You mean out of the dozens of hardware manufacturers you cannot find one that you like? Amazing, I am actually paralyzed sometimes by all the choices when the time comes for me to do an upgrade? At the moment I really love my new Samsung Flex, gorgeous machine, and perfect for my Windows 11 trial. I also have had no problems or issues with HP or Lenovo, and I really enjoy my Surface Book.
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I feel as though Windows 10/11 is more stable, smoother and less buggier than recent macOS releases.
- Thread starter Kung gu
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I love Windows because I don't have to fix things. I can't remember the last time I had to "fix" anything on Windows. You just love to have an argument, and you are unable to move past your bias. You don't seem to realize that diminishes your credibility. I know bait where I see and hear it. Not going to go there but has been stated perhaps the problem is with you if you are always fixing things. The one system where I have to fix things occasionally is Linux, but it might be that KDE is more of the wild west than say, Mint.
I have to disagree, the hardware is one of the major advantages that windows has over a Mac.
The selection is mind boggling, whether you're looking to build something from the ground up, or buy a prebuilt desktop. Laptops are similarly varied.
With a mac you have one choice and only one choice - What apple determines what you want. And what they offer is a commodity/sealed system. Heaven help you if you want to upgrade the memory or storage. I get that there are sealed laptops in the pc world, but there's so many that are not and if that's a feature you want, you have a choice. You have no such choice with Apple.
Running older hardware or peripherals is another plus. I've had issues running older scanners on Macs but no such problems on a windows machine
The way Windows runs the hardware specifically for laptops is what I don't like about it. Not the hardware itself. When you are unplugged away from ACs, the laptop's hardware throttles to save energy. And I've found throughout my computer history that Windows, much quicker than MacOS, loses battery life with the more applications you install. The same is true for Mac, but in my experience, to a lesser degree. You may say the opposite is true for you, but these are just from my experiences.
Another thing I don't like about it is that you can have an insanely attractive, beautiful, small little laptop that has a good graphics card, processor, screen, etc. But there isn't a single PC Manufacturer that has an attractive, sleek, portable AC Adapter for anything outside of a couple ultrabooks so you have to package those generic, gigantic black bricks. This ruins the point of a portable computer for me.
Not only that, I just find that when I do configure and find laptops that I am interested in (Razer Book 14, Dell XPS 17, etc.) they tend to be extremely expensive, moreso than Mac hardware nowadays and lacking in the details I just mentioned. We'll see if the same is true when the newest MacBook Pros get released and what those are priced at.
I love Windows on my XPS 15 when plugged in. It does everything I want when I'm in desktop mode. In fact, if I had a choice between a Windows desktop and a Mac desktop, I'd go PC everytime. But for laptops... I'm done with PCs.
Most of the laptops i have used, or currently use are easy to change to go full performance. In fact you can change the settings in the control panel when on battery or mains.
That's a personal preference and quite different then saying the hardware is nonsense. The Razer for instance is a beautiful laptop that is fast both computationally and graphically. Yes, the power brick is large and cumbersome but the power requirements for gaming is high enough that you need a powerful power supply. It can charge via USB-C but not while gaming - the power draw is too big.
The games the vendors play is that they over price the product and then heavily discount it. My thinkpad X1E for instance as configured and on sale was in the low 2k range, but a similarly configured mac would have been in the 4k range. Apple still has their apple tax and they still over charge, as you can get a better running laptop for less. The M1 laptops are moving the needle a bit and they provide great performance and a nice price - unless you want to upgrade the ram/storage.
The M1 iMac is not a good buy, its over priced and doesn't offer anything better then other M1 macs and there are plenty of better windows machines for less.
That's reasonable. Although my positive opinions of Mac OS are on a sharp and quick decline, I agree with your observations regarding the differences in performance-degradation-over-time between Mac OS and Windows over time. Ever since Windows 1.0, I've tinkered "under the covers" to keep Windows lean, clean, and mean. I see what Windows systems look like when that isn't done as I help friends, family, and colleagues with their systems.
Often they're so frustrated with the sluggishness of their system they're ready to go out and buy a new system. It's when they ask me for my advice on what system they should buy that I suggest letting me poke around their system for an hour or so and if they're still not satisfied with the performance, THEN I'll suggest a few systems worthy of purchasing.
3 out of 5 times, I'm able to get their systems back to (or exceeding) the out-of-the-box performance.
Regarding the AC adapters, yes, there are some neo-classic "bricks", but I'm seeing more and more laptops coming with smaller adapters... not much larger than the standard Macbook AC adapter.
A majority of PC laptops do, though. And I especially haven't seen a PC Laptop with a discrete GPU have a well-designed, portable charger.
It's just simple physics when it comes to AC bricks so if you want more wattage = bigger brick or less wattage = smaller brick. My Lenovo Legion Slim 7 includes a 230W AC brick that's phone size but thicker but I like it since it's flat. At 230W it should be able to power the laptop at full load (100W RTX3060 dGPU + ~36W AMD 5800H CPU + LCD/misc) plus charge the battery.
https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/access...WR-ADP-BO-Slim-230W-AC-AdapterUL/p/GX20Z46307
Optionally, I could get the smaller $78 170W for travel that powers the laptop under full load but probably doesn't charge the battery but does keep it from draining.
https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/access...WR-ADP-BO-Slim-170W-AC-AdapterUL/p/GX20Z46288
Or, use a max 100W USB-C charger with some drain on battery so something like the $79 96W Apple USB-C charger that drains a MacBook Pro 16" under load. There are more charging options on Lenovo plus I prefer the Lenovo 170W charger for watt/$ and dimensions/volume since it's flatter to fit in my slim laptop bag.
Lenovo 170W dimensions
5.59" x 3.03" x 0.87" (smallest volume 14.74 cubic inch)
Lenovo 230W dimensions
6.30" x 3.43" x 1" (volume 21.61 cubic inch)
Apple 96W dimensions
4.88" x 4.88" x 1.22" (largest volume 29.05 cubic inch)
https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/access...WR-ADP-BO-Slim-230W-AC-AdapterUL/p/GX20Z46307
Optionally, I could get the smaller $78 170W for travel that powers the laptop under full load but probably doesn't charge the battery but does keep it from draining.
https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/access...WR-ADP-BO-Slim-170W-AC-AdapterUL/p/GX20Z46288
Or, use a max 100W USB-C charger with some drain on battery so something like the $79 96W Apple USB-C charger that drains a MacBook Pro 16" under load. There are more charging options on Lenovo plus I prefer the Lenovo 170W charger for watt/$ and dimensions/volume since it's flatter to fit in my slim laptop bag.
Lenovo 170W dimensions
5.59" x 3.03" x 0.87" (smallest volume 14.74 cubic inch)
Lenovo 230W dimensions
6.30" x 3.43" x 1" (volume 21.61 cubic inch)
Apple 96W dimensions
4.88" x 4.88" x 1.22" (largest volume 29.05 cubic inch)
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Every OS has its ups and downs and personal experience may wildly differ from individual to individual.
I use Windows on desktop and am generally satisfied. I have from time to time funny incidents like slow start up or programs not responding but nothing very serious.
Sadly, on laptops thing did not work out as well. I had many issues mainly with power management which was essentially unpredictable (battery drain for no reason, depleted battery in the morning when I shut it down in the evening and so on). Because I use my laptops professionally, that was a no go (I tried 4 or 5 different laptops across 2 years).
My 16'' Macbook Pro is at least predictable and I can count on it.
Is it problem free? No it isn't. I have a lot of annoyances like serious lagging all over which seriously irks me, but it is not show stopper.
What I want to say that different people have different experiences and one size does not fit all.
I use Windows on desktop and am generally satisfied. I have from time to time funny incidents like slow start up or programs not responding but nothing very serious.
Sadly, on laptops thing did not work out as well. I had many issues mainly with power management which was essentially unpredictable (battery drain for no reason, depleted battery in the morning when I shut it down in the evening and so on). Because I use my laptops professionally, that was a no go (I tried 4 or 5 different laptops across 2 years).
My 16'' Macbook Pro is at least predictable and I can count on it.
Is it problem free? No it isn't. I have a lot of annoyances like serious lagging all over which seriously irks me, but it is not show stopper.
What I want to say that different people have different experiences and one size does not fit all.
Feel the same way. This is why I stick to Macs for Laptops, and Windows for desktops. Macbooks are just so much more consistent with battery life, screen and standby life.
Well I just had to Clean Install MacOS to fix an issue with an Application accessing the Priveleged Helper folder.
Some days I feel like MacOS is Windows XP, reinstall it every month. Haven’t had to do that with Windows since around Windows 8.
I think part of the problem is if you use lots of apps not specifically designed for Mac by people who use Macs you end up half-baked ports of Windows Apps.
I also think if Apple would focus on Enterprise clients they would need to quickly resolve outstanding glitches in the OS.
But the reason I stick with Mac is the Hardware predictability aspect. I know the speakers will be good, the trackpad good, the keyboard good (even the butterfly one). With Windows and Android they always forget something or leave something out. And texting and calling from your Mac is amazing. Windows laptops tend not be built solid, have flex in the housing, strangely tuned speakers, Varing Screen Quality and varying keyboard layouts.
You guys might like this channel. This fellow explains the daily use of MacOS in extreme detail. https://youtube.com/user/macmostvideo
So I still love my Mac but am getting concerned with the amount tweaking needing to be done to fix this or that glitch in the Apps and OS.
Some days I feel like MacOS is Windows XP, reinstall it every month. Haven’t had to do that with Windows since around Windows 8.
I think part of the problem is if you use lots of apps not specifically designed for Mac by people who use Macs you end up half-baked ports of Windows Apps.
I also think if Apple would focus on Enterprise clients they would need to quickly resolve outstanding glitches in the OS.
But the reason I stick with Mac is the Hardware predictability aspect. I know the speakers will be good, the trackpad good, the keyboard good (even the butterfly one). With Windows and Android they always forget something or leave something out. And texting and calling from your Mac is amazing. Windows laptops tend not be built solid, have flex in the housing, strangely tuned speakers, Varing Screen Quality and varying keyboard layouts.
You guys might like this channel. This fellow explains the daily use of MacOS in extreme detail. https://youtube.com/user/macmostvideo
So I still love my Mac but am getting concerned with the amount tweaking needing to be done to fix this or that glitch in the Apps and OS.
The problem is people buy those cheaper computers under $700 and than have bad experience with windows.
Many computers under $700 come with hard drive not a SSD, many don’t have 1920x 1080 display, many only have 4GB of RAM, many have Celeron or pentium or i3. Many only have battery that last 4 hours and many have weak GPU that struggle with Google earth and youtube that alone very light gaming.
These are computers that should be running chrome book or some very light Linux distro ( I would not even put Gnome, KDE plasma or mint on that] and not FireFox or Chrome put some thing like say the pale moon browser.
The companies like Dell, HP or Acer so on that have good spects you are paying price points starting price at $800 and go up from there.
That is why I only buy those expensive businesses laptops that cost $2000 the ThinkPads and HP elitebook that last 10 years and can take a beating.
People buy those cheap computers under $700 than blame the problem on Microsoft.
I would like to support the Original Posters post,
and was thinking how Windows (10) is smoother that Apple Software just yesterday.
My iPad running iOS 15.new is experiencing internet problem and is flickering when switching tabs in safari.
last night the mac mini would not shut down due to iTunes not allowing that.
in 2019 i purchased a Dell XPS 13" after using mac since 1990 and owing since 1998.
I never had a problem with the windows platform and the laptop is very sturdy.
the only explanation i can muster is Apple is too big to care about
the little things Microsoft seems to get right.
and was thinking how Windows (10) is smoother that Apple Software just yesterday.
My iPad running iOS 15.new is experiencing internet problem and is flickering when switching tabs in safari.
last night the mac mini would not shut down due to iTunes not allowing that.
in 2019 i purchased a Dell XPS 13" after using mac since 1990 and owing since 1998.
I never had a problem with the windows platform and the laptop is very sturdy.
the only explanation i can muster is Apple is too big to care about
the little things Microsoft seems to get right.
You would be completely right if 'Windows laptops' or the 'Windows platform' was one brand just like Apple with the Mac. But it is not. There are dozens of manufacturers of Windows computers in a very broad spectrum of prices.
Generalizing or combining 'Windows laptops' to one entity is IMHO oversimplifying the matter.
Also look at what @Bubble99 said in post #213.
People tend to buy Windows computers in a much cheaper price range, compare them to Apple products and complain that the Windows hardware is less solid, has more flex, is of inferior quantity etc. In short.. they come to the same conclusion as you.
If you compare Windows laptops in the same price category (as Apple) to the Mac (like Microsoft Surface laptops, more expensive Dell laptops, Razer, Lenovo Thinkpads, more expensive HP line etc.) then you will come to the conclusion that the quality of the hardware is not inferior to a Mac at all. Do they design things differently in some cases (keyboard, screen, speakers, mice etc.) than Apple? Of course, but I would not call that a disadvantage, but having more variety and choice.
In the end it only boils down to having a preference for one or another OS (or simply using the tool you need).
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iTunes? What OS are you running on the mini? I work with Windows 10 daily and the list of issues is has is never ending, let alone the monthly patch woes caused by Microsoft. If I didn't have macOS at home I wouldn't be using computers outside of work.
Okay Windows 10 is pretty solid and it is a pretty old release. Windows 11 while not crashing or having bugs that I have encountered is designed in such a way to be more touch friendly and maybe more modern but in my experience I have to go through more menus and click more items to get the same things done in Windows 11. In other words the work flow on Windows 11 is more laborious to do the same tasks.
I have a MBP and have not had any issues with stability, crashing, etc. I prefer the MacOS environment for pretty much everything I do.
I actually enjoy using both OS's though. Windows has some advantages over MacOS and MacOS has some advantages over Windows. So using both is ideal for me. However, if I could only choose one it would be my Mac hands down.
I will no longer buy a Windows Pc from any vendor other than Microsoft. I have found surface laptops to be really great devices. For example I bought a 13.5" Surface Laptop 4 AMD edition and it is the base model which I was able to buy at a very good discount. I think Surface devices on the higher end of the spectrum are not as good a buy. Always get a Surface later in the release cycle because there are always discounts.
I have found that Surface devices in general are better optimized and I can get away with less resources without feeling it like other brands. I think this has to do with better drivers and OS optimization for the hardware that other vendors just can't do.
I have to say my experience has been the opposite of the OP.
I have a MBP and have not had any issues with stability, crashing, etc. I prefer the MacOS environment for pretty much everything I do.
I actually enjoy using both OS's though. Windows has some advantages over MacOS and MacOS has some advantages over Windows. So using both is ideal for me. However, if I could only choose one it would be my Mac hands down.
I will no longer buy a Windows Pc from any vendor other than Microsoft. I have found surface laptops to be really great devices. For example I bought a 13.5" Surface Laptop 4 AMD edition and it is the base model which I was able to buy at a very good discount. I think Surface devices on the higher end of the spectrum are not as good a buy. Always get a Surface later in the release cycle because there are always discounts.
I have found that Surface devices in general are better optimized and I can get away with less resources without feeling it like other brands. I think this has to do with better drivers and OS optimization for the hardware that other vendors just can't do.
I have to say my experience has been the opposite of the OP.
This is one of those things that's almost entirely subjective and depends on your form factor (laptop vs desktop) and usage case(s).
My iMac getting bogged down/seriously slowing down is what initially got me to switch to Windows. I went from a desktop with a 7200RPM HD and 8GB of RAM (think the late 2015's were the last ones spec'ed with these as std before switching to SSDs?) to a gaming laptop (ASUS Predator Triton 500) with a SSD and 16GB of RAM running W10. So yeah, night and day difference there.
Fast forward a bit. I missed the overall 'user experience' of macOS and dug out my trusty Mac Mini (a 2011 model). I upgraded the RAM from 4 to 8GB, but it's still stuck with a 5400RPM HD and tops out on High Sierra. There were obvious differences in speed - waking from sleep, opening some apps - but to me, that's all hardware-related. In my day to day usage (10 or so tabs open on firefox, tunes playing through the 'Music' app, iMessage and Calendar both open), I couldn't discern any bugginess.
Fast forward a little more. Due to the age of and because the aforementioned Mac Mini couldn't get any more OS updates, I decided to play around a bit with my iMac - wiped it clean and did a fresh install of macOS (Monterrey - 12.2.1). After all that updating, the differences between this and my gaming laptop (that I had upgrade to W11 a month ago) are almost imperceptible.
My iMac getting bogged down/seriously slowing down is what initially got me to switch to Windows. I went from a desktop with a 7200RPM HD and 8GB of RAM (think the late 2015's were the last ones spec'ed with these as std before switching to SSDs?) to a gaming laptop (ASUS Predator Triton 500) with a SSD and 16GB of RAM running W10. So yeah, night and day difference there.
Fast forward a bit. I missed the overall 'user experience' of macOS and dug out my trusty Mac Mini (a 2011 model). I upgraded the RAM from 4 to 8GB, but it's still stuck with a 5400RPM HD and tops out on High Sierra. There were obvious differences in speed - waking from sleep, opening some apps - but to me, that's all hardware-related. In my day to day usage (10 or so tabs open on firefox, tunes playing through the 'Music' app, iMessage and Calendar both open), I couldn't discern any bugginess.
Fast forward a little more. Due to the age of and because the aforementioned Mac Mini couldn't get any more OS updates, I decided to play around a bit with my iMac - wiped it clean and did a fresh install of macOS (Monterrey - 12.2.1). After all that updating, the differences between this and my gaming laptop (that I had upgrade to W11 a month ago) are almost imperceptible.
Put in 32 GB of RAM and an SSD and that iMac will feel modern. You can even hang the SSD off a USB 3.0 port and it will feel modern.
Easier said then done, given the sealed nature of the iMac. I'm fairly adept at building, repairing computers, but disassembling an iMac is something that I personally avoided.
There should be a door in the back and a button to pop it open. I've done this on my Late 2014 iMac.
You can hang a SSD off a USB 3 or Thunderbolt port.
I've done exactly that with my 2013 and 2017 21" iMacs. The machines are much faster than when the were new... by orders of magnitude. For example: With the original 1TB spinner drive, it took the MS Word icon bouncing over 60 times before it loaded. With the SSD hanging off the back, 5 bounces.