Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Anyone here use an iPhone and a windows laptop? (No fanboys here! Just honest love for tech)

Ghost31

Ghost31

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jun 9, 2015
3,631
5,810
I just sold my retina MacBook Pro to use as savings towards my next MacBook (sky lake) and I've been managing ok with just my iPad Air 2 and iPhone 6 for a bit. Then I heard about windows 10 coming out and saw the reviews and decided "hey. I have an old windows 7 laptop in a box somewhere. Why not update that thing and try out windows 10? It's free!"

So I did. And after like 4 hours later of updating my laptop (Jesus Christ it took so long I took a nap) I finally got to try it and wow. This is not the windows I remember. The design language is actually good! The edge browser is pretty cool and looks like it'll be good for ms to build upon, I like their selection of apps and the fact that instead of going to the Netflix site and searching for videos to play (like I gotta do on my Mac) I can just click on the netflix app and boom. Instant Netflix awesomeness. The snapping of the windows is way more intuitive than OS X (even though I got by ok with better touch tool) the live tiles are actually pretty neat and easily customizable and Cortana is like Siri for windows. Why the hell don't we have Siri on mac yet?! And I liked the "iPhone companion app" on there. Was interesting to see how much windows works well with iPhone. Looks like Cortana is gonna be coming to iPhone soon too? Excited

All in all, I'm pretty shocked. I had been away from windows for so long that I had no idea how far they've come. It's actually not a crappy OS anymore! Who knew? I'm still buying a Mac at some point when sky lake comes, but who knows? Maybe I'll load windows 10 on there and go back and forth between OS's all the time.

Anyone here in the same boat?
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Lukkee24 and AleXXXa
I only went from Windows to Mac about 2 years ago. But every time I use my work (Windows) PC which has much higher specs than my Air (i7/8GB vs. i5/4GB, both with SSD), I am surprised how slow that thing is.
I will certainly try out Windows 10 soon, but the problem I normally find is that initially it works fine but with a couple of weeks or months it all slows down like crazy until you do a fresh install.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ghost31
Win7 and now Win10 seem to be the best versions so far.

All of my computers are Mac (and I only own one Intel). But I support PCs and a handful of Macs at work so Win2K, XP, 7, Small Business Server 2003, Win 2012 Server and now Windows 10 are in my pool of experience. That and Windows PCs have lately been the only platform that jailbreaks will execute on.

I am looking forward to Cortana being offered for the iPhone and I am now even considering a Win 10 netbook as a purchase.

No fan boy here, I just use what I like.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ghost31
I'm actually thinking about moving to Windows. I've been on Mac for about 8 years now. It's been great for me, but Windows PC's are just coming with great hardware and software nowadays, I'm thinking of making the jump back.
 
quietstormSD said:
I'm actually thinking about moving to Windows. I've been on Mac for about 8 years now. It's been great for me, but Windows PC's are just coming with great hardware and software nowadays, I'm thinking of making the jump back.
Click to expand...
Got any windows laptops in mind? I tried looking on best buy website but there's so many to choose from! How do windows people even decide?
 
MarvinHC said:
I only went from Windows to Mac about 2 years ago. But every time I use my work (Windows) PC which has much higher specs than my Air (i7/8GB vs. i5/4GB, both with SSD), I am surprised how slow that thing is.
I will certainly try out Windows 10 soon, but the problem I normally find is that initially it works fine but with a couple of weeks or months it all slows down like crazy until you do a fresh install.
Click to expand...

Depending on where you work and what you do, the speed issue might be due to the security corporate IT puts in the PC. My work PC just got upgrade 8-core 3.2ghz, 16GBRam. I can barely open engineering drawings because of the new security suite they deployed 3 months ago. 10min waiting for a drawing to load, 30 for a model. Productivity down, clash of clans, up!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kyotoma
I updated my Samsung tablet to Windows 10. It is slow to log in, and touch response is generally laggy compared to Win 8.1. As much as it is refreshing to see the improved UI, it was still just Windows and got bored in 10 min. Switched it off and went back to my iPad. The touch screen is so much more responsive on iPad.
 
I use an iPhone 5 and a Dell notebook with Windows 7.

I'm a huge fan of iOS, but I always preferred Windows to OS X, because I find Windows Explorer easier to manage than the MacOS Finder.
 
I use a MacBook Air 13 and two iMacs 27s. All are running Win7 Pro. I love the Apple hardware but have to have Windows for my AutoCad and Quckbooks. Have not tried Win10 yet but will in the future.
 
I'm not in the same boat but in the one right next to yours. :) I use both, iOS and Android as my daily drivers. I also occasionally use my Nokia Lumia, though considerably less than my iPhone or Xperia.

I don't fully commit myself to using a single platform as that'd be boring to me. I love diversity. Right now I don't possess a non-Macintosh personal computer but I do have an old black Macbook on which I exclusively run Windows. Given the largely positive reviews on Windows 10, however, I do plan on building a mid-range system in the not too distant future. It's been a long time since I've had a dedicated Win system and I'd love to get into occasional gaming again and, like you, test out what it's like again to choose my own hardware components. And I need Windows anyway due to my work, so it's not completely unjustified.

Actually, the only reason I stick to mainly OS and iOS is because I do not want to buy into three ecosystems. If all software were universal and had to be paid for just once regardless of platform, then my use of Windows would likely be a lot higher.

Regardless of platform, it's a good time to be a tech lover. :)
 
Ghost31 said:
How do windows people even decide?
Click to expand...
You decide based on brand.

Each brand has something unique to offer (even if it's just crapware) to try and differentiate themselves. Each brand has a negative. Flashy usually equals flash in a pan. Go with solid, proven brands with long track records and you'll be ok.

I can tell you right now that Dell is a brand I will never purchase. They are great out of the box, but a few years down the road develop issues. My boss has replaced most of the Dells we have…with Dells (sigh!).
 
iPhone 6, Dell XPS 13 (2015 touchscreen model... Excellent laptop!) running Windows 10, and a Nexus 7 (2013) tablet. I don't understand why people are blindly loyal and defensive of a particular company or platform. Good tech is good tech.
 
  • Like
Reactions: djransom and eyoungren
eyoungren said:
I can tell you right now that Dell is a brand I will never purchase. They are great out of the box, but a few years down the road develop issues. My boss has replaced most of the Dells we have…with Dells (sigh!).
Click to expand...

My experience has been different. I've owned 4 Dells over the past 20 years and all of my past ones were still working well after 5 years. I was able to keep a Dell Latitude going for almost 8 years, but the screen got really dim at the end because the backlight went bad (this computer was from before LED backlighting were common).
 
Retired Cat said:
My experience has been different. I've owned 4 Dells over the past 20 years and all of my past ones were still working well after 5 years. I was able to keep a Dell Latitude going for almost 8 years, but the screen got really dim at the end because the backlight went bad (this computer was from before LED backlighting were common).
Click to expand...
Well, perhaps it's just the business machines then, IDK.

In 2006 my boss spent over 10k for a server and new Dell Optiplex's. Now, granted we tend to use our computers until they die so this may be unfair, but the Editor's Dell was replaced in 2012 or so because of bad caps - which as it turns out was and is an issue with that particular model. Dell went with a cheap motherboard manufacturer on that one. The Editor also had to have ram replaced at one point.

One of these Dells has an issue where the fan will rev when the CPU comes under any load. And that's the best of the lot. Our 2006 Dell server has blown through two or three NICs in the past nine years.

In 2014 my boss replaced four of the Dells with newer Dells. Remanufactured units to keep the cost down. It's only been a year but I'm now keeping an eye on them.

The Gateways that were there when I was hired in 2004 however have been rock solid. My coworker is still using her Gateway PC with Windows 2000 on it.

All of this compared to the two 1999 era PowerMac G4s that continue to function well and do their jobs and have not needed any type of service in the 11 years I've worked for the company. Hell, our Xante printers have had longer lives.

And I've never had any issues with the HPs my boss bought either.
 
Retired Cat said:
I'm a huge fan of iOS, but I always preferred Windows to OS X, because I find Windows Explorer easier to manage than the MacOS Finder.
Click to expand...
Same here. OS X isn't bad, but Windows is much better for file management and getting real work done thanks to Windows Explorer and the taskbar. I own a MacBook Air but primarily run Windows 7 on it, only logging into Mavericks for Mac exclusive apps like Garageband.
 
Windows is and (mostly) always has been a decent O/S. I never get involved in fanboy debates arguing that one device or OS is better than another I just select what I like best at the time. Personally I prefer OS X so I have selected a Macbook Pro as my main computer although I don't really have any problems with Windows other than the fact it seems to need a lot more maintenance the OSX.
Regarding your point about about how well the iPhone works with a Windows system, I never had any issues with this back when I was on Windows laptop before I invested in my first Mac, although now with all the iCloud features, especially the new photos app and iCloud Photo library (Photography is a big part of my computer usage) I think i'd struggle to have all my systems on different platforms.
I haven't actually had a chance to try Windows 10 yet, I have a HTPC i built that currently runs Windows 8.1 so when I get a chance i'll definitely be upgrading that to check it out, from what I've seen and read so far it looks like a great OS.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ghost31
I do and I always have. Tried the Mac it was way too complicated. I'd rather use something I'm accustomed to for years.
 
I use windows laptop because I also do some gaming on the side and MacBook GPU isn't powerful enough for my needs.
 
Windows laptop user with iPhone 6 here. I'm actually looking at getting back to having a Mac as a computer...
 
I have no qualms with win10 except for the solid colored (white by default!) window borders and title bars. Not sure why aero is not an option.
 
Ghost31 said:
I just sold my retina MacBook Pro to use as savings towards my next MacBook (sky lake) and I've been managing ok with just my iPad Air 2 and iPhone 6 for a bit. Then I heard about windows 10 coming out and saw the reviews and decided "hey. I have an old windows 7 laptop in a box somewhere. Why not update that thing and try out windows 10? It's free!"

So I did. And after like 4 hours later of updating my laptop (Jesus Christ it took so long I took a nap) I finally got to try it and wow. This is not the windows I remember. The design language is actually good! The edge browser is pretty cool and looks like it'll be good for ms to build upon, I like their selection of apps and the fact that instead of going to the Netflix site and searching for videos to play (like I gotta do on my Mac) I can just click on the netflix app and boom. Instant Netflix awesomeness. The snapping of the windows is way more intuitive than OS X (even though I got by ok with better touch tool) the live tiles are actually pretty neat and easily customizable and Cortana is like Siri for windows. Why the hell don't we have Siri on mac yet?! And I liked the "iPhone companion app" on there. Was interesting to see how much windows works well with iPhone. Looks like Cortana is gonna be coming to iPhone soon too? Excited

All in all, I'm pretty shocked. I had been away from windows for so long that I had no idea how far they've come. It's actually not a crappy OS anymore! Who knew? I'm still buying a Mac at some point when sky lake comes, but who knows? Maybe I'll load windows 10 on there and go back and forth between OS's all the time.

Anyone here in the same boat?
Click to expand...
Yes,have been for years.
I've been using Windows 10 for a few months and been a beta tester and now have the released version and I'm very happy with it.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back