I’ve been using Windows at work daily for most of my career.
I bought a Mac for my personal laptop approximately 8 years ago.
Th Mac has been the most reliable laptop I have ever used. I’m still using a mid 2012 model that I have added an SSD and 16GB of RAM. I dread the thought of that laptop dying, with the sad state of machines coming out of Apple the last few years. I would probably buy the oldest MacBook Pro I could find.
Windows 7 has been very reliable ever since I started using it, I think that the Windows/Microsoft hatred is overblown though. Most of the applications I use on Windows are very well written and reliable. I own licenses for many software packages that I use daily.
The worst part of switching to a different OS is losing the Apps and workflows that we have spent so much time honing.
Being a Windows user in the office and a Mac user at home, I have not made a switch, but I am switching constantly.
In 2006, I bought a Mac for home use just out of curiosity and with the option to install Windows on it. I never installed Windows on this old Macbook. 6 weeks later, I did not even turn on my PC any more. I was sold on the Mac and I have owned and have been using Macbooks, Macbook Pros, Mac Minis and iMacs. You wrote that you have been a Mac User for 10 years. So, before that, you have used Windows and you still consider the switch? If so, you know Windows. And I would say that Windows has gotten better during the last 10 years.
I never got the hatred against Windows, to be honest. In my office, I am responsible to keep about 8 Windows Servers, 35 HP laptops, and three 3 desktop PCs up and running. And they do just fine (Windows 10 Prof., Windows Server 2016).
Still, I prefer MacOS and I love the awesome MacOS developer community and their products.
I supported Mac & Windows computers/users & Linux computers since the early 80s. I’ve always loved Macs.
My previous company began moving to Macs, for most users, around 2009. Tools like Apple Remote Desktop made my job much easier, and the hardware lasted “forever”. We ran iMacs, MacBooks, and a couple of Xserves with large raids for file serving & email. It was great.
Then Apple got out of the hardware business. When we exhausted our cache of spare parts the Xserves were replaced by Windows servers. (And we’ve had excellent results running Windows computers/servers in recent years.)
Now Apple has gutted macOS server and is letting ARD die. One of the last projects I was working on before retirement was a plan to replace about 100 of our older Macs.
Most of our in-house programs were now browser based, we had ditched our on premises email server for G Suite. Many of the advantages of supporting Macs with Apple Remote Desktop were gone or less reliable. We determined that most of our sales & customer support employees could easily do their job on ChromeOS for a fraction of the cost of a Mac. (No decision was made before my retirement)
Now, when asked by someone about what laptop to buy, I ask a few questions about how they use a computer then, normally, point them toward an iPad or Chromebook, or a Windows machine.
I can no longer recommend a Macbook without warning someone about the keyboard, the lack of expandability after purchase, or the exorbitant cost of repairs.
You can’t do your best work when you hate your tools. Find what works for you and let us know how it turns out.
Two years using a 2016 Macbook Pro (maxed out at the time). Still love and swear by macOS - but the hardware is such a disappointment. The fourth time the keyboard failed I found out about Karabiner-Elements - and it turns off my internal keyboard when I attached my bluetooth keyboard. So I literally carry and use everywhere this Logitech Easy‐Switch K811 in place. It has changed my life…
When I type/work on a computer I always get lost in flow of work - but for two years I battled with the keyboard (the worst part being the arrow keys honestly - nightmare) - and of course keys failing every few months drove me to insanity. This keyboard replacement has literally changed my life.
I really hope Apple builds a keyboard again worthy of power user - its so disappointing. I’m just waiting to upgrade my Macbook Pro… :-/
When I brought it in the third time I tried to push in that direction - but didn’t really get anywhere… The apple genius actually recommended I just get it fixed by them since its still under Apple Care and then just sell it (she admitted she hated the keyboard just as much as I did) - lol.
I tried the new ones that have the silicone replacement - and I’m glad that seems to fix reliability - but ugh the keyboard is still just as unpleasant to use as a touch typist.
Windows 10 at work, iMac at home. My concern is the expense to repair iMac. My graphics card went and because it is soldered to the motherboard I had to spend CAD1000 to repair a <2 yr old “quality” computer. This lack of repairability and lack of focus on Mac hardware would make me consider a windows machine next time. Also had to replace trackpad on my wife’s relatively new MacBook Air last year. I am not sure that Apple provides a value for money argument anymore.
Sorry to hear about your iMac problem. But you could’ve paid with a credit card that doubled your 1-year warranty to 2 years, like AmEx or many Visa/Matercard Gold cards. Or you could have invested in Applecare. No machine is perfect, but iMacs have excellent reputations overall, and when choosing not to get extended care for any brand machine - Mac or Windows - one makes a choice to take a chance that they won’t need expensive repairs past the stock 1-yr warranty.
For years my recommendation to friends and relatives has been to get Applecare, then sell the Mac when Applecare expires in three years. This not only results in always having a machine protected under warranty, but results in a decent resale price for the not-so-old used machine (thus reducing the cost of the new machine), and garners a faster, more pleasurable to use new machine to use that has the latest ports, processors etc. (With Applecare!)
So we should add the price of Apple Care to the base price to get a reasonable warranty. (Yes, it adds more coverage but the discussion was about mechanical integrity.)
I disagree with with you on this one. I also disagreed with the, if only, alternatives on credit cards. Not that they cannot be done.
I have gotten reliable service from my Apple stuff, Android Google, and Dell items but so what.
If i had problems it’s another so what situation to me. Samples of one and all that.
No, I recommend AppleCare as prudent additional protection … especially if you’re not going to choose to utilize a credit card which doubles the warranty at no extra cost.
That recommendation goes for any product that isn’t inexpensive - any kind of electronics, audio, photography gear included.
Thank you for your considered reply. My credit card did not extend the warranty, I checked - perhaps better coverage in US?? I can’t argue against the wisdom of AppleCare etc, but, we shouldn’t need to do that for a quality product, should we? Still, that was a decision I made and I take responsibility for that. My criticism is that I couldn’t replace just the graphics card, I had to replace the motherboard. I will be better informed next time when/if I buy another! In conclusion, for me, it unfortunately leaves a poor impression on the Apple brand. For computers my failure rate is 2/5 machines! No problems with my iPhones and iPads though.
Lots of my colleagues have the Surface Pro and it is an excellent machine. The keyboard is (in my experience) much better than the iPad folio one and the build quality is excellent, and the Surface mouse and pen are also nice to use.
I do often chuckle to myself though because when they arrive at meetings it is often updating for 20-30 minutes before they can use it. At other times, there have been issues booting the Surfaces that means they cannot use it for notes until meetings are almost over (they often have tinker for a while, missing part of the meeting, then to resort to paper). This, however, is a software, not a hardware issue.
Tried to talk my lab mate into getting a Mac laptop when he asked for advice. He bought a Lenovo instead. A month later he was banging on the trackpad and muttering, “are you f*@$)*& kidding me?”
I do hope Apple gets these issues straightened out. AppleCare just lapsed on my 2015 MBP. If forced to buy, I would definitely consider getting another 2015, even though I rarely use the keyboard on my laptop.
What’s “desktop Linux”? The desktop can be GNOME, KDE, Cinnamon, XFCE, MATE, Unity, LXDE, Enlightment, Pantheon, Trinity and many, many more. That’s the beauty of Linux, you are not stuck with a desktop environment, you are free to use a different one, or none at all. So, if you used Ubuntu, you are talking about the Unity desktop entironment. Which I personally disklike, I prefer XFCE. There are even Linux distributions that are inspired by macOS (elementaryOS), so the switch is pretty easy.
That said, if I ever move away from macOS, it will be towards Windows. I use Adobe software a lot and it’s not available for Linux.
I have used several of those and (to me) they all fit my description. From those that I have tried, I also found XFCE to be about the best, and if I were forced to give up macOS I would probably start there.
Having said that, about the only thing I can think of that would force me to give up macOS would be something on the order of Apple going out of business.
I never installed Windows on this old Macbook. 6 weeks later, I did not even turn on my PC any more. I was sold on the Mac and I have owned and have been using Macbooks, Macbook Pros, Mac Minis and iMacs. You wrote that you have been a Mac User for 10 years. So, before that, you have used Windows and you still consider the switch? If so, you know Windows. And I would say that Windows has gotten better during the last 10 years.
No machine is perfect, but iMacs have excellent reputations overall, and when choosing not to get extended care for any brand machine - Mac or Windows - one makes a choice to take a chance that they won’t need expensive repairs past the stock 1-yr warranty.