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If you were new to Macs desktop and Macbooks laptops which would you buy as your first machine?
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Get an entry level Macbook Air - 13-inch or 15-inch and if your needs aren't sufficient with the base model, upgrade to the 14-inch or 16-inch MacBook Pro.
Unless you have specific needs, I'd keep it cheap for your first machine and get an M1 MBA.
A great place to look is the Refurbished store on Apple. You can get machines that have been rigorously inspected with AppleCare and warranty at a roughly 15% discount. Also, BestBuy has some decent sales and discounts.
To answer the thread title question, a question anyone trying to help you should be asking "what do you plan on doing with it?".
So, what do you plan on doing with it?
So, what do you plan on doing with it?
It depends on the model and spec that you end up getting.
You should sell everything you own and take out a substantial loan to buy the most powerful and newest Mac with as many upgrades as possible.
If I were new to Macs I would get the lowest priced MacBook or iMac. But having used Windows for some time, you would not make that mistake - you would get extra RAM and disk.
And if I had particular needs (e.g. developer, photography, video) I would put that in the question.
And if I had particular needs (e.g. developer, photography, video) I would put that in the question.
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If I were to buy one today, this is what I would get for myself and where I would get it from. But you can adjust the configuration to reduce the price. You can change it to M1, lower RAM, lower storage.
Refurbished Mac - 512GB - 2022 - 13-inch - MacBook Air - 16GB
Save up to 15% on a refurbished MacBook Air. Tested and certified by Apple including a 1-year warranty. Free delivery and returns.
www.apple.com
If you have a Microcenter near you and it's in stock, for $170 less this is a much better machine.If I were to buy one today, this is what I would get for myself and where I would get it from. But you can adjust the configuration to reduce the price. You can change it to M1, lower RAM, lower storage.
Refurbished Mac - 512GB - 2022 - 13-inch - MacBook Air - 16GB
Save up to 15% on a refurbished MacBook Air. Tested and certified by Apple including a 1-year warranty. Free delivery and returns.www.apple.com
$1,199.99
Apple MacBook Pro MKGP3LL/A (Late 2021) 14.2" Laptop Computer (Factory Refurbished) - Space Gray Apple M1 Pro 8-Core CPU; 16GB Unified Memory; 512GB Solid State Drive; 14-Core GPU/16-Core Neural Engine
Apple MacBook Pro MKGR3LL/A (Late 2021) 14.2" Laptop Computer (Factory Refurbished) - Silver Apple M1 Pro 8-Core Chip; 16GB Unified Memory; 512GB Solid State Drive; 14-Core GPU/16-Core Neural Engine
For $100 more there's also the 16.2-inch MacBook Pro... in case you'd like a bigger screen (and slightly more powerful M1 chip)
$1,299.99
Apple MacBook Pro MK183LL/A (Late 2021) 16.2" Laptop Computer (Factory Refurbished) - Space Gray Apple M1 Pro 10-Core CPU; 16GB Unified Memory; 512GB Solid State Drive; 16-Core GPU/16-Core Neural Engine
Apple MacBook Pro MK1E3LL/A (Late 2021) 16.2" Laptop Computer (Factory Refurbished) - Silver Apple M1 Pro 10-Core Chip; 16GB Unified Memory; 512GB Solid State Drive; 16-core GPU/16-Core Neural Engine
$1,299.99
Apple MacBook Pro MK183LL/A (Late 2021) 16.2" Laptop Computer (Factory Refurbished) - Space Gray Apple M1 Pro 10-Core CPU; 16GB Unified Memory; 512GB Solid State Drive; 16-Core GPU/16-Core Neural Engine
Apple MacBook Pro MK1E3LL/A (Late 2021) 16.2" Laptop Computer (Factory Refurbished) - Silver Apple M1 Pro 10-Core Chip; 16GB Unified Memory; 512GB Solid State Drive; 16-core GPU/16-Core Neural Engine
If you don't need a laptop and currently have a windows desktop - buy a current mac mini and use your existing monitor with it.
Maybe get a mac keyboard (so you have the correct labels on option/command keys), but your PC mouse is compatible / maybe better than the apple mouse.
That's the cheapest entry point, and if you don't need portability a mac mini will serve the needs of 90% of people who aren't doing anything special with their machine.
Spec 16 GB of RAM and at least 512GB of storage to have a comfortable space for the OS - store your stuff in icloud and maybe grab an external SSD (samsung t7 or something 1TB+) to use with time machine for backups.
That way you'll have data stored in icloud to protect against local disaster e.g., your house and mac/backup drive burn down or get stolen) and data stored in time machine to protect against icloud disaster (iCloud account gets hacked or you lose access to it).
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The big thing for me when i went mac was that i didn't need to pirate much any more. There's plenty of good software either cheap or free on the app store.
Things like PDF creation/editing are built in to macOS for example. I woudl say the quality of apps is either par or better on macOS.
Be warned: coming from Windows, macOS will break your brain with the simplicity until it "clicks". Things make sense, but if you're used to the Windows way of second guessing the OS all the time, just try and trust macOS to do what you expect, and don't fight with it until you need to. i.e., don't pre-emptively go looking for problems to solve based on the windows way of operating. Try to just let the machine do its thing. Most of the time it "just works" and makes sense (try to un-learn the windows brain damage!)
e.g. a lot of software installs (not from the app store) are drag and drop the app icon into the applications folder. that's it. apps are just special folders with an icon.
I say that as someone who's used (and still does) Windows since 3.1 and macOS since leopard (10.5, 2008 ish). You really need to get through that first couple of weeks with macOS for it to click. And once it does, the more you learn the more "oh that's cool!" you find.
I'd say this is why so many windows users hate it - after using a mac for 1 hour or whatever without giving it a proper chance.
One more big tip:
in macOS, apps can run without an active window. In Windows, if you close a window you normally quit the app. macOS is different - apps can run in the background without an active document window.
For the most part you can not worry about stuff running in the background, macOS will take care of it, most apps auto save files, etc. OS or app re-starts don't lose data and if required macOS will happily just page the running app to disk if it is idle and memory gets tight.
But if you want to quit an app fully, either use the menu bar to quit it or cmd key+q to quit.
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What I find so incredibly upsetting about this is that whilst I'd agree that it still remains true that MacOS is 'simpler' (not to be confused with also being less powerful) than Windows, it has also become such an utterly cluttered and convoluted mess as well. It's my opinion that this has happened because Apple adopted similar paradigms in design to Windows, i.e. unnecessary, and often confusing,'choice', in order to add 'value' and 'power' to a user's experience.
Digging through options and even just trying to remember, let alone decipher, where an option might be buried, has become far too common an experience as the MacOS has evolved over the last decade. Moreover, a lot of the choices that would actually be helpful or necessary, are also often the ones now absent or forgotten about or pasted over with worse options.
I really wish we could get the same makeover of the MacOS that happened from 9 to X, in order to get rid of all this garbage and get back to a simpler, cleaner, and far more 'powerful' and pleasant user experience.
Sorry, rant over. Windows is still worse so until we get the return of BeOS, I'll leave you be and just rock in a dark corner, over there, by myself...
Examples?
For the most part defaults "just work" and i don't find myself digging through options to look for things? Not saying there's been no change or options are harder to find, but as a new user who has never used macOS before i do not believe they'll be running into this to any significant extent.
And coming from windows.... don't even get me started on control panel vs. settings for the past decade in windows 8->11
I strongly disagree. Why send a new user to old hardware, Apple's lowest end laptop? The OP did not say he was destitute, just new to Mac. Why intentionally send him to old low end hardware?
And sending anyone to base RAM is wrong on every level. Apple increased available RAM 8x from 16 GB to 128 GB in just seven years. Apple knows the future OSs/apps will be taking advantage of lots more RAM than today.
Spend lots of time at Apple Stores perusing the choices. Personally I recommend a laptop for lots of reasons, and a Macbook Pro is superior to a Macbook Air in every way except weight and price (compare the specs with care). MBA can be good value if you are financially constrained, but be aware that you will be limited by less available RAM. If you choose desktop the Mac Mini is a great value.
Buy wherever you like, but buy AppleCare, which increases your available support, and use that support constantly. Just call them up or wander in to an Apple Store to chat up any question.
Buy minimum an M2 chip. No sense starting out with years-old hardware. Read up on Apple's Unified Memory Architecture (UMA), and buy more RAM than you think you need. RAM needs always increase over the life cycle of a new box, and Macs usually last 5-10 years if properly loaded with RAM at purchase. RAM is not upgradable in Macs (see UMA).
Under no circumstance buy a base level Mac despite the deals you may find. Base level Macs are always low RAM and not upgradable; a bad purchase decision.
Enjoy.
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@max2: "If you were new to Macs which one would you buy as your first machine?"
It super duper depends on what you're going to do with it. But..
Assuming a non-gamer who uses the computer at home and doesn't have particularly exotic needs, I'd buy a Mac mini with the base level M chip, one step up from base level of RAM, and twice as much storage space as I have data to store internally. If rumors suggested a new Mac mini was coming within a month's time I'd wait for that, otherwise I'd buy the latest M revision available.
I'd keep my old Windows machine on the side, making use of existing screen, keyboard and mouse while learning how to use my Mac and what Mac software is available for my needs. I'd get my software needs sorted out in order from free to cheap to expensive, to minimize expenses if I happen to run into a must-have piece of software I can't have on the Mac, and need to return / sell the machine.
Why not a MacBook?
I'd get one only if I absolutely had to have a portable Mac (for example if remoting to my desktop Mac from an iPad wasn't sufficient).
Why buy from Apple?
If I was considering switching from Windows to macOS I'd want to also experience what it's like to deal with Apple directly, rather than third parties.
Why so much RAM / storage?
If I was so price sensitive I couldn't afford these upgrades to the cheapest Mac available I wouldn't be looking at switching to a Mac. If a lesser configuration turned out to be insufficient for my needs, I might mistakenly assume Macs suck and / or I'd have to deal with getting it exchanged for a better model. On the other hand if this configuration turned out to be just right or slightly above my needs I'd be happy with it for a long time. And if parts of it turned out to be more than I need I'd know where I can skimp when it comes time to upgrade.
It super duper depends on what you're going to do with it. But..
Assuming a non-gamer who uses the computer at home and doesn't have particularly exotic needs, I'd buy a Mac mini with the base level M chip, one step up from base level of RAM, and twice as much storage space as I have data to store internally. If rumors suggested a new Mac mini was coming within a month's time I'd wait for that, otherwise I'd buy the latest M revision available.
I'd keep my old Windows machine on the side, making use of existing screen, keyboard and mouse while learning how to use my Mac and what Mac software is available for my needs. I'd get my software needs sorted out in order from free to cheap to expensive, to minimize expenses if I happen to run into a must-have piece of software I can't have on the Mac, and need to return / sell the machine.
Why not a MacBook?
I'd get one only if I absolutely had to have a portable Mac (for example if remoting to my desktop Mac from an iPad wasn't sufficient).
Why buy from Apple?
If I was considering switching from Windows to macOS I'd want to also experience what it's like to deal with Apple directly, rather than third parties.
Why so much RAM / storage?
If I was so price sensitive I couldn't afford these upgrades to the cheapest Mac available I wouldn't be looking at switching to a Mac. If a lesser configuration turned out to be insufficient for my needs, I might mistakenly assume Macs suck and / or I'd have to deal with getting it exchanged for a better model. On the other hand if this configuration turned out to be just right or slightly above my needs I'd be happy with it for a long time. And if parts of it turned out to be more than I need I'd know where I can skimp when it comes time to upgrade.
I don't know what addons you use and I don't use Firefox so I won't be able to answer this question. Just so you know.
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Guess that when I test one by one my Firefox addons to make sure they work on a Mac machine!