Is it time to finally switch back to windows?

[Mildredop]

It's not just the OS. Apple controls every aspect of the Apple ecosystem.

When you go elsewhere, it's all over the place.

So my iPhone 7 came with lightning headphones. But the MacBook Pro doesn't have a lightning port, so I can't use the lightning headphones that came with my iPhone 7. I have to use my old 3.5mm headphones. But I can't use the 3.5mm headphones with my iPhone 7 without a dongle.

My iPhone 7 also came with a charging cable. But that charging cable won't fit in the new MacBook Pro. So I can no longer charge my iPhone 7 from my MacBook Pro. Unless I buy a dongle.

I'm so glad Apple controls the whole ecosystem. It's seamless.

 

[Macalway]

So my iPhone 7 came with lightning headphones. But the MacBook Pro doesn't have a lightning port, so I can't use the lightning headphones that came with my iPhone 7. I have to use my old 3.5mm headphones. But I can't use the 3.5mm headphones with my iPhone 7 without a dongle.

My iPhone 7 also came with a charging cable. But that charging cable won't fit in the new MacBook Pro. So I can no longer charge my iPhone 7 from my MacBook Pro. Unless I buy a dongle.

I'm so glad Apple controls the whole ecosystem. It's seamless.

Well, there are some.....glitches, yes

 

[GoodOne]

I run Bootcamp on my rMBP and it's the best Windows Laptop I've ever had.

Windows does some Things better than MacOS, primarily Windows Explorer (Finder? really?) and while working with the trackpad in MacOS is heaven I think the mouse precision in Windows is much much better.
I have tried to convert to MacOS a couple of times but I just can't stand Finder and the mouse Cursor precision.

Although I prefer Windows, I still think the Hardware Quality is unmatched by any other vendor. Lenovo Thinkpads are fine but they're plain and boring. And don't get started on a Dell now, please... *rolleyes*

Microsoft has some nice Hardware but I still prefer a MBP because I don't care for touch Displays on a Laptop and MBPs are just more beautiful to work with. Oh, but the Microsoft Sculpt Comfort Mouse is reaaallly nice.

So IMO MacOS is not the only USP for a MBP. It may make sense to get it just for the Hardware and putting Windows on it. And no, the battery life is not that bad in bootcamp.

 

[Razeus]

I switched to a 15" Dell XPS at the beginning of the year and never looked back.

Saw these new Macs and was disappointed. Saw their new prices and was really disappointed.

 

[maflynn]

I think I have the best of both worlds, I have a surface book which offers me an experience in windows, but also an iMac that provides great performance, user experience and tool to keep using OS X.

Overall, I can't say what the future holds, but I'm happy to have my Surface Book, I got a really good deal, and my needs are such that I didn't need the high end model.

I've used it for a number of trips and it worked out very well.

 

[Macalway]

I think I have the best of both worlds, I have a surface book which offers me an experience in windows, but also an iMac that provides great performance, user experience and tool to keep using OS X.

Overall, I can't say what the future holds, but I'm happy to have my Surface Book, I got a really good deal, and my needs are such that I didn't need the high end model.

I've used it for a number of trips and it worked out very well.

Yeah sure. I also have a SP4. It's nice. The Surface stuff does NOT have the new fancy TB3 ports everyone is complaining about. NOR does it have the groovy touch bar

 

[maflynn]

NOR does it have the groovy touch bar.

Nope, but it does have a touch screen which I think is more useful then the touch bar - just my $.02

 

[macTW]

Just like smartphones and (for the most part) cars, it's become an arms race. Technology has progressed so far, so fast, that virtually any pc made in the last few years is fast, enjoyable and productive. The fine qualities, such as software (which many on this site either forget to consider [it's all about specs blah blah blah] or undervalue) or various pc characteristics (touch bar, touch screen, etc.) are what make or break preference and, through that, purchase.

Of course, price matters too

 

[Macalway]

Just like smartphones and (for the most part) cars, it's become an arms race. Technology has progressed so far, so fast, that virtually any pc made in the last few years is fast, enjoyable and productive. The fine qualities, such as software (which many on this site either forget to consider [it's all about specs blah blah blah] or undervalue) or various pc characteristics (touch bar, touch screen, etc.) are what make or break preference and, through that, purchase.

Of course, price matters too

Yes, it's great. Remember when these things struggled with basic apps? Now it's refinement and gimmicks, which is fine with me.

 

[chabig]

I hate working on Windows, even Windows 10:

- Can't rename files while they are open
- Can't move or rename files without breaking all shortcuts
- Can't scroll windows in the background. They have to be brought forward, covering what I am working on.
- Drive letters - Yuck!
- Printed documents still don't always match what you see on the screen
- Poor compatibility with pdf
- Too many hidden settings
- Window management not as good as Expose, Spaces, and Mission Control
- Terrible third party UIs

 

[cmaier]

But the competition is catching up or maybe has caught up or moved ahead in the quality arena. I know the last two Mac notebooks I've owned have not been the same quality as the older ones. I've had trackpads wear out in both of them and I can't tell you how many power supplies I've replaced at 80 bucks a pop for cord fraying.

1) you've had two of the taptic trackpads wear out? That's extraordinary. Or are they the old mechanical ones? If so, that doesn't really tell us anything about the quality of current mac notebooks vs the older ones, though, does it?

2) yep, sucks when those power cords fray. I've had at least half a dozen die, though mostly the older "T-shaped" magsafe connectors and not the more recent L-shaped ones. Though I just bring them to the apple store and they hand me a new one each time for free, so.... (I always have some mac or another under apple care at any given time). Of course, windows machines often have power bricks that burn out (it's happened to me many times, though not in the last 10 years or so since I've switched to mainly macs), and I've never gotten a free replacement.
[doublepost=1478029858][/doublepost]

I hate working on Windows, even Windows 10:

- Can't scroll windows in the background. They have to be brought forward, covering what I am working on.

Isn't that awful? There used to be a power toy to fix that back in the xp days.

 

[HRNess]

I hate working on Windows, even Windows 10:

- Can't scroll windows in the background. They have to be brought forward, covering what I am working on.


Thats easy in Windows 10:

1. Settings app and click on the Devices section.
2. Click the Mouse & Touchpad tab.
3. Switch “Scroll inactive windows when I hover over them” to on.

 

[campyguy]

I'm in the market for a new portable computer, what with Black Friday showing up soon my timing's pretty good IMHO. There will be deals everywhere - Dell's BF ad was revealed today and there's some pretty cheap stuff there. My next Mac will likely be a VESA iMac with TB3/USB-C ports. My next portable device, which will be used for my on-the-road use will be either the iPad Pro that I already own or the not-yet-released Wacom mobilestudio pro 16 that has the Quadro GPU I covet (and it can be used with a Mac as a tablet/second display!)... I like the Surface Pro 4 but am leaning to the Wacom product, waiting only to test one out in person when they're released later this month...

 

[symphara]

I hate working on Windows, even Windows 10:

- Can't rename files while they are open
- Can't move or rename files without breaking all shortcuts
- Can't scroll windows in the background. They have to be brought forward, covering what I am working on.
- Drive letters - Yuck!
- Printed documents still don't always match what you see on the screen
- Poor compatibility with pdf
- Too many hidden settings
- Window management not as good as Expose, Spaces, and Mission Control
- Terrible third party UIs

We can build lists like this all day long. Let's take OSX:

- Ugly. Ugly widgets, solid rat-gray everywhere. Easily the ugliest desktop OS out there. Granted Windows went through its own uglification after Aero, but still, it looks a bit better.
- Can't disable a bunch of useless OS crap. Like the AppleTV icon taking real estate in my menu bar - I don't have an AppleTV, and I never plan to waste money on one. Why is the icon there? The useless notification centre, which requires hidden command-line stuff to turn off ... and the icon never goes away.
- Is there an actual purpose to Launchpad? Why would you ship a desktop OS with such a thing?
- Too many hidden settings. The command-line variety.
- Finder is just generally awful. It cannot even cut & paste files. I don't particularly like Explorer but it's like a shining beacon in comparison.
- Very little useful window management. They pushed aggressively the use case of every app in its own virtual desktop, which makes alt-tabbing nauseating and counter-intuitive.
- The only OS that shouldn't be upgraded. Yes you could get some newer features (usually they involve an iPhone, or some way for Apple to offer you a poor value for money service), but lose on performance and stability.
- Windows taskbar is just infinitely better and more versatile than the OSX one.
- /Volumes - Yuck! And why, God, when /mnt was just fine?
- Speaking of /mnt, this is the one UNIX which hates being a UNIX. Made a dog's breakfast of all the filesystem, libraries, services, binaries, everything. I've worked with AIX, Solaris/SunOS, Digital UNIX, *BSDs, Linux since Slackware with kernel <1.0, even EP/IX, but OSX, as a UNIX, is a one-of-a-kind incomprehensible mess.
- Doesn't have remote desktop (huge one) and has phased out its X11 compatibility.
- POSIX compliance - this is special about OSX: include a header file, compile your stuff, binary doesn't work, investigate and find out that Apple actually provided only a stub, and basically wasted your time.

 

[David58117]

I hate working on Windows, even Windows 10:


- Can't scroll windows in the background. They have to be brought forward, covering what I am working on.
- Poor compatibility with pdf

1. Yes you can, I'm doing it right now.

2. It's funny you throw that at windows - where you not there for the UI lag in PDFs the retinas were plagued with until..maybe a year ago? Not even third party PDF readers were immune.

In fact that's why I switched to a Surface Pro 3. It handled large PDF readers smoothly, while my 15" retina stuttered. I tested that (15" quadcore i7 with 16GB ram), a 13" retina, and later the 12" MacBook - all did it.

There were many posts about it on here, too.

Meanwhile - my Surface Book and XPS15 still read large PDFs just as smoothly as back then.

 

[soulreaver99]

Just in case you're bored and wanna watch, here you go buddy

I know it's over a year old but damn I get pumped just watching Panos present. Apple's keynotes have been really dull as that whole team seems to have lost their passion. I'm a Macbook Pro and Surface Book owner and I have been loving the SB (even after some hiccups at the beginning, now runs perfect after updates) and am really excited on what the Surface Book 2 will bring.

 

[PhoneI]

I'm switching.

I think it was with the Surface Pro 3 that Microsoft started aiming ahead of Apple. Sure there were bugs - but Microsoft listened, worked with the community, and fixed (most) of them. Even things like having members of the OneNote development team on reddit, answering questions/listening to the community...that's really cool to see...

The Microsoft store and warranty have been great, and it's crazy how fast they've come from nothing to something that rivals Apple.

As a Surface Pro 4 owner I find it crazy that anyone would choose this crappy device over a MacBook.

Terrible tablet, mediocre (at best) laptop.

 

[dk808]

No matter how desperate i get, i'll never ever switch to Windows

 

[crassapple]

And ya know what's great about windows? If you don't like what 1 company is giving you, you can leave and try another. Obviously not so with mac

Yeah... unless that 1 company is microsoft. No thanks.

 

[Gregintosh]

So my iPhone 7 came with lightning headphones. But the MacBook Pro doesn't have a lightning port, so I can't use the lightning headphones that came with my iPhone 7. I have to use my old 3.5mm headphones. But I can't use the 3.5mm headphones with my iPhone 7 without a dongle.

My iPhone 7 also came with a charging cable. But that charging cable won't fit in the new MacBook Pro. So I can no longer charge my iPhone 7 from my MacBook Pro. Unless I buy a dongle.

I'm so glad Apple controls the whole ecosystem. It's seamless.

So you'll spend money on a $2000 computer and $1000 phone but you won't spend $100 on a pair of good headphones? And you dont have any pairs lying around? At this point I'm surprised Apple still bundles them at all to be honest. Wouldn't be surprised if this is the last iPhone they do so with.

No, you can't charge your phone via MacBook, but a $20 dongle will do it if you need that ability which isn't a common use case. Presumably a person who can buy $3k worth of luxury tech can afford it. I personally haven't plugged my phone into my computers for charging purposes in about 5 years though and haven't known of many people who do either.

Will be a moot point in a year or two when the iPhones have no ports at all (wireless charging). Will people complain their laptop doesn't have a wireless charging base?

 

[frank33v]

So my iPhone 7 came with lightning headphones. But the MacBook Pro doesn't have a lightning port, so I can't use the lightning headphones that came with my iPhone 7. I have to use my old 3.5mm headphones. But I can't use the 3.5mm headphones with my iPhone 7 without a dongle.

My iPhone 7 also came with a charging cable. But that charging cable won't fit in the new MacBook Pro. So I can no longer charge my iPhone 7 from my MacBook Pro. Unless I buy a dongle.

I'm so glad Apple controls the whole ecosystem. It's seamless.

Macrumors would not let me double (triple) like this comment !!

 

[venom600]

Well, there are some.....glitches, yes

He also didn't mention the garbage fire that is iTunes and the Music app in iOS.

 

[jjlannoo]

So my iPhone 7 came with lightning headphones. But the MacBook Pro doesn't have a lightning port, so I can't use the lightning headphones that came with my iPhone 7. I have to use my old 3.5mm headphones. But I can't use the 3.5mm headphones with my iPhone 7 without a dongle.

My iPhone 7 also came with a charging cable. But that charging cable won't fit in the new MacBook Pro. So I can no longer charge my iPhone 7 from my MacBook Pro. Unless I buy a dongle.

I'm so glad Apple controls the whole ecosystem. It's seamless.

I never do either of these things and every set of headphones from my last 5 iPhones are still in the box. Your issues don't apply to many many people.

 

[myscrnnm]

As a Surface Pro 4 owner I find it crazy that anyone would choose this crappy device over a MacBook.

Terrible tablet, mediocre (at best) laptop.

I think that sentiment also carries over to the Windows operating system in general. It's like Windows is having an identity crisis. With Windows 8 onwards (and arguably even as early as Windows 7), Microsoft has been trying to create an operating system that doesn't completely leave legacy users behind, but also supports tablets and tablet interfaces. This creates an operating environment where text and text boxes are often too small, icons are comically large, interfaces are confusing, and functions are needlessly duplicated. You have to navigate vast expanses of space to go anywhere if you're trying to use it as a desktop, and webpages are too finicky if you're trying to use it as a tablet.

What Microsoft should have done was create a separate operating system like Apple did with iOS and macOS, develop both, and determine which features from one can trickle successfully into the other. I feel like they were trying to do that with Windows 8 RT, but consumers were too confused by the cosmetic similarity of the Surface tablets, and that combined with the failure to attract app developers killed RT.

If anything, now is the worst time to switch back to Windows. I'm here trying to get out of Windows!

 

[Gregintosh]

I never do either of these things and every set of headphones from my last 5 iPhones are still in the box. Your issues don't apply to many many people.

Yep. A lot of people take edge cases and turn them into deal breakers. This forum is full of logic like that. But Apple designs for the 80% or even 90% of users, not necessarily to cover every base. If they did, the laptops would still be 6 pounds and last probably 3 hours on battery.