MacBook Pro 16" or 2026 Windows laptop?

[hajime]

Hello, I orderd a MacBook Pro M5 Pro 16" before the price increase but due to poor handling of UPS, the product was damaged. I can exchange for another one or get a refund.

I planned to possibly trade-in for the Ultra when it is out but now that all those negative rumors about the upcoming Ultra have shown up, I wonder if it is better to get a Windows laptop instead. I chose the MacBook Pro 16" mainly for the secured OS, no fan noise and nice screen. Also, Windows laptops I tried before the pandemic all had fans kicking in even they were idle. They drove me crazy.

MacOS is nice to have due to the security but for work, I need Windows and Linux. It means that if I go for the MacBook Pro, I will need spend money to upgrade Parallels Pro each year (Vmware Fusion does not work for my Windows application). I don't want AI in my computer. Is MacBook Pro still better than Windows laptops even Apple is going to add more AI stuffs in the up-coming OS because we can turn them "ALL" off? Currently typing on a Windows PC. I think I have Co-Pilot turned off. Perhaps some AI stuffs are running in the background without my knowledge. At least, they don't bother me so far.

 

[Steve Adams]

If you need Windows for work and are spending macbook pro money and you can wait till the fall. Grab a Surface Ultra or ProArt system. Having Native Windows is much better for work than paralells. I have tried this previously and some windows software does not like the emulated OS. As for Ai, it's everywhere in everything don't base your decision on Ai. Apple systems will be chocked full of it in a few months as well.

It's your money and buy what you like. The new windows systems based on the Nvidia chips are going to be powerhouses.

 

[maflynn]

As the saying goes, get the best tool for the job, if your need is to use windows and/or Linux based applications then the Mac is not a great fit.

There is no right or wrong in this question, its more about which tool best fits your needs. Every operating system has its positives and negatives.

 

[hajime]

Apple just turned me off by strongly promoting AI in their OS. Is Linux free from AI?

One main reason for choosing MacBook Pro is that I don’t hear fan noise. Can 2026 Windows laptops remain silent in general use? All previous Windows laptops I tried few years ago had their fans suddenly turned on for no reason even I was not using them.

 

[hajime]

If you need Windows for work and are spending macbook pro money and you can wait till the fall. Grab a Surface Ultra or ProArt system. Having Native Windows is much better for work than paralells. I have tried this previously and some windows software does not like the emulated OS. As for Ai, it's everywhere in everything don't base your decision on Ai. Apple systems will be chocked full of it in a few months as well.

It's your money and buy what you like. The new windows systems based on the Nvidia chips are going to be powerhouses.

What so special about the Surface Ultra and ProArt systems in the Fall?

Does having Nvidia chip as GPU cause fan noise? I am thinking of RTX5050 or 5060. Can we easily turn it off and use iGPU in all laptops?

 

[hajime]

As the saying goes, get the best tool for the job, if your need is to use windows and/or Linux based applications then the Mac is not a great fit.

There is no right or wrong in this question, its more about which tool best fits your needs. Every operating system has its positives and negatives.

I miss the triple-boot Intel Mac Era.

Is running Windows via Parallels on a M5 Pro slower than running it directly on 2026 Windows laptops? I know M5 Pro MacBook Pro is faster than my 10 years old PC when running Windows applications.

 

[maflynn]

Is running Windows via Parallels on a M5 Pro slower than running it directly on 2026 Windows laptops? I

If you need to run windows most of the time, and its performance based, then buy a windows machine.

If you split your time with MacOS apps, and windows apps, then buy a Mac. Just remember with running windows in Parallels (or vmware), you need to use the arm based version of windows, this presents two layers of abstraction, i.e., virtualization and then Arm to X86 translations. Of course if you have Arm native windows apps, that resolves that issue

I know M5 Pro MacBook Pro is faster than my 10 years old PC when running Windows applications.

Any modern day computer will be running your windows programs faster then a 10 year old pc.

 

[Steve Adams]

What so special about the Surface Ultra and ProArt systems in the Fall?

Does having Nvidia chip as GPU cause fan noise? I am thinking of RTX5050 or 5060. Can we easily turn it off and use iGPU in all laptops?

It's an all new architechure for windows systems. like M series but MASSIVELY more powerful in the graphics side. You have a MBP 16, so the ProArt 16 inch and New Surface ultra will be direct competitors to the MBP. The compute power in the new systems are insane. That being said, if you don't need ALL that power the asus A16 will give you amazing windows performance.

Fan noise is dependant on system. You can have one system like my sons' MSI that is a rocketship for speed, but damn, is it loud. Or you can get a current model proart 16 that is just as powerful, but its much much much quieter.

The only thing I would advise against a ARM windows systems is if you NEED linux. Then get intel/amd based systems. What software are you needing to run?

 

[Steve Adams]

If you need to run windows most of the time, and its performance based, then buy a windows machine.

If you split your time with MacOS apps, and windows apps, then buy a Mac. Just remember with running windows in Parallels (or vmware), you need to use the arm based version of windows, this presents two layers of abstraction, i.e., virtualization and then Arm to X86 translations. Of course if you have Arm native windows apps, that resolves that issue



Any modern day computer will be running your windows programs faster then a 10 year old pc.

Whats funny is that as long as it's not graphics intensive, most windows machines are very similar in performance. For example, my current laptop compared to my wifes (my old laptop). Doing web browsing, office suite work etc. You can do either on either at approx the same speed.

Toss in photo and video editing and mine is 100 times faster. But for normal stuff. it's not that big of a deal. Not as big as made out on tech site/youtubeland would make it believe. I ran my desktop system which is 5 years old now through the same benchmarks and it's just as fast and powerful at graphics/production work as an M2 based studio. I am fine with that speed for another few years. Oh, thats real world benchmarks too not synthetic junk benchmarks like cinebench, etc. This is taking a project and pushing it through the system. Take a 4k 30 min project and then do the processing of it through my system and an M2 studio and they are neck and neck in processing it.

 

[hajime]

If you need to run windows most of the time, and its performance based, then buy a windows machine.

If you split your time with MacOS apps, and windows apps, then buy a Mac. Just remember with running windows in Parallels (or vmware), you need to use the arm based version of windows, this presents two layers of abstraction, i.e., virtualization and then Arm to X86 translations. Of course if you have Arm native windows apps, that resolves that issue



Any modern day computer will be running your windows programs faster then a 10 year old pc.

I don't need to run Windows most of the time. The main Windows application I run is CAD. It is not an Arm native app but it runs faster on M5 Pro 24GB MacBook Pro than my 10-year old PC with i9-9900K and 64GB. Before the M5 Pro, all previous generations of Silicon Mac did not have satisfactory results. I just wasted years to buy, test and return thanks to Apple moving to Silicon Mac which is not beneficial to me. The CAD software only works under Parallels, not Fusion. The only MacOS app that I use is Keynote but it can be replaced by PowerPoint. So the majority of the time will be on whatever OS running basic office productivity, youtube, etc. I do video and photo editing only occassionally (a few times a year so we don't need to take that into the equation). Many many years ago I used an IBM Thinkpad. Linux was the main OS for Nvidia CUDA programming (haven't done that for 10+ years but plan to do it again) and software development. When I needed to use CAD, Office or Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop, I dual-booted to Windows. I could do the same if I completely forget about the Mac. I haven't used Adobe software for 10+ years due to their subscription model and I don't like those free Office clone applications.

One concern is I have been using the free but old version of 1Password on my Windows and iPhone. What if I use Linux as my main OS but don't want to pay for subscription of password protection software?

 

[hajime]

It's an all new architechure for windows systems. like M series but MASSIVELY more powerful in the graphics side. You have a MBP 16, so the ProArt 16 inch and New Surface ultra will be direct competitors to the MBP. The compute power in the new systems are insane. That being said, if you don't need ALL that power the asus A16 will give you amazing windows performance.

Fan noise is dependant on system. You can have one system like my sons' MSI that is a rocketship for speed, but damn, is it loud. Or you can get a current model proart 16 that is just as powerful, but its much much much quieter.

The only thing I would advise against a ARM windows systems is if you NEED linux. Then get intel/amd based systems. What software are you needing to run?

If MASSIVELY more powerful in the graphics side, will that increase the thermal and fan noise?

Regarding to NEEDING linux and software I use, please refer to Post#10.

About 3-4 years ago, members in this forum mentioned that the Dell XPS was a direct competitior for the MacBook Pro. Then, after Dell dropped XPS, the Samsung's was recommended as a very quiet laptop. What about now?
I am thinking of Lenovo, Dell and Asus. Are they equally good in terms of duability and after sales support?


Dead silent, 16" with high resolutions near 3-4K with crisp text, under 2kg and good after sale support are important factors for me.

 

[Steve Adams]

Getting cad to work in linux will be a challenge. I would go windows and just have everything work. Instead of running parallels, vm etc. I would just get a good windows system and have everything work. I am in the same boat. I was looking at linux for our main household OS. I have thousands of dollars worth of graphics for our business that I cannot access on Linux without major headaches. I decided to just stick with windows and my systems and be happy.

 

[Steve Adams]

If MASSIVELY more powerful in the graphics side, will that increase the thermal and noise level?

Regarding to NEEDING linux and software I use, please refer to Post#10.

About 3-4 years ago, members in this forum mentioned that the Dell XPS was a direct competitior for the MacBook Pro. Then, after Dell dropped XPS, the Samsung's was recommended as a very quiet laptop. What about now?
I am thinking of Lenovo, Dell and Asus. Are they equally good in terms of duability and after sales support?


Dead silent, 16" with high resolutions near 3-4K with crisp text, under 2kg and good after sale support are important factors for me.

Does Macbook pros get extremely loud? No. This is not x86 with discrete graphics. this is Arm on steroids. Also, the ProArt P16 now is a beast and is very quiet when pushed. Not every windows laptop is loud. That's a myth.

 

[hajime]

Getting cad to work in linux will be a challenge. I would go windows and just have everything work. Instead of running parallels, vm etc. I would just get a good windows system and have everything work. I am in the same boat. I was looking at linux for our main household OS. I have thousands of dollars worth of graphics for our business that I cannot access on Linux without major headaches. I decided to just stick with windows and my systems and be happy.

I always run CAD under Windows as there is only Windows version. How is Linux on laptop these days? About 20 years ago, sometimes I got stability issues such as system halt for no reason. I had to force the machine to reboot.

Haven't been following news about Linux. Are they going to integrate rubbish AI to the OS as well? It seems to be that it depends on the distributions.

 

[hajime]

Does Macbook pros get extremely loud? No. This is not x86 with discrete graphics. this is Arm on steroids. Also, the ProArt P16 now is a beast and is very quiet when pushed. Not every windows laptop is loud. That's a myth.

I have never heard of fan noise on any M1 Pro to M5 Pro MacBook Pro.

So in terms of fan noise, I should not use the experience of Lenovo laptops bought before the Pandemic to judge the 2026 machines? I tried the X1 Extreme with a 16" 4K screen. It was well known to produce "jet engine" noise. Then I tried several Yoga which had fans suddenly kicked in when idle.

 

[macfacts]

Apple just turned me off by strongly promoting AI in their OS. Is Linux free from AI?

One main reason for choosing MacBook Pro is that I don’t hear fan noise. Can 2026 Windows laptops remain silent in general use? All previous Windows laptops I tried few years ago had their fans suddenly turned on for no reason even I was not using them.

Take a look at the Asus Zephyrus g16,

 

[TracerAnalog]

If MASSIVELY more powerful in the graphics side, will that increase the thermal and fan noise?

Regarding to NEEDING linux and software I use, please refer to Post#10.

About 3-4 years ago, members in this forum mentioned that the Dell XPS was a direct competitior for the MacBook Pro. Then, after Dell dropped XPS, the Samsung's was recommended as a very quiet laptop. What about now?
I am thinking of Lenovo, Dell and Asus. Are they equally good in terms of duability and after sales support?


Dead silent, 16" with high resolutions near 3-4K with crisp text, under 2kg and good after sale support are important factors for me.

First off: I would exchange that MacPro ASAP for another, if only to sell it it for more money after the price hikes.

All performance laptops have fans that kick in when in heavy use, even a MackBook Pro. You do need to push a MacBook Pro a lot harder than equivalent Windows laptops, but they are not silent like the Air.

Captain Obvious also asks: have you considered a Mac Studio? Or a silent PC? They go a long way to being quieter and can be placed away from your monitor. Also: more bang for your buck.

Whether you want MacOS, Linux or Windows as your main OS is entirely up to you 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

[hajime]

First off: I would exchange that MacPro ASAP for another, if only to sell it it for more money after the price hikes.

All performance laptops have fans that kick in when in heavy use, even a MackBook Pro. You do need to push a MacBook Pro a lot harder than equivalent Windows laptops, but they are not silent like the Air.

Captain Obvious also asks: have you considered a Mac Studio? Or a silent PC? They go a long way to being quieter and can be placed away from your monitor. Also: more bang for your buck.

Whether you want MacOS, Linux or Windows as your main OS is entirely up to you 🤷🏻‍♂️

I need a laptop to work outside home.

 

[Steve Adams]

Take a look at the Asus Zephyrus g16,

That's the blingy version of the ProArt P16.

 

[Steve Adams]

I have never heard of fan noise on any M1 Pro to M5 Pro MacBook Pro.

So in terms of fan noise, I should not use the experience of Lenovo laptops bought before the Pandemic to judge the 2026 machines? I tried the X1 Extreme with a 16" 4K screen. It was well known to produce "jet engine" noise. Then I tried several Yoga which had fans suddenly kicked in when idle.

No. do not judge old laptops against new. Most are just as quiet as macbooks now. I have a 6 year old Dell inspiron 2 in 1 and even at full honk, the fans are hardly audible. They only kick in when I am doing video work on it.

As for linux on any computer now. it's freakin awesome. As long as you can use only FOSS software.

 

[TracerAnalog]

No. do not judge old laptops against new. Most are just as quiet as macbooks now. I have a 6 year old Dell inspiron 2 in 1 and even at full honk, the fans are hardly audible. They only kick in when I am doing video work on it.

As for linux on any computer now. it's freakin awesome. As long as you can use only FOSS software.

Well... my experience with several high end Windows laptops is completely different. Yes, if you browse your email they are silent, but if you put them to work, they all kick the fans into high gear, and logically so. They need to shed heat! By the way, a Dell Inspiron 2 in 1 is a nice laptop, but not a high performance one comparable to a MacBook Pro. In my opinion 😉

 

[Jumpthesnark]

Basic question - are you employed or self-employed?

If you need to use Windows for work and you have an employer, they should be buying your Windows laptop. If you're self-employed, your clients should be buying your Windows laptop. Gear like that is part of your cost of doing business, and like health care, insurance, retirement, taxes, etc., it all goes into what you charge clients to provide your services. That way you don't have to worry about making sacrifices.

Someone else should always pay for your work gear. That way you can afford to buy your own personal machine - whether it's Mac, Windows or Linux.

 

[TracerAnalog]

I need a laptop to work outside home.

For battery life and performance per watt you won't easily find a comparable Windows or Linux laptop, and those that are, are also very expensive.

 

[hajime]

For battery life and performance per watt you won't easily find a comparable Windows or Linux laptop, and those that are, are also very expensive.

The current MacBook Pro M5 Pro’s battery lasts much longer than needed. They should have made it last shorter and lighter. If a Windows laptop can handle about 10 hours for web browsing and YouTube video playback, that would be good enough.

 

[johnrlaporta]

Just keep the MBP. I run Parallels with Windows 11 when I need. The M5 Pro in it is so blazingly fast that even DCS World runs respectably through emulation not only of Windows, but x86 to ARM in Steam emulation. So, that's two different layers and it works well. These things are absolutely insane. Get the MBP, and you can do anything in Windows you want anyhow.