Contemplating jumping ship from OSX.. Help?

[mixel]

hi folks..

Sorry, I know occasionally you get posts like this from trolls.. But I've been using my macs for so many years now, and I've been occasionally active here and like the community, sort of hoping for Devils advocates, reassurance or something?

Context: My first Mac was a G4 powermac, then I went to G5, then a MacBook Pro, then a couple of iMacs. I'm currently on a 2012 model. I'm contemplating throwing in the towel on OSX though as I've had to maintain a PC throughout as well (largely for gaming), and it's got to a point where it's so much more powerful in raw terms, and I feel a bit abandoned by Apple, in regards to upgrade paths. (First world problems!)

This is my 2nd iMac, the first aged well apart from screen shadowing. Apple replaced the screen on my current one in 2014 because of shadowing, but it's beginning to come back already. If it gets really bad they'll replace it again for free if it happens within the next year or two (which is pretty funny as it's a £260 part, to avoid a short but terrifying job cleaning inside the LCD panel!) This experience has somewhat soured my feeling for all-in-ones. :/ There isn't a middle area for me to upgrade to - mini is too puny, pro is too insanely expensive once specced up high enough, and I don't really trust iMacs anymore. Blarrgg.

With their slimline, laminated screens etc the current iMacs scare the crap out of me. On my current model the fan started ticking - So I replaced it. If things get inside the screen, etc it's at least vaguely serviceable.. How do you even get dust sucked into the fans out of the newer iMacs? Am I supposed to use it in a hermetically sealed room, or just replace it so frequently that it doesn't matter? :/

Never mind the time my wife's MacBook spontaneously caught fire and came close to causing serious harm to home and family. (Lol I don't hold that against Apple, in retrospect it's a good story! See my sig..)

A couple of years ago I'd be really happy to consider myself 100% Mac entrenched, but now photoshop and Lightroom (my main things) work equally on Windows.. And aperture is dead. (Damn it!) And iMovie is kind of wack, and I've ended up generally using Sony Vegas on Windows instead. I enjoy the act of just messing about with computers though, so I'd definitely miss the OS on that front. I'd also miss the consistent UI and a lot of tiny apps that are just *pleasant* compared to their windows equivelent.

But Windows 10 is surprisingly competent.. Has anyone else gone through this, sold on their macs and regretted it? Is it just a midlife Mac crisis? My PC *should* run 99% of the software I use a lot better - particularly photoshop has trouble with some of the brushes I use in OSX, I've just always used the Mac as my main as I prefer the OS and had those software dependencies.

Is there some obvious reason I shouldn't be doing this that I'm forgetting? I'm seriously freaking out a little, Wah.

That turned into a hell of a rant, thanks if you managed to get through all that.

 

[maflynn]

I struggled with that myself last fall. Ultimately, I opted for the iMac over the Dell (I was looking at the Dell XPS 8900).
For me, one of the major items was the loss of OSX. I'm fairly engrained into the platform and while I like windows 10, and what it has to offer, I would miss OS X.

Here was my thought process and maybe it will help
The PC gives you more options of upgrading, superior GPU and CPU, and open to a wider array of apps.
The Mac gives you Apple's ecosystem, less updates (windows has patch tuesday after all), and less risk of malware (though this may be changing).

Its a tough decision, that only you can make, but for me I went with the iMac because I got a great 5k display, good computer for the price that Dell would sell its 5k display (never mind computer).

 

[AtomicDusk]

I've dabbled in gaming too, but never seriously enough to have a dedicated gaming rig.

The way I see it would be akin to needing a heavy duty pickup truck because you have to haul something around regularly. Would you be happy using that as your main day to day car too? Does it have all the features you want beyond the raw power? If so then the argument to keep your Mac is more of a nice to have than a need to have.

The other way I've looked at it is when you just want to use a computer, the internet, email, whatever, would you prefer to use OS X or Windows 10? And how much time do you spend on the non-gaming related things on a daily basis?

That's just my approach, I hope it helps. Personally I could never ditch my Mac (in their current iteration). And while I dual boot to bootcamp to game sometimes, most of the games I play are Blizzard's OS X native ones. I may not have the highest FPS and ground density/camera distance may suffer, I may be playing on medium settings, not High or Ultra, and that's okay by me. But it's not a hyper competitive game for me, where seeing all those things will make or break my ability to enjoy/succeed in the game.

 

[mixel]

Thanks for the replies.

Gaming is pretty important to me.. I see what you mean about the pick-up truck thing AtomicDusk, that's exactly how I've felt previously, but as a side-effect of building the PC as quiet and quick as possible for gaming+video it's now pretty slick and silent. And Photoshop and Lightroom don't act any differently between the machines. And I've hidden it away beside the desk so it's not too messy. (now THAT is something i like about all in ones. its like cable spaghetti back there!)

I'd definitely rather be doing my non-work/non-gaming stuff in OSX, all of the social apps and file tools and things are incredible in osX. I also like Safari a lot. So I might regret this.

I'm giving it a week or so of transition before deciding.. I'm cloning my osX drive and im going to try booting that up in VMware too. If that works - I'll laugh - but it would mean I don't really need the physical iMac as I could still use "it" in a strange ghost Mac sense. I guess. :/ Its a lovely machine, but I really think I could be more productive if all my stuff was done from a single computer, and my PC is already quite beefy. I might use some of the iMac money on a 4k display for the PC though. It seems pretty silly for me to be forced into a dual platform upgrade cycle. It's just frustrating.

So far -

• Mailbird seems a decent Mail replacement
• Lightroom seems to be smoother on the slower Mac.. (though that may be due to the Mac's SSD) - Which is pretty lame considering my PC is octocore 4Ghz with an GTX970!
• Chrome syncing between my iPhone and PC for bookmarks..
• Windows "People" Contacts sync is keeping my iCloud contacts up to date.

Fingers crossed. I'll probably be back, even if i do pull this all off!

 

[AtomicDusk]

Good luck! The virtual OS X is intriguing, I hope it works!

 

[seggy]

"though that may be due to the Mac's SSD"

Ya think?

 

[ThisBougieLife]

Or you can just have both and eternally switch between the two--that's what I do. I require a Windows machine for certain games, but I much prefer OS X in general. So I end up with both.

 

[cube]

Windows 10 looks pretty but it is the same registry junk as always.

 

[turbineseaplane]

This is a good thread...one that highlights a couple things for me...

1. I really hope that Target Display mode comes back to the iMac with Thunderbolt 3 (where the 5k screen bandwidth won't be a problem for the connections). A dream scenario for me is an iMac 5k that I can simply use the screen for a dedicated Windows gaming machine when I want to, but the rest of the time I have a wonderful, true, Mac and all the benefits that implies.

2. The OP has described why many of us have ended up with Hackintosh's. Apple provides *some* hardware variety, but when you get to the upper end of power/gaming curve, they have very little to offer. (or at least not what some of us are looking for).

I, and I suspect many, would love to see an Mac Pro "Gamer", Mac Mini Pro or iMac Pro type of device that allowed for high end setups that aren't all the way into Mac Pro/Xeon/ECC Ram territory that's un-needed for the gamers out there, but where the iMac, even maxed out, still leaves you wanting (and the Mac Mini isn't even worth mentioning).

 

[mixel]

"though that may be due to the Mac's SSD"

Ya think?

There's still a reason to doubt that.. it's not just the speed of the scrolling, its the smoothness too, and the fact that under windows you get screen tear when scrolling up and down the Lightroom list view.. Which is a bit wonky. Generally I'd say the entire UI of OsX is still a bit smoother than Windows. I've moved my SSD over to the PC though, but haven't put the lightroom library on it yet (may prove too big to fit, sadly!) But we'll see if it's better then.

Good luck! The virtual OS X is intriguing, I hope it works!

The VMWare thing was a total bust at an early hurdle - my PC is so far from anything Apple have made.. It probably could be made to work by someone better at this stuff than me, maybe. Oh well! It's kind of crazy how much easier it is to virtualise windows in osX than it is to go the other way around.

Today was a bit of a setback when clonezilla made a clone of my original PC's C:SSHD drive to my SSD.. Then a disk util i used somehow screwed up the MBR and boot stuff. (my fault, but arrgh) So I had two broken copies of my PC. Oops. Fixed it in the end. Took ages. Swore a lot.

- Now I've consolidated both machines into one i need some ungodly massive drive to back up to.

Or you can just have both and eternally switch between the two--that's what I do. I require a Windows machine for certain games, but I much prefer OS X in general. So I end up with both.

I can totally feel that. I think if one (the mac, I guess) was a laptop and the other a desktop id be better at that.. With it being 2 desktops its like.. wanting to do X but you're sat at the computer that's set up to do Y, and you've never set up the X computer to do Z so you carry on sitting at the Y computer because having multiple, totally different fully set up machines is fiddly. I was doing art on one and video on another and music on *shrugs* none of them because I couldn't commit to one or the other after my midi devices all broke in both Win10 AND osX, which is a pain. I digress. XD

Over a decade of accumulated workflows and dependencies, it's a bit of a trip trying to untangle it all. On the (probable) plus side my wife's decided she probably wants the iMac if I don't, for small video editing, so if it all goes horribly wrong i can go back to it.

Windows 10 looks pretty but it is the same registry junk as always.

I'm hoping not to spend much time in the registry.

Weirdly, "task mode" took my by surprise.. it's basically exactly Apple's implementation of mission control, like.. nearly exactly the same. virtual desktops is something I use a lot.. The more i'm getting into it the less differences there are.

This is a good thread...one that highlights a couple things for me...

1. I really hope that Target Display mode comes back to the iMac with Thunderbolt 3 (where the 5k screen bandwidth won't be a problem for the connections). A dream scenario for me is an iMac 5k that I can simply use the screen for a dedicated Windows gaming machine when I want to, but the rest of the time I have a wonderful, true, Mac and all the benefits that implies.

2. The OP has described why many of us have ended up with Hackintosh's. Apple provides *some* hardware variety, but when you get to the upper end of power/gaming curve, they have very little to offer. (or at least not what some of us are looking for).

I, and I suspect many, would love to see an Mac Pro "Gamer", Mac Mini Pro or iMac Pro type of device that allowed for high end setups that aren't all the way into Mac Pro/Xeon/ECC Ram territory that's un-needed for the gamers out there, but where the iMac, even maxed out, still leaves you wanting (and the Mac Mini isn't even worth mentioning).

Thanks for your thoughtful reply.. I can totally see the need for hackintoshes too. If I was starting my PC from scratch I'd have made it in a much osX friendlier way, probably.. I still wouldn't like it though, I really love apple hardware. If my PC had thunderbolt I'd probably be using the iMac as a monitor too. Alas, it's not to be.

I'm sure you used to get a lot more bang for your buck with the Mini, it's a mess now. I think I'll probably be a PC user for a bit and eventually get a Macbook or something again years down the line in a moment of weakness.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I still wouldn't like it though, I really love apple hardware.

.... me too friend - I feel ya'

It really pains me to be using a Hack in that I wish it had the Apple design...but at least I do have what I ultimately wanted (SUPER power gaming/work computer that runs both OS's flawlessly) for now.

One other advantage to a non Mac is a physically larger screen. I personally like to run roughly 1440p apparent resolution in HiDPI mode on my 31.5" 4k screen. For my eyes, which are starting to age, 1440p is the amount of workspace I enjoy, but I prefer the physical canvas to be larger than 27". When I use a 5k iMac at the Apple Store, I'm always drawn to be physically closer to the screen than I'd like, just to get things to be "the size I'd like" on screen without having to switch to a scaling mode and lose workspace.

 

[mixel]

http://www.ubuntu.com/

That's not the most helpful suggestion ever. I'm (probably) giving up the advantages of the Mac to gain the advantages of Windows. Switching to Linux would give me.. None of the advantages of either.. And a lot more faffing about. (I've used linux on and off over the years, I don't dislike it, but it's not something that'd help right now.

I have a 3TB Steam Library, tons of Win and OsX software, a Creative Cloud subscription and an Oculus Rift. Some of this stuff is awkward to get up to speed as it is; adding linux to the mix would be a huge headache.

.... me too friend - I feel ya'

It really pains me to be using a Hack in that I wish it had the Apple design...but at least I do have what I ultimately wanted (SUPER power gaming/work computer that runs both OS's flawlessly) for now.

I may love the apple design aesthetically, but I imagine you've put thought into your hackintosh too.. I do wonder about the logic to my love of apple designs based on my family's Mac track record. One of them almost set my house on fire (technically the battery, so not totally Apple's fault), and my iMacs screens repeatedly get grey gunk inside (i have no idea how it *only* ends up inside iMacs, haha.) Given all this, and their turning their back on Aperture and the middle end. I shouldn't probably *have* brand loyalty. I like the software and ecosystems though. I've had no problems with iOS, I have no problem thinking I'm going to stay actively using that, but uurgh.

On the plus side it's nice that Windows 10 is so competent that I can even contemplate this. I wouldn't have in earlier versions. Hmm.

This all just reminds me of the feelings I went through when I was abandoning the Amiga, long after most people.. Very begrudgingly. Ah well, I'll keep on going 'til it's all copied over and I've come up with new workflows and stuff. This might all turn into an astronomical waste of time, but I think I'm past the point of improbable return now..

 

[turbineseaplane]

How cool would it be if Apple came out with limited release "labs" versions of hardware or something that wasn't anywhere near the numbers produced of iMacs/Macbooks etc, but offered some of these different variations we've all longed for, but in legit Apple built hardware.

I know. Won't happen - But it would be awesome.

Hell, at this point I just wish they'd do a refreshed version of the classic Mac Pro (cheese grater) with modern internals. I was SUPER close to pulling the trigger on a really nice Mac Pro 5,1, but I just don't want to go that far in the past with internal guts/component specs. Again, for me, the whole point was basically so I could stick a 980ti (MacVidCards.com flashed) into a legit mac.

 

[ThisBougieLife]

Hell, at this point I just wish they'd do a refreshed version of the classic Mac Pro (cheese grater) with modern internals.

That would be amazing; I'd buy one in a heart beat. The current Mac Pro really doesn't appeal to me in any way.

 

[turbineseaplane]

That would be amazing; I'd buy one in a heart beat. The current Mac Pro really doesn't appeal to me in any way.

LOTS of us would I think

 

[jeremysteele]

I went through this in the last couple years as well.

I switched from OS X to Windows (first 7, then 8.1, and now 10) about 2 or 3 years ago as my main platform. That was after using Macs since 1995 when I was about 6 years old. Prior to the switch I only used Windows as my gaming platform, but never my daily "work" machine.

However, as a pro user I just could not stand developing on it anymore. Between limitations in how much you can customize things, and the simple economic fact that their pro machines are absolutely ridiculously priced for what you get. I could not justify it anymore. The mac "fanboy" inside of me died.

Plus their upgrade cycles are completely shot these days. I do miss the good ol' days of having a steady 1-2 upgrades per year for every machine. Now you are lucky to get an upgrade once every 1.5 years. It is purely an issue that Apple created for themselves - the upgrades are there. Anyone who builds PCs knows the upgrades are there.

Heck, I ran a hackintosh for two years due to their lackluster hardware just to keep using the OS. I upgraded that sucker twice a year and it ran beautifully until it fried during a weird power surge (that somehow also fried my UPS battery backup and a TV in another room).

I still use an iPhone since it works incredibly well and I can rely on them to upgrade it every year with decent changes . If the day comes that cycle stops - I will switch from that as well.

That said - I think for virtually any basic home user out there OS X would be fine. It works incredibly well, and does not have nearly as many quirks as Windows. But as a pro user I just couldn't take it anymore.

Funny thing is when I switched I got a lot of snarky remarks from coworkers and friends - but they too have started to switch. Apple is basically ticking off their pro users - the same ones who kept their business afloat in the 90s. It may take a decade - but their current stance will come back to bite them in a big way.

 

[Strider64]

I was a Windows user for 30+ years and I made the switch over to OS X just for about a year now. It's my opinion a person can't go wrong with either Windows or Apple. I'm liking Apple more everyday, for I can do the same thing on my iMac 5k (Late 2014) that I can do with my old PC. I still have my old PC computer, but I don't use it as much as I should. It's starting to show its age, heck I have to replace the CMOS battery on the computer when I get off my lazy butt.

When I say I can do everything on the iMac 5k that I could with my PC ---> I mean it. I am a Designer and Developer where I create my own websites. I do a lot of coding in PHP using Object-Oriented Programing and I basically transferred my local server (XAMPP) and my IDE (Netbeans) over to the iMac. They both work like a charm on the iMac. I installed bootcamp running Windows 10 on it, I game on the Windows side and run by Adobe CS5.5 Creative Suite Educational Edition on it. CS5.5 works like a charm and I like the fact that I can use After Effects without having to pay a monthly fee, for I am not a heavy video editor to justify doing that. While I could had stayed with Windows and built another computer that was faster and better I decided to go the Apple route. I would had been satisfied had I stayed using Windows, but I'm completely happy using OS X. It's been over a week since I restarted my computer and all I can say is "It's nice just tapping the keyboard and being to get work right away".

With that said I'm sure whatever direction you go ----> You won't make a bad choice.

 

[wepiii]

http://www.tonymacx86.com

 

[cube]

http://www.ubuntu.com/

To be fair, that now has mandatory systemd. In Gentoo, for example, it is optional.

 

[mixel]

How cool would it be if Apple came out with limited release "labs" versions of hardware or something that wasn't anywhere near the numbers produced of iMacs/Macbooks etc, but offered some of these different variations we've all longed for, but in legit Apple built hardware.

I know. Won't happen - But it would be awesome.

Hell, at this point I just wish they'd do a refreshed version of the classic Mac Pro (cheese grater) with modern internals. I was SUPER close to pulling the trigger on a really nice Mac Pro 5,1, but I just don't want to go that far in the past with internal guts/component specs. Again, for me, the whole point was basically so I could stick a 980ti (MacVidCards.com flashed) into a legit mac.

That's a great idea. If they brought back a series of retro enclosures, the Cube one would fit a lot of stuff now, especially considering the Pro isn't much bigger than it. A cheesegrater powermac but in a mini tower case would be more than enough for a lot of us.

I went through this in the last couple years as well.

I switched from OS X to Windows (first 7, then 8.1, and now 10) about 2 or 3 years ago as my main platform. That was after using Macs since 1995 when I was about 6 years old. Prior to the switch I only used Windows as my gaming platform, but never my daily "work" machine.

However, as a pro user I just could not stand developing on it anymore. Between limitations in how much you can customize things, and the simple economic fact that their pro machines are absolutely ridiculously priced for what you get. I could not justify it anymore. The mac "fanboy" inside of me died.

Plus their upgrade cycles are completely shot these days. I do miss the good ol' days of having a steady 1-2 upgrades per year for every machine. Now you are lucky to get an upgrade once every 1.5 years. It is purely an issue that Apple created for themselves - the upgrades are there. Anyone who builds PCs knows the upgrades are there.

Heck, I ran a hackintosh for two years due to their lackluster hardware just to keep using the OS. I upgraded that sucker twice a year and it ran beautifully until it fried during a weird power surge (that somehow also fried my UPS battery backup and a TV in another room).

I still use an iPhone since it works incredibly well and I can rely on them to upgrade it every year with decent changes . If the day comes that cycle stops - I will switch from that as well.

That said - I think for virtually any basic home user out there OS X would be fine. It works incredibly well, and does not have nearly as many quirks as Windows. But as a pro user I just couldn't take it anymore.

Funny thing is when I switched I got a lot of snarky remarks from coworkers and friends - but they too have started to switch. Apple is basically ticking off their pro users - the same ones who kept their business afloat in the 90s. It may take a decade - but their current stance will come back to bite them in a big way.

Yup, this all sounds a lot like where I'm headed. I'd still recommend osX over windows for most general users, but you gotta go where the software and hardware you need is. Which is making me sad. But ugh.

I'm a big iOS fan. In a couple of years the iPad pro may well fill my Apple computer needs. I've never had any iOS hardware go wrong. (except when I spilled Lucozade on my iPhone.. oops)

I was a Windows user for 30+ years and I made the switch over to OS X just for about a year now. It's my opinion a person can't go wrong with either Windows or Apple. I'm liking Apple more everyday, for I can do the same thing on my iMac 5k (Late 2014) that I can do with my old PC. I still have my old PC computer, but I don't use it as much as I should. It's starting to show its age, heck I have to replace the CMOS battery on the computer when I get off my lazy butt.

When I say I can do everything on the iMac 5k that I could with my PC ---> I mean it. I am a Designer and Developer where I create my own websites. I do a lot of coding in PHP using Object-Oriented Programing and I basically transferred my local server (XAMPP) and my IDE (Netbeans) over to the iMac. They both work like a charm on the iMac. I installed bootcamp running Windows 10 on it, I game on the Windows side and run by Adobe CS5.5 Creative Suite Educational Edition on it. CS5.5 works like a charm and I like the fact that I can use After Effects without having to pay a monthly fee, for I am not a heavy video editor to justify doing that. While I could had stayed with Windows and built another computer that was faster and better I decided to go the Apple route. I would had been satisfied had I stayed using Windows, but I'm completely happy using OS X. It's been over a week since I restarted my computer and all I can say is "It's nice just tapping the keyboard and being to get work right away".

With that said I'm sure whatever direction you go ----> You won't make a bad choice.

Thanks. That was a really fun adventure for me too, the Windows to osX transition is really great when it's working well for you! I wasn't meaning to make a qualitative "you can do more on Windows" type thing.. You're probably right and I may not regret this as much as I'm fretting about, it'll just all be fine regardless.. Saying that - If I had a £1800 lying around for my ideal iMac i'd maybe doing that too - but after my screen woes with older models I'm pretty reluctant to do iMacs, and justifying an outlay like that when I already have a PC that outperforms the top config is.. Well I can't really do that. So there's nowhere for me to go unless I go hackitosh or Windows. :/ Or win the lottery and get a MacPro?

Thanks for all the replies everyone, wasn't expecting such a response!

 

[howiest]

Why not buy some time?

Sell that iMac, and use the funds to get a 2009 - 2012 Mac Pro. Put in a decent video card, sufficient RAM, and an SSD or two, plus a big fat mechanical HD for Time Machine, and you're good to go for another 2 or 3 years. Oh, and an inexpensive USB 3 card too.

You can run Windows 10 in Boot Camp, you can game in both OS's, and you'll have a complete system "that just works". The only thing in question is what monitor to buy. Depending on the video card, you can have the same (or better) graphics you've become used to.

After a little while, you'll have a clearer view of the playing field. Windows will evolve, Apple will evolve (and either support or desert their desktop line), and then you can make a final decision.

In the end you'll get a feel for what a really well designed desktop should be, and you can sell it and move on.

At least that's what I'm doing.

 

[mixel]

Why not buy some time?

Sell that iMac, and use the funds to get a 2009 - 2012 Mac Pro. Put in a decent video card, sufficient RAM, and an SSD or two, plus a big fat mechanical HD for Time Machine, and you're good to go for another 2 or 3 years. Oh, and an inexpensive USB 3 card too.

You can run Windows 10 in Boot Camp, you can game in both OS's, and you'll have a complete system "that just works". The only thing in question is what monitor to buy. Depending on the video card, you can have the same (or better) graphics you've become used to.

After a little while, you'll have a clearer view of the playing field. Windows will evolve, Apple will evolve (and either support or desert their desktop line), and then you can make a final decision.

In the end you'll get a feel for what a really well designed desktop should be, and you can sell it and move on.

At least that's what I'm doing.

That would be an ideal solution if i didn't already have my PC. I can't really justify another big ol' tower.

 

[AustinIllini]

Windows 10 looks pretty but it is the same registry junk as always.

This. The Registry is a mess and it's the foundation of Windows

I answered maybe. I don't know OP's interests, financials, or personal tastes.

Windows is fine. Windows 10 is the best of the Windows bunch. It's still not leaving the OS X environment for me.

 

[Huntn]

If you want to save some money by switching to Windows hardware maybe, depending on what you want to do with it. MacOSX is everything I want it to be. Windows 10 is the best Windows I've used, but my serious working comfort still resides in the MacOSX and I can afford it so, I see Macs in my foreseeable future. Note, as I type this post on my gaming PC.

Here's a winner. $115, what's not to like? My guess, no serious gaming.

​

Windows 10 looks pretty but it is the same registry junk as always.

Agreed, the MS Achilles's heal. Yes, MS has put effort into protecting you from it and there are ways to mitigate it, but Apple did it better.

 

[wepiii]

That would be an ideal solution if i didn't already have my PC. I can't really justify another big ol' tower.

You should seriously look into tonymacx86.com

You can run OS X natively on most modern hardware. That would give you the best of both worlds. I've recently moved away from Windows so I upgraded to a 5k iMac, but before that I had a custom built system that dual booted Windows and Mac. What are the specs of your current Windows rig? More than likely you could use a tutorial from tony Mac to set it up on a separate partition.