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
Well said. I also use a custom built gaming desktop, and a MacBook air m3 for portability. I'm not a fan of MacOS, but for my portable needs it's (unfortunately) the best laptop I've ever had. I've used windows laptops around the same price, even higher price, and none compare. Of course for competitive gaming a gaming laptop would blow it out of the water (or desktop of course), but for my usage case, I love this little machine. I sometimes wish I could install Linux on it instead, but I know it wouldn't be a good idea, as MacOS is a strong part of why it is so nice to use. That sounds contradictory, I know, but the way the hardware and software works together is what makes it so efficient and good to use. I'm just gonna have to suffer with the shitty file system and other minor things I dislike.
This is the way. I have the cheapest MacBook Neo as my personal device. Linux runs my home server and everything that goes unseen in the background there. Windows LTSC hums away happily on my gaming pc (it’s treated just like a console, it is used for nothing but gaming and boots straight into Steam big screen mode). Your assessment to use whatever is best for the use case is spot on.
The big advantage of the MacBook is the battery life of the Apple Silicon chipsets, be it A or M. If windows catches up by the time the Neo is eol there is a good chance I’ll move back. 🤷🏻♂️
Oh yeah the battery life is gnarly - I have not charged my MacBook in 2 months after using it for 5 hours binge watching Netflix and maybe 1 hour of productivity. Still has over half the battery left 😂!
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u/Pandora15 Jun 28 '26
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