This thread is largely preaching to the choir, but perhaps it is useful for some readers (like me) that come to MR to do the ' research' before they make their purchase.
Having used an iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch for many years, I have been accustomed to (and appreciative of) Apple products like many.
The last hurdle was to take the leap from my trusted Windows environment to a Macbook.
I have been using an HP Spectre Pro X360 laptop for the past 5 years and was very content about it.
13,3 inch i5 - great build quality, fantastic screen and great looks - and since I am not a heavy user, performance wasn't an issue, even in its fifth year. After accidentally dropping the bag that contained my notebook at an airport somewhere however, my laptop would not turn on the next day when I was meeting with a client. I apologized for the fact that I wasn't able to do my work that day and decided I would take the remainder of the day to buy a new laptop.
Question was: which one?
Important:
- light to moderate user (mainly e-mail, MS office apps, moderate calculations in excel)
- ideally, I'd like a thin and leightweight laptop
- must have a good keyboard
- screen similar to or better than the HP screen quality of my former laptop
- I MUST BE ABLE TO USE MY MS OFFICE APPS WITHOUT COMPROMISE (for me: Excel, Powerpoint, Word, Outlook, Teams, Notes)
- I need to be able to connect it to HDMI
- would be great if it has decent speakers, but I would mostly use my airpods, so not really important
- looks (not a must have, but would be nice to have a nice-looking laptop, since I liked the look of my HP laptop also)
My biggest hurdles to consider a macbook were threefold:
1. the operating system. Not having worked with Apple mac/macbooks I didn't know whether I would get frustrated with not knowing where to 'fix' things when things need to be fixed.
2. I didn't know if there are still issues with file format conversion (like I believe there used to be). In other words: would my old files still be usable, in the sense that I could open them on the macbook without having to convert into a different format? Also, would I be able to send files to windows users without getting notified that they would not be able to open the files?
3. I didn't know whether the office apps on Mac are different from the ones on a windows notebook. And since I am not a engineer, just a normal user, I didn't want to go the route of having to install bootcamp or parallel and making things more difficult for me.
Long story short: I tried to research the Office apps, but didn't really get a satisfactory answer to the third question and knew that the first question could only be answered by simply trying and hoping I wouldn't regret my purchase afterwards. The second question was easily resolved by googling - no conversion issues in 2023. At least, not for the applications I am using.
After visiting the Apple store, an Apple employee convinced me that there was little difference between the Office apps on a windows laptop vs mac, and I took the plunge. I bought the MBA M2 with 512GB. (8GB ram)
Main considerations from a specs - point of view:
- screen resolution
- 1080p camera
- two USB-C ports
- M2 - newer chip, so supported longer than M1? (not a fact, this was my assumption)
- great looks (subjective - i know; I picked the night blue MBA)
- the magsafe port, less risk of yanking my laptop on the floor after tripping the cable
- 4 speakers on MBA M2 vs MBP 13 M1 (according to the apple employee, I didn't verify that, so it's not a fact)
Three weeks in,
- I can confirm that there is little difference between the Office apps on Mac vs Windows. (again, note that I am not a heavy user, because I believe there are some differences when it comes to using scripts with VBA etc.). I have been able to work as usual, using all the files I previously used without trouble. No issues with conversion, or formats. It works exactly like it used to.
- I know for a fact that I would have just started using a new windows laptop like I would have with all other previous laptops: no specific excitement about features that are cool, looks, or otherwise. With the MBA M2 this is different. I am actually enjoying the laptop more than I thought I would. It is fun to learn something new and get induced into the mac OS world, but more importantly, there are many features that are simply easier or better than expected.
Examples:
- connecting my airpods to my windows laptop was cumbersome, because even though I knew how to connect them by bluetooth, they would not always connect well, or I would have issues with speaker or microphone settings after disconnecting. Now, the MBA will simply see the airpods and will ask to connect or stay connected with my phone.
- fingerprint: no more passwords to start working on your laptop. The fingerprint reader opens your laptop in a fraction of a second
- booting: much quicker (but of course I would have expected that on a newer Windows laptop also)
- sound quality is good. It's still coming from a laptop that is only 1,5 cm thin, so you can't expect the world, but the speakers are much better than expected
- one thing I hadn't put on my wish-list, but should have been with hindsight is a good, smooth trackpad. And it is! This trackpad is MUCH better than the previous notebook. Softer, smoother and requires less pressure so it's easier on the hands after a long day on powerpoint (not using a mouse).
All in all, I am happy I took the leap. So far, the experience has been great.
Oh, and on point 1. of my considerations: would I get frustrated about not being able to find where to fix something that requires fixing? The answer is: there is no fixing. At least until now. Everything works exactly like it should.
Sure, the yellow folder dynamic is different and I need to get used to the different layout etc, but most themes are very intuitive and the icons are very self-explanatory for people that are already using an iphone, so there is little searching before I know where to change settings etc.
As for connecting HDMI and having USB-C vs standard USB ports: they work fine when using a conversion cable (HDMI to USB-C and USB to USB-C). The only thing I think is ridiculous is the cost of the cables. I believe I spent 110 euros on the two connector cables. That's just insane.
The MBA M2 isn't cheap either, but when you look beyond the cost and include the expectation that I should be able to use this MBA perhaps a year longer (or two) than my windows laptop, for me this is less important than the positive user experience.
/Happy user/
Having used an iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch for many years, I have been accustomed to (and appreciative of) Apple products like many.
The last hurdle was to take the leap from my trusted Windows environment to a Macbook.
I have been using an HP Spectre Pro X360 laptop for the past 5 years and was very content about it.
13,3 inch i5 - great build quality, fantastic screen and great looks - and since I am not a heavy user, performance wasn't an issue, even in its fifth year. After accidentally dropping the bag that contained my notebook at an airport somewhere however, my laptop would not turn on the next day when I was meeting with a client. I apologized for the fact that I wasn't able to do my work that day and decided I would take the remainder of the day to buy a new laptop.
Question was: which one?
Important:
- light to moderate user (mainly e-mail, MS office apps, moderate calculations in excel)
- ideally, I'd like a thin and leightweight laptop
- must have a good keyboard
- screen similar to or better than the HP screen quality of my former laptop
- I MUST BE ABLE TO USE MY MS OFFICE APPS WITHOUT COMPROMISE (for me: Excel, Powerpoint, Word, Outlook, Teams, Notes)
- I need to be able to connect it to HDMI
- would be great if it has decent speakers, but I would mostly use my airpods, so not really important
- looks (not a must have, but would be nice to have a nice-looking laptop, since I liked the look of my HP laptop also)
My biggest hurdles to consider a macbook were threefold:
1. the operating system. Not having worked with Apple mac/macbooks I didn't know whether I would get frustrated with not knowing where to 'fix' things when things need to be fixed.
2. I didn't know if there are still issues with file format conversion (like I believe there used to be). In other words: would my old files still be usable, in the sense that I could open them on the macbook without having to convert into a different format? Also, would I be able to send files to windows users without getting notified that they would not be able to open the files?
3. I didn't know whether the office apps on Mac are different from the ones on a windows notebook. And since I am not a engineer, just a normal user, I didn't want to go the route of having to install bootcamp or parallel and making things more difficult for me.
Long story short: I tried to research the Office apps, but didn't really get a satisfactory answer to the third question and knew that the first question could only be answered by simply trying and hoping I wouldn't regret my purchase afterwards. The second question was easily resolved by googling - no conversion issues in 2023. At least, not for the applications I am using.
After visiting the Apple store, an Apple employee convinced me that there was little difference between the Office apps on a windows laptop vs mac, and I took the plunge. I bought the MBA M2 with 512GB. (8GB ram)
Main considerations from a specs - point of view:
- screen resolution
- 1080p camera
- two USB-C ports
- M2 - newer chip, so supported longer than M1? (not a fact, this was my assumption)
- great looks (subjective - i know; I picked the night blue MBA)
- the magsafe port, less risk of yanking my laptop on the floor after tripping the cable
- 4 speakers on MBA M2 vs MBP 13 M1 (according to the apple employee, I didn't verify that, so it's not a fact)
Three weeks in,
- I can confirm that there is little difference between the Office apps on Mac vs Windows. (again, note that I am not a heavy user, because I believe there are some differences when it comes to using scripts with VBA etc.). I have been able to work as usual, using all the files I previously used without trouble. No issues with conversion, or formats. It works exactly like it used to.
- I know for a fact that I would have just started using a new windows laptop like I would have with all other previous laptops: no specific excitement about features that are cool, looks, or otherwise. With the MBA M2 this is different. I am actually enjoying the laptop more than I thought I would. It is fun to learn something new and get induced into the mac OS world, but more importantly, there are many features that are simply easier or better than expected.
Examples:
- connecting my airpods to my windows laptop was cumbersome, because even though I knew how to connect them by bluetooth, they would not always connect well, or I would have issues with speaker or microphone settings after disconnecting. Now, the MBA will simply see the airpods and will ask to connect or stay connected with my phone.
- fingerprint: no more passwords to start working on your laptop. The fingerprint reader opens your laptop in a fraction of a second
- booting: much quicker (but of course I would have expected that on a newer Windows laptop also)
- sound quality is good. It's still coming from a laptop that is only 1,5 cm thin, so you can't expect the world, but the speakers are much better than expected
- one thing I hadn't put on my wish-list, but should have been with hindsight is a good, smooth trackpad. And it is! This trackpad is MUCH better than the previous notebook. Softer, smoother and requires less pressure so it's easier on the hands after a long day on powerpoint (not using a mouse).
All in all, I am happy I took the leap. So far, the experience has been great.
Oh, and on point 1. of my considerations: would I get frustrated about not being able to find where to fix something that requires fixing? The answer is: there is no fixing. At least until now. Everything works exactly like it should.
Sure, the yellow folder dynamic is different and I need to get used to the different layout etc, but most themes are very intuitive and the icons are very self-explanatory for people that are already using an iphone, so there is little searching before I know where to change settings etc.
As for connecting HDMI and having USB-C vs standard USB ports: they work fine when using a conversion cable (HDMI to USB-C and USB to USB-C). The only thing I think is ridiculous is the cost of the cables. I believe I spent 110 euros on the two connector cables. That's just insane.
The MBA M2 isn't cheap either, but when you look beyond the cost and include the expectation that I should be able to use this MBA perhaps a year longer (or two) than my windows laptop, for me this is less important than the positive user experience.
/Happy user/
