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Flip Flopping between macOS and Windows

maflynn said:
Yeah, the more Apple goes down the path of Microsoft the less appeal it has.

I'm still very happy with my Studio, but after loading cachyos on my desktop, it has breathed new life into it.

I'm not sold that Linux can be a long term solution. One of the concerns I have is updates breaking the system. I've had some pretty horrific issues occur after an update. With an Arch based system there's less big updates but the risk remains

https://www.reddit.com/r/cachyos/comments/1rm13wl/pacman_update_bricked_install
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Yeah I always love Linux until I try to use it day-after-day in the real world. Then I end up hating my life. LOL. And I have been installing it off-and-on since the Redhat days. I was a Solaris UNIX and FreeBSD UNIX admin before that (and at the same time) so I definitely LOVE the 'nixes. I just have to admit to myself that Linux is just a step too far as I want to keep things simple.

Still...I kind of want to try again. CachyOS looks SO GOOD. Sigh................
 
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Yeah so I think I am good here. This Lenovo Legion Pro 7 is quite formidable. It games so well (I lower the FPS and the fans aren't obnoxious...) and I can do everything else just fine. I could probably overclock everything and see what kind of results I could really get, but eh. I am pretty happy with how quiet it is in balanced mode and it still seems plenty performant.

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eltoslightfoot said:
Yeah so I think I am good here. This Lenovo Legion Pro 7 is quite formidable. It games so well (I lower the FPS and the fans aren't obnoxious...) and I can do everything else just fine. I could probably overclock everything and see what kind of results I could really get, but eh. I am pretty happy with how quiet it is in balanced mode and it still seems plenty performant.

View attachment 2611200View attachment 2611201View attachment 2611202
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Is this on 595.76?
 
LiE_ said:
I'm someone who struggles to be content with either Mac or Windows. Over the past 5 years I have changed from Mac to Windows, back to Mac and find myself pondering the switch again back to Windows. During the switch I have also moved ecosystems where I was solely on Google when using Windows, but moved back into Apple ecosystem where I am now.

There are pros/cons for each system.

For Mac
Pros: I love the Retina display, the aesthetics of the OS, the yearly improvements, the native apps and the integration.

Cons: I dislike the cost to performance ratio, the weak iGPU in the Mac mini, the small daily issues (bluetooth Audio randomly cuts out for a few seconds on a call, safari lags hard on some websites, AirPlay to my HomePod being ropey, etc) and office isn't as polished, gaming isn't as accessible (tried the eGPU thing, that has it's own issues).

For Windows
Pros: I love that I can build a PC to my exact specs, get something that is very powerful, play games easily, office apps run tons better, so much more flexibility when it comes to configurations and hardware.

Cons: I dislike the lack of retina - I tried a 4K monitor with Windows scaling and the experience was so so. This usually means I'm running a 1440p monitor which doesn't look as crisp as my 4K UltraFine. I don't like the built in apps for mail and calendar, usually resort to using Outlook or Google calendar. The OS doesn't look as good and feels a little stale year to year.


The last time I switched to Windows I changed ecosystems, this time I am considering just having my desktop as Windows. This doesn't actually bring too many issues in terms of the apps I use and integration. Majority of people I message use WhatsApp, but I still have access to iMessage on my iPhone. My calendar is already in Google, and using iCloud email is fine, just add it to Outlook. Photos I pretty much exclusively use/edit on my phone. I don't take calls on my Mac mini because the experience hasn't been good. I would probably move back to Spotify and sell the HomePod, the rest of the house is Sonos and Google home mini which work better with Spotify.

Thanks for reading. Mostly a brain dump to help order my thoughts. Still undecided. I did toy with the idea of having both systems, but I don't have space.
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I'll agree with most except for the experience on MacOS. In my experience over the years, audio calls have been fine whether it's through the Mac or HomePod. AirPlay has been fine but I do use Apple Music, so it's native. Safari has been fine to great on sites and Outlook and Microsoft products run infinitely better on MacOS than Windows. Only thing missing is Excel for Windows is more feature rich and no Access, which most people don't use anymore except for antiquated systems.

I'll add that playing PS Remote Play and Xbox Live Remote / Cloud gaming on my MBP 14 M1 Pro has been great.

I started my switch away from Windows more than a decade ago and having looked back. I'm all in, drinking and liking the kool-aid. While I occasionally miss pc gaming, I prefer console gaming and will game on my PS 5, Series X, Switch and PS Portal. I finally moved away from Gmail to iCloud mail last year after more than a decade in Gmail. Haven't looked back there either. Sure, there are some things I miss in it but overall, very satisfied, especially with custom domain and Hide My Email. The fact my family are Apple Fans/Users is a major win.
 
eltoslightfoot said:
Yeah I always love Linux until I try to use it day-after-day in the real world. Then I end up hating my life. LOL. And I have been installing it off-and-on since the Redhat days. I was a Solaris UNIX and FreeBSD UNIX admin before that (and at the same time) so I definitely LOVE the 'nixes. I just have to admit to myself that Linux is just a step too far as I want to keep things simple.

Still...I kind of want to try again. CachyOS looks SO GOOD. Sigh................
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That's pretty much how I feel about macOS these days. I want to like it, but Finder is just so bad that it feels like I'm using some obscure linux distro. Window management is still so janky, too, especially snapping. Software availability is better in some ways than Linux, worse in others (especially engineering software).

My Mint Xfce install just works and window snapping is instant and reliable. The file browser just works as you'd expect.

Windows 11 feels vibecoded where everything is so much slower than Windows 10, so I was hoping to move to macOS. Linux would be my preference at this point I guess but it's missing too much software I need.
 
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I switched fully from windows to all Mac last year. I dont see myself buying another windows PC again, no reason too. After selling my loud 200lb custom built PC and replacing it with a M4 Mini, there is no going back. The PC was a pain just to get in the house and again out of the house when I sold it. Nearly broke my back just getting it in and out of the car and down the stairs.
 
eltoslightfoot said:
Yeah there have been some issues from Nvidia on the newer drivers. So stick with the older ones until they get it all sorted out.
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The January drivers seem to be okay. If you are not over clocking then the latest WHQL driver isn't a bad option either. Does the November driver have the DLSS 4.5 override options? Seems like a free IQ upgrade (for P/UP).
 
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DeepSix said:
I switched fully from windows to all Mac last year. I dont see myself buying another windows PC again, no reason too. After selling my loud 200lb custom built PC and replacing it with a M4 Mini, there is no going back. The PC was a pain just to get in the house and again out of the house when I sold it. Nearly broke my back just getting it in and out of the car and down the stairs.
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What did you build it from, cast iron?
 
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leemkule said:
What did you build it from, cast iron?
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Reminds me of my PowerMac G5.

I have a huge case for my Windows PC and it is heavy but it has handles on the top for carrying. I can move it around but one could always carry it around with two people.
 
leemkule said:
What did you build it from, cast iron?
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LOL that is quite heavy! However, as someone that used to have a Dell XPS 700 and 720, those things were behemoths. I once gave a kid $20 to help carry it from my Apt Complex Office to my Apt despite it being really close out front across the street lol I think it was 50-75LBS? Then I sold and shipped it to my buddy a few years later when I upgraded to an Alienware. I think shipping cost $75-100. The smaller Alienware was such a relief and nice. I ended up selling that to my buddy too when I gave up PC gaming and went all in on Mac and my Console Gaming, which I've been doing for years.
 
DeepSix said:
All metal case, it weighed a ton, too much. When I first brought it in the house and put it on my table I thought it was going to break it.
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Every case I have had was all metal—except possibly for a glass window on the side. None were as heavy as you describe. Do you remember the brand?
 
eltoslightfoot said:
Every case I have had was all metal—except possibly for a glass window on the side. None were as heavy as you describe. Do you remember the brand?
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Specs on my PowerMac G5 are 40 pounds, 45 if you have a dual CPU and an extra video card.

I don't think that my Windows build is that heavy and it's a huge case. It has a glass door on one side. It is all metal besides that. It weighs 35 pounds so even with the stuff inside, I don't think that it would get up to seventy pounds.
 
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eltoslightfoot said:
Every case I have had was all metal—except possibly for a glass window on the side. None were as heavy as you describe. Do you remember the brand?
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I still use a Coolermaster HAF 932 case which is fairly heavy. In the early days (before SSDs), I had a number of spinning hard drives in it and it was probably up around 60lb mark. With my current build it is probably sitting at between 30 and 40 lbs.
 
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LiE_ said:
Windows machine for work is OK, I managed to convince work to send me a more powerful machine as I was finding 16GB was constantly maxed. The down side though is the new machine has 2 fans and is noticeably louder when the fans are running, which is often. So I'm stuck between sending the new machine back and giving up the extra power or sending the old machine back and living with the louder fans.
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Haven't been using the more powerful work machine because the fans were too loud for even the lightest of workloads. It's been sat in the box for a few months.

Some software updates happened to our corporate machines which has meant even my previously fairly quiet Windows work machine is now getting hot and loud. So I'm trying to sort this out with work. The faster machine I am giving to a new team member and currently in the process of getting procurement to quote on an M5 MBA 24/512. Management have said they will approve it, but lead times could be long. Lets see.
 
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eltoslightfoot said:
That HAF 932 was such an iconic case though.
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It absolutely is. I bought the case in 2009 to build my first "from scratch" PC and have kept it around since then. It changed roles a few times - it was initially my main PC for a few years then served as a NAS for a time. Then I upgraded it around 2016 to a mid-level gaming rig for my son. Upgraded it again in 2021 to its current iteration (exception being the GPU which was upgraded in 2024).

The thing is a tank. The ports on the front all still work great (except for the FW400 and eSATA ports since I no longer have a motherboard that supports those), but otherwise all the hardware it came with still works as well as the day I bought it (original fans, still running strong and very quiet). Only blemish is the lower fan grille which has a few pieces broken off.

Original build in that case was a Core 2 Quad with 8GB of RAM, some mid-level Radeon GPU and a few spinning hard drives totalling around 750GB. Current daily driver build is a Ryzen 9 5900X with 64GB RAM, 11.5TB spread over 5 SSDs, and a 16GB 4060ti GPU. I don't expect to upgrade this machine any time soon.
 
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LiE_ said:
Haven't been using the more powerful work machine because the fans were too loud for even the lightest of workloads. It's been sat in the box for a few months.
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That's why I went with Noctura and over engineered the cooling, so that my desktop could near quiet. I also selected a CPU that had a lower TDP then others at the time.

While I'm not pushing the system, it still seems quite snappy, though I'm finding it more responsive under Linux then windows 11
 
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jakey rolling said:
It absolutely is. I bought the case in 2009 to build my first "from scratch" PC and have kept it around since then. It changed roles a few times - it was initially my main PC for a few years then served as a NAS for a time. Then I upgraded it around 2016 to a mid-level gaming rig for my son. Upgraded it again in 2021 to its current iteration (exception being the GPU which was upgraded in 2024).

The thing is a tank. The ports on the front all still work great (except for the FW400 and eSATA ports since I no longer have a motherboard that supports those), but otherwise all the hardware it came with still works as well as the day I bought it (original fans, still running strong and very quiet). Only blemish is the lower fan grille which has a few pieces broken off.

Original build in that case was a Core 2 Quad with 8GB of RAM, some mid-level Radeon GPU and a few spinning hard drives totalling around 750GB. Current daily driver build is a Ryzen 9 5900X with 64GB RAM, 11.5TB spread over 5 SSDs, and a 16GB 4060ti GPU. I don't expect to upgrade this machine any time soon.
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I had a CoolerMaster from that era and the case looks similar with that little tray at the front of the top though there are vents on the top too. I don't think that it's quite as high. One of the things about older cases is the front ports. My current case is from 2020 but I do wish that it had USB-C ports on the front. USB 3.2 2x2 would be great or even better would be USB 4.0. I think that it's pretty unusual to fund USB 4.0 on front ports though. My workaround is to run a USB 3.2 extension cable from the back but it's still a hack. To upgrade, I'd need a new build which isn't happening with the price of parts today.
 
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