[Amien]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Anyway what I have decided is that it is unfair for me to compare a MacBook with my previous windows laptops as they cost me 1/4th of this machine. So my next purchase is going to be a high-end Windows machine, possibly a Surface laptop, and then see how that fares to a Mac.

Please reconsider. I had the displeasure of opening a Surface Laptop recently and it is clear to me they were never meant to be opened, repaired, cleaned or maintained. Almost everything is glued together and it looks like they are following Apple's lead for all the wrong reasons.

Support in India being virtually non-existent, they are literally disposable trash, Meant to be thrown away once a problem appears. Please don't waste your money on this when there are other viable options for high-end windows devices.

[Simhi]

It is PC for me all through. My PC journey started somewhere in 90's when I bought individual components and assembled PC to run Windows 3.1. Used to love reading articles on anandtech.com on various CPU and motherboards.

Bought a Dell laptop in 2010 and it is still going strong and used by Kids to browse and play games. Though heavy it has been reliable without a single niggle or repair.

Bought another Dell laptop in 2019 and added additional memory using DIY. I am using this laptop with BenQ external monitor, Lenovo external mouse and HP external keyboard.

PC gives the convenience of bringing together the best value components. Having seen OS right from DOS 5 to Windows 10, it gives you the confidence to fix any OS related issues and the support online for any issue is tremendous. I don't think I can get that kind of confidence with Mac to replace parts using DIY or resolve OS issues on my own.

[basuk]

Originally Posted by Rālugāyi

Here are my thoughts

MAC: Best for handling music and video reproduction, editing, and related digital and design works...

Thanks for your note...well articulated.
To me, when it comes to convenience, like hours of web-browsing or watching Netflix/YouTube, there is no match for Mac. Be it MacBook Pro or MacBook Air.
A very stable system, good user-intuitive UX and an overall great feeling.

Also, iMovies and GarageBand are extremely handy for any audio-video work that once wants to get done quickly.

Love my MacBook Air for handy and lightweight and super-ease to work on for hours!

(However, all my office work and photo-editing activities are on my Windows 10 laptop and desktop!! :-))

Originally Posted by Amien

Support in India being virtually non-existent, they are literally disposable trash, Meant to be thrown away once a problem appears. Please don't waste your money on this when there are other viable options for high-end windows devices.

OMG! what about the authorised service centers in India? are they not prepared to service these?

Quick Question - did you open the Surface yourself? Is it still under some kind of warranty etc.?

[Amien]

Originally Posted by basuk

OMG! what about the authorised service centers in India? are they not prepared to service these?

Quick Question - did you open the Surface yourself? Is it still under some kind of warranty etc.?

This was a US-bought out-of-warranty Surface laptop that belongs to a friend. I just swapped the SSD.

[greenhorn]

I use a mix of Linux and windows at home and windows and Mac for work. Generally I've found the Mac os to be sort of a very finely polished windows for dummies. Heck the mouse has only one button because Steve jobs doesn't want users to be confused over which button to press. It does look very impressive though. It's somewhere in between the car car equivalent of an automatic and a self driving car. The designers have made all the decisions for the end user on their behalf. Those decisions may be right for most, but not for me. I wouldn't use a Mac unless you paid me to. And it's not just the differences in the UI. I can comfortably switch between windows and 2 different Linux UI's but feel like I'm in a very locked down os when I'm in a Mac . Sort of like the Tesla model 3. Fantastic experience if you like the wiper speed the car has chosen for you. Hell if you want to change it.

Until recently I used to feel that Mac build quality was superlative compared to windows laptops because I've used only consumer windows laptops that are all cheap and flimsy. I was thinking about buying a Mac and running windows in it. But then I got my first hp elitebook and saw a world of windows laptops that have even better build quality than Macs.

So it's pc for me all the way.

[GTO]

After 2+ months on the Mac, I have to say that Apple's OS is very classy, the design & aesthetic is very sweet, upgrades & updates are smooth (did Big Sur) and the build feels very premium. Equally, despite being a power user and extremely tech friendly, I will state that MacOS is not as "simple" as Apple fans would have you believe. I have ended up stumped many times & simple things can get rather complex (check out my posts on the iBHP thread).

Windows has greatly improved over the years and I find it equally competent + more user-friendly. In fact, I will say that it is Windows that is simpler.

Surprisingly, I am able to interchange between both without much issue. Am using both laptops, depending on the need. Have just swapped the CTRL <-> CMD keys on the Macbook for the sake of my muscle memory.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by GTO

After 2+ months on the Mac, I have to say that Apple's OS is very classy, the design & aesthetic is very sweet, upgrades & updates are smooth (did Big Sur) and the build feels very premium. Equally, despite being a power user and extremely tech friendly, I will state that MacOS is not as "simple" as Apple fans would have you believe. I have ended up stumped many times & simple things can get rather complex (check out my posts on the iBHP thread).

If one is looking at home compute setup I would definitely recommend an iMAC based setup. Choice becomes tricky when it comes to laptop as the differences narrow down. But I still see a macbook priced very high. I guess ultra-books would be equally costly? (Not sure)

This is one reason I prefer a macmini (or an iMaC for a home setup) I sit at one place when I work.

For mobility I have never carried a laptop except for work. So the office laptop solves the problem, while I never needed a MacBook.

Maybe a cheaper iPad may help? (Just wondering)

[lazy]

Windows for me.

At my previous employer where I spend almost a decade, we had the option of choosing Mac Air/Pro or Thinkpad T/X1. Quite naturally, I was tempted during my 'tech refresh' cycles to go for the fruit, since they look good and the screens are beautiful. And so, tried out my colleague's Macs quite a few times before deciding each time.

I found for my type of work - heavy usage of Excel and PPT, Windows is clearly better, esp. with its shortcuts, which probably can be setup and learnt in a Mac too, but that's new learning for me. Have better things to learn (eg. python) rather than a new keyboard.

From build quality perspective, X1 Carbon is miles ahead. Battery lasts 8+ hrs, is lighter too and runs much much cooler. No need to carry chargers for longer meetings like the Mac users would need to. And oh oh, that extra cable that Macs would need to connect to the overhead projector.

And then there were the quirks - there was no integrated Webex in the Outlook on iOS, so the Webex had to be setup separately and added to the meeting in outlook, whereas in Windows you click a button on the meeting invite itself. There was something to do with sending an attachment directly from folders to a new email too that wouldn't work.

Of course, for fans, the workaround was - run Windows on the Mac. Really? Why would anyone do that, just for the show?

Several folks in my team had Macs, and while the X1 Carbon upfront cost is higher than the Macs, my eyes would pop out when their purchase requests would come for approval - so expensive these mouse, keyboard, docking station, large screen compared to Thinkpad's. Waste of company money.

Not even mentioning the difference in the time taken by company Helpdesk to address issues of both laptops - really matters when one is on a tight release schedule.

Yet, employees would queue up for the fruit - the brand is powerful and why not get a 1.5 lakh Mac on company money, productivity be damned.
Not for me, am not a brand guy.

cheers
lazy

[sameerg]

Voter for Mac

In all my life I would have never thought I would say that they are indeed good machines. Overpriced but good. Here is a story of how things changed for me.

Been a Windows user for more than 2 decades and a Thinkpad user for over 13 years. I have been a fan since the first 'IBM' Thinkpad I got. These machines are built like a rock. You can say I have been a fanboy. I love their built quality, non-reflective matte screens, not at all shiny black exterior. They are the true "sleeper" in the world of laptops. Yes I am a fanboy

Over years, my employer tried to push me into the Apple ecosystem but I kept resisting a lot, for one I just loved the amazing built of Thinkpad X series, for another I had built so much muscle memory for keyboard shortcuts that even the smallest of tasks on a colleagues MacBook would irritate me.

My dislike for apple went beyond Mac. Twice in my life, my better half tried to class me up and forced me to get iPhones (3 and 6s), and within 2/3 days I gave them away.

Then came a change of job last year and the only option I had with the new employer was Macbook. So I had to swallow the bitter pill. Now my resistance didn't stop here. Since I was anyways working from home, I just kept the MacBook pro aside and got myself a new X390-i7-16 gb and was happy again . Imagine spending so much of your own money just to avoid MacBook

But as fate would have it, the company's IT team woke up in a couple of months and started installing some directory-as-a-service (DaaS) solutions and I was forced into using MacBook. Now that I had no choice but face my fear. It started slow but over time it grew on me and for the past couple of months I have been loving it. It is indeed a good machine.
Mind it I am not yet over my Thinkpad, I still look at it from the corner of my eyes and feel as if I am cheating on it. I still use it sometimes just for old times sake, but if I would have to pick one I would pick MacBook.

PS: thinking of setting up a Monitor, multi-device keyboard/mouse combo so that I can use both laptops. Guess I am not ready to move on just yet

[sunilch]

Originally Posted by sameerg

Voter for Mac

Good to read your change of heart story. Out of curiosity, you say you have been employed for a while now but your profile also says you are/were an entrepreneur. Can you share your journey, if you don't mind?

[sameerg]

Originally Posted by sunilch

Good to read your change of heart story. Out of curiosity, you say you have been employed for a while now but your profile also says you are/were an entrepreneur. Can you share your journey, if you don't mind?

OH man... That entrepreneurship journey was short lived. Guess I forgot to update the profile here on the forum. Working for other startups now for quite some time.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by GTO

After 2+ months on the Mac, I have to say that Apple's OS is very classy, the design & aesthetic is very sweet, upgrades & updates are smooth (did Big Sur) and the build feels very premium. Equally, despite being a power user and extremely tech friendly, I will state that MacOS is not as "simple" as Apple fans would have you believe. Windows has greatly improved over the years and I find it equally competent + more user-friendly. In fact, I will say that it is Windows that is simpler.

6 months up of giving MacOS a try and I will have to change my vote to Windows on this poll. Windows is just far simpler to use overall, and a lot more intuitive for complex tasks. I like the aesthetics of the MacOS, the finishes and the little touches. For browsing & light work, I don't mind using it. But for heavy work, official reviews, finance & accounting and excel spreadsheets, I find myself switching over to Windows.

Microsoft has hit it out of the park with Windows 10. Installed Windows 10 on my Macbook using BootCamp and I find myself using it a lot more than MacOS.

[sameerg]

Originally Posted by GTO

. But for heavy work, official reviews, finance & accounting and excel spreadsheets, I find myself switching over to Windows.

Microsoft has hit it out of the park with Windows 10. Installed Windows 10 on my Macbook using BootCamp and I find myself using it a lot more than MacOS.

For heavy excel work, especially if you are used to excel experience on windows, moving to mac is difficult. Also, I suspect, the difference in excel experience on windows vs mac is deliberate.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by sameerg

For heavy excel work, especially if you are used to excel experience on windows, moving to mac is difficult.

True. Another major problem I face is that for heavy work, I'm a total keyboard shortcuts guy who hardly even touches the mouse. I have keyboard shortcuts for everything, including opening up programs, using excel etc. The shortcuts aren't the same in MacOS.

[RJK]

For heavy excel work, especially if you are used to excel experience on windows, moving to mac is difficult. Also, I suspect, the difference in excel experience on windows vs mac is deliberate.

But for heavy work, official reviews, finance & accounting and excel spreadsheets, I find myself switching over to Windows.

Correct. I'm an excel lover & I've noticed that the excel functions on Mac are just not the same & it is more time consuming. But my wife who's a designer swears by her 21" Mac. She won't touch the windows at all (but she loves android & hates iPhone-don't understand women). I have spent enough time with Mac & decided that its nice for aesthetics, browsing etc but that's about it. I don't do any content creation or editing for which Mac is supposed to be absolutely fantastic. We have one 21" Mac, one Macbook pro originally bought for dad who doesn't use it, one HP Spectre 360 & a recent purchase of Windows desktop for me. The Macbook pro spends most of its time idle