...versus Windows 10?

[MSFT]

I just went from Windows 7 to 10 on my work computer (Core 2 Duo/4GB RAM/5400k hard drive/model year 2008) and have to say I am quite impressed. It seems like Microsoft really stepped up their game by making this OS more user friendly. It also "feels" faster than 7, even though my computer is still full of 8 years worth of junk. I'm also impressed by the new Outlook, Office, and multitasking features.

I love my Mac (2010 MacBook Pro upgraded to 10GB RAM and an SSD), but even that is feeling a little slow compared to 10; I'm not sure if it's the aging hardware or El Cap. But for my next computer I might consider Windows. My use is straight up office-related (legal research, use of Acrobat and MS Office). Edge is nice, Cortana works well, the Start Menu works, too. Like the Windows bugs have gone away...

It seems like at the very least, a person's OS choice is going to matter less and less going forward. Though Apple clearly makes superior hardware, especially the Macbooks.

Does anybody else get this feeling?

 

[hidehide]

I have the similar thought as you.I first started to use OSX back in 2006 and was very impressed by its stability and smoothness. I have since bought three macs. But I think OSX hasn't improved much, and sadly, it seems to be gone the other way, while Windows has kept improving.

My current Mac is the 2012 15" MacBook Pro retina and now it's suffering from shades of windows underneath the current window. I don't really except this mbp to last less than 4 years..

Apple was used to provide excellent hardware with software integration as its compensation of overpricing device given its spec. But seems Apple has been stuck and there are not much improvement anymore..

Given Windows has a larger base of supported apps and it's improvement over the past few years, I think I'm heading back to Windows once again after 10 years..

 

[dogslobber]

I just went from Windows 7 to 10 on my work computer (Core 2 Duo/4GB RAM/5400k hard drive/model year 2008) and have to say I am quite impressed. It seems like Microsoft really stepped up their game by making this OS more user friendly. It also "feels" faster than 7, even though my computer is still full of 8 years worth of junk. I'm also impressed by the new Outlook, Office, and multitasking features.

I love my Mac (2010 MacBook Pro upgraded to 10GB RAM and an SSD), but even that is feeling a little slow compared to 10; I'm not sure if it's the aging hardware or El Cap. But for my next computer I might consider Windows. My use is straight up office-related (legal research, use of Acrobat and MS Office). Edge is nice, Cortana works well, the Start Menu works, too. Like the Windows bugs have gone away...

It seems like at the very least, a person's OS choice is going to matter less and less going forward. Though Apple clearly makes superior hardware, especially the Macbooks.

Does anybody else get this feeling?

OS X memory bloat occurred around the time of browser sand boxing. If you compare memory footprint of Safari in Lion to El Cap then you would see Lion tabs take 10s of mbs but el cap it's 100mbs for the same tabs.

Win 10 V El Cap is a no brainier until you think about entering banking data on a PC.

 

[MSFT]

OS X memory bloat occurred around the time of browser sand boxing. If you compare memory footprint of Safari in Lion to El Cap then you would see Lion tabs take 10s of mbs but el cap it's 100mbs for the same tabs.

Win 10 V El Cap is a no brainier until you think about entering banking data on a PC.

That's an interesting point. But do you think this would perceptively slow down my MBP since it has 10GB RAM? It also appears that the later OSX versions do a good job of compressing data for RAM purposes, i.e., you can get away with less memory than a few years ago.

 

[dogslobber]

That's an interesting point. But do you think this would perceptively slow down my MBP since it has 10GB RAM? It also appears that the later OSX versions do a good job of compressing data for RAM purposes, i.e., you can get away with less memory than a few years ago.

Well here's the thing about memory compression. It masks the bloat by compressing it but it doesn't matter how much memory you have, you eventually see swap space being used as compressed opportunities are exhausted. The only real way to recover the compressed space is to quit the app and restart. You might be able to close and reopen browser tabs for a similar effect but it's all manual intervention. E.g. my MBP has 16gb and I have to restart the browser daily.

El Cap really shouldn't need 5x the memory to do the same thing Lion could. Just imagine if they had memory compression in Lion. It would be even better.