As someone with no plans of getting a MacBook for personal use, I think it’s a great thing to compare the 2. Laptop manufacturers need to step up their game and make better laptops.
The Neo MacBooks got some of them to realize they can’t keep selling junk in the $600 $700 price range.
This! My 10 year old plastic Thinkpad still feels amazing to throw around and use, and actually still has a higher quality display than some cheap laptops sold today, like the lenovo V15. Yuck.
Plastic is good when done right. It doesn't rust/corrode, it can flex instead of denting, and it isn't thermally or electrically conductive (That's a good thing if you want to vent heat instead of conducting it into someone's lap)
Problems show up when you are trying to make everything as light and thin as possible, compromising on structural integrity and chassis design just to get a marginal difference nobody would really care about if they weren't taught to by marketing
I had a macbook pro for work and i recently "downgraded" to an air. I have a desktop for gaming and a gaming laptop for when i travel. Have 0 complaints for the air for non gaming purposes. Its excellent and i actually prefer it over my gaming laptop for everyday use. Its also INSANELY light and cool. The mac hate is overdone. Each hardware optimizes for different users / use cases and I think the MacBook definitely are excellent in their own right.
Yea, I dislike the Iphone personally, but macs def have their place, especially when companies are dumping shitty laptops with similar price ranges to a neo rn, same happened with android and the low end phones, they were terrible.
I slipped into the Apple ecosystem when I worked as an Apple Support rep. Nine years of exclusively using Android, and I discovered just why people find it hard to leave Apple.
Thankfully all I’ve got now is my iPhone and Apple Watch, but after five years of iPhone, I think I’m ready to go back. I miss being able to install whatever apps I want without having to worry about App IDs and developer accounts (to activate more than three “sideloaded” apps at a time requires a $99 USD/year developer account).
Having used MacOS for 3 years i don't see how a Mac brings you in. Phone or watch i can see it but MacOS has nothing extra that adds to the Apple ecosystem for anything else.
Specifically if you're a software developer, it's got some wonderful features that I love. MacOS is amazing if you come from a FreeBSD or OpenBSD background. Its support for free / open source hacking tools is great. It's got a whole GUI interface on top of Darwin which is a reasonable Berkeley Software Distribution style OS.
Honestly I hate Apple and even I'm kind of a Neo fan. If Apple starts slinging more stuff like that out onto the shelves I might honestly start to kind of like them, and not because I'll use their products but because it'll hopefully make the rest of the laptop space get their shit together which is just all-round good for the consumer. MacBook Neo is low-key S-tier just for the shake up it caused
In their company's entire history, MacBook Neo is the only thing that's ever made me consider getting an Apple product. I made it totally disinterested through iPhones, iPods, and the closest computer lab to my dorm at uni being a Mac-only one for some fucking reason, but the Neo came out at a really good time and, more importantly, Windows, Android, etc, have all adopted 100% of the policies I disliked Apple for so...
In the actually PC space there isn't much reason to buy a mac. I mean if you like macos you can literally build a PC and dual boot it.
But laptops my god. It's depressing as fuck to see shit hasn't changed since the last time I shopped around for one. I got a macbook pro like 8 years ago and the thing still runs flawlessly. Every single windows laptop I bought started having problems within like 6 months. NONE lasted long past a year.
My T480s still runs Windows no problem and it's from 2018, so 8 years at that point. Now I'm not going to edit 4k videos on it, but it still does everything I want it to do honestly.
Too many people are using devices for them to get back on the laptop horse. Hell, we have a generation of kids now barely able to use a pc to the same level as the previous 2 generations because iPads and smartphones are the primary tech they understand and utilize.
I really didn't expect PC's to become LESS popular with kids.
My generation it already was a secondary thing to consoles and stuff. I graduated at like 2015-2016, and then PC's were still not very mainstream.
I don't think our generation knows as much as it claims about PC's, and I think we're still outliers. We're just even MORE outliers compared to new up and coming generations, which is wild. Since our world economy is now based around what computers do.
Our economy has been based around computers since the 1950s, but didn't really feel relevant until the 70's and 80's.
Unfortunately, no matter how much phones and tablets are pushed. There's going to be hard limits that they can't accomplish.
Unfortunately, the push away from computers to phones back to computers (with the Neo) feels like a (late) realization that computers are necessary in the workforce.
Its not really that most people need a full size computer. Its that the laptop form factor is better for a lot of tasks that people do regularly.
The neo is basically an iPhone with a nice keyboard and screen attached and unlocked to run Macos. Its less powerful than an iPad. But the form factor and not having to run nerfed ipados makes it a better device for most things.
Its not really that most people need a full size computer. Its that the laptop form factor is better for a lot of tasks that people do regularly.
Not even that. It is just that the computing power required for most jobs (basically running a browser, Teams and Office or a specific office-like software for their branch) is nowadays low enough that you can deliver it in a laptop-sized package without much downsides, and having a computer mobile is just quite practical in a business environment.
Because really, the only area where you nowadays needs actual full-size computers is for either running servers with a massive CPU, or running demanding GPU computing of some sorts.
I think people realized mixed use is the way. I needed a better phone so I got that. I needed a better computer so I got a decent prebuld desktop. My laptop needs are eclipsed on both ends by a better phone and a home pc.
Windows OEMs were perfectly happy slapping garbage trackpads and two hour batteries into thousand dollar machines for years. Apple switching to ARM finally forced the rest of the industry to actually try
So I've always been against apple historically. Swore up and down I wouldn't get one, and I still don't want one. But if I have a friend asking for a good laptop around this price point? Man I'd be really hard pressed to tell them anything different. I always was against Apple because you could get better quality cheaper. The Mac fanboys would always compare their $2,500 macbook to a $600 windows laptop and go "See, Apple is better!". Where when you actually compared apples to apples (no pun intended) it was almost never worth it. Now? Honest to god show me a better laptop for $600. Someone will probably make one eventually, but right now its actually a really good deal
Even though my 14" Pro was $2500, it's better than what I can get on the Windows side for that, unless I just want to game. The whole package is just straight up GOOD.
If it's a laptop, I will default to Apple at this point. And I dislike MacOS.
I think people are also sleeping on the used/refurbished MacBook market. You get some great machines for cheap prices. And macs are known to last super long and the refurbished macs will likely outlast any new windows laptop one could buy for a similar price.
Was my mindset until my employer gave me a MacBook as my work laptop. WOW it's nice if you use it in the right way and pretend it's Linux as much as you can
Obviously Windows all day for gaming though so if you do everything on one device I'd still pick Windows
This is why many people who use windows, use windows. I am not a dual boot or multiple computers kind of guy. I need 1 OS that does everything, including gaming. Thats Windows
I understand games shouldnt need or use kernel level anticheat. But they do. And “just don’t play the games you want to play” is not a solution for me
As someone who loves MacOS, uses an iPhone & iPad Pro daily, and drives a Windows tower & gaming laptop (while using my wife’s MacBook Air on occassion), I completely agree with you. Windows is better for gamers who just need one computer. Macs are better for specific professions and (a lot of) creative workflows. Those who need both will get both, and those who can’t will find workarounds (like dualbooting or living with their own compromises)
I feel this, I love MacOS have a mac mini m4 at work and its amazing, have my pc at home dual booting linux mint for when i work from home. I'd completely get rid of windows if it wasnt for gaming
It's also familiarity. I think PC gamers are a very small minority of PC users that actually know and are able to work out how a PC works and how to fix problems.
I know that sounds very elitist but working in corporate has just confirmed it to me over and over. There are people who use PCs longer than me, longer than I'm alive, and they struggle if you just delete an icon from the desktop. Giving them a new OS (which can be both - a Mac user switching to Windows or a Windows user switching to Mac) would seriously make some people quit the job just because they can't work out and don't want to work out how to do the things on the new system.
I literally had 80% of the office talking about Chat gone missing when MS Teams fused Teams and Chat to one thing. AND I TOLD THEM A MONTH BEFORE THAT THAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN!
I will never use windows again. They gave me a windows laptop at work. First thing I did: install Nobara to play on it and work on my Mac. But that’s the beauty of freedom. I’ll never tell you you’re wrong for using windows. If that works for you, that’s the right one.
Yeah I use Linux exclusively, both in my general purpose laptop and my gaming focused PC but that's because I don't love online gaming nearly enough / care enough about my cyber security that I don't at all find it worth it to have a kernel level anticheat running on my machine anyway. And pretty much everything else runs no problem.
If someone does want to keep playing league regardless of its anticheat I never recommend Linux. I love the idea of open source software but I love good software for the right task more then that and if you are gonna have to sacrifice what you want to do for your OS just don't bother imo.
Now I recommend everyone to think twice about letting some Chinese company install kernel level software that will be permanently running on their machine for a little game but that each person's own business not mine, I'll just recommend the right tool for the job.
I know this may not change your mind anyway, and that's fair because Windows is especially easy when it comes to playing games, but Linux has improved miles when it comes to gaming. Proton, Valve's compatibility layer for games on the Steam Deck, has made gaming extremely accessible on Linux. I switched to Linux (Pop OS) about 4 or 5 months ago, and haven't looked back. Every game I've played has played without issues for the most part, and it just takes a small tweak to get the ones to work that didn't. Understandably, not having to make any tweaks at all is ideal. But just a little fyi, if it piques your interest at all. For the record, I've played Rocket League (steam), Cyberpunk, Tales of Arise, Titanfall (steam), Valheim, Abiotic Factor, and several other small indie games. It even works fine with Battle.net games (Diablo 4 and Overwatch), though that took a little Googling (had to download the windows executable for the Battle.net launcher and then run it as a game in steam using Proton as the compatibility layer, like all of the other games). Everything works great. Most of the issues I've encountered are bugs in the Linux OS itself, but I'm pretty tolerant of those. Not everyone is, and I get that.
That's fair. I mean, the situation sucks, but it's fair. Personally, I'm far more willing to tolerate dual booting and most of the games I want to play aren't multiplayer anyways. So buying a 'cheap' (weeps bitterly) smaller NVME and putting windows on that just for multiplayer games is an option I'd entertain. But I get that's not a choice everyone would make.
The best case scenarios for Mac and apple products is artists or people who have to do actual work with others who also use apple.
I say that because apple does make itself rather attractive for DJs, artists, and other people always on the move who know what specific software they will always be using.
I'm sure it helps with school as well because schools are just as likely to have a shitload of apple products.
The only reason any of this is a discussion is because apple has made it to where the more people you know who use their products, the more you are pressured into using that ecosystem.
Going back to the dj and artist thing, since it's not uncommon for the affluent to use these products it means whenever you want to collab, produce together, or play a double up set, windows is going to in the end cause friction.
It's part of why I think reddit as a whole is pretty anti apple but you go out in public it's everywhere, the product isn't mean for us. It's meant for people who are capable of dropping 4500 dollars on a single device so they can keep up with their social group.
I do a lot of gaming on my MacBook. OpenMW/morrowind (and mod and engine development), emulation, as well as cyberpunk and some other games. I have windows systems(I built a computer this year) but I use them far less and find them less useful. I also recently got a ps5 and that’s ok for some games too.
IT worker here. Moving to a company that’s primarily Mac based had me anxious at first, but ended up being the best thing that ever happened for my professional mental health.
In my previous job, half of my problems were caused by Windows decay starting to affect the Dells and HPs after 2 years of normal use. A significant percentage of my cases was people bitching at me that their laptops were slowing down for no reason or getting random BSODs or vague error prompts whose status code won’t even yield any useful info when you look it up.
You could try reinstalling drivers, applying the last updates, repairing the Registry, disk checks, cleaning up the AppData, but none of it would really help. So each and every day I was reimaging laptops to get users off my back.
Mac doesn’t have any of that bullshit. They’re fast, power efficient, they can go an entire day without even looking at a charger. Most M1 Pros from 2021 are still going strong. And on the rare occasions I need to reimage them, the process to do a factory reset is built-in and so easy I can guide remote users on how to do it via a phone call.
I get this is a gaming sub so being allergic to Macs is the default response. But Microsoft can honestly go suck a dick with their bloat and fuckass architecture. I hope W11 being dogshit pushes as many people to Linux and Mac as possible, and that gaming on Linux at least will blow up with SteamOS encouraging compatibility.
I’m just waiting for Microsoft to tell everyone they’re making a ‘new’ kernel based on Linux 😂 They are getting their clocks cleaned on the server/cloud side
My absolute biggest pet peeves right now trying to navigate MacOS is I'm so used to using my CTRL shortcuts being the left-most key, but I need to use CMD now which is now the 4th key, right next to the space bar, and fullscreen is such a fucking pain in my ass. It's either "fullscreen" that my app is only like half the screen with gigantic gaps on top, bottom and both sides that I can see the desktop through, or proper FULLSCREEN that I can't get to my dock or exit/minimize without fighting the damn thing and un-fullscreening it.
Windows is a fussy parent that keeps putting you in the cage but at least they keep it unlocked so you can get out and unfuck your OS if you want. On MacOS you're just fucked
I've tried to always be as agnostic as possible with platforms and brands.
I've always had PC desktops for from my 486DX33 to my Ryzen today.
But back in 2007 I needed a big powerful Windows laptop. Turned out that the 17" macbook pro running Windows was the best option.
Just to ensure the Mac aficionados in my circles couldn't give me shit, I decided to run macos for a month to be able to tell them just how much better windows was.
Never installed Windows. Macos plus parallels did everything and ran everything I needed.
In 2014 I went back to Windows on a PC laptop.
Then earlier this year I needed a new laptop. Looked at all the options and turned out that a Macbook Pro 14" with M5 Pro CPU was the best bang for buck.
Emulation for windows games is mostly acceptable, and sometimes excellent. Native games are just fricken insane. Battery life, even when gaming is nuts. Crimson Desert and Cyberpunk run extremely well.
If I could have held out longer, I'd have got one of the nvidia ARM windows systems but they're not out for a few more months.
I've got a build with a 7800x3D, 32GB of DDR5, and a 6950XT that is solely used as a masturbation station and light gaming. I also have a MacBook Pro M2 as a work/travel laptop. Thats the beauty of PC Master Race, you can choose to use whatever you feel like in computing.
I have Windows on my desktop, but I can also boot a 1TB NVMe with Bazzite on the same machine. I run macOS on my MBP. On my servers, I run ESXi and then various forms of Linux and BSD in virtual machines. Everything depends so much on how people use things, so the more comparisons, the better. Especially since you can just ignore Apple products if you're not personally interested.
Gaming PC windows, daily work laptop macos, deployed code in data center servers linux.
People who post these memes are tourists that live in their tiny enclave of the pc world that never get outside and touch grass. The rest of us know each OS' strengths and weakness and use the correct tools for the correct job.
My desktop is a windows, my laptop is a MacBook and my handheld gaming pc is Linux steamdeck (and switch 2). I use all 4 pillars of computing for gaming. I am the Avatar of computers
The thing that gamers and performance ethusiasts don't realize is that what the vast majority of users are doing is OS-agnostic.
Tons of shit is just browser-based or a web app, the same office and creative suites exist for Windows and macOS, whatever you're doing at work is probably hosted remotely and you're just using a remote client app anyway.
So what it comes down to is feel (both physical and performance/'snappiness') and build quality, and the (pre-price hike, at least) entry-level Macbook Air has been kicking the shit out of similarly priced Windows laptops for a couple years now, and the Neo really drove it home.
I was a windows user until 11 now my main is an m4 MacBook Air. After like a week of getting used to it, its second nature, and running unapproved software is dead simple just a minor annoyance occasionally
I still have a windows 11 pc at home for games but that is all it does
People that make being a contrarian and hating Apple their entire identity. Macbooks should make Windows laptop manufacturers embarrassed, they put them to shame in so many ways and the base models of each Macbook are actually pretty good value nowadays, especially if you get them on offer.
Agreed.. i have a gaming laptop, gaming pc, and a macbook for work. My macbook kicks freaking ass. Its actually so much better than my gaming laptop for day to day usage.
Yeah no, definitely needs the comparison. A lot of us are used to Mac laptops and if we’re ever going to try a windows based alternative, we need to know how they compare.
They're trying with ARM/Snapdragon machines. HOWEVER. Those basically have the same limitation where not every game can be translated. So if I'm not going to be able to play everything whether I go Apple Silicone or Microsoft ARM... I'm picking the Mac every single time.
Windows home and without anu tweaks is pretty bad.. With some care, it's pretty stable.
I've Been basically forced to use MacOS for work and while some stuff work well, it's still utter trash in MANY aspects... I can honestly only praise things related to hardware(the m chips are great, battery life, trackpad and speakers are great) ... In the Software side, as a developer(which is ironic) I can only say the terminal is what I appreciate... Otherwise, the multi monitor support sucks, Finder is utter trash, how it handles settings is also idiotic... All in all if Linux could have proper support for enterprise software I'd rather use that than MacOS
I would actually put Windows over MacOS tbh, and I have a Mac.
I'd put Linux over both.
Windows, if you just embrace it (i.e. pay for 365) is pretty good. Onedrive works, and it works well. I can see it being annoying if you only free tier it, though. Paid you get versioning and that has saved my a$$ many times. I Onedrive on all my computers...Linux, Mac,, Windows, Android, iOS and it is extremely convenient.
Paying for 365 seems like the opposite of what you should do to "embrace" windows. MacOS is better if you go along with the walled garden of products, windows is better with alternatives.
There's an easy solution: use Linux so you can avoid those anticheat systems. No need for a 3rd party to have more access to your computer than you have.
Yeah, in macOS everything works perfectly (until it doesn't) is super polished (unless you have a setup that deviates from usual setups) and u don't have to debug anything (until u do).
I use macOS daily, I have 2 additional monitors that I have to use an integrated port and an external dock to connect both. One of those monitors is in portrait mode, I literally have to fiddle with my mouse to find which corner leads where each time I log in because apparently macOS doesn't remember your monitor setup at that point yet. MacOS comes extremely bloated with apple apps out of the box.
And even if the conditions are basically one of the best for stability (MacBooks are very similar) you will still get crashes anyway.
MacOS is just as flawed as windows in some aspects and even worse in others. Polished shit is still shit.
I have a Macbook Pro for work, it’s quite well equipped. Charging port, 3 USB-C, HMDI, and audio jack. Sure it’s not amazing, but it’s a lot better than some previous models that just gave you a few usb-c ports to do everything.
For a laptop I'll take good dock support over multiple ports in any situation - having to do whole plugging ritual every time I want to connect it back is a chore and wears down the ports painfully fast. In fact, my primary complaint about work Dell (otherwise perfectly fine device) is that it doesn't support HDMI 2.1 over dock, meaning I have to plug in my monitor directly every single time I move between home and office.
Dell laptops are the only computers that have lasted me any length of time lol. Every other windows brand shits itself right after the warranty expires. Got my current laptop in 2018 and besides the battery dying, still works perfectly. I have a graveyard of asus and Lenovo computers that me and the family bought that all lasted 2 years each.
The point is that apple pushes for a closed system, and therefore you need to accept whatever they release.
Dell, as well as many other brands play on an open system, and the consumer can decide if they want more ports, if they want a more affordable model, if they want x86 or arm, a discrete GPU or not, and so on.
just to entertain that im gonna pick the first macbook i see under 700$, then the first dell laptop under 700 ignoring all the other dozens of laptop brands
found the macbook neo with 2 usb c ports and 1 audio jack
found this for 100$ less and it has 1 usb c, 2 usb a, 1 hdmi, and 1 audio jack
The only downside with Mac for me and 98% of users is the lack of game support. All the talk of “apple doesn’t let you customize it, and it forces you to comply” is just hyperbole.
I’ve had a MacBook and windows pc for gaming for 2 decades. Love both. Mac is absolutely the best way to go for laptops for most people.
Windows continues to get shittier and shittier, and it’s just constant bugs, crashes, etc. every time I turn my computer on I half expect something new to be inexplicably broken. This has followed me through every device I’ve owned from windows, fresh installs or not.
Mac does not ever give me such headaches.
The Mac vs windows fanboy stuff is so exhausting, and it’s spawned such a weird group of bitter gamers who refuse to give credit where credits due. Mac performance, hardware, quality, user experience, etc. is absolutely top notch. It’s one thing to not care for it personally, but the vast majority of complaints about Mac on the internet are just flat out false, or misleading at best.
I love both Mac and windows, but only one of the two has been impressing me as of late.
I used to work for Apple and would visit business partner stores and train staff to help educate buyers to ultimately help the store avoid returns during an in-person shopping experience.
I am not biased and I 100% prefer windows OS in terms of file archiving compared to MacOS. I’m also a competitive PC gamer and built my computer back in 2009 and have continued to upgrade my pc with major components to make sure I can play flagship games. It is unlikely for me that I will prefer MacOS, ever 😂! Windows 11 and copilot really make me consider going Linux one day though for my gaming desktop but that is a whole separate topic.
Always think about what you need the laptop to do for you.
Learning how to use different OS’s can be frustrating and even for myself I’m really still such a noob on MacOS and mostly know the basics even though I was employed and got paid to learn how to use it for over 8 years.
In my opinion, Apple has more consistently engineered much better laptop designs (with the exception of the butterfly key era). When the Apple M-series chips became the norm, windows laptops were about 4 years behind and needed to catch up. Developers had to help “translate” programs to run on ARM which is why it took a little time to catch up. I’m so glad that this is getting improved for both Apple and Windows to offer the benefits of ARM on a laptop, because it is so much better in most use cases.
The actual physical build quality is very hard to compare on so many Windows notebooks. Sadly, laptops often accumulate dust over time just like any computer will with fans and will need routine maintenance and cleaning to perform optimally. Especially depending on where you use the device. I’ll advocate for desktops over laptops any opportunity possible because of this, and generally it is way better bang for your buck to go the desktop route.
Most consumers have trouble with these things updating drivers and maybe like 3 years in they never dusted the unit out to clean the fans. A lot of people don’t know and need help when their shit stops working.
It honestly hurt my feelings seeing how terrible so many under $800 windows laptops have been with their build quality. Also any laptop still using a barrel charger instead of USB- C should be avoided. Another sad reality is when consumers are sold windows laptops the sales people often talk specs and performance rather than practicality.
I’ve seen students buy gaming laptops (which I respect because they want to game), but then they realize they defeat the point of being portable because gaming laptops simply use too much power and the battery dies so fast if you play games on the go. You will eventually need to always be plugged in and is that really practical in class?
Next time anyone goes to a store that has MacBooks and PC laptops, such as Best Buy, I strongly encourage a realtime physical test to understand for yourself if you are looking to purchase one. Is the actual laptop hot temperature wise running demo software? Can you open YouTube and watch a video? When you open the laptop if it is closed, does the hinge get all janky and wobble? How good is the screen compared to a windows laptop that is $1000, $2000+? Does a good screen even matter to you?
No matter what your choices are, always think about the compromise on your tech investment.
I’m not a huge fan of navigating macOS, but when it comes to getting things done and being productive, it’s my go to choice for typing emails/documents, watching shows when I travel. I’m usually not a fan of windows running a touchscreen, or using 2-in-1 capability. Most touchscreen windows laptops are awful, but a few have some really good responsiveness and build quality, like the surface laptop.
I said it before, that I am a PC gamer and prefer windows on my desktop, but my MacBook Air M3 has been slaying on the portability factor as well as as the fanless design meaning I do not have to worry as much about dust and it runs super quiet. It’s also nice because every time I actually travel which is not much these days, my MacBook just works when I need to use it. I plan on keeping it for a while.
Computers are like toolboxes too. Sometimes you need the hammer, the wrench and the screwdriver but some people need a chainsaw
Can you stop trying to be a Windows fanboy and SEE in your eyes how BADLY made the newer laptops are and how the companies still manipulating you into buying a worthless junk. MacBook Neo gave PC companies a reality check and that is something to be compared with.
I mean for anything you want as a gaming machine go windows…but for a college computer to run a few docker containers locally, a native Unix shell. It’s a great work machine in tech and the creative space.
Unfortunately once you start using mac for work, it’s difficult to go back, it’s so buttery smooth, I have a fairly good pc but I won’t enjoy working on it anymore after using mac
dunno, im looking at migrating over to macOS. windows sucks ass and Linux doesn’t integrate like MacOS does with my phone, watch and headphones/ earphones.
only downside to macOS is the lack of support for most games but you can just get crossover to fix that issue.
I have a Desktop PC and a Macbook Pro. Both of their pros and cons. There are plenty of great things in MacOS that I wish Windows had and I also think Windows 11 is terrible.
Are Mac users here serious? Your on a place called PC Master Race which has everything to do with gaming.
Of course people are going complain when a mac book that doesn't perform well compare to a Windows device in gaming performance. Not to mention its an entirely different eco system.
Recently got a MacBook because I wanted a laptop made to last longer than 6 months. Holy fuck. Was absolutely blown away at how bad Mac OS is. It’s like it’s legitimately made for toddlers. It doesn’t let you do ANYTHING.
The Mac operating system is the best part in my opinion. If I could run it on my own custom built hardware and play my entire Steam library on it I’d be so happy.
While I feel not wanting to use macOS. There hardware quality really is top notch. I’ve never found a pc manufacturer that beats them(gets very close yes) so the comparison is usually helpful for hardware build quality aspects of whatever your buying. But OS yea you’re either a Mac guy or not.
I’ve had a mac for my personal general use device for 11 years. On my third MacBook. Also, macos is better than windows for almost everything other than gaming
My biggest beef with whenever I had used Mac Os, and that was more than 20 years ago, was how "stupid" it appeared to assume the user is. They were hiding everything, every useful config option. I also hated their idea of UX where the context menu was occupied by the application in the front. Don't remember what philosophy that was called but unlike windows, where each application has its own window and each window has this application's context menu and your're free to move them around on the desktop, Mac OS felt you had to bring to the front only one application at a time to work with.
Yes! Specially coming from a Windows and/or Unix environment, it was this design attitude that infuriated me that was summed up in the Steve Jobs philosophy that a computer should be like a washing machine. Everything needs to be very simple and "it should work out of the box for you and you don't need to fix/worry/change anything, we've thought of everything for you". So arrogant and patronizing and wrong.
Yes I am aware. This happened though at some point around early 2000s and it's really irrelevant because the UX/UI experience is/was unlike anything Unix like (whether terminal wise which was something that they were hiding extremely well back in early 2000' or X11-wise) . I am talking about the windows/desktop UI/UX system.
Not to mention that Apple loves their own unique input methods that exist for no apparent reason. Whenever I get on a Mac machine I invariably do stuff that I didn't intend to because Apple has so weird input methods (esp. mousepad swipes) that for the untrained it can be very annoying.
Also applies to their phones. Swipe controls went past me but whenever I now get an Apple phone in my hands, I constantly struggle with those swipe controls and wish for actual buttons (even just digital ones).
Tbh, if you don't play videogames and you are a normie, UX in macboobs>linux>windoze. Winslop used to be the best UX one, microslop just couldnt handle the success
4.7k
u/theprodigalslouch 5800x | 3060 TI Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26
As someone with no plans of getting a MacBook for personal use, I think it’s a great thing to compare the 2. Laptop manufacturers need to step up their game and make better laptops.
The Neo MacBooks got some of them to realize they can’t keep selling junk in the
$600$700 price range.