What makes OS X so much better than windows?

[Otumelty]

Hi all,
New to the forums, my question is: why is os x better than windows?
I am interested in buying a MacBook pro at some stage in the near future but I have only fooled around with OS X devices in the apple store briefly.
Thanks

 

[mulo]

when steve jobs said: "design is not just how it looks, its how it works" he meant that every aspect of, in this case, the os was designed, not just to work, but to work easily and well.

there is no single thing that makes OS X a great OS, its all the little things that on windows you wouldn't consider much, but once you use it your like "oh thats nice"

edit: many of these little things may even go unnoticed for a while until your back on windows, then it may frustrate you that their no longer there

 

[afroAnt]

when steve jobs said: "design is not just how it looks, its how it works" he meant that every aspect of, in this case, the os was designed, not just to work, but to work easily and well.

there is no single thing that makes OS X a great OS, its all the little things that on windows you wouldn't consider much, but once you use it your like "oh thats nice"

Well said!

 

[MonkeySee....]

Integration and Gestures are the two features that I like. Also the security.

Having the Apps sit "open" in the dock for a quick launch is a great touch. As mentioned above its all the little things.

 

[Otumelty]

See, I like that, I like the idea that what I have is designed to be the best it can be (hence I have the iPhone) is it worth buying if I only use it of word processing web surfing etc

 

[MonkeySee....]

See, I like that, I like the idea that what I have is designed to be the best it can be (hence I have the iPhone) is it worth buying if I only use it of word processing web surfing etc

I've barely scratched the service of OSX and I adopted it in 2010. I do light photo editing etc.

The main reason I actually got an iMac for its simplistic look and its nice not to have wires all over the place. I know you're getting a Pro but as even those, from a design point of view are solid and sleek machines.

For use of Word processing I have "Pages" synced with my Mac, iPad and iPhone. I know you can do this with google docs buts it nice using a programme designed for the OS by the Company that make the OS and make the Machine.

If I had to give up all my apple products and only have one I'd keep my iMac or swap it out for an Air or pro for portability. The OS gets me excited about using a computer.

Sorry about that lengthy ramble

 

[matrix07]

People said OSX is better than Windows..

but my experience of using it the first few weeks... frustrated. Very frustrated.

Then little by little, when I'm willing to let Windows goes.. when I don't think of opening Explorer all the time.. when I'm willing to use app to handle some tasks.. I could see where those people comes from.
Now getting back to my PC is extremely unenjoyable.

What set Apple apart from the beginning though is the quality of their hardware, no bloat wares, no viruses, and basic apps like mail, calendar and address book that are quite well done. If you're using iPhone then the integration alone is well worth it (if your budget allows of course).

 

[MonkeySee....]

but my experience of using it the first few weeks... frustrated. Very frustrated.

Then little by little, when I'm willing to let Windows goes.. when I don't think of opening Explorer all the time.. when I'm willing to use app to handle some tasks.. I could see where those people comes from.
Now getting back to my PC is extremely unenjoyable.

What set Apple apart from the beginning though is the quality of their hardware, no bloat wares, no viruses, and basic apps like mail, calendar and address book that are quite well done. If you're using iPhone then the integration alone is well worth it (if your budget allows of course).

I agree. Only advice I can give is to forget all you know about computers and start fresh. trying to transition is too messy. You need an open mind and learn the OS and its "quirks".

I've only just worked out that the "Alt" or "cmd" key (forget which one as i'm not on my mac) changes the "right click" menu so I can "move" instead of "copy".

 

[Otumelty]

Thanks for all your input, im starting to get excited, I hope they just hurry up and announce the redesign as I'd hate to buy it now and then the new one come out a week later.

 

[MonkeySee....]

Thanks for all your input, im starting to get excited, I hope they just hurry up and announce the redesign as I'd hate to buy it now and then the new one come out a week later.

I'm sure its coming and most likely in line with Mountain Lion which is going to be great!

http://www.apple.com/uk/macosx/mountain-lion/

 

[Otumelty]

I've heard it will be announced at WWDC but when has apple ever done the norm

 

[r0k]

I was a Linux user before I tried OS X. I have Win 7 at work (yuck), 10.7 and 10.8 (beta) at home and I love using OS X.

One of the best features of OS X is Quick Look. It has saved me countless hours. It works in Finder as well as in Mail and it's awesome to be able to view a file without launching a full "application", especially if that application is something big like LibreOffice.

While Windows clogs itself up when left unattended, OS X has cron tasks to delete old log files and clean up other OS cruft that would easily topple Windows after running a few days.

I leave my OS X boxes running 24x7 and they only ever reboot for the occasional system update or power failure. If I try to leave Win 7 SP 1 running for more than a couple of days, it becomes so unstable I often have to resort to pressing and holding the power button and a battery pull to reboot my laptop.

OS X ships with Mail.app. On Windows you have to download thunderbird or deal with Outlook.

There are some annoyances on OS X and they are increasing with Lion and Mountain Lion (such as missing save as) but OS X outclasses Windows in so many ways I struggle to understand why anybody wastes their time trying to defend Windows any more. Well I guess they would defend Windows if they've never tried Linux or OS X and thus simply don't know any better. But since I use all 3 OS almost every day, the reasons I prefer OS X are always fresh in my mind.

 

[Mattie Num Nums]

Its like Coke and Pepsi. To some they can drink both and it doesn't matter (like me) but to others they are Coke or Pepsi drinkers ONLY! In the end they both do the same thing... give you a caffeine fix and quenches your thirst.

Mac vs. Windows is the same way IMHO. You can get the same job done... just differently.

What makes OSX better to me? Integration of Hardware and Software.

 

[vistadude]

I like certain macs for their hardware and battery life. But I don't like Mac os X because it seems to take too much effort to do simple things, like long gestures, swipes, and lack of enter opening programs/files. Windows is a lot faster to do simple things like opening programs, running and switching between lots of open apps, opening photos without importing them into eye-photo, etc. Mac os is okayish for running a couple programs at once, but once you got 10-15 programs running at once, switching between apps is slow and confusing.

 

[cooldarmc]

Preference

I prefer Windows 7/8 (i know, thats terrible, but I prefer it)
mostly because I've used windows for like forever, and it seems you guys are giving it a bad image, there is no bloatware at all, and i have never gotten a virus, its speedy, especially windows 8, which boots in 2 secs on my desktop.

But, my dad started this thing too move to a mac, because he liked the macbook air, so i got a pro (because 128GB's is tiny as) and i have enjoyed OSX quite a bit, and the mountian lion made it a bit quicker, but i have had to get used to it from windows, for example the scrolling, why is the wrong way on a mac? and why does it take so long to boot! But all that aside, it is starting to grow on me, and i use it for school.

So all-in-all, i have tried Ubuntu, and other linux verities, but to put it blunt, Ubuntu is terribly unstable, on my sister's computer it started bugging out, and i had to reinstall it time over, im sure other people have not had the same experience, but i prefer not to use it.

OSX, is nice, but it is hard to use!

Windows is great!

i just prefer windows, simple fact, and preference is what makes all us computer users bias, because we all have a computer that we most use, and that is the one which we would prefer, (excuding work computers, which we might not have a choice in) so asking in a MacRumors forum, isnt probably the best way to go around asking that. Maybe you should've looked in polls/surveys.