The other day I used a Windows 8.1 laptop for the first time with touch screen. I thought it wasn't very intuitive to have to sometimes swipe the touchscreen for some things and use the keyboard for others. Not sure if its a gimmick or maybe there is some real value in doing that. I much prefer using the Macbook trackpad for swiping on a laptop.
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Hardcore Mac Fans: Why would you never go back to Windows?
- Thread starter MacNoobGuy
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I prefer the ease, low maintenance and user experience of OSX but I run a Windows machine in tandem at work. A big part of my angst is invasive group policy that is often thrust on everyone but then you have UAC, mindless, repetitive prompts, weird viruses and all the inane bloatware that comes on your garden variety PC. It all equals a bunch of time and at the end of the day my goal is to get my work done and spend less time with my computer.
I agree with the bloatware comment. However it is possible to buy a brand new Windows machine from the Microsift store without the crappy trial programs preinstalled.
Well this is what I have done for my mother in-law. And what do you do you know the phone calls stopped.
I still have a windows box though. No complaints. I just have it setup mainly as my itunes/media server. It was cheap and it gets the job done.
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- Relatively Long Life Span. I've had my macbook pro for EIGHT years, and it's only now giving me problems. Well, I had minor stuff like replacing a few keys in the past year, but anything prior was always my fault. 
I don't know anyone who has a non Mac laptop who has had it work well for that long. Most people seem to need a new laptop every 3 years or so. Because I bought one of the higher models, mine was not out of date so quickly.
- Beautiful Design. Even thought it's totally old, people still think it's a beautiful machine. From a sheer aesthetic standpoint, it's better design (and don't tell me aesthetics are not important; I wouldn't make a living if they were not).
- Mac OS. I just find it more intuitive. It's a cleaner look. It's very easy for me to use. I don't find Windows to be as user friendly. There's something messy about it to me. I find a lot of stuff about it redundant, for lack of a better description. I also just find windows...well...UGLY.
- Better screens. I hear people blather on about specs, but I go by my eyes, as that's how I will actually experience it. I look at these others screens and I mostly find the colors are very BAD, & often they never are bright enough either. Why do they always look GREEN? And it doesn't matter how much you adjust them. It's like they went through a nuclear holocaust & are glowing from radiation.
Again, my EIGHT year old ancient laptop has a nicer screen than many non-macs I've seen. For the work I do & for my personal tastes, good color is very important to me. The screen is also just clearer/crisper to me. I've noticed this with my iphone compared to other smartphones too. Again, if you're someone who values aesthetics, then this is not small. Bad color & less quality screen can really grate on you if you're sensitive to aesthetics.
I don't know anyone who has a non Mac laptop who has had it work well for that long. Most people seem to need a new laptop every 3 years or so. Because I bought one of the higher models, mine was not out of date so quickly.
- Beautiful Design. Even thought it's totally old, people still think it's a beautiful machine. From a sheer aesthetic standpoint, it's better design (and don't tell me aesthetics are not important; I wouldn't make a living if they were not).
- Mac OS. I just find it more intuitive. It's a cleaner look. It's very easy for me to use. I don't find Windows to be as user friendly. There's something messy about it to me. I find a lot of stuff about it redundant, for lack of a better description. I also just find windows...well...UGLY.
- Better screens. I hear people blather on about specs, but I go by my eyes, as that's how I will actually experience it. I look at these others screens and I mostly find the colors are very BAD, & often they never are bright enough either. Why do they always look GREEN? And it doesn't matter how much you adjust them. It's like they went through a nuclear holocaust & are glowing from radiation.
Again, my EIGHT year old ancient laptop has a nicer screen than many non-macs I've seen. For the work I do & for my personal tastes, good color is very important to me. The screen is also just clearer/crisper to me. I've noticed this with my iphone compared to other smartphones too. Again, if you're someone who values aesthetics, then this is not small. Bad color & less quality screen can really grate on you if you're sensitive to aesthetics.
Because I've always had mac os, i can't go back to windows because I've never had a windows.
Why do so many people think that people didn't have mac computers before 2008...
Vista was the best thing that ever happened to me - it got me so sick and fed up with Windows, that I switched to a Mac
Why won't I switch back?
* The Windows registry sucks. If it gets corrupted, you're reinstalling.
* Windows requires a lot of maintenance if you want it running well most of the time. I'll admit that in earlier days, I kind of enjoyed it to an extent (e.g. the way people enjoy tinkering around "under the hood".)
* Windows can pick up viruses way too easily (I remove viruses from customers' computers on a fairly regular basis at work.) Not using IE can reduce the incidence of getting viruses by quite a bit, but many people still don't know better.
* I've been a UNIX guy since college (early 90s), and I love that OS X is built on top of it. I can still use my favorite shell (tcsh) and even write scripts to automate tasks. I'd even be willing to give Microsoft credit if they completely rewrote Windows to sit on top of UNIX. I'd bet virus problems would take a pretty steep hit if they did.
* Finally, small stuff - built in PDF support; requiring you to verify the first time you install software; better fonts; and built in multiple desktops (I much preferred Spaces vs the current system, but I've learned to like this one.)
Why won't I switch back?
* The Windows registry sucks. If it gets corrupted, you're reinstalling.
* Windows requires a lot of maintenance if you want it running well most of the time. I'll admit that in earlier days, I kind of enjoyed it to an extent (e.g. the way people enjoy tinkering around "under the hood".)
* Windows can pick up viruses way too easily (I remove viruses from customers' computers on a fairly regular basis at work.) Not using IE can reduce the incidence of getting viruses by quite a bit, but many people still don't know better.
* I've been a UNIX guy since college (early 90s), and I love that OS X is built on top of it. I can still use my favorite shell (tcsh) and even write scripts to automate tasks. I'd even be willing to give Microsoft credit if they completely rewrote Windows to sit on top of UNIX. I'd bet virus problems would take a pretty steep hit if they did.
* Finally, small stuff - built in PDF support; requiring you to verify the first time you install software; better fonts; and built in multiple desktops (I much preferred Spaces vs the current system, but I've learned to like this one.)
that is exact what i did with my parents... They both got my old mac hardware and now i never have to deal with a windows problem ever again...! it was the most liberating feeling when i switched them both over.....
I'd never get a win machine again mainly because it would take hours to format and redo.... i think a lot but am not un expert, so i tend to mess things up quite a bit...
It takes me 2-3h to do a complete clean install of everything apps included... with win machines, it would take me the whole day...What i love about OsX is that it easy to use but at the same time there is a lot of SW power under the hood if you want to tinker....
What i love about Apple products in general is the build quality... true you pay more, but building things better (more solid, more aesthetically pleasing, etc) simply costs more... and i am fine with that...
the iMac in my signature, (my dad uses this now) was given me by a family with a small child, they never cared even a little both to take care of it... after 2h of a good and thorough cleaning, it looked like brand new (i am honestly not exaggerating) try to do that with the cheap plastics of a PC that's 6+ years old and see what happens... (the white plastic would have obtained that incredible yellowish tint, scratches everywhere will be visible, any metal parts if it had any would be rotten by the dust and humidity (this was used as kitchen computer - so it had lots of "food abuse").....
Bahh, i got myself all worked up now... Enough
1 last thing though... don't do it, its not worth it.....
Too much time and $ invested in Mac to even consider going back. My MBP does all I expect and more, so why consider a PC?
Why not use Linux? Do you really need to be able to plug your ereader into every box (if you have unencrypted files, you can read them in Calibre without your ereader)? A lot of software is cross-platform now, and if you are interested in learning the command line interface in Terminal, the Bash shell works the same in both. I've got an iMac and Linux laptop, and I find it pretty easy to go back and forth.
I got my first Mac about 15 years ago when I inherited a neighbor's used Quadra. It was a dinosaur even then but I found myself liking it. When Mac mini came out I snapped one up on the first day. I was still using Windows as my main desktop OS but I've been using Linux as my server OS since 1998. In 2008, I moved my desktop to OSX and that started the rapid slide of my entire household over to OSX.
Meanwhile I still use Win 7 at work and it is PAINFUL. On my MBP, I have the factory 7200 rpm disk. On my newer Windows box at work I have an SSD. And my Mac is STILL faster. I've watched SSD prices slowly decline to the point I find them to now be "affordable" and in a few months I might buy one for my MBP but I'm in no hurry as OSX works so well even without an SSD.
Would I go back? Not based on what I know today but I must admit Apple is making some glaring mistakes in the evolution of OSX. I have had to abandon mail.app completely and I'm now using Airmail. I hope Apple wakes up and brings back basic reliable functionality to mail.app because it makes them look a bit like Microsoft with its total failure to retain capabilities that were there before Mountain Lion and Mavericks and introduce new capabilities that actually make life better. The only improvement from Snow Leopard to Mavericks is moving memos out of mail.app to its own app. Everything else about mail.app simply blows chunks. While this is not enough to push me back toward the mess that is Windows, the idea of going back is not entirely anathema. It depends on what my day to day needs are and these days I need OSX.
I've already demonstrated my willingness to exit the Apple ecosystem for capabilities that are essential to me. I replaced my AEBS with an ASUS AC1750 class router (rated #1 on smallnetbuilder), I buy my music and books from Amazon (so I can read or listen cross-platform), I already mentioned dumping mail.app for airmail above, rather than leave my internet and email presence at the mercy of Apple (me.com) and Google (gmail) I've even set up an outlook.com email "just in case." It's more important to get the best than to be blindly devoted to a particular company no matter how much I might like Apple in general.
Somewhat unlikely reasons I might go back to Windows:
Further removal of essential capabilities from OSX and bundled applications (trying to make it too much like iOS).
If I ever needed to run a Windows app non-virtualized (due to licensing).
Current reasons I would never go back to Windows:
Much less time spent fixing problems on OSX versus Windows. This is KEY.
Virus software and updates. This is a close second.
The way MS handles updates vs the way Apple handles updates.
The way MS enforces various DRM methods including long laborious serial number entry and software activation and re-activation in case of a hard drive crash.
OSX automatic app updates.
Photostream and other aspects of iCloud that make my life simpler.
Mac build quality. Lenovo is nice but Apple gear is still a lot nicer.
So while it's not impossible for me to go back, it's not very likely.
Meanwhile I still use Win 7 at work and it is PAINFUL. On my MBP, I have the factory 7200 rpm disk. On my newer Windows box at work I have an SSD. And my Mac is STILL faster. I've watched SSD prices slowly decline to the point I find them to now be "affordable" and in a few months I might buy one for my MBP but I'm in no hurry as OSX works so well even without an SSD.
Would I go back? Not based on what I know today but I must admit Apple is making some glaring mistakes in the evolution of OSX. I have had to abandon mail.app completely and I'm now using Airmail. I hope Apple wakes up and brings back basic reliable functionality to mail.app because it makes them look a bit like Microsoft with its total failure to retain capabilities that were there before Mountain Lion and Mavericks and introduce new capabilities that actually make life better. The only improvement from Snow Leopard to Mavericks is moving memos out of mail.app to its own app. Everything else about mail.app simply blows chunks. While this is not enough to push me back toward the mess that is Windows, the idea of going back is not entirely anathema. It depends on what my day to day needs are and these days I need OSX.
I've already demonstrated my willingness to exit the Apple ecosystem for capabilities that are essential to me. I replaced my AEBS with an ASUS AC1750 class router (rated #1 on smallnetbuilder), I buy my music and books from Amazon (so I can read or listen cross-platform), I already mentioned dumping mail.app for airmail above, rather than leave my internet and email presence at the mercy of Apple (me.com) and Google (gmail) I've even set up an outlook.com email "just in case." It's more important to get the best than to be blindly devoted to a particular company no matter how much I might like Apple in general.
Somewhat unlikely reasons I might go back to Windows:
Further removal of essential capabilities from OSX and bundled applications (trying to make it too much like iOS).
If I ever needed to run a Windows app non-virtualized (due to licensing).
Current reasons I would never go back to Windows:
Much less time spent fixing problems on OSX versus Windows. This is KEY.
Virus software and updates.
This is a close second.The way MS handles updates vs the way Apple handles updates.
The way MS enforces various DRM methods including long laborious serial number entry and software activation and re-activation in case of a hard drive crash.
OSX automatic app updates.
Photostream and other aspects of iCloud that make my life simpler.
Mac build quality. Lenovo is nice but Apple gear is still a lot nicer.
So while it's not impossible for me to go back, it's not very likely.
There's just too much work with getting Linux running. I'd rather use Windows...
I think noone could formulate better the essence why I would never go/look back.
Just the other day my younger son approached me and said the magic word: BOSD. It took me two days to solve the problem. And this was my experience with Windows over the past decades.
For me its the hardware.
I have a Retina MBP (latest 2014 model) - the screen alone is way better than anything else I've seen - then there's the solid, beautiful metal body, the totally solid keyboard, the silent running, the battery life, the size, the weight.
I see Windows PCs all the time at work from mates who love to claim they got a better machine for £400 less than a Mac - only they haven't. They only see the Processor ('but its an i7 so it MUST be better than your i5!') and amount of Hard Drive space - no consideration for the size, weight, low res, dull screen, noisy fan, clunky hard disk, useless trackpad, keyboard that bends when typing.
I have a Retina MBP (latest 2014 model) - the screen alone is way better than anything else I've seen - then there's the solid, beautiful metal body, the totally solid keyboard, the silent running, the battery life, the size, the weight.
I see Windows PCs all the time at work from mates who love to claim they got a better machine for £400 less than a Mac - only they haven't. They only see the Processor ('but its an i7 so it MUST be better than your i5!') and amount of Hard Drive space - no consideration for the size, weight, low res, dull screen, noisy fan, clunky hard disk, useless trackpad, keyboard that bends when typing.
This is my one concern. It's in the back of my mind and I hope it never materializes. I really love my Macs!
We started with a Mac so going back it not possible. I purchased two Windows units over the years. The first was a baptism by fire. Bad out of the box. Hardware issues. I was accustomed to Apple's loving arms. Much different experience.
I buy Macs exclusively now as I am too old to volunteer for aggravation. No other reason. I hope Cook's Apple does not try to convert the Mac an iOS device. That would make me consider Windows very seriously.
If Steve was still here I would not give Windows a passing thought.