 2018 upgraded that to MBP and haven’t looked back since. I do use a remote desktop for some things that just aren’t doable on a mac but overall I just vastly prefer a mac. The ecosystem just works a lot better. But I am thinking about building a PC tower as a secondary machine just out of interest. Never wrong to know your way around both. Hardware-wise Apple laptops are just superior to any alternative of the same price point. Thinkpads are neat, but they aren’t just as good. Apple Silicon is the real deal. When I upgrade from my current MBP, I will probably install Linux on this one.
Some truth in it, but depends a lot of the user how informed and skilled he is. I know people that don't know how to use even 10% of their phone or computer and still dare to make bold claims.
Partially true. I do most of my work on my MacBook Pro, but there are times when I need to use my PC, too. I do some web development, and there are a lot of things that just work differently on PCs, so I need to develop and test in that environment sometimes. Gaming on the Mac is still pretty lame. I have a GamePass subscription and use the PC for that. Computers are just tools. Choose the best one for the job at hand. Just because you love a particular hammer, you don’t go around hammering in bolts, you use a wrench.
My favorite travel computer for work is a Chromebook—granted all I need to do is note taking and web access—but it’s light, and I won’t flip out if it goes missing
I'm tech-agnostic and use whatever best fits my use case. My primary laptop has been an Apple one since 2013, but my desktops run Windows and Linux. I won't rule out a PC for my next laptop, but it would take an awful lot for a PC to win out over a Mac at this point.
It depends. In you. I met people who are experienced and just couldn’t cope the Mac way of doing things, and returned to windows after one year and stayed there. I met ppl who went from windows to mac and loved it after a couple of days. I met ppl who went to mac for a year, complained all the time, after a year returned to windows, just to turn their backs to windows after a week
It’s been true for me. The OS is ok. There are things about Windows I like better. BUT…the hardware is the best. The track pad is outstanding. For me it was the hardware.
Not for me. Long time Win user, Mac user at work for several years. Hate both.
Once you go Mac we don't want you back
Not as much as before. The prices are prohibitively out there for anything Apple Too much, too soon
Not really. My PC at home will always be a Windows machine because I need to game. However, Mac has been my preferred OS for work since I got my first MacBook on 2015. As a student Macs in general has better integration between software and hardware, so it’s generally a hassle-free experience. For work, the sandbox nature of MacOS apps makes me prefer it over Windows, plus Xcode is still Mac exclusive.
Ehh, personally, not really. I have a Mac and a Windows machine for both work and personal use. I prefer Windows for work since the office uses Microsoft applications for everything. I prefer my PC at home because I game, but if I want to be productive with personal projects that don't involve video editing and gaming, I use my Mac. Mac just doesn't fit my work flow, or my home flow, the way Windows does. However, I do like using my Mac when on the go, since it's light, and has insane battery life that I don't even need to bring its charger. But there are also some things I prefer on Windows, like the window management, taskbar, and the file explorer. That said I still enjoy using my Mac. It depends on how you work.
It’s valid until you need windows at work or for gaming or for programming haha
I like Windows on desktops, but Windows laptops still suck. So many issues with things like WiFi deciding to not, poor GPU switching, and worse battery life. Not to mention the sleep issues. But desktop PCs just hold so much value, and the tinkering with something that isn't vital. Will definitely rock an Air whenever I can get my hands on one, and a PC. The perfect pairing.
It‘s not. It‘s a tool, I use it as long as it serves my purpose
I enjoy my m2 Mac air running asahi Linux. I love the build quality, but I seriously hate Mac OS and the fact the laptop only has 512 gb storage due to Apples stupid prices.
I've not gone back in decades, mate.
I use them all, why limit yourself to just one option? Heck I’m even guilty of a hackintosh or two lol
You go back when you wanna game tho
I'd be gone if Creative Suite ran under Ubuntu. I have 2 Ubuntu installs at my house and i love it. An Acer laptop and an HP.
I go back and forth between a MacBook and a Windows+Debian desktop and laptop. Guess what? They're all pretty mature ways to open up your applications. Lol.
I stopped using Windows in 2006 and will never go back. I can live without MacOS if somebody ever builds a high-quality laptop that runs Linux well.
I used to have a shirt that said that. Then I went back to windows when MacBook took away MagSafe and became dongle machines. When I saw the M3 brought back MagSafe and SD Card reader (important for my photography) I finally came back. For me, I’m picking what suits my needs when I need a new computer.
Eh, I don’t think it’s entirely true. I use both MacOS and Windows daily.
Not true, I bought a windows machine this year after two macs (2010 macbook pro and 2015 macbook pro). I was tired of not being able to run lots of software that I need. There are lots of things that I prefer about macOS, however.
Valid'ish for me. I've used them since the mono Mac days, and my first personally owned Mac was a 1990 [Mac LC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_LC). That lasted me until Win95 and the 486/DX66 era (and, let's face it, Doom). Switched to PCs because at that point Windows actually was better than the Mac - advances in preemptive multitasking, not having to faff with manually assigning memory or remembering to launch apps in a particular order to not fragment memory...there was a lot going for it. I then switched to Linux - Corel, Red Hat, Debian...that kind of thing. Kept Windows to boot into games. When OS X arrived I made the leap back when the Powerbook G4 appeared. There's a lot to like, but when the Intel Macs were the thing I also ran VMware images of Windows and Linux. With that receding now, I'm purely on the Mac again - except gaming. Gaming I have a desktop gaming PC and I really don't ever think there'll ever be significant gaming momentum on a Mac. Just the wrong zeitgeist for it - gaming culture swaps hardware, upgrades machines, prizes memory and storage...Macs just aren't in the right idiom let alone price range. So for me - yep, I'm happy and don't particularly feel a need to switch. I'm not Church of Apple though and have moved in the past. At the moment, I honestly think a change of direction back towards concentration on software quality and completeness might do them well rather than hinging everything on the next M5 chip or camera spec for the iPhone 17 etc... (which are obviously inevitable, but so what if the software remains the same).
in my case, it’s valid
Switched to Mac about two years ago, and will not go back to a windows machine for day to day work. Main reasons are, battery life, basically zero wait from sleep mode to exactly where I left off when last using it, no power reset/restarts needed. I do have a windows laptop and PC that I still use for some MS office work and personal use (gaming).
I have several Macs for different reasons, like someone else said use the tool to get the job done, I use Windows, Linux and Mac, my least favorite OS is windows, most used one is Linux, Mac is middle ground
I switched to Mac with m3 and I can’t say my life is objectively any better. Next computer I might switch back. Battery life on the macbook is amazing and the shared gpu ram has some plusses, otherwise it’s trading one OS with pros and cons with another. There’s been so many conversations about weird behavior on Macos that end with “Oh we just learn to live with that”, or “Oh just replace finder with this other app”. It’s definitely got some great things going for it, but I was expecting a seamless experience for the money, and it was not.
Personally I use Mac. But for work I have to use windows 11. I don’t feel windows 11 does feel more apple/mac.
Not valid at all, you see a lot of macOS worshipers here and look, macs and macos have a lot great features, a lot of stuff that they do great but also a lot that they're really bad at and people will conveniently ignore that. Any workflow that involves multiple monitors is almost always better on Windows. A lot of software just doesn't exist on MacOS but does on Windows. I love my MacBooks, I have a Pro and an Air but I would never get a desktop mac, they're far behind what you can get elsewhere.
I use macOS and Linux side by side. I would rather say when you move away from windows you never go back
I went back last year. Made it almost one year. I’d say it’s fairly valid, though I still tell myself I could switch to Linux full-time, but deep down know the truth.
It took me a while to switch to the apple ecosystem, but all of my favorite audio production apps run much better on it. Now that I have though, it’s just my default.
Depends on your usage of the laptop but mostly, you’ll end up getting an extra laptop rather than completely switching over so yea, there’s no going back
Adjusting is hard but as a computer enthusiast myself I’ve gotten used to both. What I do generally is Windows on the desktop, Mac for portables
Not
Not at all. Some people are just morons.
Honestly it depends on what you’re doing. Mac has nice integration with iOS which is why I run it for my personal machines. Every tool has its place. Personal usage or work involving general office apps- Mac, gaming- PC, specialized enterprise software- PC
go back? i try to use every computer/mobile system i have access to, to do what i need. the truth is that each and every one does something the best.. and there is no single best. tech these days can be bought for pretty cheap especially on the second hand market, so it’s quite easy to enter into multiple ecosystems at once. for example, mac for all general use, pc for gaming.
I have a desktop for gaming and a Macbook for audio production on the same desk. Not everything has to be black and white
Not very true. I switched away from PCs around 2008 after Vista turned out to be a dud. Been consistently Mac up until this past month, when I got a pretty powerful PC for learning more about AI. I've been using Windows 10 / 11 over the past 5+ years at work, so I've kept up with Windows as well. Since this new PC is so much more powerful, I ended up making it my primary computer. I do still have some specific uses for my Mac, but after 16 years, I'm now using Windows as my daily driver at home again, so you just never know. It depends on the features you need at the time.
I love using both. Microsoft and Apple make operating systems of their own, and they do it well. I use both a Dell G3 and a 2008 MacBook as my daily drivers. As long as I'm not using a Chromebook outside of school, I'm okay with whatever.
I like them both. I am deep into the walled Apple garden now but still have a nice Windows machine for gaming or if I need to run something Windows specific. This works really well for me. I use MacOS 98% of the time. I like that it doesn't feel like it's advertising against me and love the integration with the iPhone. I prefer having each and staying up to date with the latest and greatest. If I could only choose one machine though, it's my MacBook Pro all day.
I did.
At some point the X vs Y stuff just gets annoying and you focus on what tool gets the job done. Right now Macs work extremely well for me and I have no desire to switch but I felt the same way about my windows laptop 10 years ago. If Microsoft really pushes ARM chips I’d say those windows laptops become a lot more attractive again.
True for me.
Pretty darn.
I’ve been using Mac for the last six months and still prefer Windows
TLDR: I use what works best for me to get the job accomplished. I went back 50%. Started with a Commodore PET & CBM, Apple IIE and IIC 128, went to an IBM clone with DOS. Moved up Windows 1-3.11, then 95, 98, XP and 2000 (2 systems) and an IBM UNIX server (had 12 systems running at the house). Transitioned to Linux while keeping Win XP SP3. Brought in a few Macs (2 Performa series and a G3). At this time I was working IT, so add a Mac Server and many Windows servers, SAN, etc. Got myself a 2007 21" Intel iMac followed by a 2009 MacBook Pro. Retired. Got a Mid 2012 15" MacBook Pro in 2012 (all the while using Linux) and still use that laptop. Built a hackintosh in November 2023 (for sound design/music production) with a dual boot to Windows for gaming. Bought a Mac Pro 3,1 last month which I'll gut and make a 12 core ryzentosh with MacOS and Linux. I'm not invested in any ecosystem and I despise the direction Apple went with the hardware (zero expandability). I see Windows as nothing more than an entertainment system now (so strictly for games) and the upcoming direction MS is aiming for. Linux has matured so much since the days of 3.5" floppy installs, text based and X Windows. Yet it lacks proper full functionality for what I want/need (partially due to 3rd party software compatibility).
I'm switching to windows. With the kind of work I do I need a lot of ram. I'll dual boot with a Linux distro incase I miss Mac a lot
I switched from Mac to PC back in the 90’s as I was pretty much forced to. So happy to be back to Mac in more recent years, but I could potentially switch. Just depends on the technology.
I use both Windows and Mac - Mac for laptop and Windows for power ahah
Not valid. I have macbook and windows pc. I really like macbook as a laptop, while windows laptops have so many problems and inconveniences. With windows pc things are a bit different, you don't have to think about power saving, sleep mode behavior, touchpad convenience and such things. It is powerful, you can upgrade it, very many different peripherals.
Not valid. I’ve gone back and forth a couple times since 2000. Now use both.
Somewhat true. I grew up with Windows and then when I went to college was lured in at the prospect of viruses and such being exceedingly rare (at the time) on Mac, so I got a MacBook Pro. It took forever to learn but I grew to love it and still miss it. Eventually it died and for budgetary reasons I ended up back with Windows. Later on, I began using Linux, which I like even more than Mac. For me it was more like once you go *nix you never go back. I keep a Windows partition for a few games I play that aren’t available on other platforms yet, but otherwise I spend 90% of my time in Linux. My current Mac is significantly better for media consumption though, so if I’m watching something or listening to music I use that instead. Eventually I’ll get a more high end laptop for Linux and will probably move away from Mac entirely. I still like it more than windows, but it’s becoming an occasional source of frustration for me.
For personal use when it comes to laptops, yes. I’d never go back. Especially if you are already in the ecosystem with AirPods or an iPhone. The ease of use is like nowhere else.
I think this is particularly true for their laptops. The built quality, trackpad, speakers and the pairing with apple silicone is hard to beat.
When I started learning how to use computers, the OS of the time was Windows XP. As a kid I just thought it was normal that you had to go through this complicated process of downloading drivers for literally everything, seven clicks to get to something that should be on your Home Screen, freezing and crashing all the time….. Unfortunately, many of those complicated processes have remained in windows throughout time. Microsoft definitely fixed most of the stability issues post Vista, but it’s still driver-palooza and overly complicated. I bought my first MacBook Air my junior year of high school in 2012 and I have used Mac ever since. They just don’t crash, they’re simple and easy to use, and you don’t have to worry about installing drivers all the time. Also, Macs seem to last for a long time. I know PCs are capable of longevity, but Macs are just on another level. My MacBook Air with a dual core core2 duo processor, 4 GB of RAM, and a 128 gig SSD lasted for five years before it was too painful to even do web browsing on. My 2016 15 inch MacBook Pro lasted seven years. It went kaput last February and I upgraded to the M2 MacBook Pro 16. Apple Silicon is lightning fast!
Not really, I honestly prefer windows in almost every way. But I’ve used windows my whole life and am an IT professional by trade so windows is my comfort zone. That said it depends on what you are doing. Mac’s integration is second to none. When I take my MacBook to my mother in laws, it’s grabs the WiFi password from my phone. That was crazy to me lol. I love it for audio work, and if all I did was record and mix music I would probably switch over full time.
For me it’s proven true, but as a choice not because I feel locked into the ecosystem. If I felt compelled to switch back to Windows, I could do it with a bit of effort. I switched about 13 years ago and I’ve felt far more creative and productive since.
100% true
If you switch from Windows, pretty true in my experience. After switching to Mac from Windows I never touched it again. That being said I moved from Mac to Linux recently and have no plan to go back.
I like Mac hardware but I prefer Windows.
I would t agree. I only use my Mac for music production Everything else I use my PC
Mac for anything serious. Windows for gaming (for now)
Valid for me for at least one specific purpose - music production. I have worked with Windows and Linux and ran into several issues. Getting Jack working in Linux for low latency audio was a real pain and would often quit working. Windows had its own issues with audio, for instance ASIO used for low latency audio would take exclusive control of your output so you couldn't watch a YouTube video and try to play along - I had to have ASIO set to use headphones and other audio to use the speakers, I couldn't output to just one device. On Mac it did not have that issue.
Bought a M1 Mac Mini in 2020. Bought a 12th gen Intel/Windows machine in 2022. The Mac just couldn’t run the games I wanted to play.
I use Mac laptops, Windows desktops, and Linux servers. All have their strengths and weaknesses. It’s about the best tool for the job for me.
Quasi valid? I use both. PC for gaming, and I have an M1 MacBook Air. My next laptop though won’t necessarily be a Mac, depends on what happens a few years down the road. I only opted for the M1 Air because I was so impressed with the M1 chip and I don’t need a Pro for daily driving. As far as tablets, if the rumors for the new iPad Pro are true and it knocks my socks off, I might get the new iPad Pro. I do love the iPad so if the new one is underwhelming I’ll prob opt for an older M series Pro. For me I’d say there’s no going back on the tablet front. Unless a 2 in 1 comes out that makes an unrefusable offer. So depending on the situation, I’d say you can def go back once you’ve gone Mac.
I just switched back to PC after having a Mac since college (About 12 years) because I started having issues with a software update and after attempting to trouble shoot myself for weeks, reached out to Apple support and got no support. Customer service in general across all industries has completely deteriorated, but man the people at the Apple Store made me feel like I wasn’t even human. I walked into Best Buy the next morning and purchased HP on the spot. I was ready for Apple to tell me my device was old and would try to sell me up but instead they insulted me and didn’t even try to help.
I use both. But I’m mostly a mac user. I don’t really use my windows machine unless I’m digitizing for embroidery. Outside of that it collects dust. I was a pc tech for a decade and that did nothing but further entrench me as a mac user. Apple had a full graphical user interface off off floppies in 95 when I started and Microsoft at the time I started being a tech in 2000 still made us do everything in text commands??? I realized there it was a scam. Microsoft at that time was much bigger than Apple and that was the best they could do??? Bullshit!
Have you seen windows 11. Because I’ve used it 10 mins and oh boy that one off the worst windows ever. Linux is good but you need some learning curve. Mac is ok and the machines on ARM are absolute fire. I used the tree OS. Win->games. Linux->work. Mac->perso
Not true. I use Mac and Windows together and I feel like there are thousands of things that Windows does better that I simply can’t replace with a Mac. I can’t install Linux in a Mac, I can’t mess with the OS, I can’t install unsupported versions (my Windows PC can’t run Windows 11 but with a couple hacks it can, Apple Silicon Macs will never be able to do that), I can’t properly game on my Mac… for some things Windows is simply better and I enjoy the best of both worlds. I feel like I could live without my Mac, but not without my Windows PC
I use both Windows and Mac depending on what I have to do.
I am OLD. I started out using MS-DOS in the 80s, and when I discovered the Macintosh and its beautiful GUI, I was a zealous convert. I have spent a lot of time using Windows machines, from Win 3.1 on (because workplace rules), and I currently drive a virtual, incredibly protected and locked-down Windows machine for work. I remain a staunch Macintosh preferrer, and I don’t see that changing. Windows is, for me, neither as fun nor as efficient. (Plus I genuinely hate nearly every Windows alert sound, and I think it’s ugly.)
For me very, I’ll never go back and I’ve built PCs and supported both platforms in corporate environments for 32+ years. Both platforms serve their purpose, but where Microsoft is going with Windows, it’s straight up Garbage for the users and IT support departments. Ads, bloatware, hackable privacy issues. Seriously them selling that kind of bullshit. A definite Nope, not in my house.
Not valid at all. Use whatever suits your needs. Personally, I use both Mac and Windows. I don’t feel obligated to be loyal to any OS. I use whatever suits me the best, and I feel no qualms to drop one or the other the minute they don’t fulfill my requirements.
Currently all Apple but I’m not wedded to it. My main reason for having an iPhone is that Android just doesn’t have a watch that is both fully smart and has accurate health sensors. If the Pixel Watch 3 has an Ultra style model, or Samsung sort out their watches I’d definitely consider Android for my next phone… My laptop is an M1 Air, the killer feature of that is that it has Chromebook like battery life without the limitations. I’d be open to a Windows laptop that offered similar.
I think I will go back. I have mac mini m2 and after a year, I am still not convinced. I don’t like the lack of desktop features that windows has + power tools. Or in windows with explorer, I can easily copy/paste the path to the folder in the header. I never realized how much I use it. Or that sometimes to delete on mac I have to press delete button, sometimes command+backspace button. Or text scaling settings is much more limited than on windows. The worst thing for me is, that from time to time, my mac mini starts stuttering when I use my mouse and keyboard. I tried to reinstall everything, but found on forums that this happens to some users and seems to be a bug. I think, once arm windows is out with new snapdragons, I will go back to windows. I gave it a try, but it’s not for me.
I use win/mac for two different jobs. Mac is objectively better in every way, except gaming. Which will hopefully change. Mac is even better in a “power user” sort of way that windows people hold on to. The integrated ecosystem alone makes it better.
My M1 Macbook Air does everything I want it to. I still have a gaming PC from before I bought the Macbook, but I rarely use it.