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Lifelong Windows user. Sell me macOS

ProQuiz

ProQuiz

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 15, 2009
287
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I was born in 1984 and have been a lifelong Windows user. Only extremely briefly using Macs in middle and high school. I got my first Mac (a MacBook Pro 14" with the M2 Pro chip) on October 10, 2023 just to try it out because I have been always curious and fascinated by Macs. It was my first time actually getting deep into macOS. I used it for 3 weeks but then Apple had the Mac event and announced the M3 chips. I returned my MacBook Pro with the goal of getting one with the M3 chip.

Now that it is returned, I am having second thoughts about getting another MacBook Pro or just a new desktop gaming PC. My current desktop gaming PC was built in January 2012 and I have been using it ever since so it is definitely time for a new computer whether it be a Mac or Windows PC. The thing is getting a new gaming desktop PC might not be worth it because I really don't game much these days.

However, with the 3 weeks I had the MacBook Pro, it definitely took some time to get used to and I'm not sure if I got completely used to it. Multitasking seems easier on Windows because of the taskbar. Also, maybe it's because I have been using Windows all this time, Windows seems easier to use and more logical than macOS. I don't have a "genuine reason" to use macOS (meaning there is no app that I must use that is only available on macOS) so I am not sure if the switch is worth it.

What do you guys say? I know it is ultimately up to me but I'm looking for any feedback and opinions I can get.
 
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I’m slightly older than you so my desires for things like gaming and continued education are pretty non existent these days. I don’t use my laptop for personal livelihood either so when I switched over to Mac approx 6-7yrs ago it was for the quality and ease of use. Not having to install drivers or updates every day like on Windows was refreshing.

These days I stay on Mac (M chips) for the still relatively good hardware quality, long OS support, silent operation, but more so the battery life on/off a charger. Windows is still terrible in the battery life department regardless and Intel/AMD chips are not efficient in a laptop design. Maybe if my lifestyle dictated otherwise but I just need a reliable, solid laptop that I don’t have to worry about most of the time which so happens to be a Mac. It also helps that Microsoft is slowly turning itself into an ad infested, data miner disguised as an OS.
 
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How long does Apple provide macOS updates for Apple silicon Macs? I read it used to be 5-7 years for Intel Macs but for Apple silicon Macs it is 10 years. Is this true? I guess we don't know yet.
 
I was also Windows user for a long time, but then bought iPad and got more and more in to the ecosystem. I mainly use my MacBook Air for writing, photo organising and some entertainment. Not that performance heavy, but when keyboard and desktop software is the best experience. The battery is amazing, unlocking with Apple Watch, syncing photos and files between devices. Things just work (mostly) amazing.

Since you mention wanting gaming PC, or have some interest in it, MacOS might not be the best for you.
 
I'm not gonna sell you a Mac. I've always been OS-ambidextrous, but my personal computer had been Windows from Win 3.1 thru Win7. Win8 finally sent me over the edge, and I went out and got a MacBook. And have never really considered going back.

There is, admittedly, a learning curve to MacOS (and noting your interest, not really a lot of support - from Apple or developers - for gaming. Up until M2 and the newest OS), and that can be daunting at first. Especially as a long-term user of any other OS. And the OS doesn't really give the average user a lot of access to under-the-hood tinkering, if that's your thing. And then there is the initial outlay of software to replace what you've accumulated on Windows.

But recent experimentation with Win11 has shown to me that it's really lost its way on many fronts - it seemingly leaning into gaming, streaming, audio and video (often several apps doing pretty much the same thing) - while as a home or work business device, its just...meh. And aside from OS peculiarities, the software exists on that front regardless of OS.

There is also the consideration of whether you have have other Apple products (or are interested in them), as the connectivity between them and the OS can be attractive. Example: Calendar event on your computer shows up on your phone, etc.

But it has to be a personal choice. You have to be comfortable with the leap. The comment that you're having second thoughts - even after trying the OS and hardware for a few weeks - has to be addressed. And only you can do that.
 
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Having used it for 3 weeks should tell you more about your experience with macs, than what we can offer.
Has it been a good experience? Go for it. Has it been disappointing? Go back to the PC.

Every major change takes a while for anyone to get used to.
My advice would be. If you decide to stick with Apple, make sure you do not skimp out on the hardware. Get what you need. Yes, it might be more costly, but that is better than regretting a purchase that does not meet you requirements.

I bought a new iMac 21.5" 2015 basic model, as my first mac. I bought hardware that fit me better, not long after. When I realised how much better MacOS was for me personally. And I used my PCs less and less.
 
What do you guys think about the Magic Mouse? I've never used one so just looking for some feedback. I assume it would be better integrated into macOS than a third-party mouse?
 
ProQuiz said:
What do you guys think about the Magic Mouse? I've never used one so just looking for some feedback. I assume it would be better integrated into macOS than a third-party mouse?
Click to expand...
The Apple Magic Mouse is no more integrated than any other good mouse. You can use whatever feels good to you. I have and use the Magic Mouse, but many people find it hard to hold. Trackballs are popular too, as are the Logitec mice.
Shop around and find one that fits your hand.
The Apple trackpad is another story, probably the best on the planet, either as the stand alone model or the laptop model. That is another very viable choice.
Overall, if you go for the M3 laptop, get the Pro model if at all possible. Also get enough RAM and Storage to suit your usage patterns. I have 16GB in my M2 MBA and that is just right for my usage patterns. Your situation may well be different, but get as much RAM as you can without breaking the bank. Storage needs vary from person to person, I have 1TB and that is way more than I need. Should have gone for the 512GB and the 24GB RAM (hindsight is so blasted late!).
 
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Unless you have money for both a gaming PC and a Mac, get the gaming PC. Even serious Mac heads get a PC for gaming. That's where all the games are. Log on to Steam and filter for Mac games and see what you get. Also look at how many of those are optimized for silicon and metal, the new and preferred graphic API

Oh sure you can mess with things like crossover and game porting tool kit to get PC games to run on Mac, but you'll spend more time getting games to run than playing them, and the experience will be way worse than on a similarly priced PC

You're on a Mac forum, so you'll hear about how Macs are so superior. I'm a lifelong PC user who got a Mac 6 months ago, I can tell you it's kind of a wash. There are things PC and Windows are better, there are things Mac and Mac OS are better. Macs used to be overpriced with lousy hardware. Now they're overpriced with good hardware (you'll pay through the nose for memory and storage upgrade, and they give you bare minimum for the base config). Apple is a control freak and their security measures lock you in as much as keep the bad guys out, if not more, since hackers don't seem to bother with Mac due to its small user base.

Mac OS is pretty and it's more consistent, but as you've seen, it's not slam dunk better, just different. It has some shortcomings that Apple seems uninterested in fixing. For example, you cannot scale text arbitrarily like you can in Windows, font rendering look bad if you don't run at the right doi, and window management is weirdly primitive.

If you're just curious about Mac, you can get a used m1 mini or even a cheap older Intel iMac or mini to play with and do light computing on; use your PC for gaming and apps not available on Mac
 
ProQuiz said:
I was born in 1984 and have been a lifelong Windows user. Only extremely briefly using Macs in middle and high school. I got my first Mac (a MacBook Pro 14" with the M2 Pro chip) on October 10, 2023 just to try it out because I have been always curious and fascinated by Macs. It was my first time actually getting deep into macOS. I used it for 3 weeks but then Apple had the Mac event and announced the M3 chips. I returned my MacBook Pro with the goal of getting one with the M3 chip.

Now that it is returned, I am having second thoughts about getting another MacBook Pro or just a new desktop gaming PC. My current desktop gaming PC was built in January 2012 and I have been using it ever since so it is definitely time for a new computer whether it be a Mac or Windows PC. The thing is getting a new gaming desktop PC might not be worth it because I really don't game much these days.

However, with the 3 weeks I had the MacBook Pro, it definitely took some time to get used to and I'm not sure if I got completely used to it. Multitasking seems easier on Windows because of the taskbar. Also, maybe it's because I have been using Windows all this time, Windows seems easier to use and more logical than macOS. I don't have a "genuine reason" to use macOS (meaning there is no app that I must use that is only available on macOS) so I am not sure if the switch is worth it.

What do you guys say? I know it is ultimately up to me but I'm looking for any feedback and opinions I can get.
Click to expand...
i am a mac user(2007), and a life long window hater, since dial up days, buying an expensive m3 wont make any difference,(accept to your pocket) if its just casual internetting. im still using a mac pro 2012 on Sonoma that works well with opencore, because of my music production. i also have a 2017 imac that works well for my preteens and they are just trolling the net themselves. in conclusion if you just wanna fart around on a mac, get an m1 imac from like 2021 used, might be cheaper and still supported by apple.
 
Apple seems better for the phone and iPad and watch game, laptops and desktops it’s kinda hard to make to sell unless there is a Mac only program you use A LOT
 
I was big into Macintosh in the 1990's.
Switched to PC in 2001 for better games and software.
Needed a Laptop during COVID and bought a Macbook Pro just to try Mac again.

Impressions?

I still have my PC setup but have mostly switched to Apple.
iPhone 14 Pro
Macbook Air M1
iMac 27 2020.

MacOS just works and is aesthetically pleasing. It makes using the computer feel like an adventure.
The android phones and their bloatware are garbage after 1-2 years and windows laptops are chincy glitch traps.

If you want gaming, you need the PC, although it's pretty easy to justify having both platforms.
 
ProQuiz said:
What do you guys think about the Magic Mouse? I've never used one so just looking for some feedback. I assume it would be better integrated into macOS than a third-party mouse?
Click to expand...

It’s horrible-mine is in a drawer somewhere never to be used.

The Mac trackpad also makes a mouse obsolete (the trackpad is that good)

I have a PC for gaming and MacBook (M2) for everything else.
 
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Here's the best way to pick a platform:

1. Figure out what it is you want to do that requires a computer.
2. Find the best software with which to do that thing.
3. Find the best hardware on which to run it.

In my case, it was digital media, specifically video. At the time the best softwares were Shake and Motion. However, a single-seat license for Motion was $25k, and the Silicon Graphics workstation on which to run it was $100k. The second best thing was Final Cut Pro, and they'd just released an Express version and the PowerMac G5. They were way cheaper ($300 and $3000, respectively) and Apple had a really professional way of acting like an actual vendor for the end-user. I'd played with my girlfriend's iMac G4 (the desk-lamp one) and was impressed how it was a real version of UNIX with the best GUI I'd ever used laid over it. So I picked up the two aforementioned products, and was blown away how the OS and utilities simply faded into the background, and got out of the way of Doing What I Wanted. It was glorious. Windows is forever in-your-face about updates and other garbage, like stealing focus from what you're doing to do things according to what it wants, not what you're already doing, and as an IT pro the last thing I wanted to do having spent the day screwing with computers was to come home to my personal rig and be forced to screw with a computer. macOS (OSX at the time) made sure I didn't have to do that.
 
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BinkyTheToaster said:
Here's the best way to pick a platform:

1. Figure out what it is you want to do that requires a computer.
2. Find the best software with which to do that thing.
3. Find the best hardware on which to run it.

In my case, it was digital media, specifically video. At the time the best softwares were Shake and Motion. However, a single-seat license for Motion was $25k, and the Silicon Graphics workstation on which to run it was $100k. The second best thing was Final Cut Pro, and they'd just released an Express version and the PowerMac G5. They were way cheaper ($300 and $3000, respectively) and Apple had a really professional way of acting like an actual vendor for the end-user. I'd played with my girlfriend's iMac G4 (the desk-lamp one) and was impressed how it was a real version of UNIX with the best GUI I'd ever used laid over it. So I picked up the two aforementioned products, and was blown away how the OS and utilities simply faded into the background, and got out of the way of Doing What I Wanted. It was glorious. Windows is forever in-your-face about updates and other garbage, like stealing focus from what you're doing to do things according to what it wants, not what you're already doing, and as an IT pro the last thing I wanted to do having spent the day screwing with computers was to come home to my personal rig and be forced to screw with a computer. macOS (OSX at the time) made sure I didn't have to do that.
Click to expand...
My use case for a computer (whether is it Windows or macOS) is light daily usage such as Internet browsing, streaming movies/music and watching MKV files, communication apps like WhatsApp and Discord, apps like Zoom and TeamViewer for work, and productivity apps like Microsoft Office.

I could do this on Windows or macOS and the OS I choose is not likely to make a difference for the apps I use. However, it's the OS itself that is different and that is what I am trying to decide between. I am comfortable with Windows but want to try macOS but don't want to regret it. I read all these posts about how macOS is "so much better" than Windows for productivity and other such tasks so I am curious.

Also, I notice how people say macOS "just works" but so does my Windows desktop PC. I haven't had a BSOD or crash in over 10 years (and when I did it was because of faulty RAM). Also, those people who complain about seeing ads in Windows, well I don't see that either. My Windows install is pretty much as "clean" as macOS. But my current desktop PC is about to be 12 years old and it's time for a new computer. Want to try out macOS as long as I won't regret it by missing things that are easy to do or possible in Windows.
 
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ProQuiz said:
How long does Apple provide macOS updates for Apple silicon Macs? I read it used to be 5-7 years for Intel Macs but for Apple silicon Macs it is 10 years. Is this true? I guess we don't know yet.
Click to expand...
There's nothing official on this yet. And I don't think they can use the same method of obsoleting an Apple Silicon machine as they do Intel machines. The way my 2020 M1 MBP is running now, and after their recent comments about how 8GB is the new 16GB of Memory, I'm expecting to keep this thing chugging along until at least 2027. Who knows what shape it'll actually be by then, but I'd assume someone else would still be able to use it as a "base model" machine, as opposed to me using it as a "pro" machine for Work, Studio Recording, and a bunch of other things...
 
I watched this entire video. Almost looks as if the default window management in macOS is pretty much useless until you start installing third-party apps to increase functionality.

 
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ProQuiz said:
My use case for a computer (whether is it Windows or macOS) is light daily usage such as Internet browsing, streaming movies/music and watching MKV files, communication apps like WhatsApp and Discord, apps like Zoom and TeamViewer for work, and productivity apps like Microsoft Office.

I could do this on Windows or macOS and the OS I choose is not likely to make a difference for the apps I use. However, it's the OS itself that is different and that is what I am trying to decide between. I am comfortable with Windows but want to try macOS but don't want to regret it. I read all these posts about how macOS is "so much better" than Windows for productivity and other such tasks so I am curious.

Also, I notice how people say macOS "just works" but so does my Windows desktop PC. I haven't had a BSOD or crash in over 10 years (and when I did it was because of faulty RAM). Also, those people who complain about seeing ads in Windows, well I don't see that either. My Windows install is pretty much as "clean" as macOS. But my current desktop PC is about to be 12 years old and it's time for a new computer. Want to try out macOS as long as I won't regret it by missing things that are easy to do or possible in Windows.
Click to expand...
Hi ProQuiz

I had a Windows machine before I moved to Mac a couple of years ago. Like yourself it was utterly rock-solid, I got nigh on a decade of use out of it with zero (and I mean zero) issues. I moved to Mac as the Windows machines at the time couldn't really handle the video formats I was using (I produce videos as well as a load of other stuff), buying an M1 Max MacBook which is my daily drivers.

Yes, some things are incredibly clunky on OsX, for me primarily the Finder and Windows/Dock management, both of which are far superior on Windows. I installed Rectangle (free) to give me some of the snap functionality that Windows has. Once you get used to a system I feel minor things are forgotten. I use the machine for hours a day and honestly couldn't be happier with it, to the extent I've just ordered an M3 Max. One thing I can't overstate is the fact my Mac is silent most of the time, and that I can power it and connect to peripherals with a single cable.
 
ProQuiz said:
Multitasking seems easier on Windows because of the taskbar.
Click to expand...

Ironically this is one of the many things that make me gnash my teeth when I use my Windows laptop for work. They took the away the ability to NOT group things from the same program together. I usually alt-tab to multitasking now, which is something you can do on the Mac also.

macOS isn't perfect but I like it so much better than Windows. Being able to pop open a terminal window and use Linux commands, interoperability with all of my other Apple devices, AirDrop, etc etc.

I'm a gamer and I do zero gaming on my Mac though.
 
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OP:

No one here can really "sell you" on the Mac OS.

You have to try it, and see if it "suits you".
Also, make sure it can run the applications YOU need to use (for work or relaxation).

It IS "different". Whether or not you "take to" the differences will be a personal matter.

I've NEVER been "a Windows user" -- always have used Macs, since 1987.
I find that MY attempts to use Windows are usually filled with frustration.
But perhaps that's just me.
 
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MisterSavage said:
Ironically this is one of the many things that make me gnash my teeth when I use my Windows laptop for work. They took the away the ability to NOT group things from the same program together. I usually alt-tab to multitasking now, which is something you can do on the Mac also.

macOS isn't perfect but I like it so much better than Windows. Being able to pop open a terminal window and use Linux commands, interoperability with all of my other Apple devices, AirDrop, etc etc.

I'm a gamer and I do zero gaming on my Mac though.
Click to expand...
Did they? I am still on Windows 10 and I have grouping disabled for the taskbar and it doesn't group windows of the same app in the taskbar. Is it a Windows 11 thing?

Edit: You can disable grouping after one of the recent updates to Windows 11.
 
ProQuiz said:
Did they? I am still on Windows 10 and I have grouping disabled for the taskbar and it doesn't group windows of the same app in the taskbar. Is it a Windows 11 thing?

Edit: You can disable grouping after one of the recent updates to Windows 11.
Click to expand...

Looks like they did fix it this year but with how slow my company rolls out updates it will be a while before I get it I bet. I don't have it now. I don't know what Microsoft was thinking when they did this.

www.bleepingcomputer.com

Windows 11 finally gets a 'never combine taskbar buttons' mode

Microsoft has released a new Windows 11 dev build that adds a long-awaited feature allowing users to ensure that all windows are shown as individual items in the taskbar.
www.bleepingcomputer.com www.bleepingcomputer.com
 
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