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I was close to switching today, but I talked myself out of it. Caught up in the excitement of putting together a spec and the prospect of doing a build.

I like the simplicity of my M4 Mac mini, everything works for me right now without any issues. GFN fills the gap of casual gaming with friends and when I eventually get bored again I just don't renew my sub.

I don't game any more so it's a lot easier for me to stick with mac. Sometimes I'll read something or see something on youtube that makes me think hmmm yeah that was good on windows. So I keep a windows machine handy on the kvm, usually takes about 5-10 mins to turn it off again :)
 
I was close to switching today, but I talked myself out of it. Caught up in the excitement of putting together a spec and the prospect of doing a build.

I like the simplicity of my M4 Mac mini, everything works for me right now without any issues. GFN fills the gap of casual gaming with friends and when I eventually get bored again I just don't renew my sub.
Just admit it, you will be posting here about your new PC build :)

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I'm kinda weird I just switch when I'm bored with one OS. Or when I need an app like Pixelmator that isn't available for Windows 11 and vice versa. Then I'll just use the Mac for a while. Besides Mac/Windows only program both share an NAS so I have access to all of my files regardless if I'm on my Mac or Windows PC.
 
I'm kinda weird I just switch when I'm bored with one OS. Or when I need an app like Pixelmator that isn't available for Windows 11 and vice versa. Then I'll just use the Mac for a while. Besides Mac/Windows only program both share an NAS so I have access to all of my files regardless if I'm on my Mac or Windows PC.

I don't think that's weird at all :) makes sense to me
 
I've been so spoilt by the quiet Apple Mx series, if I was to build another pc it would have to be a small form factor quiet one. Perhaps new pc arm chips will make it more possible.
If you're looking for a quiet build, I'd say the larger cases are probably the better bet. When you have more room for air movement and fans, you can run larger fans at lower RPMs.

My daily driver workstation is built into a CoolerMaster HAF-932 case from 2009. It is the third iteration of desktop PCs I've built in this case, and it is absolutely whisper-quiet. It still has the stock side and front fans that it came with (the side fan is pretty big) and I've installed Noctua fans on the top and back and a huge Noctua air-cooler for the CPU. The case is an absolute beast but it fits perfectly under my desk on the floor and stays out of the way (you can see from the pic below that it is showing its age, though):

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I'm kinda weird I just switch when I'm bored with one OS. Or when I need an app like Pixelmator that isn't available for Windows 11 and vice versa. Then I'll just use the Mac for a while. Besides Mac/Windows only program both share an NAS so I have access to all of my files regardless if I'm on my Mac or Windows PC.
I think it is smart. Using multiple OS at once is a good thing. Using one OS as primary and as many as you can handle as secondary is good for multiple reasons.

Personally I like to understand how different operating systems do the same tasks or functions. They all do things in slightly or majorly different ways and in my opinion it opens your mind up to problem solving. For me, Using different operating systems is fun but I am past the learning curve mostly. I also will alternate when I get tired or bored of one OS. Or if one OS is more fun or more efficient to use I will use it more.

I also don't want to be tied down to one platform.

There have been times I have tried to go all one OS and it has never worked out for me. I need redundancies and alternatives.

So I don't think what you are doing is weird at all.
 
If you're looking for a quiet build, I'd say the larger cases are probably the better bet. When you have more room for air movement and fans, you can run larger fans at lower RPMs.

My daily driver workstation is built into a CoolerMaster HAF-932 case from 2009. It is the third iteration of desktop PCs I've built in this case, and it is absolutely whisper-quiet. It still has the stock side and front fans that it came with (the side fan is pretty big) and I've installed Noctua fans on the top and back and a huge Noctua air-cooler for the CPU. The case is an absolute beast but it fits perfectly under my desk on the floor and stays out of the way (you can see from the pic below that it is showing its age, though):

I have a Cougar Panzer Max case and there's a ton of room for large, slow fans and I prefer this approach to getting a quiet system. I tend to go for low-powered components too. You need some room under your table as this thing is pretty tall.

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My Windows PC is sitting, gathering dust. If I ever put it on, it is mainly to play a PC game and update Windows.
Besides that, it has been a while since I have turned it on, well, woke it from sleep.

Honestly, if I had to return to only using Windows, not sure it would be a smooth transition, more of a painful one...
 
A new gaming PC isn't anywhere near the top of that list right now
I totally get it, I held off on a new machine for financial reasons as well. I wanted to build a new pc a number of times but the high pricing of the parts that I wanted just didn't make it feasible. In a strange way, that's exactly what got me looking back at the Mac. That was a slippery slope, I had thought, lets just get a M4 Mini for 500 dollars, that eventually transformed into my buying a M4 Max Studio
 
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Not my cup of tea myself but looks cool. Funfact i can fit 80 MM in the space of my Fractal North(there’s a North XL as well which is even bigger), I should have went with the Ridge but i liked wood at the time.

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I love the Fractal North cases and had contemplated getting a black one to replace the HAF at some point. I will probably retire the HAF when I do my next full build (likely won't be for at least another 3 years, though, I overbuilt my current machine for my needs so much that I don't anticipate needing a refresh anytime soon - most I might do is upgrade the RAM and SSD at some point, but even those are nowhere near capacity).
 
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I love the Fractal North cases and had contemplated getting a black one to replace the HAF at some point. I will probably retire the HAF when I do my next full build (likely won't be for at least another 3 years, though, I overbuilt my current machine for my needs so much that I don't anticipate needing a refresh anytime soon - most I might do is upgrade the RAM and SSD at some point, but even those are nowhere near capacity).
Only qualms I have is its too big, but honestly building it and gathering parts is the best part of owning a PC. If Fractal were to make a Ridge with wood accents I would re-build a new one but I would probably use some of the parts I already have on hand. It has a 9070xt and 7800x3d which I don't think I will need a replacement anytime soon. All I would need is a mITX mobo.

Edit: I just realized how much I spent on a PSU and Mobo. I probably won't rebuild it lol.

My Windows PC is sitting, gathering dust. If I ever put it on, it is mainly to play a PC game and update Windows.
Besides that, it has been a while since I have turned it on, well, woke it from sleep.

Honestly, if I had to return to only using Windows, not sure it would be a smooth transition, more of a painful one...
I mean both have strengths and weakness, and there are things on the PC that just makes it more versatile than on MacOS. Like being able to run any Google Play store game/app then seamlessly continue playing on your phone/tablet. Windows also drives my Sonos systems much better than on Airplay 2(which always requires me to always click on it with every login) with a built in equalizer for playing all sorts of media as well as an 5.1 HDMI Arc(where the Mac only has a normal HDMI port). For photo and video edition or to just to save a bit of electricity I use MacOS, but for most of the stuff I use Windows.
 
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I totally get it, I held off on a new machine for financial reasons as well. I wanted to build a new pc a number of times but the high pricing of the parts that I wanted just didn't make it feasible. In a strange way, that's exactly what got me looking back at the Mac. That was a slippery slope, I had thought, lets just get a M4 Mini for 500 dollars, that eventually transformed into my buying a M4 Max Studio
That's exactly how they get you, oh a Mac mini is only £599 but then you buy an use it and it has almost no storage and before you know it you're speccing up an M2 Max Mac Studio, it's the same with MacBook Air etc. Apple are the masters of it but it's quite annoying because you can basically say goodbye to the idea of buying a machine with evolving computing needs, you have to buy the machine you will want for the whole life of it right up front. You either over-spec a machine hoping to future proof yourself and pay through the nose for Apple upgrade costs, or you under-spec the machine and end up needing to buy a whole new computer when your needs change, it's a win win from Apple. It's quite clever really because Apple computers do represent good value in their base spec, the second you stray even a tiny bit from that the value proposition drops off a cliff.
 
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That's exactly how they get you, oh a Mac mini is only £599 but then you buy an use it and it has almost no storage and before you know it you're speccing up an M2 Max Mac Studio, it's the same with MacBook Air etc. Apple are the masters of it but it's quite annoying because you can basically say goodbye to the idea of buying a machine with evolving computing needs, you have to buy the machine you will want for the whole life of it right up front. Which is a win win for apple, you either over-spec a machine hoping to future proof yourself and pay through the nose for Apple upgrade costs, or you under-spec the machine and end up needing to buy a whole new computer when your needs change, it's a win win from Apple. It's quite clever really because Apple computers do represent good value in their base spec, the second you stray even a tiny bit from that the value proposition drops off a cliff.

The people who would consider doing this have a lot of disposable income. I run into far more people that want to spend as little as possible and they'll live with the consequences of that.
 
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Decided to give Windowsblinds a try for skinning the "personal" environment on my workstation (I have an Object Desktop license, but bought it for a couple of other tools, mainly for my "Work" environment, but never tried Windowblinds because wasn't interested much in skinning).

This takes me back to the good old days of running Kaleidoscope on my Performa back in the day. There were a few really cool skins that Kaleidoscope provided.

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One thing I notice is that some apps (particularly MS Office apps and some "modern" aka "metro" apps) don't pick up the skin. Excel and Spotify for example:
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Although at least in Excel (and presumably other Office apps), sub-windows take on the skin:

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Of course, there's also the absolutely ridiculous: :)
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Decided to give Windowsblinds a try for skinning the "personal" environment on my workstation (I have an Object Desktop license, but bought it for a couple of other tools, mainly for my "Work" environment, but never tried Windowblinds because wasn't interested much in skinning).

This takes me back to the good old days of running Kaleidoscope on my Performa back in the day. There were a few really cool skins that Kaleidoscope provided.



One thing I notice is that some apps (particularly MS Office apps and some "modern" aka "metro" apps) don't pick up the skin. Excel and Spotify for example:


Although at least in Excel (and presumably other Office apps), sub-windows take on the skin


Of course, there's also the absolutely ridiculous:

:)
Hey if you like to personalize your Windows 11 try Windhawk, not only is the program itself open source and completely free, the mods that people upload are also open source.

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Decided to give Windowsblinds a try for skinning the "personal" environment on my workstation
I've been a user of ObjectDesktop since it came out and there's a lot nice utilities and ways to customize your environment. I particualrly like Fences and Start11, they each keep my desktop and start menu clean and organized.

I'm more ambivalent towards Windowsblinds, When it first came out, it was a bit more resources demanding and while some of the theming is cool, it got old for me. Still a nice utility and option. Back in the day there were utilities to this very thing in OSX, and a cottage industry sprung up, then Apple stepped in and shut that down completely.
 
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Out of curiosity what is consuming all the ram after boot for you?
The first image is the Task Manager 10 minutes after reboot, nearly 8gb of ram used, nothing open just the bare system. It took about 10 minutes for the system to calm down, i.e,. CPU pegged near 100%. This is why I don't reboot often.

The second image is my memory usage after opening Chrome (1 tab), Firefox (3 tabs), Outlook, Excel, teams, ultraedit, RDP (1 session), Toad (sql program for Oracle databases). This is the bare minimum I have open, typically more is needed as the day wears on but as you can see I'm already using the majority of ram, and this is before I do any real work, i.e., just opening the apps.

To
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