Why is PCs laptops the display screen is inferior to Apple laptops?

[eltoslightfoot]

Why? Cost cutting that's why.

Apple stuff is all done in-house now. Operating system, silicon, display. If not manufacturing, then at least designing. Optimizing and quality control is achievable.

Over at the Windows world (which I am still a participant of), everything is mashed together from different companies and manufacturers. Profit margins are slim, made slimmer by splitting the earnings across the many stakeholders. Corners have to be cut.

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Unless you have really specific needs (not wants) that require a Windows platform to work on, I highly recommend switching to the Mac.

1) The appalling state of Windows 11 now, after about a decade of ensh1ttification from that CEO.

2) No needing to use a Microsoft account for anything. If you need a platform agnostic cloud storage other than iCloud, I highly recommend NOT using Onedrive. Happiness is getting through a day without touching a single Microsoft product or service, and that includes stuff like Linkedin and Github (if you code).

3) Waiting for Qualcomm or Intel to get their act together.

4) The ick and massive failure known as Copilot. Why? See point #1 above.

5) Hit-and-miss after-sales support, both online and offline. Another consequence of cost cutting.

I could argue the opposite of these points, or just enjoy my Lenovo Legion and Surface Pro 9. That’s what I will do.

 

[TechnoMonk]

We shall all agree that we live in crazy times where we have just awesome choice in the personal computing space. Whatever one wants, one can get. Choice is wonderful.

Steve Jobs had his own definition of awesome. And I don’t think that can be said for other guy he was referring to in his digs. But yeah choice is good. Last few years I asked my clients who use teams to ship me a windows laptop. Hp higher end are tolerable, Lenovo is nothing to discuss, Dell is the worst. Thinkpads used to be great though. LG was surprisingly good but they don’t sell well as they should.

 

[Steve Adams]

Steve Jobs had his own definition of awesome. And I don’t think that can be said for other guy he was referring to in his digs. But yeah choice is good. Last few years I asked my clients who use teams to ship me a windows laptop. Hp higher end are tolerable, Lenovo is nothing to discuss, Dell is the worst. Thinkpads used to be great though. LG was surprisingly good but they don’t sell well as they should.

Yes, Jobs has his vision. You know what, he's just one person, and opinion. There are many other views to what's awesome. Again, there are many other systems that are just as good, fast, etc as apple computers. To think otherwise is living in a vaccum.

 

[Zdigital2015]

That's where I am today.

I have a program that doesn't run well on Apple Silicon because it's through WINE and Rosetta 2. Rosetta 2 goes away in 2027. I have another program which has been reported to have problems on Tahoe. So I'm on Sequoia until it's fixed. The thing is that both of these programs run just fine on Windows.

My compute needs are generally in the area of an M1 Max CPU. M2, M3, M4, M5 would be nice but not strictly needed. PCs often perform around the level of M1 - M3 these days and that's enough for the vast majority of users. I run into people using 2010-2020 Intel Macs on Reddit frequently. Some are thinking of upgrading but some are proud of what they're using.

If your software doesn't run on macOS/Apple Silicon/M5, then it's not an option. At least for now.

 

[throAU]

In all honesty that is an extreme example. You're taking an app that has not been since probably windows XP, and its still using a windows 3.1 dialog box

Of course its not going to use the scaling. Also who in 2026 is still using ODBC drivers?
View attachment 2617142

It's an example of how Microsoft doesn't actually properly fix the display, but introduce hacks that depend on new versions of software to work properly. Its why dark mode still doesn't work properly and various apps like resource monitor (built into windows!) still don't support dark mode properly.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

It's an example of how Microsoft doesn't actually properly fix the display, but introduce hacks that depend on new versions of software to work properly. Its why dark mode still doesn't work properly and various apps like resource monitor (built into windows!) still don't support dark mode properly.

Reaaaaally. And here I have been using dark mode for years. I can even do things like have dark mode for apps but light mode for my desktop and vice versa. It's almost like it just works.

 

[Steve Adams]

It's an example of how Microsoft doesn't actually properly fix the display, but introduce hacks that depend on new versions of software to work properly. Its why dark mode still doesn't work properly and various apps like resource monitor (built into windows!) still don't support dark mode properly.

Guess my resource monitor is completely borked then.

 

[salamanderjuice]

It's an example of how Microsoft doesn't actually properly fix the display, but introduce hacks that depend on new versions of software to work properly. Its why dark mode still doesn't work properly and various apps like resource monitor (built into windows!) still don't support dark mode properly.

No, it's an example of how Microsoft's HiDPI support requires more work from the developer too. I wouldn't really call it a hack, it's arguably the correct solution as it allows for better support of displays than those that are just multiples of ~100 DPI. Whether MS should have updated everything is a different question.

Guess my resource monitor is completely borked then.

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That's Task Manager, not Resource Monitor. There's a lot of overlap but they're not the same thing.

 

[pshufd]

No, it's an example of how Microsoft's HiDPI support requires more work from the developer too. I wouldn't really call it a hack, it's arguably the correct solution as it allows for better support of displays than those that are just multiples of ~100 DPI. Whether MS should have updated everything is a different question.

Operating systems can change major systems or drop support.

I'm pretty annoyed that Apple is dropping support for Intel Macs and the onus is on developers. You could argue that Apple should continue to support Intel but you'll be ignored.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

No, it's an example of how Microsoft's HiDPI support requires more work from the developer too. I wouldn't really call it a hack, it's arguably the correct solution as it allows for better support of displays than those that are just multiples of ~100 DPI. Whether MS should have updated everything is a different question.

That's Task Manager, not Resource Monitor. There's a lot of overlap but they're not the same thing.

Yeah I opened Resource Monitor and talk about a blast from the past. I think that thing hasn't been updated since dark mode was a thing! Good find.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

Operating systems can change major systems or drop support.

I'm pretty annoyed that Apple is dropping support for Intel Macs and the onus is on developers. You could argue that Apple should continue to support Intel but you'll be ignored.

I would argue that it isn't any big deal for a gigantic corporation to continue to support Rosetta yet they are ditching that in the next couple of years.

 

[maflynn]

'm pretty annoyed that Apple is dropping support for Intel Macs and the onus is on developers. You could argue that Apple should continue to support Intel but you'll be ignored.

Its time, if not even overdue. All this means is intel mac owners cannot upgrade to the next version of macos, and also stay on the same version level of apps.

 

[Bubble99]

Yes, Jobs has his vision. You know what, he's just one person, and opinion. There are many other views to what's awesome. Again, there are many other systems that are just as good, fast, etc as apple computers. To think otherwise is living in a vaccum.

What does Steve Jobs have do with other companies making 3K or 4K displays for the laptop?

 

[Steve Adams]

What does Steve Jobs have do with other companies making 3K or 4K displays for the laptop?

Ask the person who brought him up in the beginning.

 

[throAU]

Reaaaaally. And here I have been using dark mode for years. I can even do things like have dark mode for apps but light mode for my desktop and vice versa. It's almost like it just works.

Yeah works great! They freaking NAILED dark mode!

Windows 11 24h2 - 5 minutes of clicking around.


Also lol... figured I'd get the winver info to show and lo and behold!

 

[Steve Adams]

You are showing all legacy stuff that is being removed slowly. It's basically stuff that NOBODY only super geeks and people who refuse to use the new features use. I have not seen any of that in at least 5 years on my windows systems.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

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View attachment 2618396

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Yeah works great! They freaking NAILED dark mode!

Windows 11 24h2 - 5 minutes of clicking around.


Also lol... figured I'd get the winver info to show and lo and behold!

View attachment 2618403

You win? Even though I have looked at none of those screens in a long time. There is this thing called "Settings" and it means I haven't had to look at the Control Panel in years. About Windows? Who TF has looked at that in decades?

I mean you are technically correct, the best kind of correct, as they say. So take your prize and go. I will happily not be looking at any of these as I use my Windows PCs every day. This is also something they say they are going to work on and get right.

Now whether they do or not, I don't know. But I, and others, are using dark mode just fine now.

Although now that I go through these, are you on an old version or something? My right click looks very different:

And it is that way where ever I right click. So, again, just as Apple is working to fix MacOS26, MS is working to fix Windows. And we both get to use what we want! Everyone wins!

Edited to add: maybe try using "About this PC" rather than that About Windows thingie. You actually get better details. So that clears most of this up I think.

Except for the run dialog box. That one is annoying. Not that I really use it. I tend to use terminal or PowerShell these days.

Edited even later to add: Look at this! Even older design elements! The fact that nobody uses this program for hardly anything is irrelevant:

 

[Steve Adams]

You win? Even though I have looked at none of those screens in a long time. There is this thing called "Settings" and it means I haven't had to look at the Control Panel in years. About Windows? Who TF has looked at that in decades?

I mean you are technically correct, the best kind of correct, as they say. So take your prize and go. I will happily not be looking at any of these as I use my Windows PCs every day. This is also something they say they are going to work on and get right.

Now whether they do or not, I don't know. But I, and others, are using dark mode just fine now.

Although now that I go through these, are you on an old version or something? My right click looks very different:

And it is that way where ever I right click. So, again, just as Apple is working to fix MacOS26, MS is working to fix Windows. And we both get to use what we want! Everyone wins!

Edited to add: maybe try using "About this PC" rather than that About Windows thingie. You actually get better details. So that clears most of this up I think.

Except for the run dialog box. That one is annoying. Not that I really use it. I tend to use terminal or PowerShell these days.

Edited even later to add: Look at this! Even older design elements! The fact that nobody uses this program for hardly anything is irrelevant:

View attachment 2618498

Agree. Let's not talk about the 26/macos dumpster fire. My iPad is worse than it was on the previous version with lots of ui issues.

 

[pshufd]

Agree. Let's not talk about the 26/macos dumpster fire. My iPad is worse than it was on the previous version with lots of ui issues.

My iPad is okay and I like the larger elements on it - it's just that sometimes they cover stuff that they shouldn't cover. It's a bigger problem on my iPhone 13 mini where there isn't a lot of space overall. 26 is faster too and uses more battery life. I guess that's an expected tradeoff.

 

[throAU]

You are showing all legacy stuff that is being removed slowly. It's basically stuff that NOBODY only super geeks and people who refuse to use the new features use. I have not seen any of that in at least 5 years on my windows systems.

The point is that Microsoft didn’t fix the ui. They added another one that only new apps use.

They barely ever fix anything. Just add another layer of trash on top.

 

[Steve Adams]

The point is that Microsoft didn’t fix the ui. They added another one that only new apps use.

They barely ever fix anything. Just add another layer of trash on top.

As Apple completely screwed theirs. Again, The points you show are old elements that are getting phased out because nobody knows they are there anymore.

 

[salamanderjuice]

The point is that Microsoft didn’t fix the ui. They added another one that only new apps use.

They barely ever fix anything. Just add another layer of trash on top.

Apple ships Bash 3.2 from 2007. There's whole host of ancient legacy crap in MacOS. It's just a bit less visible. They also have the bad tendency to throw everything out when making changes for better or worse requiring new apps to do what old ones did just fine.

 

[throAU]

Apple ships Bash 3.2 from 2007. There's whole host of ancient legacy crap in MacOS. It's just a bit less visible. They also have the bad tendency to throw everything out when making changes for better or worse requiring new apps to do what old ones did just fine.

Apple is not legally permitted to ship updated versions of bash due to GPLv3 license change, so they ship zsh by default now.

 

[throAU]

As Apple completely screwed theirs. Again, The points you show are old elements that are getting phased out because nobody knows they are there anymore.

Yes, they're old.

The point being that Microsoft didn't update the native UI, they built another one and run both at the same time.

And they've had about 15 years to port everything from control panel to settings, and there are STILL things you can't do in it and need control panel. Seriously, they shipped Windows 7 in 2009, Windows 8 in 2012 or so, and they presumably started work on windows 8 near the end of Windows 7 development. Windows 8 was the debut of "settings".

It's a joke.

 

[Steve Adams]

Yes, they're old.

The point being that Microsoft didn't update the native UI, they built another one and run both at the same time.

And they've had about 15 years to port everything from control panel to settings, and there are STILL things you can't do in it and need control panel. Seriously, they shipped Windows 7 in 2009, Windows 8 in 2012 or so, and they presumably started work on windows 8 near the end of Windows 7 development. Windows 8 was the debut of "settings".

It's a joke.

That's your opinion. What's really a joke is not being able to go back, and close stuff on my iPad, because the UI is so bad. Can't see other stuff because of the Liquid Glass esthetic applied. At least the stuff you actually use in windows is functional, and current. They stuff you are digging up is old stuff that is being removed. Nobody sees that stuff unless they are actively looking for it.

Again, come'on.

FYI: Control Panel, One of your examples of "bad UI" is going away very soon. As mentioned, they are removing all the old stuff. So your arguements have zero merit as they are things buried deep that nobody is using anymore.

The Control Panel on Windows 11 is one step closer to death

Microsoft is adding the ability to rename your user account to the Windows 11 Settings app, ported over from the legacy Control Panel.

www.windowscentral.com