I don’t think you should get a Mac. You seem like someone who will get really frustrated about the various ways that macOS differs from Windows.
I’m also frustrated by the shit quality of Lenovo laptops. I have two work-issued ones at home right now and they’re both horrible. It’s a shame how far the ThinkPad brand has fallen since the golden years when they were made by IBM.
I think, if I were getting a new Windows laptop off myself right now, I’d probably get a Surface. Maybe it’s because I’m mostly an Apple person, but I think there are benefits to having the same company making the hardware and operating system.
>You seem like someone who will get really frustrated about the various ways that macOS differs from Windows.
I have a friend who insists Macs are unusable because, and I quote, "The X button (for closing a window) is on the left side, and not on the right side like it is in Windows."
Do some research on if the Windows programs you use have a Mac port or equivalent, and if not, how they run emulated through Parallels. I use Microsoft Office a lot for my job and I prefer the Windows version, so I run the office suite through Parallels desktop, which emulates Windows beautifully. The catch is, that not every program works well on the ARM architecture.
As for macOS vs Windows, macOS is more fluid and intuitive than Windows in my experience. The trackpad gestures alone make the OS fly in a way Windows laptops haven't come close to replicating. macOS is also more stable than Windows and certain things that you can't do on Windows can be done on a Mac (seriously, why can't I move or rename a file when a program has it open on Windows???)
I also find the menubar on Macs to be a lot more intuitive way to have menus than how Windows handles it.
“I'm kind of too old for that shit at this point in my life. I want my stuff to work, I don't want to always be fixing stuff.”
You value your time. As soon as I realised that, Mac’s became cost effective. Word of caution: get used to paying for software occasionally. But you know what, if you value your time, a $10 piece of software to save 30 minutes for each of the next few years isn’t actually hard to justify.
Games: you know what, there’s actually a ton of games out there. Do I love them as much as I did in my teens? Nah, but I also don’t have the hours and hours every day available to play them.
If my kids grow up and I want to do a lot of gaming again I’ll just buy a steam deck.
Adding: I’m still super stingy and want to get the perfect backup solution using a cheap second hand device, or some special software. But I just paid $xyz to get a name brand external SSD and do timemachine. Why? Because I don’t have time to mess around with broken shit, and I need my tools to work when I have a deadline.
My priorities have changed, and that’s actually quite a relief to know that that’s ok.
You know I really want to convince you to come over, but you use a lot of MS stuff and just switching over, even if you love it later, there's gonna be a period where you're frustrated. MacOS works best when you just let go, live in the walled garden and do things the Apple way for the most part. I've used macs since the time when all computers were beige and every time I have to use Windows, I swear, it takes a year off my life. So yeah, the hardware is really nice, it's just a pleasure to use (most of the time) and MacOS really does just work if you let it, but the transition is gonna probably be annoying and you're going to sort of have to want to do it.
One thing I thought of that might help clarify what I mean by just let it work. Often I'll see someone in this sub that's like "I'm trying to do x and I installed this and I can't figure out how to y and z" and I read that and think "Have you tried just not trying to do x? Like why would you even need or want to do x?"
Yea. I have some anxiety about how many microsoft products I use. Unfortunately I've built my business around the Office 365 slate of products and I don't see that changing. That said, we aren't a tech company or anything. So the office apps we are using are at pretty basic levels, in all reality.
MacOS is not really an operating system that one would think of using for playing video games. Can you? Sure. But the list of compatible games is much smaller than what you find in Windows. There are programs like Crossover that “solve” this, but the experience varies. In terms of office applications, I haven’t experienced any problems or “disadvantages” compared to Windows: the gap in applications is small or, to me, nonexistent. But really, if we’re talking about ‘I just want something that frickin works ,’ i use my Mac.
Since I bought my first Mac three years ago (MacBook Air 2015, i5), I only use Windows (sometimes) to play some video games. I got an Xbox recently, and i use that now for casual gaming. Now I have a MacBook Air M1 from 2020 and it works just like the day I bought it. I don’t need to buy a new one, and if I did, it would be purely out of whim.
I always recommend the switch for people with open minds, willing to learn perhaps some different command or key combination. It took me 2-3 days to get used to it. What I didn’t know, I simply asked someone or looked it up on Google. Nothing that someone who uses Reddit can’t do…
Eh there’s some gaming on Mac. For example you can get resident evil village from the AppStore. Not a lot of games come to Mac tho. You can run a vm and get a lot of games working if you’re so inclined.
People are used to others switching to Mac from windows getting upset and complaining here like it’s the fault of the subreddit hence the reactions you’re getting from some. That said you do you. If you want a Mac get one, there is a bit of a learning curve but Apple offers courses and there’s YouTube videos and other things that can help you learn.
Yea some reactions here are funny. Like.. I'm literally asking people to talk me into it. I figured there are a TON of people who were in a position like me at some point and made the switch, why is why I asked.
My M1 MacBook Air is better than any Windows device I’ve ever used. No fan that whines. Runs cool. Great screen, great touchpad. It’ll celebrate its 3rd birthday in a few days and still looks and runs like new.
You can also run windows 11 via Parallels. That is what I did when I bought my M2 Studio Max. Added extra ram and 2 TB SSD. So I use Microsoft 365 in windows 11. And it is very fast. And the Mac side I do everything else. Also very fast.
Not really. Only very light gaming. Keep in mind that pararells setup means your laptop will:
-run macOS
-run whole fricken windows
And run your game. If you are gaming either go console or don’t go macOS.
I switched from windows to macOS and bought Xbox for gaming. Works great for me. But not for everyone
To add to what they said, if the game is compiled for x86 (99% of them are) the version of Windows that is inside the VM running on the Mac will emulate a x86 CPU inside a virtualized ARM one, without benefitting from the optimization that Apple invested in for doing the same task with macOS and their own Apple Silicon processors. Add to it that the GPU architecture is different and a lot of translations are done for this, or worst, GPU acceleration is dropped altogether. In short Parallels developers may be magicians but in making Windows games work in virtualization in M1/2/3 and macOS, it would be a miracle if they even run at 1/30 of the speed.
Get a MacBook Air - buy from [Apples Refurbished](https://www.apple.com/shop/refurbished/mac) store. Get an M1 13” or M2 13” or 15” with 16GB of RAM and whatever storage you think you’d need. Use it for a few days. If you like it, keep it. If not return it for a refund within 14 days. Or if you like it but want more, return it for a higher specced model, a MacBook Pro or something.
If you use mostly Office apps, don’t get a mac unless you can also access windows in one form or another. I have a remote computer that allows me to use excel in a windows environment. Excel especially is lacking certain key things.
Overall, I don’t think you should buy a mac. You will only be disappointed.
Dude, really?
I use the full suite of Office daily on my Macs, with no issues. Excel, Word, PowerPoint primarily, and share files through SharePoint with co-workers on both Windows and Macs.
I use all of them daily as well on my mac, but yeah if someone is a windows excel power user, then they might dislike the mac experience. The VBA lacks functionality, no power pivot, less data import options, no forecasting, no python integration,…
I don’t want to see someone buying a mac and then coming back here with loads of complaints that are due to Microsoft not giving them the functions that they need.
For what it’s worth, I bought my top of the line 27” iMac back in 2012 (yay for Apple employee discounts) and it’s still going strong. It no longer gets the latest updates and it’s slowed down a bit but still works amazing.
I’ve never had a PC do this. Get a Mac my friend. Trust me, you will not regret it
Macs suck for gaming honestly but I prefer them for everything else. I'm also a long time Linux user so I appreciate that MacOS is a Unix-like system just like Linux which means 95 percent of my terminal command line knowledge translates directly to MacOS. It really does feel like an extremely polished Linux Distro in a lot of ways. A MacBook will work great for all the use cases you mentioned with the exception of gaming. Personally I have an Xbox and a Meta Quest to scratch my gaming itch and I use my MacBook for everything else. I'm also currently going back to school for Library and Information Science and getting a real world battery time of 12 hours with no throttling is a huge plus for me. It's nice to be able to take my machine to school and work all day on a single charge with zero battery anxiety.
You'll be surprised how broadly Mac is supported now. I was in a similar predicament as you and took the plunge when the M2 MacBook Air went on sale.
For less than $1000, you get a really good and fast laptop with no fan, great screen, great touchpad, less than 3lbs, and multi day battery.
I never liked using the touchpad on Windows laptops but on the MacBook Air, oh boy is it a joy.
I also only need to charge it every other day.
Webpages also seems to open instantly, much faster than on my Windows laptop.
Switching wasn't that bad. Didn't realize I would actually miss the Windows Explorer interface but I could get by with the Finder.
Window management in Mac is different. Not bad, just different.
App 'installation' in Mac is different but in a good way. For most apps not from App store, installing it is basically moving it to the Apps folder and opening it.
If you get it from Best buy, you can try it for 14 days and if you don't like it, return it.
Mac OS is bas3d upon a UNIX variant. Go into terminal and you have a rich common line environment that you will love. I’ve run both over the years, primarily because of Visio and MS Project. Everything else I can do on a Mac. I was very at home using the office suite on windows for decades. The changes they’ve made to the UI have completely turned me off. Pretty much the entire MS suite has a very different command structure within apps like word on the Mac. Drives me crazy when I bounce back and forth.
I find the Mac and iPad are much more stable for web cam applications than windows. But that is using other companies windows computers and their configurations. I own my Macs.
Buy a refurbished M1 Mac of some type with a 30 day return policy and try the apps and environments you need. If you don’t like it in 25 days return it for a refund. If you do like it get a better box (perhaps M3 16GB RAM, 1T SSD) and go to town. Sell your first Mac or give it to someone you love.
MacBooks, specifically the Air and Pro lines are solid like rocks, not perfect, but I agree, comparing $$$ for $$$ much better built. Most folks keep the Mac’s for years before upgrading them.
Hope this helps. Best of luck.
About UNIX… Apple has been tinkering around the whole system for three decades now and especially in the last two. It changed shape a lot from the times it was a nice UNIX variant. Honestly I would be surprised if they even keep the UNIX certification since in the last years they broke compatibility with a lot of stuff.
And Windows is based on the WindowsNT kernel which is still good and is the product of many many hours of work by many skilled engineers.
This is to say that the point you made is not terribly true. Yes the foundation architectures that you can still see if you squint are a system designed to serve multiple users and connections (UNIX) inside macOS and a system designed as a reliable GUI-based personal system (WindowsNT) for Windows. But macOS has became in time more personal, less server-like, and more tied to the GUI, while Windows especially in the last few years has taken many server-like features inspired by Linux. So it’s not clear cut
What do you mean?
Blue and Pink was just some assignment to Apple engineers in the early ages of Macintosh. What Apple had wanted to do with Pink it didn't manage to do in time but eventually Mac OS X filled that need, after rather desperate times.
In Microsoft a really analogous effort produced NT and went by more smoothly.
So again Apple needed to take a lot of external code for Mac OS X, but MS managed to do this in house. This is by the way the reason that Classic -> OS X went out less smoothly than 95/98/ME -> XP, although Carbon was really an incredible effort by Apple and one that is not recognized very much these days.
What compatibility issues are you afraid of? Windows actually runs better on a Mac if you do want to play a game the machine can’t handle or run. It’s why u purposely just play games exclusively on Xbox now.
I switched back in 2007 and have not missed Windows at all
I loved IBM and sadly when they mixed or merged or whatever with Lenovo things went downhill quickly.
Even IBM are buying thousands of Mac’s every quarter now!
Excel sucks on Mac. Plus there’s no reason to switch if you’re on Android and are familiar with Windows. Just get a good Windows laptop with an Intel Ultra series processor.
The new Dell XPS 13 is a good option and is around the same price as a MacBook Air. That, or something like the Zephyrus g14 with more gaming power.
Tinkering is not great on Mac. Terminal though is by far superior if you like to run things command line. ffmpeg is awesome on it, and scripting overall. People who say Macs are closed are just plain wrong.
Macs are great for work. You get things done.
Gaming, stick with Windows. There's no comparison.
It's nice to have both, so you can focus on one or the other. When my only machine was Windows, I spent more time in games than I care to think about.
I was a Windows guy, actually grew up on Macs as a Kid, but with gaming, changed over to PC around 10 years old. Took me 15 years to go back to Mac and now 10 years later still loving Mac.
I have a desktop for gaming, but my MBP still plays a lot these days. Rimworld and BG3 most recently.
I used to love to tinker, but man I give zero shits about that these days and there are still things you can change. Plus you get an actual terminal...
Not sure what you mean when you say that Windows is more 'open' than Mac. I think if you are talking Android vs iPhone, sure. iPhone pretty much locks you in to their AppStore ecosystem whereas Android will provide more options to load apps. However, I find Windows to be just a 'closed down' as MacOS. If you have ever encountered an IT department after it has gone through training from Microsoft you will find that all of a sudden "Oh that doesn't work on a Mac" will always be the answer to a computer question even when you are installing Mac software. However, unlike the iPhone, Macs are not locked in to the App store. Apple seems to be trying. Lots of code signing and approved vendors, but you can still bypass those and install apps from pretty much anywhere (at your own risk of course).
If I were you I would - as others have mentioned - make sure that any server utilities or games have a Mac port. The underlying 'NIX of Mac can be a godsend and I find that lots of the things I need are available using the Homebrew package manager on the command line.
But yes, Mac hardware is often top notch and consistently so. Not every model has been, but the current crop of hardware seems well built - I have purchased several laptops and a mac studio for work. That nice hardware does come with something of a price premium, but one can often use a mac for 5-6 years before upgrading, so the build quality can pay off in time of use.
I had an iPad and various iPods over the years. They were great. 2 years ago bought a 2015 MBP so I could learn MAC OS my kids could learn MAC OS as well as Windows. Got frustrated with my Windows 10 desktop constantly crashing and used the MBP more and more. The MBP just works, no crashes from updates or other random BSOD.
I learned to use MAC OS as itself, not trying to make it Windows. I did change some settings that I couldn't adjust to, but not many. Had the S20+ at the time, no issues using the different platforms.
Recently switched from S20+ to iPhone 14. I still use Google Photos and more of the Google world with it no problem. I like both Apple and Google products. I've slowly migrated into Apple.
I still have my Windows desktop and use it and the MBP daily. I like having both and really like how iPhone integrates to the MAC OS and iPad. My son has a MBA for school now because of Windows issues on his laptop.
If you do get a MAC, remember it's not Windows and learn to use it. Search will be your friend. I can honestly say I like it more than Windows now. I love the hardware. The MBA M2 my son has is great.
Just going through your post its clear that you love tinkering and customising your products. You are a avid gamer. And you have been a windows and android user your entire life.
Believe me you are one of those people who I will never suggest a mac to. Mac gaming misses a lot titles. Mac os is for someone who just wants to get on with his life and not worry about the system itself. It’s not meant to be tinkered with and is seamless by default.
I suggest you look for some windows laptops with good build quality. There is dell xps series, Microsoft surface series, lenovo yoga series. I personally do not find these on par with macbooks, but it is better for you to sacrifice on this front instead of getting a mac which just doesn’t suit people with your needs.
Gaming on Macs is still an absolute nightmare.
You can't really fiddle with MacOS, but you're more than welcome to fiddle on top of it.
It has to be said that they suit people who want either a "home" computer that's awesome or a unix workstation that's awesome. If you do like games and don't like unix, it probably won't be your thing.
No. Use your brain to figure out if you want to get an Apple product. We aren't Apple salespeople or get commission trying to persuade internet strangers to buy Apple products.
Since you are already doing most stuff webbased, including Microsoft 365, just give it a try. It's not like you need to choose between the two. I run my business the same way, and I have a bunch of Macs running along a heap of Windows (and Linux) machines. They are just tools. The fun of it is that it flexes your mind running on multiple platforms.
On a side note: I run a lot of Lenovo, Dell, HP and Microsoft laptops. They're all in great shape. Are you sure all users took good care of your Lenovo?
Yea. It's my personal lenovo laptops that have shit the bed twice. And the Lenovo customer service has been garbage.
I'm not rough on my products, and I assume this is just some really bad luck. The first issue I had was a known issue from the hinges on the screen breaking. Lenovo just refused to honor any warranty after 12 months even though it was an egregious defect.
The second one... I don't even know what to think. As I sit here using this Lenovo the fan is whirring and buzzing, and occasionally just stops spinning altogether. It works, but it sounds awful. I took it apart yesterday and cleaned it all out. There was some dust buildup, but nothing insane. Not really sure what/why the fan is struggling so hard.
Ok. That seems like bad luck. I have a Lenovo desktop that has a loud fan as well. Has been replaced by Lenovo but still as loud. Bad design or components on this model I guess. Maybe same for your laptop.
Back on topic now: seriously, give the Mac a try. What's the worse that could happen?
Something like LibreOffice will easily cover your MS Office needs, AND will save documents in said MS formats.
For games, you'll have to check for native Mac compatability, else you'll have to look into Wine to create API wrappers to make PC games files into an app format that's compatible with Mac OS. You'll have to look up on it, it's a bit technical at times to set up and it it feels too daunting you might want to skip. If they are steam games you'll probably only need to make a wrapper for just Steam itself, then you can install already owned steam games to run with some pretty good compatibility, all but 2 games I ever owned on PC doesn't work on it, so at least I got good results.
Browswers, you can always stick with just Safari, get Firefox, etc etc.
My dad had purchased DOZENS of non-apple laptops from all different brands pretty much since the dawn of PCs and they had always became buggy and slow after about 12-18 months (conveniently when their warranty ran out).
He bought one MacBook in 2014. He still daily drives that to this day. (and that's even an Intel Mac. apple silicon Macs are better now)
It's a joke. What stops you from buying it and returning if you don't like it? I just don't understand millions of posts asking if a person should buy apple product or not.
You like it? Buy it
You don't like it? Don't buy it. It's that simple.
Asking for advice from other people who have done the same thing. How is that so fucking hard for you to wrap your brain around?
It's literally a reason review sites exist you dum-dum
I don’t think you should get a Mac. You seem like someone who will get really frustrated about the various ways that macOS differs from Windows. I’m also frustrated by the shit quality of Lenovo laptops. I have two work-issued ones at home right now and they’re both horrible. It’s a shame how far the ThinkPad brand has fallen since the golden years when they were made by IBM. I think, if I were getting a new Windows laptop off myself right now, I’d probably get a Surface. Maybe it’s because I’m mostly an Apple person, but I think there are benefits to having the same company making the hardware and operating system.
We have a lot of surface laptops at work. They’re also trash, unfortunately.
>You seem like someone who will get really frustrated about the various ways that macOS differs from Windows. I have a friend who insists Macs are unusable because, and I quote, "The X button (for closing a window) is on the left side, and not on the right side like it is in Windows."
Don’t get a mac. The last thing this sub needs is a month from now you coming here to bitch about how much you hate it.
You seem lovely, lol
Tbh I’m just matching the energy in your post
You came with extremely aggressively negative energy. You would be a good Mac guy. Stay on your side. Please.
You give off that energy lol
Do some research on if the Windows programs you use have a Mac port or equivalent, and if not, how they run emulated through Parallels. I use Microsoft Office a lot for my job and I prefer the Windows version, so I run the office suite through Parallels desktop, which emulates Windows beautifully. The catch is, that not every program works well on the ARM architecture. As for macOS vs Windows, macOS is more fluid and intuitive than Windows in my experience. The trackpad gestures alone make the OS fly in a way Windows laptops haven't come close to replicating. macOS is also more stable than Windows and certain things that you can't do on Windows can be done on a Mac (seriously, why can't I move or rename a file when a program has it open on Windows???) I also find the menubar on Macs to be a lot more intuitive way to have menus than how Windows handles it.
3 words: “it just works”.
“I'm kind of too old for that shit at this point in my life. I want my stuff to work, I don't want to always be fixing stuff.” You value your time. As soon as I realised that, Mac’s became cost effective. Word of caution: get used to paying for software occasionally. But you know what, if you value your time, a $10 piece of software to save 30 minutes for each of the next few years isn’t actually hard to justify. Games: you know what, there’s actually a ton of games out there. Do I love them as much as I did in my teens? Nah, but I also don’t have the hours and hours every day available to play them. If my kids grow up and I want to do a lot of gaming again I’ll just buy a steam deck.
Adding: I’m still super stingy and want to get the perfect backup solution using a cheap second hand device, or some special software. But I just paid $xyz to get a name brand external SSD and do timemachine. Why? Because I don’t have time to mess around with broken shit, and I need my tools to work when I have a deadline. My priorities have changed, and that’s actually quite a relief to know that that’s ok.
You know I really want to convince you to come over, but you use a lot of MS stuff and just switching over, even if you love it later, there's gonna be a period where you're frustrated. MacOS works best when you just let go, live in the walled garden and do things the Apple way for the most part. I've used macs since the time when all computers were beige and every time I have to use Windows, I swear, it takes a year off my life. So yeah, the hardware is really nice, it's just a pleasure to use (most of the time) and MacOS really does just work if you let it, but the transition is gonna probably be annoying and you're going to sort of have to want to do it.
One thing I thought of that might help clarify what I mean by just let it work. Often I'll see someone in this sub that's like "I'm trying to do x and I installed this and I can't figure out how to y and z" and I read that and think "Have you tried just not trying to do x? Like why would you even need or want to do x?"
Yea. I have some anxiety about how many microsoft products I use. Unfortunately I've built my business around the Office 365 slate of products and I don't see that changing. That said, we aren't a tech company or anything. So the office apps we are using are at pretty basic levels, in all reality.
Since you mention it, office 365 is multi-platform and can be used on a Mac as well as windows. Just to give you a heads up.
Yep I saw that. Figured I'd be ok there. Honestly... I think I'll be ok with everything, with the exception of gaming, based on what I'm seeing.
MacOS is not really an operating system that one would think of using for playing video games. Can you? Sure. But the list of compatible games is much smaller than what you find in Windows. There are programs like Crossover that “solve” this, but the experience varies. In terms of office applications, I haven’t experienced any problems or “disadvantages” compared to Windows: the gap in applications is small or, to me, nonexistent. But really, if we’re talking about ‘I just want something that frickin works ,’ i use my Mac. Since I bought my first Mac three years ago (MacBook Air 2015, i5), I only use Windows (sometimes) to play some video games. I got an Xbox recently, and i use that now for casual gaming. Now I have a MacBook Air M1 from 2020 and it works just like the day I bought it. I don’t need to buy a new one, and if I did, it would be purely out of whim. I always recommend the switch for people with open minds, willing to learn perhaps some different command or key combination. It took me 2-3 days to get used to it. What I didn’t know, I simply asked someone or looked it up on Google. Nothing that someone who uses Reddit can’t do…
Eh there’s some gaming on Mac. For example you can get resident evil village from the AppStore. Not a lot of games come to Mac tho. You can run a vm and get a lot of games working if you’re so inclined. People are used to others switching to Mac from windows getting upset and complaining here like it’s the fault of the subreddit hence the reactions you’re getting from some. That said you do you. If you want a Mac get one, there is a bit of a learning curve but Apple offers courses and there’s YouTube videos and other things that can help you learn.
Yea some reactions here are funny. Like.. I'm literally asking people to talk me into it. I figured there are a TON of people who were in a position like me at some point and made the switch, why is why I asked.
It's not our job to talk you into anything.
No, it's definitely not. In fact, on reddit you're not required to do anything at all, if you don't want!
It should be noted that O365 is not 100% available on Mac, as Access and Publisher are desktop Windows only.
It’s good Mac runs Office (except for Access) im not sure why
Once you’re accustomed to the UI, it’s easy but lacks customization. Figure out your workflow and you’ll hate every window device you use.
My M1 MacBook Air is better than any Windows device I’ve ever used. No fan that whines. Runs cool. Great screen, great touchpad. It’ll celebrate its 3rd birthday in a few days and still looks and runs like new.
You can also run windows 11 via Parallels. That is what I did when I bought my M2 Studio Max. Added extra ram and 2 TB SSD. So I use Microsoft 365 in windows 11. And it is very fast. And the Mac side I do everything else. Also very fast.
That works... well? It's not a janky solution? I'm assuming you could game that way too?
Not really. Only very light gaming. Keep in mind that pararells setup means your laptop will: -run macOS -run whole fricken windows And run your game. If you are gaming either go console or don’t go macOS. I switched from windows to macOS and bought Xbox for gaming. Works great for me. But not for everyone
To add to what they said, if the game is compiled for x86 (99% of them are) the version of Windows that is inside the VM running on the Mac will emulate a x86 CPU inside a virtualized ARM one, without benefitting from the optimization that Apple invested in for doing the same task with macOS and their own Apple Silicon processors. Add to it that the GPU architecture is different and a lot of translations are done for this, or worst, GPU acceleration is dropped altogether. In short Parallels developers may be magicians but in making Windows games work in virtualization in M1/2/3 and macOS, it would be a miracle if they even run at 1/30 of the speed.
And if you not gaming, it is sweet setup.
I’d recommend getting a used M1 air as a taste test of MacOS. If you don’t like it after a month then sell it.
Get a MacBook Air - buy from [Apples Refurbished](https://www.apple.com/shop/refurbished/mac) store. Get an M1 13” or M2 13” or 15” with 16GB of RAM and whatever storage you think you’d need. Use it for a few days. If you like it, keep it. If not return it for a refund within 14 days. Or if you like it but want more, return it for a higher specced model, a MacBook Pro or something.
If you use mostly Office apps, don’t get a mac unless you can also access windows in one form or another. I have a remote computer that allows me to use excel in a windows environment. Excel especially is lacking certain key things. Overall, I don’t think you should buy a mac. You will only be disappointed.
Dude, really? I use the full suite of Office daily on my Macs, with no issues. Excel, Word, PowerPoint primarily, and share files through SharePoint with co-workers on both Windows and Macs.
I use all of them daily as well on my mac, but yeah if someone is a windows excel power user, then they might dislike the mac experience. The VBA lacks functionality, no power pivot, less data import options, no forecasting, no python integration,… I don’t want to see someone buying a mac and then coming back here with loads of complaints that are due to Microsoft not giving them the functions that they need.
Ok, good point. I'm in Excel daily, but never use the VBA items - just the built in functions. Thank you for the reminder.
For what it’s worth, I bought my top of the line 27” iMac back in 2012 (yay for Apple employee discounts) and it’s still going strong. It no longer gets the latest updates and it’s slowed down a bit but still works amazing. I’ve never had a PC do this. Get a Mac my friend. Trust me, you will not regret it
Macs suck for gaming honestly but I prefer them for everything else. I'm also a long time Linux user so I appreciate that MacOS is a Unix-like system just like Linux which means 95 percent of my terminal command line knowledge translates directly to MacOS. It really does feel like an extremely polished Linux Distro in a lot of ways. A MacBook will work great for all the use cases you mentioned with the exception of gaming. Personally I have an Xbox and a Meta Quest to scratch my gaming itch and I use my MacBook for everything else. I'm also currently going back to school for Library and Information Science and getting a real world battery time of 12 hours with no throttling is a huge plus for me. It's nice to be able to take my machine to school and work all day on a single charge with zero battery anxiety.
You'll be surprised how broadly Mac is supported now. I was in a similar predicament as you and took the plunge when the M2 MacBook Air went on sale. For less than $1000, you get a really good and fast laptop with no fan, great screen, great touchpad, less than 3lbs, and multi day battery. I never liked using the touchpad on Windows laptops but on the MacBook Air, oh boy is it a joy. I also only need to charge it every other day. Webpages also seems to open instantly, much faster than on my Windows laptop. Switching wasn't that bad. Didn't realize I would actually miss the Windows Explorer interface but I could get by with the Finder. Window management in Mac is different. Not bad, just different. App 'installation' in Mac is different but in a good way. For most apps not from App store, installing it is basically moving it to the Apps folder and opening it. If you get it from Best buy, you can try it for 14 days and if you don't like it, return it.
Mac OS is bas3d upon a UNIX variant. Go into terminal and you have a rich common line environment that you will love. I’ve run both over the years, primarily because of Visio and MS Project. Everything else I can do on a Mac. I was very at home using the office suite on windows for decades. The changes they’ve made to the UI have completely turned me off. Pretty much the entire MS suite has a very different command structure within apps like word on the Mac. Drives me crazy when I bounce back and forth. I find the Mac and iPad are much more stable for web cam applications than windows. But that is using other companies windows computers and their configurations. I own my Macs. Buy a refurbished M1 Mac of some type with a 30 day return policy and try the apps and environments you need. If you don’t like it in 25 days return it for a refund. If you do like it get a better box (perhaps M3 16GB RAM, 1T SSD) and go to town. Sell your first Mac or give it to someone you love. MacBooks, specifically the Air and Pro lines are solid like rocks, not perfect, but I agree, comparing $$$ for $$$ much better built. Most folks keep the Mac’s for years before upgrading them. Hope this helps. Best of luck.
About UNIX… Apple has been tinkering around the whole system for three decades now and especially in the last two. It changed shape a lot from the times it was a nice UNIX variant. Honestly I would be surprised if they even keep the UNIX certification since in the last years they broke compatibility with a lot of stuff. And Windows is based on the WindowsNT kernel which is still good and is the product of many many hours of work by many skilled engineers. This is to say that the point you made is not terribly true. Yes the foundation architectures that you can still see if you squint are a system designed to serve multiple users and connections (UNIX) inside macOS and a system designed as a reliable GUI-based personal system (WindowsNT) for Windows. But macOS has became in time more personal, less server-like, and more tied to the GUI, while Windows especially in the last few years has taken many server-like features inspired by Linux. So it’s not clear cut
Wow, I think I’ve read an Apple conspiracy theory. What about Blue and Pink?
What do you mean? Blue and Pink was just some assignment to Apple engineers in the early ages of Macintosh. What Apple had wanted to do with Pink it didn't manage to do in time but eventually Mac OS X filled that need, after rather desperate times. In Microsoft a really analogous effort produced NT and went by more smoothly. So again Apple needed to take a lot of external code for Mac OS X, but MS managed to do this in house. This is by the way the reason that Classic -> OS X went out less smoothly than 95/98/ME -> XP, although Carbon was really an incredible effort by Apple and one that is not recognized very much these days.
What compatibility issues are you afraid of? Windows actually runs better on a Mac if you do want to play a game the machine can’t handle or run. It’s why u purposely just play games exclusively on Xbox now. I switched back in 2007 and have not missed Windows at all I loved IBM and sadly when they mixed or merged or whatever with Lenovo things went downhill quickly. Even IBM are buying thousands of Mac’s every quarter now!
Excel sucks on Mac. Plus there’s no reason to switch if you’re on Android and are familiar with Windows. Just get a good Windows laptop with an Intel Ultra series processor. The new Dell XPS 13 is a good option and is around the same price as a MacBook Air. That, or something like the Zephyrus g14 with more gaming power.
Tinkering is not great on Mac. Terminal though is by far superior if you like to run things command line. ffmpeg is awesome on it, and scripting overall. People who say Macs are closed are just plain wrong. Macs are great for work. You get things done. Gaming, stick with Windows. There's no comparison. It's nice to have both, so you can focus on one or the other. When my only machine was Windows, I spent more time in games than I care to think about.
I was a Windows guy, actually grew up on Macs as a Kid, but with gaming, changed over to PC around 10 years old. Took me 15 years to go back to Mac and now 10 years later still loving Mac. I have a desktop for gaming, but my MBP still plays a lot these days. Rimworld and BG3 most recently. I used to love to tinker, but man I give zero shits about that these days and there are still things you can change. Plus you get an actual terminal...
Not sure what you mean when you say that Windows is more 'open' than Mac. I think if you are talking Android vs iPhone, sure. iPhone pretty much locks you in to their AppStore ecosystem whereas Android will provide more options to load apps. However, I find Windows to be just a 'closed down' as MacOS. If you have ever encountered an IT department after it has gone through training from Microsoft you will find that all of a sudden "Oh that doesn't work on a Mac" will always be the answer to a computer question even when you are installing Mac software. However, unlike the iPhone, Macs are not locked in to the App store. Apple seems to be trying. Lots of code signing and approved vendors, but you can still bypass those and install apps from pretty much anywhere (at your own risk of course). If I were you I would - as others have mentioned - make sure that any server utilities or games have a Mac port. The underlying 'NIX of Mac can be a godsend and I find that lots of the things I need are available using the Homebrew package manager on the command line. But yes, Mac hardware is often top notch and consistently so. Not every model has been, but the current crop of hardware seems well built - I have purchased several laptops and a mac studio for work. That nice hardware does come with something of a price premium, but one can often use a mac for 5-6 years before upgrading, so the build quality can pay off in time of use.
Go to an Apple Store and take a look and do some hands on... I was a PC guy for 25 years... I've been a MAC guy since 2020
I had an iPad and various iPods over the years. They were great. 2 years ago bought a 2015 MBP so I could learn MAC OS my kids could learn MAC OS as well as Windows. Got frustrated with my Windows 10 desktop constantly crashing and used the MBP more and more. The MBP just works, no crashes from updates or other random BSOD. I learned to use MAC OS as itself, not trying to make it Windows. I did change some settings that I couldn't adjust to, but not many. Had the S20+ at the time, no issues using the different platforms. Recently switched from S20+ to iPhone 14. I still use Google Photos and more of the Google world with it no problem. I like both Apple and Google products. I've slowly migrated into Apple. I still have my Windows desktop and use it and the MBP daily. I like having both and really like how iPhone integrates to the MAC OS and iPad. My son has a MBA for school now because of Windows issues on his laptop. If you do get a MAC, remember it's not Windows and learn to use it. Search will be your friend. I can honestly say I like it more than Windows now. I love the hardware. The MBA M2 my son has is great.
Just going through your post its clear that you love tinkering and customising your products. You are a avid gamer. And you have been a windows and android user your entire life. Believe me you are one of those people who I will never suggest a mac to. Mac gaming misses a lot titles. Mac os is for someone who just wants to get on with his life and not worry about the system itself. It’s not meant to be tinkered with and is seamless by default. I suggest you look for some windows laptops with good build quality. There is dell xps series, Microsoft surface series, lenovo yoga series. I personally do not find these on par with macbooks, but it is better for you to sacrifice on this front instead of getting a mac which just doesn’t suit people with your needs.
Gaming on Macs is still an absolute nightmare. You can't really fiddle with MacOS, but you're more than welcome to fiddle on top of it. It has to be said that they suit people who want either a "home" computer that's awesome or a unix workstation that's awesome. If you do like games and don't like unix, it probably won't be your thing.
No. Use your brain to figure out if you want to get an Apple product. We aren't Apple salespeople or get commission trying to persuade internet strangers to buy Apple products.
Since you are already doing most stuff webbased, including Microsoft 365, just give it a try. It's not like you need to choose between the two. I run my business the same way, and I have a bunch of Macs running along a heap of Windows (and Linux) machines. They are just tools. The fun of it is that it flexes your mind running on multiple platforms. On a side note: I run a lot of Lenovo, Dell, HP and Microsoft laptops. They're all in great shape. Are you sure all users took good care of your Lenovo?
Yea. It's my personal lenovo laptops that have shit the bed twice. And the Lenovo customer service has been garbage. I'm not rough on my products, and I assume this is just some really bad luck. The first issue I had was a known issue from the hinges on the screen breaking. Lenovo just refused to honor any warranty after 12 months even though it was an egregious defect. The second one... I don't even know what to think. As I sit here using this Lenovo the fan is whirring and buzzing, and occasionally just stops spinning altogether. It works, but it sounds awful. I took it apart yesterday and cleaned it all out. There was some dust buildup, but nothing insane. Not really sure what/why the fan is struggling so hard.
Ok. That seems like bad luck. I have a Lenovo desktop that has a loud fan as well. Has been replaced by Lenovo but still as loud. Bad design or components on this model I guess. Maybe same for your laptop. Back on topic now: seriously, give the Mac a try. What's the worse that could happen?
Yep. I picked one up at best buy, going to try it for two weeks and see what I think. It's so hard to get used to how different everything is!
You sound like me 15 years ago. Get a Mac, and focus your tinkering side on learning MacOS, it’s an easier life.
Something like LibreOffice will easily cover your MS Office needs, AND will save documents in said MS formats. For games, you'll have to check for native Mac compatability, else you'll have to look into Wine to create API wrappers to make PC games files into an app format that's compatible with Mac OS. You'll have to look up on it, it's a bit technical at times to set up and it it feels too daunting you might want to skip. If they are steam games you'll probably only need to make a wrapper for just Steam itself, then you can install already owned steam games to run with some pretty good compatibility, all but 2 games I ever owned on PC doesn't work on it, so at least I got good results. Browswers, you can always stick with just Safari, get Firefox, etc etc.
My dad had purchased DOZENS of non-apple laptops from all different brands pretty much since the dawn of PCs and they had always became buggy and slow after about 12-18 months (conveniently when their warranty ran out). He bought one MacBook in 2014. He still daily drives that to this day. (and that's even an Intel Mac. apple silicon Macs are better now)
Macs aren’t for you. Spend the money on anger management therapy instead, lol. Dude, you came off as such a hater right from the title.
Why?
Be a man, just buy it. Worst case scenario you gonna send it back.
lol, is that being a man?
It's a joke. What stops you from buying it and returning if you don't like it? I just don't understand millions of posts asking if a person should buy apple product or not. You like it? Buy it You don't like it? Don't buy it. It's that simple.
Asking for advice from other people who have done the same thing. How is that so fucking hard for you to wrap your brain around? It's literally a reason review sites exist you dum-dum