I switched to Mac, a laptop at least

[Thysanoptera]

I've been here a frequent poster, changing Windows laptops twice a year, always hoping that the next one will finally be the one. It stopped with M1 Macs, got M1 Max, and then only changed it to M3 Max, and pretty much only because the M1 was 14 inch and my eyes got older requiring a bigger screen, so I had a reason to upgrade. Today, I finally deleted my Outlook pst file and removed Office from the Parallels VM. That's like, crossing the Rubicon for me. I don't even know you can convert it back. But I'm happy, feel free, while paradoxically knowing exactly that I'm locked in a golden cage. It's just crazy, I can play Oblivion remastered at 100W and it looks the same as on my fire-breathing desktop that dims lights in the house when I run it.

I guess this is just to let you know, that Macs, specifically MacBooks, mobile devices, are much more accessible for Windows guy than couple of years ago. For desktop I stil have windows machines, and this will not change in a foreseeable future, but damn those Apple silicon laptops are good.

 

[maflynn]

I've always said get the best tool for the job, and the MBP is a fine laptop. I have a M2 and I'm happy with it. With that said, for laptops, I'm loving my Thinkpad 14" laptop that I've been using for about 6 months. Its not a gaming laptop, but it place Fallout 76 pretty well.

My daughter wanted to stick with her Dell inspirion, it was giving her a lot of problems early on in the school year, so I bought the thinkpad just incase, and I've been using it since.

 

[LeeW]

My wife and I are the only ones left who have Macs; our three children all have Windows laptops and desktops, despite growing up with everything Apple. As much to do with working on Windows in their jobs as anything. As @maflynn says, pick the best tool for the job.

I spend most of my time on Mac, but I am typing this on my Windows desktop and damn, I am reminded just how much quicker that is at doing things than my high-end Apple devices. Silly really, just opening apps, using a browser and so on, the difference is not life-changing, but it's so noticeable.

 

[Snowlover]

I spend most of my time on Mac, but I am typing this on my Windows desktop and damn, I am reminded just how much quicker that is at doing things than my high-end Apple devices. Silly really, just opening apps, using a browser and so on, the difference is not life-changing, but it's so noticeable.

I wasn't sure I wasn't crazy having this same experience - and you are having it on apple silicon mac?
I was running Monterey on a 2014 mini and decided to dual boot windows 11. Night and day difference in responsiveness. Not really a fan of the newer versions of macos, so I dumped Monterey and went back to Mojave. Win 11 still more responsive, but not by as big a margin. So now I am pretty much just using win 11 and experimenting with linux.

 

[LeeW]

and you are having it on apple silicon mac?

Yup, macOS Sequoia on an M4 Mac Mini and a MacBook Pro M4. Windows is just more responsive as you know.

 

[Thysanoptera]

Silly really, just opening apps, using a browser and so on, the difference is not life-changing, but it's so noticeable.

How much RAM do you have on those Macs? That's something I didn't notice at all, didn't even cross my mind, things are happening instantly on both my Windows boxes and Macs. But I do see that 32GB, half of my RAM is used at all times, even though the pressure is only at 8%.

 

[LeeW]

How much RAM do you have on those Macs?

32GB on both Macs and on Windows, never regularly using more than 1/2 on either. As I said, I use Mac most of the time. When I do switch to Windows, it's immediately noticeable just how much quicker actions are. And when I go back to Mac, I feel that it takes slightly longer to do something. Again, not life-changing, but very noticeable. Back on Mac and in a couple of days, it will not bother me.

 

[maflynn]

When I do switch to Windows, it's immediately noticeable just how much quicker actions are

Not on my work laptop, lol. Performance was fine until my company pushed the windows 11 update down my throat. I get why, windows 10 is losing support soon, but the performance difference is huge, like a given action was sub-second on windows 10 and now takes 2+ seconds. Its at a point where you sit there waiting wondering if you clicked the icon.

 

[LeeW]

Not on my work laptop, lol.

Not in mine either, but then, I don't expect anything from a corporate device that is locked down so heavily. On my work laptop, the snipping tool, which I use a lot, takes about 15 seconds to open. Just the number of active policies causes it.

 

[Silvestru Hosszu]

I am using a Thinkpad x13 gen 4 and MBP M2 Pro. Responsiveness feels better on Mac.

 

[maflynn]

I am using a Thinkpad x13 gen 4

I got a ThinkPad T14s Gen 4 for my daughter, but she's been sticking with her Dell laptop, so I've been using it, and I have to say, ThinkPads are great laptops. The only thing that bugs me about it, is the ads from the vantage software. I think I either uninstalled vantage, or disabled the service.

 

[Silvestru Hosszu]

Very pleased with the Thinkpad. I opened Vantage once for setting the battery charge threshold and I don't remember to open it again.

I bought the yoga version for the pen support. It is a terrible tablet but being able to take some quick note once in a while comes in handy.

 

[iHorseHead]

Not on my work laptop, lol. Performance was fine until my company pushed the windows 11 update down my throat. I get why, windows 10 is losing support soon, but the performance difference is huge, like a given action was sub-second on windows 10 and now takes 2+ seconds. Its at a point where you sit there waiting wondering if you clicked the icon.

All of us at our company got a new laptop when we had to upgrade to Windows 11. My new work laptop is very snappy. I'm guessing Windows 11 requires a new laptop.

 

[maflynn]

I'm guessing Windows 11 requires a new laptop.

I don't think its that, my 2018 Thinkpad runs Win11 swimmingly, my work laptop is from 2020, and performance is horrid in windows 11. People at my company who got new laptops complain about the same thing. Its the group policies/Intune Policies enforced that is dragging down performance. I can't say why, but its clearly due to my organization locking things down and being big-bother-ish

 

[splifingate]

I've been here a frequent poster, changing Windows laptops twice a year, always hoping that the next one will finally be the one. It stopped with M1 Macs, got M1 Max, and then only changed it to M3 Max, and pretty much only because the M1 was 14 inch and my eyes got older requiring a bigger screen, so I had a reason to upgrade. Today, I finally deleted my Outlook pst file and removed Office from the Parallels VM. That's like, crossing the Rubicon for me. I don't even know you can convert it back. But I'm happy, feel free, while paradoxically knowing exactly that I'm locked in a golden cage. It's just crazy, I can play Oblivion remastered at 100W and it looks the same as on my fire-breathing desktop that dims lights in the house when I run it.

I guess this is just to let you know, that Macs, specifically MacBooks, mobile devices, are much more accessible for Windows guy than couple of years ago. For desktop I stil have windows machines, and this will not change in a foreseeable future, but damn those Apple silicon laptops are good.

The text-selection fluidity of Mac OS will certainly win you over!

That being said, Windows is manageable. I'm about 30/70, and it's not really that difficult to juggle.

 

[Thysanoptera]

The text-selection fluidity of Mac OS will certainly win you over!

That being said, Windows is manageable. I'm about 30/70, and it's not really that difficult to juggle.

Everything is manageable if you put effort to get used to it. My philosophy is that I can bend software to my will, one way or another, with help of people smarter than me who had similar problems and made tools for it, even if that costs some money. If there is something that I'm missing from Windows - there is probably an app for that. Or some obscure key combo everybody forgot about. But I can't do anything about the underlying hardware that I'm lugging with me across the continent, and this is what wins me over.

Apple silicon was finally the difference that made me make the effort to fully switch, because I was looking at it since, like G3 times I think. Intel got quickly better than MC and PowerPC, Intel Macs were like, "same, same - but different" meme, and now I feel like I'm on an Amiga while everybody else is on XT. That may not be the best comparison given how the history unfolded, but it was fun while it lasted, lol.

 

[LeeW]

I like Windows 11 to be honest, it's been working fine for me, fast, snappy and generally does what an OS should do and well. Same with macOS, it does the job. Not sure I am liking the look of what is coming in Tahoe, but as always, I am not a slave to any product, brand or anything else.

I will use what works best for me, but I always make sure that I run both Windows and macOS alongside each other. If one pisses me off enough, I will move to the other.

M Series brought Apple back following the disasters that preceded it. That said, I see good things coming with ARM on Windows machines, the battery is lasting as long as Apple on some devices and performance is on par. All that is needed now is compatibility with software, which is not going to be quick or easy for many reasons, but it's coming.

 

[maflynn]

I like Windows 11 to be honest, it's been working fine for me, fast, snappy and generally does what an OS should do and well.

I seem to have a love/hate relationship with windows 11. I love the extensionability, the power of the OS the freedom we have. What I don't like is the telemetry being communicated to MS, the ads being presented, and privacy risks that Recall represents.

Seeing the changes coming to macOS Tahoe, the performance of gaming on the steam deck, Microsoft can do better on many fronts but I think they're more focused on further monetizing windows. They seem to spend more time trying to close loop holes that allowed windows to be installed with a local account

 

[LeeW]

Not even sure MS are focused on monetising Windows more, I just don't think they are committed to it as they were. It won't go away, but their cloud business is where the new money is at.

That said, everyone wants your data now, ad blockers, privacy tools and so on are reducing the hitherto bustling business of turning you and your data into money.

Look at Apple, when they brought out ATT, everyone hailed it as the best thing yet, then developers started losing money and turned to subscription models, and everyone booed them, yet they caused it in the first place.

Telemetry is a double-edged sword, it's good and bad. But also needed.

 

[bryo]

I’ve cycled through multiple windows laptops and even the great ones sour on me after a few weeks. Still love my MacBook. In fact it just saved me hours of time reviving a pentium 166 system because the disk image opens on my MacBook so I can drop driver files into it, whereas on windows it’s basically a nightmare. The irony.