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LeeW

macrumors 601
Feb 5, 2017
4,198
9,150
Over here
Ok....let's do both sides.

Indeed, but lets not forget this thread is about switching from the Mac, think people are well aware of the differences. Too often these threads get side tracked with people (me included) trying to justify why the Mac is not that bad or why it is, too late for those that have made the decision.
 

TopherMan12

macrumors 6502a
Oct 10, 2019
785
898
Atlanta, GA
Well the Surfaces are desktop replacements for many at the University. They just plug in external monitors and keep going.

And that is no different with MacBooks.

My point on Apple is that a machine they call pro should not have issues with overheating, keyboard, reliability, failing SDs, and multiple repair programs.

Well no, you are now switching arguments as that wasn't your previous point at all. Reliability issues have nothing do with the "Pro" marketing label. Products in general shouldn't have as many issues at the MacBooks have had the last year. Pro label or not.

Indeed, but lets not forget this thread is about switching from the Mac, think people are well aware of the differences. Too often these threads get side tracked with people (me included) trying to justify why the Mac is not that bad or why it is, too late for those that have made the decision.

I think a healthy compare/contrast is in line with the discussion and that is what we have had.
 

LeeW

macrumors 601
Feb 5, 2017
4,198
9,150
Over here
Been working all day on a development environment for Windows and finally got a solution that mirrors precisely what I had on the Mac, so will see how it goes over the next week. If it does what I anticipate the Mac Mini is also gone.
 
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LeeW

macrumors 601
Feb 5, 2017
4,198
9,150
Over here
Has anyone got a decent amount of experience using Affinity Photo on both Mac and Windows that can comment on how consistent they are between platforms in terms of general use and operation?
 

Frankied22

macrumors 68000
Nov 24, 2010
1,775
577
Been working all day on a development environment for Windows and finally got a solution that mirrors precisely what I had on the Mac, so will see how it goes over the next week. If it does what I anticipate the Mac Mini is also gone.

What kind of development do you do if you don't mind me asking?
 

Mendota

macrumors 6502a
Jan 9, 2019
617
1,209
Omaha
Has anyone got a decent amount of experience using Affinity Photo on both Mac and Windows that can comment on how consistent they are between platforms in terms of general use and operation?

I use Affinity on all three platforms, Windows, Mac, and IOS. It is pretty consistent in terms of user interface. I get better performance on Windows, but to be fair, the Windows machine is more powerful (Surface Pro) than my 2012 Mac. I might also add that on the Windows and PC version, there are extras that can be purchased that only run on the desktop. This might not matter for most, but I use the extra brushes to paint and draw.
 

LeeW

macrumors 601
Feb 5, 2017
4,198
9,150
Over here
What kind of development do you do if you don't mind me asking?

Web developer, I use PHP mainly but when you add MySQL, Javascript, frameworks and everything else I need it is a pain to have it flow well in that you can code locally and drop what you have done into a remote Linux server and not encounter issues. You can use things like Virtualbox and Vagrant or even WSL but they all have their own issues.

With macOS, you could install everything you need from the command line and be assured it would work other than the odd issue.

It's not impossible on Windows, just not so easy and you can encounter more issues.
 

LeeW

macrumors 601
Feb 5, 2017
4,198
9,150
Over here
I use Affinity on all three platforms, Windows, Mac, and IOS. It is pretty consistent in terms of user interface.

Purchased and been using for the last couple of hours, all good, everything is pretty much as it was in the mac version. Thanks.
 

TopherMan12

macrumors 6502a
Oct 10, 2019
785
898
Atlanta, GA
Web developer, I use PHP mainly but when you add MySQL, Javascript, frameworks and everything else I need it is a pain to have it flow well in that you can code locally and drop what you have done into a remote Linux server and not encounter issues. You can use things like Virtualbox and Vagrant or even WSL but they all have their own issues.

With macOS, you could install everything you need from the command line and be assured it would work other than the odd issue.

It's not impossible on Windows, just not so easy and you can encounter more issues.

What IDE are you using for PHP? I used to use PHPStorm. I'm primarily a .Net/SQL Server dev using Angular framework. I worked on a PHP project for a few years using Yii. We had a remote test server and deployed through Beanstalk.com. Worked very well.
 

LeeW

macrumors 601
Feb 5, 2017
4,198
9,150
Over here
What IDE are you using for PHP?

I use Sublime, it has been good to me and all set up with various snippets, shortcuts and so on. Very customizable. Not saying it is the best out there just works for me. I used PHPStorm years ago.

Committing to Git and then auto-deploy to live on that Commit has historically caused me all sorts of issues on Windows as the dev environment is not always showing you how it will translate to live. Hence things like Vagrant are often the solution to ensure identical environments, but I just find it unreliable at times.

One of the PHP frameworks I used most often, Laravel has a package called Valet which sets up a good local environment that works really well. It has been ported to Windows, having a few issues with Acrylic DNS but getting there.
 

TopherMan12

macrumors 6502a
Oct 10, 2019
785
898
Atlanta, GA
I use Sublime, it has been good to me and all set up with various snippets, shortcuts and so on. Very customizable. Not saying it is the best out there just works for me. I used PHPStorm years ago.

Committing to Git and then auto-deploy to live on that Commit has historically caused me all sorts of issues on Windows as the dev environment is not always showing you how it will translate to live. Hence things like Vagrant are often the solution to ensure identical environments, but I just find it unreliable at times.

One of the PHP frameworks I used most often, Laravel has a package called Valet which sets up a good local environment that works really well. It has been ported to Windows, having a few issues with Acrylic DNS but getting there.

My PHP setup wasn't nearly that complicated. Of course, I was the sole developer on the project and there was no Windows involved in any environment. It was all Linux except for my Mac. I had an instance of MySQL running on my Mac and so development was entirely localhost. Coming from a .Net background, PHPStorm made the most sense as it did a lot of the heavy lifting.

.Net dev on Windows is a a bit of a breeze in comparison. Not really surprising as it is all Microsoft. I have VS 2019 on my Mac and I'm curious to fire up one of my .Net Core projects and see how it does, but haven't gotten around to it.
 

jblagden

macrumors 65816
Aug 16, 2013
1,162
641
There is nothing like Preview or PDF Expert on Windows. Nothing. I have searched and searched. Sure there may be more PDF choices but they all stink. Just as all PDF apps for Android stink compared to what is available with iOS. Apple and their developers know how to do PDF. And nothing else compares to the way Apple gear works together.
LibreOffice Draw is pretty good.
 

kazmac

macrumors G4
Mar 24, 2010
10,086
8,627
Any place but here or there....
Well, I am looking again today. Some more excellent advice here which I need to heed.

I'd like to get something by the end of the month and just stick with it. Adapt either way.

Regarding Macs, in the States there are excellent sales on current or previous gen Macs between now and Christmas.

I did very well with my last two stock model iMacs (I'd go that route again if the 27" had ssds and not fusion drives), but we'll see.
 

skaertus

macrumors 601
Feb 23, 2009
4,230
1,380
Brazil
I have been thinking quite long time to switch from Mac due to its high price. I am avid apple users anyway with 2 iMac, 4 macbook, 6 iphone and ipad. But I am still uncomfortable with Windows:

- Isn't that annoying to have antivirus that keep watching what you are doing, and ask for updates (only to make them 'smarter' catching the virus)?
- How reliable is hibernate/sleep in windows? I used windows laptop at my work and it needs to restart once a week after sleep/hibernate/resume during the week.
- How reliable / comfortable its integration with my phone. I used Notes in laptop and need to get them synced to my phone as I will read/continue writing with my phone
- PDF reader? Mac has Preview (which is quite good and lite) and PDF Expert (which also quite good, fast and lite). How about windows?
- Browser? Should I use IE or Ms. Edge (which I still confuse, their difference), or Chrome (with trade-off in battery)? Mac has Safari which will do most of browsing needs efficiently.

On the other side, I saw many positive on windows:
- some laptops are built very good, even really good and worth the money (i.e. asus zenbook)
- windows 10 is now more stable
- Ms. Office is much more polished than in Mac
- There are some applications available only on Windows

Should I switch? or should I wait?

A little bit late to the game, but here is my take:

- Antivírus: I do not find it annoying at all. All OSs have their annoyances, and this is certainly a very small one. You can choose to not have an antivirus, if you do not run suspicious software, nor open suspicious e-mails, then you can do well without one. But it is always recommended to have it.

- Hibernate/sleep: In my experience, Macs are better at this. But I think it also depends on the laptop, and Windows keeps improving in this respect.

- Integration with the phone: It depends. If you use na iPhone, it is certainly going to be better with a Mac, especially in Apple software (default messages, e-mails, calendar, contacts). However, the mileage varies. Integration depends on the software you use, basically. If you use Apple software in the iPhone, then it will integrate perfectly with the Mac. But if you use third-party software, then it will depend on the software being available for Windows or Mac. If you use Microsoft Office on the phone, integration will be the same on both Windows and Mac.

- PDF Reader: Adobe Reader is just great on Windows. Even Microsoft Edge can read PDFs. There are lots of great options.

- Browser: Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Firefox, anyone you want. Apart from Safari, all browsers seem to run better on Windows than on Mac.

I do not think any of the above should be a deal breaker for you. There are things in which a Mac excels, such as integration with the iPhone, because of the software. But, honestly, no one should buy a $2,000 laptop because of its integration with the phone. A computer is so much more than that.

Windows has indeed much more software available than Mac. And Microsoft Office for Windows is miles ahead of the Mac version, you cannot even compare them.
 
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kazmac

macrumors G4
Mar 24, 2010
10,086
8,627
Any place but here or there....
I made a Pros/Cons list.

Macs have more Cons than Pros in that list. I may be able to sell Macs, but the services/monetizing/logged in requirements of Notes and the TVapp are huge turn offs.

Bookmarked a few Razer and MSI laptops. I like the Razer 17” a lot, but that Up Arrow and right shift key.

Waiting to hear about the Asus ProArt machines* as the Acer ConceptD 7 review at Notebook Check had too many negatives for me.

B&H has two of the ProArt laptops up for pre-order (Pre-orders start next week).
 

raqball

macrumors 68020
Sep 11, 2016
2,323
9,573
Trying to achieve handoff and continuity type functions and getting things to sync can be done, it just take a little extra setup... Still wont be iPhone to Mac esk but close.

Here is how I manage things on Win 10 and Android (or iPhone for that matter)

Pushbullet Pro, It's $40 for the Pro version but worth it in my opinion. Syncs messages between phone and PC, copy and paste functionality between them along with file access ect….

I use one calendar and one contact list. Both are Outlook so I set those up as the only selected options on the PC and the phone.

My hurdle is trying to get apps to sync like on Mac and iPhone. Some apps are fine and others not so much. For instance I use Deliveries on Android but there is no app for windows. Well there was but the developer let it die a few years ago and it no longer works even though they keep the android one updated...

Syncing app data is much more problematic if you want to keep things jived up...
 
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