[extreme_torque]

Started using Mac with a 2012 MacBook Air and since then havent looked back. I use a MacBook Pro 15 as a laptop, iMac 5k 27inch as my desktop. The whole Mac experience is extremely polished from animations to the UI to even how the peripherals work like magic. I still havent come across a windows laptop, no matter the cost, which has anything close to the trackpad that you get on a Mac. I would argue that I find using trackpad better than using mouse on a mac. The other thing is stability and underneath its based on Unix so therefore its is secure and well thought out.

If you have other Apple products as well like I do, its borderline magic. For instance, I can use my iPad Pro as a second screen using side car, even use the Apple pencil in photoshop as a precise tool, or that I dont need to enter a password on my iMac when I am wearing my Apple watch or that my Airpods Pro already work with it because once you pair them with one device, they are paired with all the devices which use the same iCloud account. Its incredibly convenient and painless. Saying the cliched, its just works!

[Guna]

I have been a PC user all along (starting with Windows 1.2) but I have been using the Mac since 3 years as this is the choice of device in my company. I am yet to get over the hang of the Windows and miss features like opening 2 applications side by side (by resizing the windows). If there is a Windows laptop which has got a display as good as the retina display, I would personally choose a PC.

[poloman]

Mac is a work of art if you consider the HW and aesthetics. But I like the simplicity and user friendly features of Windows OS.
But the slowing down over 3-4 years, hangs and no responsiveness are some of the key problem I hate in Windows.

If there is a Windows laptop which has got a display as good as the retina display, I would personally choose a PC.

Other OEMs are catching up to Apple in aesthetics and system design. The OLED panels of Dell XPS and few other Laptops are miles ahead of Apple Retina display. But all these are prohibitively expensive.

[reignofchaos]

Macs are a joke as far as I'm concerned. But hear me out why I say this.

I work in computer graphics and VR. This requires big fat GPUs and extremely fast CPUs. Along with the above, you need the latest GPU drivers and support for latest graphics APIs.

Apple has historically supported OpenGL pretty extensively. However their outlook towards it has gone from frosty to hostile. It also doesn't support Vulkan which is the newer open spec API from the same group that maintains OpenGL.

Instead of following open specs, Apple developed its own half baked garbage called Metal since the last five years. This is neither easy to use like OpenGL, nor is it fully explicit like Vulkan for maximum performance. Now it has been tacked on with unnecessary stuff like neural processing which makes it even worse.

Also Apple builds its own drivers for AMD chips (the only option on MacOS barring intel inbuilt graphics) which are not high performance like AMD's Windows driver or the superb opensource Linux driver stack.

As a result, most graphics apps and games have started shunning MacOS and things will only go from bad to worse once Apple starts building its own chips with their own proprietary GPUs.

[Teesh@BHP]

Here are a couple of well made videos on windows and macOS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsMJeghxWnQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4halg2kzPms

I currently daily drive 3 systems: A 3 year old 2015 macbook pro that is mainly used for work and personal stuff, a PC that has both Ubuntu and Windows 10 installed(The PC mostly runs Ubuntu and acts like a server to offload compute tasks from mac on it) and a work laptop that runs Ubuntu.

The only reason I use Windows on my PC is to occasionally game on it and run some tools that just aren't available on other platforms. In the lab where I work, all the systems run on windows just for sake of the tools and softwares we need to work on! This is where windows is superior. The number of tools available(especially science and engineering related) on Windows is far superior to those on other operating systems. On the flip side, because windows supports so many devices and also considers back compatibility, the OS feels bloated and over time, it shows in terms of dip in performance. This in turn affects the majority of Windows users who just need it for surfing the web and writing documents.

Mac gets my vote because they are far superior for such use cases once you get used to the operating system. My 2015 hardware still feels as fast as the day I bought it and I don't think I can say the same about windows based systems that I have used. For surfing the web, reading emails, writing documents/codes and general productivity related tasks, mac is simply better.

However, linux based operating systems are getting so much better by the day that they have also started to work out of the box(Distributions such as Ubuntu, Pop-OS, Manjaro). Linux is a joy to use given the number of choices and the customization it offers! And the best part? Most linux based OS are free and completely open source! For those of you who are unaware, Android OS uses linux at its base.

[Guna]

Originally Posted by poloman

Mac is a work of art if you consider the HW and aesthetics. But I like the simplicity and user friendly features of Windows OS.
But the slowing down over 3-4 years, hangs and no responsiveness are some of the key problem I hate in Windows.
.

Just like in cars, where the CBUs are considered to be of higher quality compared to the locally manufactured ones, I wonder if the same holds true even for laptops. When I was looking for a laptop with high configuration and biggest screen possible with 'touch', I could not find any such model within my reach among the models which were sold in India. I ended up buying a Dell laptop meant for US market from Ebay (sold by an agency in Mumbai). In spite of heavy usage (even abuse by kids and couple of falls in which the metal casing got dented/bent) for 5 years, the laptop gave zero trouble, nor has it slowed down. Only from seem to be the deteriorating battery recharging.

[ramnaresh_2000]

Voted for windows pc. I am currently using Macbook Air from last 3 years. Last week it died on me and did not boot up. I am currently at my hometown which is a Tier-2 city. I took the Macbook to every repair shop and none of them even touched it. Finally after searching for 3 days, I found a place which repairs Macbook. He quoted 3k and was not 100% sure he can fix it. If it was windows pc or laptop, it would have been serviced on same day and I would have been using it on same day.

[rpunwani]

I switched over to a Mac accidentally - my daughter had a 2008 Macbook Pro Black colour, which started giving battery problems in 2012. My sister who lives in the US was to visit India shortly; so I ordered a spare battery & a 240GB SSD from Other World Computing. Fitted the battery & transferred data to the SSD - voila ! I had a Macbook to play around with.

Within 3 months, my HP Laptop (PC) started giving problems - by that time I was very familiar with the Mac. So I went and bought myself a Macbook Pro with a 750GB Hard Drive; which I have upgraded over the years to a 1TB SSD. The Mac has worked flawlessly for 8+ years. Just upgraded recently to the latest Macbook Air (500GB).

Brilliant machines; no issue with virus, gorgeous looks & the OS is simply brilliant !

[Tapish]

I have been a PC user for long and swore by Thinkpads for the longest time but shifted to a Macbook Air a year ago for the battery life and I don't think I'm going back to PC anytime soon. The Mac Air in question had been (ab)used by my wife for 3 years (running parallel Windows in addition to Mac and heavy programming). Still, the machine feels as good as new. I removed the Windows installation and reset the Air and it has been performing flawlessly since then. I even returned my office laptop and moved to this full time. The battery life was super helpful in pre Covid times when I was travelling every week.

That said Macs can be super expensive to repair - my wife moved to a Mac pro and the thing started overheating once out of warranty. One fine day the motherboard crashed- the repair estimate for the same was close to 50k. Wife bought a workhorse lenovo for 60k and the mac pro is just lying around in an unworkable condition. I'm thinking of getting it repaired and sold once Covid permits.

[landcruiser123]

Personally would pick Windows PC. However, if I get a choice, I'd also like to have a Linux machine. (I don't want to dual boot)

I've experienced Apple products and I like them, but don't like their eye-watering prices (primary reason ) and keys configured to command, option, and control instead of control and alt(secondary reason ). Plus, I play around with Excel Macros and some CAD modeling software which are made for windows.

If:
1. Your work is demanding and not too specialized (in terms of the applications you use)
2. Love your iPhone and/or iPad
3. Have zero tolerance to downtime/troubleshooting issues
4. Have $$$ to spare
...then Macs are for you. Macs are no more the rich man's toys I used to consider them to be. They are super expensive productivity machine the fanatic needs.

p.s. I don't buy the theory that Windows machines takes time to wake up - they are pretty quick if you have an SSD.

[PrasunBannerjee]

I have a simple rule: Macs for show offs, Windows for actual use. Apple products make less of use-case for me and my usage, however looking at their snob value they are a must have in my future collection as their mere presence literally helps close deals faster!

A Windows laptop with Linux as dual boot makes the best use-case for me. Be it a laptop or PC.

Heck, just as the way there are enthusiasts who wish to build their own jeeps or restore cars, there lies a fraternity of geeks who like to build their own PCs.

A great customized CPU (out of scope of this thread) with dual monitor setup along with a tertiary display on to a 32 inch TV and a powerful sound system, which gets Windows-Linux dual boot option, sums up every kind of work use-case for me. For portability, latest gen Macbook air (Apple please get back that backlit logo)

PS: Have worked extensively on all kind of macs, without owning one so far. I know how great the Apple ecosystem is, how efficient are those systems, etc. yet I am not convinced. Its a need vs. want scenario for me

[noopster]

Voted PC. I have almost exclusively used Windows laptops at work and home. There used to be a huge gap in look and feel of Mac and Windows at one time but for all practical purposes these have now been bridged. I am not a technical or design person and the only thing I miss out on is the music recording software like Garage Band which is supposed to be top-notch but with Reaper on Windows, even this is pretty well managed.

I had a Mac issued for me at work briefly but there are some issues with the way my organisation sets up machines that makes it a difficult experience. One example: multiple login/password requests a day (with Windows the SSO works seamlessly). Have never used a Mac for personal purposes since a good HP laptop on the latest Intel chip works quite fine IMO.

[sachind]

Am a hardcore PC for desktop/Linux for storage/server user, did try my hand on Macs at work can live with the software but the hardware is too limiting/closed. Now with Apple deciding to go with their own silicon its a bit of a flip on what performance they will get, its also curtains for all those who have bought/will buy an x86 Mac. @GTO would hold back that purchase if i were you as Apple will stop supporting x86 macs within 2-3 years if the last switch from PowerPC to x86 was any indicator.

[vikram31]

I am probably a rare use but I have am using bootcamp and running my Macbook Air on Windows 10. For the work I need to do its a great combo - extremely portable - 3+ hours of batt life - Windows and drivers work like a charm - and style to go. In my opinion hardware is just better stitched on the mac. Even simple tasks like file transfer over wifi are faster on mac on windows than a tradtional windows laptop. Voted for PC as its more like a Windows vs Mac OS debate..

[kamilharis]

Windows PC!

Beginning from the Pentium 2 desktop , all the PCs Laptops Netbooks etc I've owned were windows and I never faced any issues with it. My Dell laptop is running on it's 6th year and except for the poor battery life it's perfectly fine, planning for a RAM upgrade now.

And whether your requirement is moderate to ultra-heavy, there is a Windows PC for all, but not a MAC for all!