Nearly One in Four Windows Users Surveyed Plan to Switch to Mac Within Next Six Months

[maflynn]

A little late to the party in this thread as I was heading to work when the story was posted.

I was seriously thinking of getting a Dell laptop for my next machine, but I've largely pulled back from that notion, for one simple reason. Ransomware. It seems that malware, specifically malware has gotten a lot worse, and while keeping your machines up to date and having a good anti-virus application will mitigate the risks, I feel I'd rather set myself up for success.

My wife surprisingly said she'll be wanting to get a mac the next time she needs a new computer and she's been a staunch PC user since I met her.

I'm not happy about some of the moves that apple has made with the laptops, but overall, I think I'll be getting value for my money and longevity

 

[Abomlol]

No wonder.

There will be a mass exodus to the Mac as it becomes increasingly clear that Windows is compromised and no kind of security is possible with the NSA genie out of the bottle.

It's game over, let's see if Apple will fully exploit this once-in-a-lifetime chance.

While those of us that know better use a Linux distro on a separate partition unless we're gaming. Macs price point and limited library of software will always keep it in a niche market. People have been swinging the virus bat for Apple for 30 years. This was the same argument I'd hear from programming professors in 96
[doublepost=1498736576][/doublepost]

I would question the monitoring tools used on your work computer.
We had similar issues here when we rolled out Win 10.
Out of the box, all our new laptops were screaming fast. A few pilot users got to run them clean and loved them.
Once the corporate image was finalized, they became turds.
Between the McAfee suite of garbage and a host of other security "modifications", these machines are worse than the Win 7 until they replaced.

For the record, I opted for a 2016 MBP with Core i7 and 512gb SSD. They still killed it a bit with MDM tweaks, but it's usable.

I still use win7x64. There's very little reason to switch. And your company should fire your IT manager for adopting 10 so soon. Never, ever a good idea.

Anyone with a background in programming will tell you that newer doesn't really mean better. Security updates however are paramount. And McAfee is trash. NOD ESET runs fine on closed systems.

 

[convergent]

Funny I recently installed Windows 10 on my 2016 MBPro just to play a few Win only game titles. I have been using Windows on and off over the years, so it's not like I'm not used to it, but I felt like the whole UI and everything was so 10 years ago on windows. Font rendering is still godawful, everything still take twice as many steps on Windows and it simply wasn't inspiring or fun. So I killed the Bootcamp partition after two months. And that was only in order to play games… Meanwhile productivity just soars on the macOS side. F**k all the naysayers, there still is no comparison.

The look and feel of MacOS has changed less in 10 years than Windows. Too me, MacOS is what looks "so 10 years ago". From a productivity standpoint, the difference between MacOS and Windows 10 is a rounding error, so I would love to know how "productivity just soars on the MacOS side" for you. This is the kind of statement that kills any credibility you might otherwise have. It takes time to learn any platform and there has been a learning curve for me to get productive with Windows 10, having just recently moved to it. I suspect you either haven't really tried to use it, or you just blindly love Apple. As for me, my "productivity just soared" when I got a full function tablet computer that integrates touch, pen, and a pointing device effectively.

So we should expect Mac sales to skyrocket over the next 6 months.

If 25% of the 1 billion Windows users on Earth switch to Macs... that is...

We should bookmark this thread and return on December 29th

Yes... excellent point.

The issuse with the iMac isn't just the price it's the fact that if it can be upgraded it has to be disassembled to do so. Most would agree that it's not a bad box for ~5k but it's in many ways locked in time so a jobber can't upgrade, and Apple's enterprise support isn't all that wonderful.

Unfortunately the other computer makers have been slowly following Apple's model of non-upgradeable systems. Many systems now are not only not upgradeable, but also not easily repairable. At some point there will be a giant computer "blender" that you just deposit your old one in to grind it up and suck out the natural resources that it contains.

 

[Abomlol]

The look and feel of MacOS has changed less in 10 years than Windows. Too me, MacOS is what looks "so 10 years ago". From a productivity standpoint, the difference between MacOS and Windows 10 is a rounding error, so I would love to know how "productivity just soars on the MacOS side" for you. This is the kind of statement that kills any credibility you might otherwise have. It takes time to learn any platform and there has been a learning curve for me to get productive with Windows 10, having just recently moved to it. I suspect you either haven't really tried to use it, or you just blindly love Apple. As for me, my "productivity just soared" when I got a full function tablet computer that integrates touch, pen, and a pointing device effectively.



Yes... excellent point.



Unfortunately the other computer makers have been slowly following Apple's model of non-upgradeable systems. Many systems now are not only not upgradeable, but also not easily repairable. At some point there will be a giant computer "blender" that you just deposit your old one in to grind it up and suck out the natural resources that it contains.

Sounds like an appropriate divorce settlement. Mobile OS ubiquity has set an expectation. What seperates that culture of development from desktop software are the demands of commercial vendors. The improvements to MacOS have been so nominal that a Linux Distribution like Ubuntu feels nearly on par at this point.

 

[2ilent8cho]

Anecdotal i know, but mid last decade i knew nobody with a Mac, most of my friends work in IT and we all had Windows machines. Its now 10 years on, and i now only know 2 people who have a Windows computer (non work), and one of those is thinking of making a hackintosh because he is sick to death of Windows 10 and it for ever changing, updating and breaking things.

All my close family now use iPads as their main device whilst their Windows laptops gather dust. All my close IT friends now have Mac's as personal devices and now have a hate for Windows that was not there 10 years ago, we all use to love Windows, i did, but after Vista, 8 and now 10 we have just had enough. Apple's desktop class OS MacOS is clean and simple, knows what it is trying to be and has been fairly consistent for the last 17 years GUI wise.

Add to this the Mac hardware is really nice, yeah the gap is closing and Microsoft is trying hard in this area now, but for years the trackpads on Macbooks are just the best, keyboards are a joy to use , good standards support such as Wireless A,B.G,N,AC when most only have 2.4Ghz support, things like Magsafe were nice and you had decent battery life, so the premium did actually get you something for your money.

If i could get Windows today with the Windows 2000 GUI i might be tempted, loved that OS, but Windows 10, no way, its a schizophrenic OS.

 

[RumorSeeker]

When these "intenders" actually see the price point and realize they can purchase a ________ ( insert practically anything ) for the price of a Mac, most will reconsider, and that's before dongles.

 

[itguy06]

Funny. I recently switched to a Windows machine after nearly 18 years on Mac, both professionally and privately. Still an Apple fan, but haven’t looked back. New machine screams and Windows is much more enjoyable than expected.

Me too. The latest versions of Win 10 are quite good and this HP Spectre I got is built as well as a Macbook. I really enjoy the touch and pen interfaces on it.

Even went Android for the phone and watch and enjoy them more than iOS....

Hopefully Apple gets its Mojo back as I really want to buy from them again but the other side is not as bad as they would have you believe.

 

[DVD9]

They should show them the price of the MacBook Pro and see if the poll results are still the same.

Of the respondents, those with an average annual income of $150,000 or more showed the highest likelihood of switching to a Mac.

 

[Spectrum]

Stats...

How can it be that the most likely group (by income) to switch is 20% (those over 150k), yet the combined average for all the classes is reported to be between 21% and 25%?

Please, someone, explain the crazy arithmetic going on here...

 

[bn-7bc]

They just upgraded my work computer to Windows 10. Core i7-6600U 2.6ghz, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD. This computer should be screaming fast, but it's sooo slow. Scrolling a 4MB PDF is laggy. Basically, not a fan of Windows 10 at all.

That sound bad, by upgrade do you mean, wipe and reinstal, or in place upgrade?

 

[belvdr]

A little late to the party in this thread as I was heading to work when the story was posted.

I was seriously thinking of getting a Dell laptop for my next machine, but I've largely pulled back from that notion, for one simple reason. Ransomware. It seems that malware, specifically malware has gotten a lot worse, and while keeping your machines up to date and having a good anti-virus application will mitigate the risks, I feel I'd rather set myself up for success.

My wife surprisingly said she'll be wanting to get a mac the next time she needs a new computer and she's been a staunch PC user since I met her.

I'm not happy about some of the moves that apple has made with the laptops, but overall, I think I'll be getting value for my money and longevity

No matter which product I have, I never seem to be satisfied. On the Mac, I wish I could upgrade my hardware, such as disk, easily. On the PC, I wish I had better hardware/software integration.

However, in the past 20 years, I have yet to get any malware, as I am very cautious about clicking on links and such. That's how most malware is installed. I doubt you'll have any issues with either way you go.

They just upgraded my work computer to Windows 10. Core i7-6600U 2.6ghz, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD. This computer should be screaming fast, but it's sooo slow. Scrolling a 4MB PDF is laggy. Basically, not a fan of Windows 10 at all.

While you certainly can blame Windows 10, it likely has everything to do with the software and configuration your work places on your system.

We have a small base of a few thousand Windows 10 systems with no issues, and they have less power than yours. I have a Windows 10 VM in Parallels with 4GB of RAM and it works fine with no lag.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Stats...

How can it be that the most likely group (by income) to switch is 20% (those over 150k), yet the combined average for all the classes is reported to be between 21% and 25%?

Please, someone, explain the crazy arithmetic going on here...

Right? Not only is the title wrong, but looking at the chart, the whole middle section is between 7-9%, where most of the respondents would be. Verto Anayltics should be ashamed of themselves. FAKE NEWS!
[doublepost=1498741828][/doublepost]

No matter which product I have, I never seem to be satisfied. On the Mac, I wish I could upgrade my hardware, such as disk, easily. On the PC, I wish I had better hardware/software integration.

However, in the past 20 years, I have yet to get any malware, as I am very cautious about clicking on links and such. That's how most malware is installed. I doubt you'll have any issues with either way you go.

That is something that the Apple people will never understand. They think that somehow, a Windows computer just gets malware, all on it's own. Just sitting there idle, suddenly, malware takes over your computer and deletes all your data! Never mind that malware is a consequence of poor choices by the user. But, let's blame Windows. But, now that there is malware (ransomware) that affects Mac computers, their time will come...

 

[Stella]

I wonder what the rate is the other way around.
[doublepost=1498725506][/doublepost]

Personally, instead of buying a new Apple laptop to replace my 2011 machine, I built a windows PC.... my 2011 machine still works of course, but for how much longer? The GPU will fry itself at some point.

As nice as the 2017 macbook pros are - I'm not spending $3K+. I don't need the gimmicky touch bar.

 

[belvdr]

That is something that the Apple people will never understand. They think that somehow, a Windows computer just gets malware, all on it's own. Just sitting there idle, suddenly, malware takes over your computer and deletes all your data! Never mind that malware is a consequence of poor choices by the user. But, let's blame Windows. But, now that there is malware (ransomware) that affects Mac computers, their time will come...

To be fair, there has been malware that was shipped via a worm, such as SQL Slammer, Blaster, or Conflicker, that required no user intervention. These days, Windows is more secure than past revisions, which is why I believe most malware is done via phishing attacks.

I also configure my personal computer carefully, such as enabling the firewall and setting a strong password for the Administrator user, renaming it, then locking it. I also keep my systems up to date on all patches and drivers. something many home users seem to forget about. That may be why MS auto-delivers patches.

As nice as the 2017 macbook pros are - I'm not spending $3K+. I don't need the gimmicky touch bar.

What do you do, use manual keys and menus? I'm not a fan of it either and see no need for it.

 

[bbeagle]

I have no doubt that tablets will eventually replace the laptops, and I look forward to that future. In the meantime, I'll continue to lug around the extra hardware. I have already divorced the desktop machines with standalone displays' and that is progress, but more bandwidth and a faster processor is needed for the iPad.

I work as a software developer, so I'm on my laptop connected to 2 external monitors by day, and then want to avoid computers altogether in the evening, so I use my tablet. Tablets are a completely different experience, they don't 'seem' like a computer to me.

In the future, about 20 years from now, I bet everyone will just have a watch-type device which keeps their profile and keeps them connected to the world. They will be able to do some stuff on the go with the small screen and voice commands.

Then they'll be able to go pretty much everywhere, coffee shops, malls, restaurants, libraries, etc. which will have tablet-type devices that will automatically connect to their watch to do other stuff with a larger screen.

The only people with keyboards and full PCs will be the developer types like me.
[doublepost=1498743802][/doublepost]

That is something that the Apple people will never understand. They think that somehow, a Windows computer just gets malware, all on it's own. Just sitting there idle, suddenly, malware takes over your computer and deletes all your data! Never mind that malware is a consequence of poor choices by the user. But, let's blame Windows. But, now that there is malware (ransomware) that affects Mac computers, their time will come...

The main reason I left Windows was because what you say above never happened - happened all the time!!!

Back in the 1990s and 2000s, just turning on a computer with freshly installed Windows and connecting it to the internet, you could get a virus immediately. You had to install Norton Anti-virus or some sort BEFORE connecting to the internet. I saw people's machines get infected within 10 seconds of connecting to the internet, without them doing anything - not even opening a browser.

It's different now, but that was my experience back in 2006, when I switched to Mac and haven't gone back.

I use NO anti-virus on my mac, and never have for the past 11 years. I go to dodgy web sites, and I'm not that careful in what I do. If I had Windows, I would have tons of viruses by now. Mac IS more secure, this is something that Windows users that hate Apple don't understand.

Windows users think that all houses are made of straw, and can easily be blown down by the Big Bad Wolf. He just has never bothered to enter Apple's part of the forest. Not true - Apple houses are built of brick, and he isn't able to blow them down. Maybe someday he can, but Apple houses are a lot more secure.

 

[MistrSynistr]

My whole company switched to the 2014 Mac minis with SSD's (from newer Windows PCs) and are completely blown away by Macs performance/OS and can't fathom how they ever used windows. So some of this may be true.

 

[vkd]

...which just goes to prove that, as we all possibly know, Windows is a donkey.

 

[flat five]

I thought it might be that, but 100% of people represented in the graph add up to 115%. Graph has to be one or the other, but neither adds up.

yeah, there's enough discrepancies and lack of info with this report to invalidate it as fact and leave it as only a topic of discussion.

that said, it appears they've done more than one survey..
mac users
windows desktop users
windows laptop users
..then the latter two are combined in the graph.

so the percentage adding up to over 100% could be due to a single person voting twice.. switching both a laptop and desktop to Macs.

note* could be

 

[oneMadRssn]

That sound bad, by upgrade do you mean, wipe and reinstal, or in place upgrade?

It's an entirely new computer. As someone above asked, and was correct, between data protection, virus protection, and internet security, there are a ton of security-related background tasks.

 

[maflynn]

However, in the past 20 years, I have yet to get any malware, as I am very cautious about clicking on links and such. That's how most malware is installed. I doubt you'll have any issues with either way you go.

Same here, I never got any malware on my PCs, however, with children and my wife who has unfortunately clicked on things she shouldn't have, the PC I have that they used has gotten infected.

 

[shiekh]

Funny. I recently switched to a Windows machine after nearly 18 years on Mac, both professionally and privately. Still an Apple fan, but haven’t looked back. New machine screams and Windows is much more enjoyable than expected.

I also moved to Windows recently after being with the Mac since the beginning (1984). I don't like my machines glued shut, or ram soldered in. So I jumped when Windows 10 was free (had some Windows 7 machines) and haven't looked back since.

 

[cocoua]

I really really want to love my SFP3, I'm an artist, so is something I'm dreaming with (iPad Pro is not a real tool for my needs) BUT I'm in a constant battle every day with Win10, always something is there to screw my day...
My most common problems:

1-when connected to an external display, touchscreen wont work right and makes random touches, which is something unbelievable.
2-making the text bigger wont work perfect with many apps, so OS fault because not handle this as good as OSX, but EVEN text of the win10 OS wont show right!! which is unbelievable.
3-autohidding the taskbar doesn't work at all, sometimes random, it keeps showing, or sometimes it doesn't come up. which is unbelievable.
4-on screen keyboard in some text boxes:
a1-sometimes it doesnt show up, as in chrome search bar, or sometimes even in the lock screen.
b-it doesn't care if there is a physical bluetooth keyboard attached, his behaviour doesn't change!! which is unbelievable.
5-rotation sometimes doent work, and you have to reboot the SFP3 in order to get it right. which is unbelievable.

so, there are 5 HUGE fails, microsoft seems to be just right there were I left them 15 years ago when I switched.

but in paper, the SFP series is a dream to me, thin, good quality, powerful, fair price, very very portable, that' why I gave it a try and I'm bearing all this problems.

SFP are the real next PRO portables and in future when iPad evolve enough, there will be just people using iPads, or Professional using SFP-like tablets (with attached screens in their offices/homes).

 

[69650]

They plan to switch until they see the Mac prices then change their minds.

 

[convergent]

I work as a software developer, so I'm on my laptop connected to 2 external monitors by day, and then want to avoid computers altogether in the evening, so I use my tablet. Tablets are a completely different experience, they don't 'seem' like a computer to me.

In the future, about 20 years from now, I bet everyone will just have a watch-type device which keeps their profile and keeps them connected to the world. They will be able to do some stuff on the go with the small screen and voice commands.

Then they'll be able to go pretty much everywhere, coffee shops, malls, restaurants, libraries, etc. which will have tablet-type devices that will automatically connect to their watch to do other stuff with a larger screen.

The only people with keyboards and full PCs will be the developer types like me.
[doublepost=1498743802][/doublepost]

The main reason I left Windows was because what you say above never happened - happened all the time!!!

Back in the 1990s and 2000s, just turning on a computer with freshly installed Windows and connecting it to the internet, you could get a virus immediately. You had to install Norton Anti-virus or some sort BEFORE connecting to the internet. I saw people's machines get infected within 10 seconds of connecting to the internet, without them doing anything - not even opening a browser.

It's different now, but that was my experience back in 2006, when I switched to Mac and haven't gone back.

I use NO anti-virus on my mac, and never have for the past 11 years. I go to dodgy web sites, and I'm not that careful in what I do. If I had Windows, I would have tons of viruses by now. Mac IS more secure, this is something that Windows users that hate Apple don't understand.

Windows users think that all houses are made of straw, and can easily be blown down by the Big Bad Wolf. He just has never bothered to enter Apple's part of the forest. Not true - Apple houses are built of brick, and he isn't able to blow them down. Maybe someday he can, but Apple houses are a lot more secure.

I don't believe what you described will ever happen for anything other than someone that can get buy with a phone or iPad for they only computer. The vast majority of business workers do need to work with information on a real computer. I'm not going to try and do data analysis by voice with a watch. That is crazy unless you are envisioning a "Minority Report" style holographic display. If so, its a real computer underneath.

The scenario you painted with viruses and Windows is taking about something 20 years ago, and I would still claim BS that you turned on a computer, did nothing, and it was suddenly infected with viruses. There has to be more to the story. An average person would not have that happen at any time. If it were true, then the entire world of computing would have imploded since it would have been impossible for anyone to use a computer.

Lastly, maybe the "big bad wolf" doesn't go after Mac "houses" because there aren't a lot of Mac "houses". Its pretty common knowledge that hackers are going to go after the biggest volume target because they are only getting a hit on a small percentage. You need a large enough target sample to make the hit volume worthwhile.

My whole company switched to the 2014 Mac minis with SSD's (from newer Windows PCs) and are completely blown away by Macs performance/OS and can't fathom how they ever used windows. So some of this may be true.

And I would guess if they switched to newly installed Windows computers with SSDs, they'd be equally impressed. Much of the reason many enterprise Windows computers run like crap is that the IT departments have loaded them up with unnecessary crap. They don't fully understand how to crap-i-fy a Mac, to they are safe from it. That was my experience at a large global company where I ran a Mac as a BYOD machine. Those of us using Macs did clean installs and added no crap. Folks who built a BYOD Windows machine also ran much better than the standard image.

Same here, I never got any malware on my PCs, however, with children and my wife who has unfortunately clicked on things she shouldn't have, the PC I have that they used has gotten infected.

Much of the stuff my wife and children are vulnerable to are phishing schemes. It doesn't matter what you are running for that to be a problem. Most people that have the issue you are describing would be better off going to a Chromebook from Windows, vs. going to a Mac, because a Chromebook does have a substantial difference in vulnerability vs. Windows or MacOS. My daughter's older Windows computer finally died and I recommended she get a Chromebook. She bought one for about $200 that has a 360 degree hinged touchscreen and she loves it. Does all she wants and she has no worry of viruses or losing information from a computer failure. So $200 or $2000... hmmm.

I also moved to Windows recently after being with the Mac since the beginning (1984). I don't like my machines glued shut, or ram soldered in. So I jumped when Windows 10 was free (had some Windows 7 machines) and haven't looked back since.

Plenty of Windows machines are glued shut with soldered RAM... my new Surface Pro included. Unfortunately this is an area where Apple's bad practices are being adopted by more and more other companies trying to "be cool" like Apple.

 

[alphaswift]

This doesn't pass the sniff test. There is nothing new about the current style of Macs, so what was true last year is not going to be true this year. There's no way any 'intention' will translate to action.