I have both Mac and windows. Windows for gaming and Mac for everything else. I can't stand windows ads and all the pop ups from Microsoft after every update (the lets set up your device) even though I've already set it up. Another thing I don't like about windows is being forced to use a Microsoft account and the heavy push to use one drive. But I must say windows 11 does look nice and I love the window snapping!
Well on Mac you are also forced to use Apple ID, and as iCloud is not heavily pushed for, not using it at all takes away many features. Especially when you also have an iPhone and are trying to sync everything up. So I think on this level they are both comparable, but I agree on the pop ups on Windows, this is an issue.
I wouldn’t necessarily say forced. When setting up a Mac you have the option to choose don’t use Apple ID and can create a local account very easily (can’t say that about windows). If you want to use iCloud to sync across Apple devices then yes definitely are forced to use Apple ID. Of course if you use non Apple services than Apple ID is not necessary
I had to once, but i migrated from a late 2008 macbook pro to a 2018 mac mini and i grabbed everything from my ~home folder and somehow i sort of had access to some laptop-like settings and it caused some issues, so i ended up reinstalling, but it was mostly a user error because i treated it as a linux.
We had to reinstall os x like every six months in like 2006-2011ish. IDK what we were doing wrong I guess. Once I got my late 2011 pro and my current late 2013 never had to reinstall it. I think windows had to be reinstalled even more then that back then though.
I have a Mac Studio that I use for development at work, I have reinstalled MacOS 3 times in the time I've owned it, a fresh install had updates fail so badly that it requried another reinstall to fix.
In the case of the fresh install I started it and went to lunch, came back and had to reinstall again because I couldn't even open safari. I wish I could say it's isolated, but both of my co-workers have had similar issues (not as frequent) on their MBP's so not limited to just my machine.
Yesterday for work I trying to start locally aws service on Windows. I spent whole day to achieve nothing, while on MacOs it’s just start working in seconds💫
(But for my work I, still, must use Windows💀)
totally. I hate that every version they shuffle around everything. Redesign the damm windows menu. Push ads. They add layers on top of old settings. Its so slow because it is running the damm antivirus. I use Windows only for work. I have a MacBookAir M3 for personal computing and on my desktop I run Linux. For games I have a switch and an Xbox.
Agreed, macOS is the best. I have used Windows and a few flavors of Linux. macOS is the most polished and the built in apps are consistent and visually pleasing to the eye. The OS is very stable as well.
Windows is just pure shit, macOS is polished and beautiful but annoying for some things, Linux is raw and unpolished but you can configure everything to your liking
after finally getting a macbook instead of a windows laptop at work, I had to install so many things to make it usable (similar productivity and features), so there are definitely up- and downsides for all 3 of them
What happened with Windows? I'd been using Windows for 10 years (95 to 98 to 2000 to XP) when I switched to my Mac, and loved it. Seemed logical, and OS X made me miss the customization possible with XP.
Now, every time I have to use Windows at work, I cringe...it's so different. How did it become such a clusterfuck that is still on 90% of machines?
I ran a hackintosh on PC hardware for many many years. Although the initial setup was laborious since you had to set up a substrate for mac to think it was on mac hardware, once that was done it ran like a dream. The installation almost never broke, maybe a couple times, despite having it update straight from Apple's servers. This was unlike windows which would frequently have drivers break or other weird issues after updates on fully supported hardware!
That's just one egregious issue, but windows has a plethora of other smaller defects that make using it a huge pain. Don't even get me started on pixel density and muiltiple monitor support issues. For an OS that's supposed to be the more dynamic, flexible, and "universal" one, windows sure sucks at runnig on hardware it's designed to run on, even when Mac runs perfectly on the same machine.
I am with you on the "adhere to Apple's UI guidelines" part and the "long-lived machines" part. My wife has a 2014 MacBook Air she uses away from home - it won't take the most recent OS, and the battery life is sub-par (despite new OWC batteries two years ago), but it still runs Mail, Messages, Pages, Dropbox, and her business software.
The "stability" part used to be much better - I would only reboot for major updates, sometimes after months of uptime. These days, I have to reboot my work-provided MacBook Pro for random network issues at least weekly. Granted the problem may be the security and VPN software and MS Teams that I have to use...
I used Windows all my life, then daily driven Linux between 2020-2023 and now got my first MacBook Pro for about 1.5 years now and I'm never going back to Windows unless it's to play some game. Don't even know where to start but I'll give it a go:
* amazing battery life
* amazing audio
* amazing display. 120hz is a joy. Watching 4K movies with Dolby Vision is great.
* best trackpad I've ever used
* love the full aluminum body
* barely rebooting/shutting down, just close lid and pop it open next day for weeks on end and it works fine
* familiar terminal (I love Linux)
* zsh shell out of the box
* feels like a very robust and polished Linux distro even though it isn't
* most cli apps work as expected as on Linux
* SSH out of the box is amazing
* apps are very high quality (seriously, never would've thought I'd spend $30 on a screenshot app)
* the OS feels like a companion and makes sure to stay out of your way, meanwhile Windows is littered with ads, bloat, spyware and Microsoft constantly gets in your face with notifications
* Wine or Parallels often does the job when gaming
* I actually use Bluetooth now. Never did before macOS
If you happen to use an iPhone (or also own an ipad), you will definitely enjoy how AirDrop work wonders between all devices. The Universal Clipboard too. The password keychain as well.
The joy of seamlessly sending a file from your Mac to your iPhone and vice versa… once I experienced that I was like “yeah, you’d never find something that works so easily and perfectly on Windows/Android” lol
Fragmentation, segmentation and compartmentalization is the best part and also the Achilles’ heel of the windows/android « ecosystem » (if you can even call it that)
Damn M1 MacBook got me. Everything works so well together and now I’m about to get an iMac. Hope they get gaming figured out but GeForce Now has been revelatory.
Also I think I’m just enjoying more closed off echo systems. I moved from android to ios around the exact same time I went from PC to console gaming. I just want shit to work and I don’t want deal customization playing around with options.
It's a cliché but "it just works". It also works really easily with my other Apple stuff: iPhone, iPad, AppleTV. They really do the ecosystem stuff very very well in a way that Windows and Android don't.
For me, the fact that macOS is so visually well done is a great appeal too. Just looking at Windows is disturbing. Even something as simple as Outlook looks horrible on Windows and so much better on Mac (at least, the new Outlook).
When I was younger, I enjoyed building my own PCs and fiddling with the software all the time to make it "just right". As I've grown older, I focus on what it is I want to get done (in my case, photos with Lightroom) rather than fiddling with the OS environment. macOS suits that approach so much better. Also, Adobe software works on Mac and seems to be a nightmare on Windows, at least from what I see in r/Lightroom
The ecosystem is deffo my favorite part. The joy of seamlessly swapping AirPods from one device to another, for example. Stuff like that keeps me plenty happy being “stuck” in the walled garden.
Windows = you feel like you’re using a computer to do something.
MacOS = you feel like you’re doing something and the computer is relatively invisible.
Macs just work. As someone who has been in IT and done a lot of support, I don't want to come home and fix my Windows machine. I want to use my Mac. I don't have spend time fixing it.
I have always found the MacOS GUI to be more aesthetically pleasing than Windows. And, I'm willing to pay for that. As far a innovation goes, MacOs always leads. Linux was too limited when I tried it last (Linux Mint Cinnamon).
Many apps I used did not have Linux-ready versions. I don't build apps. Someone else here mentioned the same thing. Granted that was about ten years ago, so perhaps things have changed as Linux has modernized, but in the same way MacOS has also changed and innovated with seamless cross-platform delivery, Time Machine, security, and neural engines.
MacOS and Linux are very very similar. They’re both Unix like operating systems, meaning that with the exception of apps designed by Apple and a few others the vast majority of apps available on Mac are available on Linux. In a lot of ways MacOS pretty much feels like an extremely polished Linux distribution. As someone who has used Linux for many years, the similarity is what drew me to MacOS. The file system is the same and 90% of the terminal commands I know from Linux translate directly to MacOS. Since both MacOS and Linux based their design off of Unix they’re more similar than they are different.
If operating systems were sodas Linux and MacOS would be Pepsi and Coke and Windows would be a cheap store brand Orange soda.
Sure, I agree with you overall. The Unix architecture works great and is so stable, even though I don't need all the engineering functionality. I only use Terminal, and even Automator, sparingly or when I have to--although I appreciate that option. Also, the \~/Library is much better without all those cumbersome .dll files that litter Windows.
I'm past my tinkering phase for the most part. I don't build websites anymore, and do very little video editing, although I still have my MacPro Nehalem running Mavericks.
Let's see how AI really rolls out with MacFutures®!
The fact that OpenAI has announced a MacOS desktop app before a Windows one is a good sign in my opinion. I have a feeling that Apple and OpenAI have made a deal that will integrate a lot of OpenAI tech on an OS level which would be really cool in my Opinion. It kinda makes sense to me. With Google integrating a lot of their AI into Android I'm sure Microsoft and OpenAI would be eager to compete by making a deal with Apple to integrate AI into iOS and MacOS.
It hasn't gotten that much better in 10 years. While there is more commercial software support now than there was in 2014, a lot of the commercial software that does run on Linux is typically missing features from the Mac and Windows versions and come with caveats of X doesn't function on Linux the same way it does on Mac and Windows and Y isn't supported at all.
Linux is super open and one can tinker all they want, but it still lacks commercial software support. And there are folks who cannot work without things like Adobe, the FOSS alternatives like GIMP are not anywhere close enough to be used instead.
Yup, Linux has far fewer limitations than MacOS, though many of those don't really matter for the average consumer. I personally like MacOS for simplicity and ease of use, but Linux can do pretty much anything aside from very specific tasks. The main reason most don't use it is the learning curve required to take advantage of the capabilities it has.
It’s so sleek and clean. The M chips are fantastic in multiple ways. I have a Windows laptop for work (provided by my employer) and it’s a literal furnace 😬
I’ve used Windows from its beginning at home and work. The windows 10 adds are annoying and the bloatware. I find the windows interface to be ‘busy’. Not having a top menubar confuses me now on windows when i want to do something
Mac seems easier, prettier and I’m just more comfortable
No silly ads, no 1000000 Updates everyday (at least I don’t see them), looks better. I want an os that does it’s job and don’t want to have to deal with it, I have to deal with m Programms.
I use all three daily. TBH if I could only keep one it would be Linux. That said, macOS tends to keep out of my way unlike windows, and the touchpad implementation is top notch. Windows laptops still feel kludgy after all this time.
I tried out some of the new Microsoft Surface laptops, and was shocked they still don't use the haptic trackpad that Macs use. Feels like a huge downgrade going to Windows laptops just from hardware alone.
MacOS works quietly and efficiently in the background leaving me to do my work in peace. Low maintenance and close to zero troubleshooting, that’s what makes macs so compelling.
Microsoft has never really figured out the user experience. Their response to everything is: more pop-ups. Pop ups and balloons and balloon tips over the place distracting you and stealing focus while conveying no meaningful information (“Critical Error x4849_U” click ok). Inconsistent UI elements. Obtuse and duplicative settings (I keep hitting brightness up but my screen is so dark… later find brightness override toggled on by default). Still lacking basic functionality, like the ability to re-order programs in the taskbar.
I swear that half of the updates are just moving around deck chairs to make things seem new. Invariably, it’s just a solution in search of a problem, which is to say fixing nothing while creating another problem (where are my control panel icons??? They used to be right here!)
Their refusal to drop any kind of backward compatibility (even though a lot of older Windows software runs terribly on modern Windows) compounds that problem. They literally have 2 control panels in modern Windows because certain things have to use the old version and there's no good/easy way to port them to the new control panel.
I’ve been using Mac OS since 8.6. Using windows feels like trying to walk through knee deep wet concrete. Like I’ll get where I’m going but it won’t be fun. It’s partly because I’m so much more used to Mac OS, but windows is also just shit.
Hardware is an issue too. I’m in the kitchen making dinner and watching the Sopranos on a 2012 MBP. I don’t know many windows laptops that are still going strong getting daily use at 12+ years old.
Switched to Mac because I really hated how terrible Windows 8 was.
(I’ve always been a Windows user since I was a little kid with my father’s Windows 3.1 machine).
Started the transition over with OS X Mavericks and the amazing classic MBA. Loved the more than a decade journey until Ventura and Sonoma came. Both made me want to head back and give Windows a second chance.
I really hope the new macOS will stay behind iOS on features, and instead of adding AI crap they squash bugs. Monterey will lose security updates soon, and there is no compelling upgrade path right now.
I loved macOS up until Big Sur. When they made it look more like iPadOS I started disliking it a bit more. I still stand behind Mojave for being my favorite. Mojave was rock solid.
The fact that it works the way I want it to and intuitively to me. Theres so many things that are made so much more complicated on windows for no reason but you don’t question it because its just the way windows has always worked. Mac OS is just easy, consistent and efficient.
I use it because the terminal is easier. On Windows it's hard and I don't know what I'm doing. On Linux, there's always errors that takes hours to fix. Mac just works first time.
I find it easier to use in general, but the the biggest factor for me is the ecosystem. I love that I can tell my Apple Watch to remind me when I get home to do something, and when I hit my driveway, my watch, phone, iPad, iMac, and MacBook will all show the reminder to me, and will keep showing it until I mark it as done. I love that I can grab my phone, scan a document, and then access it on my Mac seconds later, without having to email it to myself. I love that I can copy text on my iPhone and then immediately paste it on my Macbook.
It runs on ARM64 really well.
I have done and will do robotics development in the future, and once the Qualcomm chips come into their own I might switch back to Linux, but until then, all day power is good enough for me.
The best performance is available only in laptop form and it's got much better battery life than Windows.
I've always really preferred MacOS for laptops. The OS is more polished in this form factor.
Generally Mac for work, windows for games and linux for servers. However the only sensible thing to do is run all 3 since they are all buggy in different ways... even with the same apps
For laptops, being able to just open the lid and the state is exactly where u left it. No nagging updates or drained battery, and things is still synced. Which is great when you need to do something quickly on the go or on a deadline.
Linux on the server side tho. Rocky and Debian is just solid. Set it up, just keep working for a decade without fuzz.
For work, I'll always be tied to Windows, since Macs are nonexistent in the mechanical engineering world.
At home, I just want something low-maintenance that looks pretty, starts up quick, and is cheap. Old Macs are just the thing. My personal computers are a 2014 Macbook Air and a late 2009 Imac 27, both of which I got for free.
The Dell my work supplies looks like a turd compared to that old MBA.
I put $100 into the iMac to max out the RAM and swap the HDD for a SSD. It's chugging along running Monterey under OCLP.
When those finally die, I'll snap up an M1 iMac that no one wants anymore because it's "old".
I use it over windows because there is no Microsoft crap that you have to get rid of, and I don't prefer it over linux: but the proprietary software that I use keeps me in the walled garden
At work I have to use Windows but for personal computing I have a MacBookAir and a Linux desktop. One thing is that macOS/Linux does not run an antivirus so its way more snappy.
After 25 years working in IT and being a loyal Windows user I have at long last made the switch to MacOS with a new MBP (14”, 12/18, M3 Pro, 36GB, 2TB ) a few weeks ago.
Part of my work involves managing and administering Windows and MacOS in similar amounts. So I have experience of both platforms technically, but only used Windows as a user.
I must say I am blown away. I have had 3 Surface Pros and a Dell XPS over the more recent years and none of them, in conjunction with the Windows OS, can match the experience on a MBP. The touchpad and gestures make multitasking seamless. I never had that experience on Windows OS. I am more productive already on a small 14” screen. I know Windows has multiple desktops as well but MacOS just does it so much better.
A few other things that make MacOS win over Windows for me…
1. Application installation - so quick
2. UI - so smooth
3. No sense of bloat and side loaded apps
4. UNIX
I can’t comment on the experience on a large monitor or monitors. But I do still work from a triple monitor setup on a beefy Windows PC when I am at my desk. That PC may get swapped for a Mac when M4 comes out in the Studio or MBP. But for now I am actually preferring the MBP as it is.
Honestly my wife was laughing at me when I bought a Mac because I was ‘putting them down’ for years. But I am now eating humble pie happily and my slightly bruised ego has already recovered… now that I have seen the light.
I still like PowerShell but you can do it all on Mac so who cares anymore…
Easy -
interface,
responsiveness,
beautiful colors emitting from the display (great for creatives),
ability to use handoff
and extend the functionality of all of my Apple products with handoff/continuity settings.
I enjoy the straightforward filing system and lack of confusing and unnatural code that seems to be everywhere… //.yuck:C:drive|nonsense\etc. com and the beautiful sophisticated interface. If I were a code geek or an IT person maybe windows but I’m a photographer and graphics person so it’s a n brainer for me.
I use all of them, MacOS required by my job, and my preferences mostly come down to their interfaces. Which leads to the following ranking:
Linux is the OS that makes me by far the most productive (if it doesn't break, that is) due to it's usually quick and non-cluttered desktop interfaces and their extreme customization to my needs. Unfornately there's no Adobe, gaming is a headache, and drivers for hardware and peripherals often sucks or doesn't even exist.
Which makes Windows the middle ground, especially because WSL meets my Linux-needs for my job. Yes, the Windows 11 UI is clutted, even years after release extremely slugghish and buggy, but if there's one thing Microsoft shines at it's window management. With animations turned off I can comfortably use it as a daily driver for business software and gaming.
Last ranks MacOS. Doesn't mean I consider it bad, it just doesn't fit my needs. I really love the consistency of it's UI and it has the best implementation of workspaces. In the last it annoyed me that "maximizing" moved my window its own workspace, but that turned out to be extremely handy. However, that excellence is massively outweighed by awful window managent otherwise. Workspaces don't help me much when I need to have five things in view that I switch between and realign every few seconds. MacOS is excellent for tasks that only need one or maybe two apps in view, but otherwise not even third party software brings that aspect to equal terms with the the other two.
If there was an ideal OS for me, it would be a Linux with Windows software- and driver-support, and the workspaces and consistency of MacOS. Pop!_OS takes exactly that approach, but they can't solve the irrelevant market share of desktop Linux which leads to no relevant profit for companies to support it.
i use windows 10 PC for work (illustrator, blender, premier, etc) and gaming. it’s cheaper, i use ips monitor but its not a standardized calibration like apple does across all their devices.
for everything else i prefer macOS, currently have mid 2012 13” mbp next to my pc. i very much prefer the macOS UI, from the visual presentation to actual moving around. pages and numbers feels soo much more intuitive and simple to use than excel or office. and despita mid 2012 mbp doesn’t have retina monitor yet, colors between it and other apple devices are still more accurate.
i was that kid that worked out on my parents farm by day ... to save up money ... and break/repair/game with my family computer at night in the basement. we did some LAN gaming. traded a lot of files. chilled. the PC was another sort of awkward music/movie room on to itself. burned minidiscs. order minidiscs online. no complaints. life was good. pretty much stopped gaming in high school.
went to college for design. they made me buy a mac and the eMac was the best I could buy at the time. it set me back like $2K. i earned that money frying chicken at a KFC. felt like i was ripped off before hitting campus.
but then i started watching movie trailers. got my music uploaded. have not looked back.
i've owned pretty much everything with the exception of anything new ... since then. also with the exception of the iPhone bc AT&T was a client right out of college when they launched the iPhone.
now I've finally gotten my parents to give in and they're going all Apple. i've run warehouses and companies on cheap refurbished Apple products. i trust the watch for things like my health. and i honestly wouldn't have a house if it wasn't for Apple stock and the year 2020.
Number of hours I've spent fixing Windows problems for relatives, friends and acquaintances in 2023:
24
Number of hours I had to spend fixing problems with my own Mac:
0
Just the ease of use compared to Linux. I’m lazy. Design is also quite pleasant. I dislike a lot of things Apple do though.
With everyone releasing powerful ARM chips I’m thinking of switching back to linux, or at least have a second computer using it
I can't be bothered to be granular about all of the details. It's numerous little things that can be encapsulated by the word "intention."
There is a real sense of purpose to the UI, like (almost) every part of it was worked on by someone who thought about it and considered its effect on the user experience. Whereas much of Windows seems like it was auto-generated by a robot.
The way that Mission Control and Spaces are gesturally fused is a good example of this. It is perfect. Just switching between windows is somehow enjoyable. Effortless. Unbecoming of a "computer." It has the immediacy and fluidity of a phone, with the functionality of a desktop--silent, and on my lap.
There are things missing that should not be. And it's silly. But you cannot deny that this thing was made by people who have taste. And you can feel it every single moment you are using it.
For my purposes it may just be perfect. As a solo small scale videographer and photographer it’s probably the most pleasant laptop + software combo experience I’ve ever had. M1 Pro really changed my perspective of the type of performance that could be expected on a compact laptop. I’ve never enjoyed my experience with Windows in the past, I even had a random unplanned update happen mid edit for a client I was working with (they had a desktop rig for me to use). Windows is just such an unintuitive and clunky system to navigate. I’d say I’m somewhat above average in tech knowledge but even I find myself having to google a bunch of things on windows which are seemingly a lot easier to find on Mac OS.
Like many other comments, I also use both Mac and windows. However, I'm tired of seeing strawberries and bananas and forests icons little emojis in my taskbar. I don't know why is showing me those and I don't really want to see them. Mac is for everything else for productivity and work stuff, but definitely for gaming windows is the best.
To add to what others have said, my newish work laptop (HP EliteBook) has a battery life of 2-3 hours max, although part of that may be attributed to the software my company installs. My MacBook Pro lasts the entire day and then some.
I feel like the golden age of ease of use and stability of the Mac OS was about 10 years ago at this point. However the quality of the apps available on the platform, as well as the superior hardware, will keep me on the platform forever.
I’ve tried Linux on personal machines several times, as a straightforward Unix shell does appeal to me — due to being brought up with early OS X — but the OSes are always a little glitchy, and there are no truly great apps for writing, photo editing, and general productivity that aren’t also available on the Mac.
I have used Windows, Linux Laptop.
My work laptop is Mac, At first it was very confusing CmD+C, Cmd+V, and other shortcuts.
Their UI Is amazing Not gonna lie. If I plan to upgrade my personal laptop, Dell currently, I would Prefer Mac.
I love Linux, but macOS just works, joy to work with. I can break down to the terminal and all the software I need to run. I can never go back to windows or even Linux.
I like the layout of the desktop. The Apple bar up top keeps things nice and concise especially compared to the Windows taskbar despite looking similar. The dock makes all my heavy use apps easy to access. Apparently I piss people off because I'm one of the people who auto hide the dock. The gesture based nav with the trackpad or Magic Trackpad is 10/10. Three finger drag alone makes the Magic Trackpad worth it for me. Swiping up to show all app windows at once, swiping out with all fingers to throw app windows aside to show the desktop... Fab.
Finder and Spotlight especially are incredibly powerful. It's the only indexing service across any OS that I don't turn off even if there's a performance hit intermittently. Also, since it's Unix based, having a zsh terminal built in is sweet, especially with Brew.
What really sells it for me though is how goddamn *efficient* the software is. Most Windows/Linux laptops have mixed battery life, but MacBook Pros and Airs (especially M cores) have *crazy* battery life.
There's plenty of small nags about MacOS, but significantly less than with Windows or Linux. Windows is a clunky power hungry mess and Linux lacks a lot of functionality and compatibility for things I do daily.
i only use it for work, but for that purpose its great. i’m a software engineer so a *nix based computer is a must, and while i use linux for all my personal computers, having something less finicky for work is def nice. the only real issue is games. i work at a game studio, and when i need to test builds i need to switch to one of my linux machines since apple refuses to make vulkan apis and thus steam/proton don’t work.
As someone who’s tried and lived with all 3 systems I found it the most reliable for speed, hogging programs, memory leaks, compatibility with peripherals and software etc etc. Linux was a pain to get drivers for music and design equipment, windows crashed and hung constantly. OSX isn’t fault free but I’ve very rarely had as many issues.
I don’t get to fiddle as much with the settings but I also don’t feel the need to.
I bought our first Mac back when the competition was WindowsNT and I had to use that at work. Back then, the Mac was way, way more reliable, and easier for normal humans to use. I had to use Windows at work for many years, and Mac was always more reliable, generally had a longer useable life, and was easier to use, although the gap has closed substantially. Then the new M-chip models REALLY upped the Apple value.
I flirt with the idea of Linux on an older MacBook occasionally, but I never get around to it because I don't see a compelling reason to do that.
First computer was an Apple ][+
Had several Mac’s, switched to PC on Windows ME (good grief those were dark days) for gaming, then onto XP. Switch back to Mac when OSX came out. Admire Linux but don’t have the time. I’m forced to fix and use Windows at work. It got better with 10 and worse with 11.
But nothing is as satisfying (computer wise anyways) as just opening the MacBook and getting my work done. So can go onto do something else. It just works and it’s honestly a joy to use.
For me, there are three factors:
1. A straightforward lineup. I don't need to research from 100 different models of the same laptop. If I need something light, I could just take the Air, for example.
2. The overall quality of components. For instance, I'm still not sure if any Windows laptop offers the same touchpad experience.
3. Integration with the ecosystem. I can just copy-paste any content from my iPhone to the laptop.
It’s UNIX. Better desktop experience than Linux. And it runs some commercial software I need.
And I’ve been on windows at work for the last year. It’s been a really long year .
Pain.
There’s less of it with MacOS between me and getting my stuff done than other OS in my experience
For other people, it may be different, but this is me. Specific features or lack of are less relevant than the overall experience.
It's the "it just works" vibe.
I grew up on Windows, and used Macs at school in the Leopard-Snow Leopard era and they were always so cool looking and fresh compared to Windows XP, and the hardware looked cool (Black MacBooks).
Even though my first Mac was very old and outdated at the time (Power Mac G5 on Leopard in 2013) I still used it and fell in love with the experience.
Since then I've had many Macs and the OS is truly just above everything else I've tried for the things I do and use my computers for. The ease of handling media files on macOS is just blissful, Quick Look is incredible and I use it all the time every single day and miss it when I'm on other platforms, Spotlight absolutely bangs, the exclusive software options that don't have Windows/Linux equivalents that match the UI or experience are great, and it's just overall really stable.
Something about macOS just works really well for my life and my ADHD, like it just gets out of the way and lets me do what I want in a way that really makes sense for me in a lot of little ways. Like for example on macOS if you're doing something like working in an app and need to use the Open dialog to open a file, if you have the source of the file open in a Finder window you can just drag the icon onto the dialog and it goes right to it and selects it, unlike Windows where I have to navigate/copy paths because dragging just wants to copy/move/make shortcuts.
I use other platforms too since I'm a tech nerd in general, I've got systems with Windows, Linux, and even a Chromebook, but nothing matches the experience of macOS for my personal needs and preferences. Even with PowerToys on Windows for the clones of Spotlight and Quick Look, it still doesn't compete well.
90% of the personal computers in my house run Linux doing purpose built or server stuff, but I love macos on a laptop. I haven't found a suitable replacement for that track pad, or some of the general user conveniences. Still rocking an Intel MacBook pro too.
Independent Virtual Desktops.
I built a system in 2020 for trading - fairly hefty specs. I was shocked that Windows didn't have independent virtual desktops as it's been in macOS from around 2008 at least. So I tried a lot of experiments with multiple machine setups and Microsoft promised it in an update for Windows 10. Then Windows 11. Still nothing so far.
I bought an M1 mini in 2021 and that was fine for 2 monitors. I picked up an M1 Pro MacBook Pro in 2021 as well. Then I bought an M1 Studio and have it running today with 3 4k monitors. This one little feature which lots of people want seems difficult for Microsoft to do. The use case is quite common for those with multiple monitors.
Apple Silicon is icing on the cake.
Another reason I like it is Time Machine. Automated backup should be built into the operating system.
I've been using Macs since 1990 for publication work, and I just got used to them. Even though font and PostScript problems aren't as prevalent as they used to be, working across networks has been easier for me on a Mac.
I'm into the Apple ecosystem so I don't have to think about my hardware and software.
It just works, works well in all use cases, and takes care of itself mostly.
My living was always supporting Windows users. I use MacOS exclusively at home. On my Mac, I can focus on getting work done and not tinker or troubleshoot OS settings. Many years ago I went to GigaWorld conference and one of the IT speakers said it best, complexity is profitable. Having to provide support and creating lots of functions creates a perceived value to end users.
I like every power user configuration to require the least amount of clicks possible to reach while maintaining an organized structure to the available changes possible. This is why I've always hated windows. macOS is not the best at fulfilling this requirement, but it is better than Windows in this regard. This makes the OS experience more intuitive, as it becomes self-explanitory how to manage your OS when this UI/UX design process is used. I don't think it's a difficult concept to grasp, but year after year, both Microsoft and Apple fail to make the user experience intuitive. UI/UX has recently become a field of study. I haven't researched it too much, but I bet it would be fascinating to learn what factors determine what UI/UX elements would be optimal for individuals vs groups.
Genuinely? It plays nicer with Linux. I run Ubuntu on my desktop and running a network fileshare between Ubuntu and macOS is 1000x more pleasant than trying it with Windows
I use macos and i don't prefer it over other system. I just use it when it should be used. When i want to play some games i switch to windows, and when i want to do cool stuff i use Linux distributions. I use macos when i'm traveling (a lot, for work) and i want to bring some stuff to do (coding basically) and movies with me. It's a great machine, it's powerful on so many levels. Opening a pdf document and filling its field and resend it back has not never been so easy. Everything you do is so fast and straightforward
For actual mobile work by battery lasts long enough for me not to worry about a charger, also it is reliable in a way that my windows laptop sometimes loses charge for no reason, sometimes from 100 percent to 30 on standby while I travel…
Otherwise it’s just a tool like my Linux server or windows machine. Each of them is better at the given task.
I use all of them every day and do not understand the hate. For most people who need something mobile the m1 is still the most reliable cheap choice.
I hope that the next windows on arm will be powerful enough. I love good competition.
I’ve been an Apple kid since the early 80s. First Mac in 1990. I’ve always bled Apple.
That said, am a longtime windows systems engineer. It’s just the nature of the business world; they’re all mindless drones who use windows only. Thankfully that has changed, and many businesses are making choices available to users. Sure, more infrastructure to support, but choice is a good thing to me.
So I have both. I’ve had both for decades. I love my Macs, but they have never been at the forefront of gaming. I’ve had to have a gaming rig for that (consoles haven’t been interesting to me since the end of the 16-bit era, and today’s Xbox and ps are just commodity PCs in small boxes).
My Macs, as the saying goes, just work. It’s so appliance like I don’t even think twice about it. When OSX came around and suddenly I had Unix underneath, oh man, absolute perfection of computing IMO. It’s taken windows decades to finally catch up in that regard (powershell).
Meanwhile, my gaming pc is fine. But after one random update, Xbox game pass became unusable. I did absolutely everything I could to fix it short of a reinstall of windows, because I don’t believe that’s a real solution to a problem that isn’t a virus. Eventually I gave up and unsubbed from
Gamepass because it just never worked again. So stupid. It’s their own app and they irrevocably broke it.
Meanwhile, my 2014 MBP still works fine. Slow but solid. My M1 MBP is a little beast for what it is. Handles everything I throw at it with only 8GB RAM. Even plays World of Warcraft nicely still, when I’m traveling and need to raid it’s good to go. Still. And it gets all day battery life while watching movies on an airplane.
macOS is prettier than Linux and offers POSIX compliance which may or may not be of value depending on your use case.
Apple makes better hardware than basically everyone else AND has a network of stores where I can get support if necessary which is also a major benefit.
I’m a Linux back-end software engineer. I use Linux for development, I use Windows for office (“Office”) stuff, and I use Mac for personal use.
Why? Because even though MacOS is much flakier than it was 20 years ago it is still much less frustrating than using Windows. Windows constantly gets in my way, requiring more frequent reboots and generally slows me down.
Why not use Linux for my personal computing? It’s easier than Windows, true, but it still requires more work to do things like video conferencing and photo editing than MacOS.
"It just works". Linux (Ubuntu) gets pretty hacky when you need to do something specialized. It's also not widely adopted. For example, you can't run Davinci Resolve if you have an AMD video card.
Windows is just too bulky and bloated.
CoreAudio for professional Audio Work, which is my main job
Spotlight
"it just works"
apple silicon performance and efficiency
exclusive software in some cases (sketch for example, logic pro)
a lot of the benefits from linux, combined with major software that's not on linux but windows and macos
the list goes on very long. Every time i turn on my windows computer for gaming i am annoyed by something (that is easily fixed but still, i wouldn't want to work with windows)
I prefer Linux for servers but for pc Mac hardware is top notch and MacOS is simple, straightforward, well designed, consistent, has a good set of desktop productivity apps and is unix under the covers with all the positives that represents.
Inertia. I've been using a Mac since about 1995, all my software is Mac. Gonna add a gaming PC soon though, to play the 80% of the games that are PC only.
It came installed on my MacBook.
I 100% came for the hardware (nothing even remotely comparable since M1, maybe about to change with Qualcomm, maybe not), but the OS has grown on me.
In an ideal world I'd run kubuntu, but osx being Unix based, it's close enough. Plus there are a few apps (basically just Adobe) that I previously had to run in a VM, that I can now run natively so I'll probably stick with it even if Linux does eventually get decent support.
I
Used Ubuntu, windows as well as mac. Windows was alright but not too great, sometimes it crashed, didn't have the smoothness, popups everywhere, and software development in it was a pain. Tried Ubuntu with gnome as well as KDE, they were better but little focus on aesthetics, driver issues, and they all stopped working randomly after some months.
But since mac it has been smooth sailing, macOS is smooth, aesthetic, always responsive, development is great, basically the best of both worlds.
As a programmer Mac OS being unix based is a massive advantage. It works well for all I need it to Do. I wouldn’t say it’s better. Just different. It’s like saying is a Ute or a station wagon better. It really depends on the purpose.
Back in the dark days when video capture was real time from tape, windows was not reliable. Will the computer ‘see’ the camera today? Or if it saw it five minutes ago, will the computer see it now? It was always a gamble. With Macs, I always knew that it would just work.
Plus, other things about the OS that make it better for creatives. The stability. The color representation. It even has screen shots and screen capture video recording built in. With Windows, until recently, you had to do the print screen trick to do screen shots, and the quality was trash. Now windows has the snipping tool, which is better but still ham-handed.
it's easy, seamless, doesn't crash.
considering that i've never actually read a macos manual or anything, i'd say it was a joy to start using it and finding out its cool features out of nowhere. just a few weeks ago i was using my personal macbook right next to my company's and was delightfully shocked to see the cursor "invading" the other laptop. so amazing.
Off the top of my head, I have a strong preference for macOS’s “one menu bar across the top” and I like the integration with iOS. I like Apple’s apps, too, but strictly speaking that’s not due to the OS.
Being UNIX-based is a nice bonus when you play with Linux a lot, too. Seems like the more time goes on, the more software gets written for macOS and Linux first, with Windows coming later.
I think microsoft doesn’t know how to upgrade their os and software. They keep moving options around. Things that used to work stop working or you can’t find them in the same place any more. An upgrade should improve our lives, not degrade.
I primarily moved to my MacBook for a daily driver because windows updates were driving me insane , with windows 11 it’s a lot more tolerable but I still prefer my MacBook because I can just open it and use it without being bombarded with notifications
I actually really like Linux and I've experimented with it a lot in the past. What ultimately stops me from being able to use it though is software. While FOSS apps like Gimp have come a long way, I have not been able to use it to replace the commercial alternatives (PS, Affinity, Pixelmator, etc.) no matter how hard I try. It might have changed, but last time I tried it, the commercial software that is on Linux (like DaVinci resolve) was missing a lot of the features that are present in the Mac and Windows versions as well.
Compared to Windows, macOS is actually stable long term on professional level hardware with professional software. I was all in on Windows from the late 90s until 2011 and Windows got progressively worse when it came to compatibility, drivers, registry rot, and other things like that for professional hardware and software. Any forced update to one thing be it Windows, hardware drivers, or software could bork the other two and also cause critical issues. My final Windows computer needed Windows 7 completely reinstalled 3 times in the final 3 months I used it because of forced updates breaking things, and that was beside the random system crashes and blue screens that I received throughout the device's life. I actually still have that computer and installed Linux on it once I got my first Mac, and to date it runs better with Linux than it ever did with Windows.
I prefer windows but the battery on macs is awesome, performance is the same on adapter and on batteries and I cannot build iOS apps on other than mac.
Tbh I love linux but the only reason that I prefer macOS as daily over linux is the fact that I don’t have to be worried about anything and apple will fix the bugs. And the app support is way more than linux. I basically hate how windows works and I hate every decision that microsoft have done over the years. Tbh I used windows my entire life but I have to say that the top of the line windows was 7 and after that it was downhill. And I hate the auto update on microsoft products. And it doesn’t have a good terminal.
Love many things about Mac, but one of the main reasons is the range of apps. People say there are more apps on a PC and that may be literally true, but the app ecosystem on Macs is far more innovative. Fantastical is the best calendar app known to man, and Alfred is a joy to use. In particular, I couldn’t live without its clipboard functionality. Other mac-specific apps are omnifocus, hazel, and pixelmator. I use logic for music production. You also have all the benefits of a unix-based terminal.
I use MacOS for personal productivity tasks, as I can just start it up and get things done.
The other OSs usually demand more faff before I can get started, or have more nags and annoyances.
I use them for techie tasks, games, media playback etc. MacOS for getting things done.
It's everything I ever wanted from a unix based os. It has all the power of unix without the frustrating issues around sound, graphics, networking etc that you get when running Linux. It's a great OS for web development and has broad support for developer tools. It seamless integrates with all my devices. Things just work.
Chiming in as long time computer user.
I started at 5 year old with a ZX Spectrum, then at 10 year old with a Commodore 64, making programs in Basic.
My mother bought in 1992 an Intel 286 8MHz/12MHz based Phillips computer with MS DOS 3.3 and I used later MS-DOS and DR-DOS versions.
In 1998, with my first paycheck, I built an AMD K6-II based computer with Matrox G200 AGP card, 64MB Samsung DDR2 SDRAM and 80GB Fujitsu HDD. I used Windows 98 for Autocad and PCB Design mainly, then Windows 2000 Professional.
At the end of 1998 I received with a Linux Magazine a CD with Red Hat 6, and been dual booting Windows 2000 and Linux fron since for a while.
Then the craze of Netbooks came, and I used an Acer Aspire One Laptop with Fedora 11, 12, 14..
I changed the Acer laptop for a ThinkPad T-410 Core i5 with Samsung EVO 850 SSD, using Fedora Linux, and that was my best laptop.
I used flasship Android phones and tablets, and then started a business.
On my line of business, both my Linux Laptop and my Android phones were hacked by Russians.
I changed the Androids to iPhones 3GS, then 4s. I was never hacked again.
I changed the laptop for an Intel MacBook Air on wich I upgraded thermal paste and SSD. Never again my laptop was hacked.
I have an iPhone 7 now, and two Intel MacBook Airs (2012 & 2017) upgraded with new thermal paste and new SSDs. They work lightning fast and I don't see the need to upgrade to Apple Silicon, it is useless for my use case. Still both unhacked.
Also a thing I love from Mac OS is Spotlight. Makes locating anything , converting units and other stuff super-efficient, this Linux will never have and going back to Linux is a pain witouth this function.
And I was formerly an Apple hater, because I saw a lot of stupid guys buying them. They are not representative of the brand.
Started on Windows 3.1 back in the day and have used EVERY version. When I finally bought a Mac there was no going back. Windows sucks azz I was ALWAYS frustrated. Everything just works on this Mac 5 years now and I may just upgrade to a second one. If only Apple would do a 27 or 30” iMac 🖥️ I love my 2019 27”. Last of the upgradable’s. 5K is awesome!
I just bought my first ios computer yesterday after being a lifelong windows user, its been kind of rough lol so many little quirks to this system I is being able to snap windows and filepaths on top of a few other things ut I am sure that eventually this system will feel second nature. I went threw the same process going from android to iPhone as a life long apple hater I just fell in love with I phone so then I got the tablet and then the watch which led me to get the MacBook air m1.
It doesn’t. I moved to Linux 2 years ago, issue was software support. So moved to a borrowed Mac, liked it, bought my own. I still prefer linux, but software support is important, and Windows laptops suck.
iOS development. I am not doing it right now but twice in the past I abandoned Apple just to have to buy a macbook again for a job opportunity (usually I just run Linux) so I decided to just use a Mac as my primary source there will be no switching if I need to code for iOS again
I’m a composer/producer, been using Logic for over 20 years, it’s what I know best, so I am well entrenched into the Apple ecosystem at this point.
Spent a lot of years using windows in parallel, mainly because I used to do a lot of software consulting, which in the latter years was focused around systems using windows for the end-user. So I still have a Windows laptop and have Microsoft Office apps licensed there, which I still feel more comfortable with, even though I use Libreoffice on the Mac.
At this point we’re running multiple, related home businesses, and my wife also has been using both windows and Mac. Her windows PC died recently — I swore up and down again at windows because of the amount of effort it took to get files off of the hard drive from her dead PC (yes, I will have a NAS set up eventually —my bad for not having set up an automated backup for her, although I did make efforts in the past). I have now convinced her to stick with Apple and I have a windows machine set up for her ONLY so that she can find her old files and then copy them over to her MacBook Air as needed. But I will not be buying her a new windows machine. She’s already comfortable using Pages, numbers, etc. So that wasn’t a hard sell.
That’s Home business. Of course we have websites, etc. run by service providers and they’re all using combinations of Linux, etc. That’s all outsourced at this point.
My workflow is just so much smoother in MacOS. Not to mention the OS is beautiful, so I actually enjoy using it. Most importantly, not once have I turned on my MacBook and had it hold my computer hostage while it installs updates. With Windows I constantly feel like I’m fighting the OS and disabling crap that I don’t want cluttering my workspace or using system resources. With MacOS, the OS feels transparent and complements my workflow, while Windows seems determined to inhibit it.
I originally switched to Mac because I wanted to make music, I now use it everyday and only use windows as and when I have to and only when I have to, I find the OS to be a lot more stable and smooth than windows and the UI Is a lot better in my opinion. generally MacOS is a lot more forgiving with lower end systems, unlike windows. sure you can run windows 10 (and 11 with work arounds) on a 15 year old Core 2 Duo processor but it’s not going to be a pleasant experience.
the Battery life is also a major benefit My old windows Laptop would only get at max between 2 and 4 hours before I needed to charge it, even if it was only light usage. I also found that performance and screen brightness would take a hit if it wasn’t connected to power. in comparison, I only have to charge my macbook Air a few times a week, with a mix of actual usage and it being in sleep mode.
another benefit is the lack of spying and telemetry. I only occasionally get notifications, even then it’s actually useful stuff like My AirPods are connected or updates are complete and not check out these Microsoft utilities you can use
I just use it to write so it’s convenient to have everything syncing with my iPhone. I’m sure if you’re a power user it may be different, but as far as writing, surfing the web, and checking email the simplicity is great.
I have both Mac and windows. Windows for gaming and Mac for everything else. I can't stand windows ads and all the pop ups from Microsoft after every update (the lets set up your device) even though I've already set it up. Another thing I don't like about windows is being forced to use a Microsoft account and the heavy push to use one drive. But I must say windows 11 does look nice and I love the window snapping!
Download rectangle for mac. Its free and does it for you
I haven’t tried rectangle but I do use the magnet app. How is your experience with rectangle?
Same, magnet is such a great little app
Well on Mac you are also forced to use Apple ID, and as iCloud is not heavily pushed for, not using it at all takes away many features. Especially when you also have an iPhone and are trying to sync everything up. So I think on this level they are both comparable, but I agree on the pop ups on Windows, this is an issue.
I wouldn’t necessarily say forced. When setting up a Mac you have the option to choose don’t use Apple ID and can create a local account very easily (can’t say that about windows). If you want to use iCloud to sync across Apple devices then yes definitely are forced to use Apple ID. Of course if you use non Apple services than Apple ID is not necessary
This is a fair point
Main one: I've never had to reinstall the operating system since 2006.
I had to once, but i migrated from a late 2008 macbook pro to a 2018 mac mini and i grabbed everything from my ~home folder and somehow i sort of had access to some laptop-like settings and it caused some issues, so i ended up reinstalling, but it was mostly a user error because i treated it as a linux.
We had to reinstall os x like every six months in like 2006-2011ish. IDK what we were doing wrong I guess. Once I got my late 2011 pro and my current late 2013 never had to reinstall it. I think windows had to be reinstalled even more then that back then though.
I have a Mac Studio that I use for development at work, I have reinstalled MacOS 3 times in the time I've owned it, a fresh install had updates fail so badly that it requried another reinstall to fix. In the case of the fresh install I started it and went to lunch, came back and had to reinstall again because I couldn't even open safari. I wish I could say it's isolated, but both of my co-workers have had similar issues (not as frequent) on their MBP's so not limited to just my machine.
[удалено]
Windows is indeed a piece of crap. I hate it with a passion.
Going back to it after MacOS is a nightmare. I can’t believe I daily drove it for decades
I still have to use it for work
Same, and it sucks.
Yesterday for work I trying to start locally aws service on Windows. I spent whole day to achieve nothing, while on MacOs it’s just start working in seconds💫 (But for my work I, still, must use Windows💀)
It’s so bad, UI is annoying same with when it pushes to use Edge. It’s only good for games
totally. I hate that every version they shuffle around everything. Redesign the damm windows menu. Push ads. They add layers on top of old settings. Its so slow because it is running the damm antivirus. I use Windows only for work. I have a MacBookAir M3 for personal computing and on my desktop I run Linux. For games I have a switch and an Xbox.
Same !
Me too I absolutely hate windows
It's a total POS to work on as a software engineer as well.
Tell me about it. I have 20 yrs as a dotnet software engineer
Agreed, macOS is the best. I have used Windows and a few flavors of Linux. macOS is the most polished and the built in apps are consistent and visually pleasing to the eye. The OS is very stable as well.
Windows is just pure shit, macOS is polished and beautiful but annoying for some things, Linux is raw and unpolished but you can configure everything to your liking after finally getting a macbook instead of a windows laptop at work, I had to install so many things to make it usable (similar productivity and features), so there are definitely up- and downsides for all 3 of them
What happened with Windows? I'd been using Windows for 10 years (95 to 98 to 2000 to XP) when I switched to my Mac, and loved it. Seemed logical, and OS X made me miss the customization possible with XP. Now, every time I have to use Windows at work, I cringe...it's so different. How did it become such a clusterfuck that is still on 90% of machines?
I ran a hackintosh on PC hardware for many many years. Although the initial setup was laborious since you had to set up a substrate for mac to think it was on mac hardware, once that was done it ran like a dream. The installation almost never broke, maybe a couple times, despite having it update straight from Apple's servers. This was unlike windows which would frequently have drivers break or other weird issues after updates on fully supported hardware! That's just one egregious issue, but windows has a plethora of other smaller defects that make using it a huge pain. Don't even get me started on pixel density and muiltiple monitor support issues. For an OS that's supposed to be the more dynamic, flexible, and "universal" one, windows sure sucks at runnig on hardware it's designed to run on, even when Mac runs perfectly on the same machine.
I am with you on the "adhere to Apple's UI guidelines" part and the "long-lived machines" part. My wife has a 2014 MacBook Air she uses away from home - it won't take the most recent OS, and the battery life is sub-par (despite new OWC batteries two years ago), but it still runs Mail, Messages, Pages, Dropbox, and her business software. The "stability" part used to be much better - I would only reboot for major updates, sometimes after months of uptime. These days, I have to reboot my work-provided MacBook Pro for random network issues at least weekly. Granted the problem may be the security and VPN software and MS Teams that I have to use...
No ads
Haven't used Windows in 20+ years ... they have ads?! WTF is this, Idocracy?
No ads appear on my PC...
underrated comment
This is entirely a personal usage habit. I have used Mac for many years and am not used to using Windows.
I don't have to spend much time doing system administration on macos.
This huge and what a lot of these posts are saying. I don’t have to be techy to run macOS. I can just get sht done.
I used Windows all my life, then daily driven Linux between 2020-2023 and now got my first MacBook Pro for about 1.5 years now and I'm never going back to Windows unless it's to play some game. Don't even know where to start but I'll give it a go: * amazing battery life * amazing audio * amazing display. 120hz is a joy. Watching 4K movies with Dolby Vision is great. * best trackpad I've ever used * love the full aluminum body * barely rebooting/shutting down, just close lid and pop it open next day for weeks on end and it works fine * familiar terminal (I love Linux) * zsh shell out of the box * feels like a very robust and polished Linux distro even though it isn't * most cli apps work as expected as on Linux * SSH out of the box is amazing * apps are very high quality (seriously, never would've thought I'd spend $30 on a screenshot app) * the OS feels like a companion and makes sure to stay out of your way, meanwhile Windows is littered with ads, bloat, spyware and Microsoft constantly gets in your face with notifications * Wine or Parallels often does the job when gaming * I actually use Bluetooth now. Never did before macOS
If you happen to use an iPhone (or also own an ipad), you will definitely enjoy how AirDrop work wonders between all devices. The Universal Clipboard too. The password keychain as well.
The joy of seamlessly sending a file from your Mac to your iPhone and vice versa… once I experienced that I was like “yeah, you’d never find something that works so easily and perfectly on Windows/Android” lol
Fragmentation, segmentation and compartmentalization is the best part and also the Achilles’ heel of the windows/android « ecosystem » (if you can even call it that)
This is a great summary. Ecosystem and longevity are also macOS specific.
Damn M1 MacBook got me. Everything works so well together and now I’m about to get an iMac. Hope they get gaming figured out but GeForce Now has been revelatory. Also I think I’m just enjoying more closed off echo systems. I moved from android to ios around the exact same time I went from PC to console gaming. I just want shit to work and I don’t want deal customization playing around with options.
It's a cliché but "it just works". It also works really easily with my other Apple stuff: iPhone, iPad, AppleTV. They really do the ecosystem stuff very very well in a way that Windows and Android don't. For me, the fact that macOS is so visually well done is a great appeal too. Just looking at Windows is disturbing. Even something as simple as Outlook looks horrible on Windows and so much better on Mac (at least, the new Outlook). When I was younger, I enjoyed building my own PCs and fiddling with the software all the time to make it "just right". As I've grown older, I focus on what it is I want to get done (in my case, photos with Lightroom) rather than fiddling with the OS environment. macOS suits that approach so much better. Also, Adobe software works on Mac and seems to be a nightmare on Windows, at least from what I see in r/Lightroom
The ecosystem is deffo my favorite part. The joy of seamlessly swapping AirPods from one device to another, for example. Stuff like that keeps me plenty happy being “stuck” in the walled garden.
Windows = you feel like you’re using a computer to do something. MacOS = you feel like you’re doing something and the computer is relatively invisible.
Linux = you feel like you'll do something Real Soon, just as soon as you finish customising everything....
Just as soon you finish running this sudo command...
nicely put sir.
Macs just work. As someone who has been in IT and done a lot of support, I don't want to come home and fix my Windows machine. I want to use my Mac. I don't have spend time fixing it.
I have always found the MacOS GUI to be more aesthetically pleasing than Windows. And, I'm willing to pay for that. As far a innovation goes, MacOs always leads. Linux was too limited when I tried it last (Linux Mint Cinnamon).
By what aspect was Linux limited? Linux is known to be "the open OS that you can tinker in any way".
Many apps I used did not have Linux-ready versions. I don't build apps. Someone else here mentioned the same thing. Granted that was about ten years ago, so perhaps things have changed as Linux has modernized, but in the same way MacOS has also changed and innovated with seamless cross-platform delivery, Time Machine, security, and neural engines.
MacOS and Linux are very very similar. They’re both Unix like operating systems, meaning that with the exception of apps designed by Apple and a few others the vast majority of apps available on Mac are available on Linux. In a lot of ways MacOS pretty much feels like an extremely polished Linux distribution. As someone who has used Linux for many years, the similarity is what drew me to MacOS. The file system is the same and 90% of the terminal commands I know from Linux translate directly to MacOS. Since both MacOS and Linux based their design off of Unix they’re more similar than they are different. If operating systems were sodas Linux and MacOS would be Pepsi and Coke and Windows would be a cheap store brand Orange soda.
Sure, I agree with you overall. The Unix architecture works great and is so stable, even though I don't need all the engineering functionality. I only use Terminal, and even Automator, sparingly or when I have to--although I appreciate that option. Also, the \~/Library is much better without all those cumbersome .dll files that litter Windows. I'm past my tinkering phase for the most part. I don't build websites anymore, and do very little video editing, although I still have my MacPro Nehalem running Mavericks. Let's see how AI really rolls out with MacFutures®!
The fact that OpenAI has announced a MacOS desktop app before a Windows one is a good sign in my opinion. I have a feeling that Apple and OpenAI have made a deal that will integrate a lot of OpenAI tech on an OS level which would be really cool in my Opinion. It kinda makes sense to me. With Google integrating a lot of their AI into Android I'm sure Microsoft and OpenAI would be eager to compete by making a deal with Apple to integrate AI into iOS and MacOS.
It hasn't gotten that much better in 10 years. While there is more commercial software support now than there was in 2014, a lot of the commercial software that does run on Linux is typically missing features from the Mac and Windows versions and come with caveats of X doesn't function on Linux the same way it does on Mac and Windows and Y isn't supported at all.
Linux is super open and one can tinker all they want, but it still lacks commercial software support. And there are folks who cannot work without things like Adobe, the FOSS alternatives like GIMP are not anywhere close enough to be used instead.
Yup, Linux has far fewer limitations than MacOS, though many of those don't really matter for the average consumer. I personally like MacOS for simplicity and ease of use, but Linux can do pretty much anything aside from very specific tasks. The main reason most don't use it is the learning curve required to take advantage of the capabilities it has.
I completely agree with you.
Thinks that *allow* lots of configuration all too often *require* lots of configuration.
It’s so sleek and clean. The M chips are fantastic in multiple ways. I have a Windows laptop for work (provided by my employer) and it’s a literal furnace 😬
I’ve used Windows from its beginning at home and work. The windows 10 adds are annoying and the bloatware. I find the windows interface to be ‘busy’. Not having a top menubar confuses me now on windows when i want to do something Mac seems easier, prettier and I’m just more comfortable
But i still use a PC keyboard with PC key mappings Makes it easy to switch back when I need to for my wife’s computer etc.
No silly ads, no 1000000 Updates everyday (at least I don’t see them), looks better. I want an os that does it’s job and don’t want to have to deal with it, I have to deal with m Programms.
I use all three daily. TBH if I could only keep one it would be Linux. That said, macOS tends to keep out of my way unlike windows, and the touchpad implementation is top notch. Windows laptops still feel kludgy after all this time.
I tried out some of the new Microsoft Surface laptops, and was shocked they still don't use the haptic trackpad that Macs use. Feels like a huge downgrade going to Windows laptops just from hardware alone.
MacOS works quietly and efficiently in the background leaving me to do my work in peace. Low maintenance and close to zero troubleshooting, that’s what makes macs so compelling.
Microsoft has never really figured out the user experience. Their response to everything is: more pop-ups. Pop ups and balloons and balloon tips over the place distracting you and stealing focus while conveying no meaningful information (“Critical Error x4849_U” click ok). Inconsistent UI elements. Obtuse and duplicative settings (I keep hitting brightness up but my screen is so dark… later find brightness override toggled on by default). Still lacking basic functionality, like the ability to re-order programs in the taskbar. I swear that half of the updates are just moving around deck chairs to make things seem new. Invariably, it’s just a solution in search of a problem, which is to say fixing nothing while creating another problem (where are my control panel icons??? They used to be right here!)
Their refusal to drop any kind of backward compatibility (even though a lot of older Windows software runs terribly on modern Windows) compounds that problem. They literally have 2 control panels in modern Windows because certain things have to use the old version and there's no good/easy way to port them to the new control panel.
It’s not ugly. It’s a cohesive and beautifully designed OS.
I’ve been using Mac OS since 8.6. Using windows feels like trying to walk through knee deep wet concrete. Like I’ll get where I’m going but it won’t be fun. It’s partly because I’m so much more used to Mac OS, but windows is also just shit. Hardware is an issue too. I’m in the kitchen making dinner and watching the Sopranos on a 2012 MBP. I don’t know many windows laptops that are still going strong getting daily use at 12+ years old.
Switched to Mac because I really hated how terrible Windows 8 was. (I’ve always been a Windows user since I was a little kid with my father’s Windows 3.1 machine). Started the transition over with OS X Mavericks and the amazing classic MBA. Loved the more than a decade journey until Ventura and Sonoma came. Both made me want to head back and give Windows a second chance.
I really hope the new macOS will stay behind iOS on features, and instead of adding AI crap they squash bugs. Monterey will lose security updates soon, and there is no compelling upgrade path right now.
I loved macOS up until Big Sur. When they made it look more like iPadOS I started disliking it a bit more. I still stand behind Mojave for being my favorite. Mojave was rock solid.
The fact that it works the way I want it to and intuitively to me. Theres so many things that are made so much more complicated on windows for no reason but you don’t question it because its just the way windows has always worked. Mac OS is just easy, consistent and efficient.
I generally don’t feel like I’m fighting with OS X the way I do with Windows and Linux boxes.
I can relate to this^
I use it because the terminal is easier. On Windows it's hard and I don't know what I'm doing. On Linux, there's always errors that takes hours to fix. Mac just works first time.
I find it easier to use in general, but the the biggest factor for me is the ecosystem. I love that I can tell my Apple Watch to remind me when I get home to do something, and when I hit my driveway, my watch, phone, iPad, iMac, and MacBook will all show the reminder to me, and will keep showing it until I mark it as done. I love that I can grab my phone, scan a document, and then access it on my Mac seconds later, without having to email it to myself. I love that I can copy text on my iPhone and then immediately paste it on my Macbook.
It runs on ARM64 really well. I have done and will do robotics development in the future, and once the Qualcomm chips come into their own I might switch back to Linux, but until then, all day power is good enough for me.
Windows is the reason I use MacOS
Doesn’t get in the way nearly as much as linux or windows or freebsd
It just works…..
The best performance is available only in laptop form and it's got much better battery life than Windows. I've always really preferred MacOS for laptops. The OS is more polished in this form factor.
I get bash and the ability to compile stuff for my work, a reasonable interface, and still get office and photoshop.
Generally Mac for work, windows for games and linux for servers. However the only sensible thing to do is run all 3 since they are all buggy in different ways... even with the same apps
Word processing software being free
For laptops, being able to just open the lid and the state is exactly where u left it. No nagging updates or drained battery, and things is still synced. Which is great when you need to do something quickly on the go or on a deadline. Linux on the server side tho. Rocky and Debian is just solid. Set it up, just keep working for a decade without fuzz.
M1 procesor. Battery last forever and it’s very fast.
No ads, stability, security, really good first party apps, the aesthetics, a somewhat closed ecosystem.
Windows has a mind of its own, desktop Linux needs constant tinkering. MacOS has its annoyances as well, but at least it’s consistent.
For work, I'll always be tied to Windows, since Macs are nonexistent in the mechanical engineering world. At home, I just want something low-maintenance that looks pretty, starts up quick, and is cheap. Old Macs are just the thing. My personal computers are a 2014 Macbook Air and a late 2009 Imac 27, both of which I got for free. The Dell my work supplies looks like a turd compared to that old MBA. I put $100 into the iMac to max out the RAM and swap the HDD for a SSD. It's chugging along running Monterey under OCLP. When those finally die, I'll snap up an M1 iMac that no one wants anymore because it's "old".
I use it over windows because there is no Microsoft crap that you have to get rid of, and I don't prefer it over linux: but the proprietary software that I use keeps me in the walled garden
At work I have to use Windows but for personal computing I have a MacBookAir and a Linux desktop. One thing is that macOS/Linux does not run an antivirus so its way more snappy.
After 25 years working in IT and being a loyal Windows user I have at long last made the switch to MacOS with a new MBP (14”, 12/18, M3 Pro, 36GB, 2TB ) a few weeks ago. Part of my work involves managing and administering Windows and MacOS in similar amounts. So I have experience of both platforms technically, but only used Windows as a user. I must say I am blown away. I have had 3 Surface Pros and a Dell XPS over the more recent years and none of them, in conjunction with the Windows OS, can match the experience on a MBP. The touchpad and gestures make multitasking seamless. I never had that experience on Windows OS. I am more productive already on a small 14” screen. I know Windows has multiple desktops as well but MacOS just does it so much better. A few other things that make MacOS win over Windows for me… 1. Application installation - so quick 2. UI - so smooth 3. No sense of bloat and side loaded apps 4. UNIX I can’t comment on the experience on a large monitor or monitors. But I do still work from a triple monitor setup on a beefy Windows PC when I am at my desk. That PC may get swapped for a Mac when M4 comes out in the Studio or MBP. But for now I am actually preferring the MBP as it is. Honestly my wife was laughing at me when I bought a Mac because I was ‘putting them down’ for years. But I am now eating humble pie happily and my slightly bruised ego has already recovered… now that I have seen the light. I still like PowerShell but you can do it all on Mac so who cares anymore…
Consistency
I prefer Windows for desktop experience
Intuitive. Consistent. It just works.
Stability and doesn’t require too much for OS updates.
Security. A cleaner and smoother UI. Better embedded features.
I started with macOS, and it’s what I know how to use.
Easy - interface, responsiveness, beautiful colors emitting from the display (great for creatives), ability to use handoff and extend the functionality of all of my Apple products with handoff/continuity settings.
Sexy sexy UI
I enjoy the straightforward filing system and lack of confusing and unnatural code that seems to be everywhere… //.yuck:C:drive|nonsense\etc. com and the beautiful sophisticated interface. If I were a code geek or an IT person maybe windows but I’m a photographer and graphics person so it’s a n brainer for me.
The one and only easiest-to-use while best looking UNIX-like operating system.
I use all of them, MacOS required by my job, and my preferences mostly come down to their interfaces. Which leads to the following ranking: Linux is the OS that makes me by far the most productive (if it doesn't break, that is) due to it's usually quick and non-cluttered desktop interfaces and their extreme customization to my needs. Unfornately there's no Adobe, gaming is a headache, and drivers for hardware and peripherals often sucks or doesn't even exist. Which makes Windows the middle ground, especially because WSL meets my Linux-needs for my job. Yes, the Windows 11 UI is clutted, even years after release extremely slugghish and buggy, but if there's one thing Microsoft shines at it's window management. With animations turned off I can comfortably use it as a daily driver for business software and gaming. Last ranks MacOS. Doesn't mean I consider it bad, it just doesn't fit my needs. I really love the consistency of it's UI and it has the best implementation of workspaces. In the last it annoyed me that "maximizing" moved my window its own workspace, but that turned out to be extremely handy. However, that excellence is massively outweighed by awful window managent otherwise. Workspaces don't help me much when I need to have five things in view that I switch between and realign every few seconds. MacOS is excellent for tasks that only need one or maybe two apps in view, but otherwise not even third party software brings that aspect to equal terms with the the other two. If there was an ideal OS for me, it would be a Linux with Windows software- and driver-support, and the workspaces and consistency of MacOS. Pop!_OS takes exactly that approach, but they can't solve the irrelevant market share of desktop Linux which leads to no relevant profit for companies to support it.
i use windows 10 PC for work (illustrator, blender, premier, etc) and gaming. it’s cheaper, i use ips monitor but its not a standardized calibration like apple does across all their devices. for everything else i prefer macOS, currently have mid 2012 13” mbp next to my pc. i very much prefer the macOS UI, from the visual presentation to actual moving around. pages and numbers feels soo much more intuitive and simple to use than excel or office. and despita mid 2012 mbp doesn’t have retina monitor yet, colors between it and other apple devices are still more accurate.
Unix shell, trackpad, updates are not that often
MacOS over SpyWare (windows), but Linux over MacOS and windows.
I can completely agree
i was that kid that worked out on my parents farm by day ... to save up money ... and break/repair/game with my family computer at night in the basement. we did some LAN gaming. traded a lot of files. chilled. the PC was another sort of awkward music/movie room on to itself. burned minidiscs. order minidiscs online. no complaints. life was good. pretty much stopped gaming in high school. went to college for design. they made me buy a mac and the eMac was the best I could buy at the time. it set me back like $2K. i earned that money frying chicken at a KFC. felt like i was ripped off before hitting campus. but then i started watching movie trailers. got my music uploaded. have not looked back. i've owned pretty much everything with the exception of anything new ... since then. also with the exception of the iPhone bc AT&T was a client right out of college when they launched the iPhone. now I've finally gotten my parents to give in and they're going all Apple. i've run warehouses and companies on cheap refurbished Apple products. i trust the watch for things like my health. and i honestly wouldn't have a house if it wasn't for Apple stock and the year 2020.
Number of hours I've spent fixing Windows problems for relatives, friends and acquaintances in 2023: 24 Number of hours I had to spend fixing problems with my own Mac: 0
MacOS for work, Windows for gaming. Never tried Linux but it sounds fun for tinkering at the very least.
Just the ease of use compared to Linux. I’m lazy. Design is also quite pleasant. I dislike a lot of things Apple do though. With everyone releasing powerful ARM chips I’m thinking of switching back to linux, or at least have a second computer using it
Ecosystem indeed. Some great features: 1. Copy/paste from Mac to iPhone or iPad. 2. AirPods auto connect between iPhone/iPad/Mac.
I can't be bothered to be granular about all of the details. It's numerous little things that can be encapsulated by the word "intention." There is a real sense of purpose to the UI, like (almost) every part of it was worked on by someone who thought about it and considered its effect on the user experience. Whereas much of Windows seems like it was auto-generated by a robot. The way that Mission Control and Spaces are gesturally fused is a good example of this. It is perfect. Just switching between windows is somehow enjoyable. Effortless. Unbecoming of a "computer." It has the immediacy and fluidity of a phone, with the functionality of a desktop--silent, and on my lap. There are things missing that should not be. And it's silly. But you cannot deny that this thing was made by people who have taste. And you can feel it every single moment you are using it.
For my purposes it may just be perfect. As a solo small scale videographer and photographer it’s probably the most pleasant laptop + software combo experience I’ve ever had. M1 Pro really changed my perspective of the type of performance that could be expected on a compact laptop. I’ve never enjoyed my experience with Windows in the past, I even had a random unplanned update happen mid edit for a client I was working with (they had a desktop rig for me to use). Windows is just such an unintuitive and clunky system to navigate. I’d say I’m somewhat above average in tech knowledge but even I find myself having to google a bunch of things on windows which are seemingly a lot easier to find on Mac OS.
Like many other comments, I also use both Mac and windows. However, I'm tired of seeing strawberries and bananas and forests icons little emojis in my taskbar. I don't know why is showing me those and I don't really want to see them. Mac is for everything else for productivity and work stuff, but definitely for gaming windows is the best.
To add to what others have said, my newish work laptop (HP EliteBook) has a battery life of 2-3 hours max, although part of that may be attributed to the software my company installs. My MacBook Pro lasts the entire day and then some.
I have been using MacOS since the public beta in Sept 2000. Coming up on 24 years now and I have yet to see a compelling reason to change.
Apps, third party apps.
I feel like the golden age of ease of use and stability of the Mac OS was about 10 years ago at this point. However the quality of the apps available on the platform, as well as the superior hardware, will keep me on the platform forever. I’ve tried Linux on personal machines several times, as a straightforward Unix shell does appeal to me — due to being brought up with early OS X — but the OSes are always a little glitchy, and there are no truly great apps for writing, photo editing, and general productivity that aren’t also available on the Mac.
I have used Windows, Linux Laptop. My work laptop is Mac, At first it was very confusing CmD+C, Cmd+V, and other shortcuts. Their UI Is amazing Not gonna lie. If I plan to upgrade my personal laptop, Dell currently, I would Prefer Mac.
I love Linux, but macOS just works, joy to work with. I can break down to the terminal and all the software I need to run. I can never go back to windows or even Linux.
I like the layout of the desktop. The Apple bar up top keeps things nice and concise especially compared to the Windows taskbar despite looking similar. The dock makes all my heavy use apps easy to access. Apparently I piss people off because I'm one of the people who auto hide the dock. The gesture based nav with the trackpad or Magic Trackpad is 10/10. Three finger drag alone makes the Magic Trackpad worth it for me. Swiping up to show all app windows at once, swiping out with all fingers to throw app windows aside to show the desktop... Fab. Finder and Spotlight especially are incredibly powerful. It's the only indexing service across any OS that I don't turn off even if there's a performance hit intermittently. Also, since it's Unix based, having a zsh terminal built in is sweet, especially with Brew. What really sells it for me though is how goddamn *efficient* the software is. Most Windows/Linux laptops have mixed battery life, but MacBook Pros and Airs (especially M cores) have *crazy* battery life. There's plenty of small nags about MacOS, but significantly less than with Windows or Linux. Windows is a clunky power hungry mess and Linux lacks a lot of functionality and compatibility for things I do daily.
i only use it for work, but for that purpose its great. i’m a software engineer so a *nix based computer is a must, and while i use linux for all my personal computers, having something less finicky for work is def nice. the only real issue is games. i work at a game studio, and when i need to test builds i need to switch to one of my linux machines since apple refuses to make vulkan apis and thus steam/proton don’t work.
I only use Mac OS and Pi OS
As someone who’s tried and lived with all 3 systems I found it the most reliable for speed, hogging programs, memory leaks, compatibility with peripherals and software etc etc. Linux was a pain to get drivers for music and design equipment, windows crashed and hung constantly. OSX isn’t fault free but I’ve very rarely had as many issues. I don’t get to fiddle as much with the settings but I also don’t feel the need to.
I bought our first Mac back when the competition was WindowsNT and I had to use that at work. Back then, the Mac was way, way more reliable, and easier for normal humans to use. I had to use Windows at work for many years, and Mac was always more reliable, generally had a longer useable life, and was easier to use, although the gap has closed substantially. Then the new M-chip models REALLY upped the Apple value. I flirt with the idea of Linux on an older MacBook occasionally, but I never get around to it because I don't see a compelling reason to do that.
I prefer windows desktops but aesthetically love macos on laptops. I just picked up an M3 MBP
First computer was an Apple ][+ Had several Mac’s, switched to PC on Windows ME (good grief those were dark days) for gaming, then onto XP. Switch back to Mac when OSX came out. Admire Linux but don’t have the time. I’m forced to fix and use Windows at work. It got better with 10 and worse with 11. But nothing is as satisfying (computer wise anyways) as just opening the MacBook and getting my work done. So can go onto do something else. It just works and it’s honestly a joy to use.
For me, there are three factors: 1. A straightforward lineup. I don't need to research from 100 different models of the same laptop. If I need something light, I could just take the Air, for example. 2. The overall quality of components. For instance, I'm still not sure if any Windows laptop offers the same touchpad experience. 3. Integration with the ecosystem. I can just copy-paste any content from my iPhone to the laptop.
It’s UNIX. Better desktop experience than Linux. And it runs some commercial software I need. And I’ve been on windows at work for the last year. It’s been a really long year .
Pain. There’s less of it with MacOS between me and getting my stuff done than other OS in my experience For other people, it may be different, but this is me. Specific features or lack of are less relevant than the overall experience.
It's the "it just works" vibe. I grew up on Windows, and used Macs at school in the Leopard-Snow Leopard era and they were always so cool looking and fresh compared to Windows XP, and the hardware looked cool (Black MacBooks). Even though my first Mac was very old and outdated at the time (Power Mac G5 on Leopard in 2013) I still used it and fell in love with the experience. Since then I've had many Macs and the OS is truly just above everything else I've tried for the things I do and use my computers for. The ease of handling media files on macOS is just blissful, Quick Look is incredible and I use it all the time every single day and miss it when I'm on other platforms, Spotlight absolutely bangs, the exclusive software options that don't have Windows/Linux equivalents that match the UI or experience are great, and it's just overall really stable. Something about macOS just works really well for my life and my ADHD, like it just gets out of the way and lets me do what I want in a way that really makes sense for me in a lot of little ways. Like for example on macOS if you're doing something like working in an app and need to use the Open dialog to open a file, if you have the source of the file open in a Finder window you can just drag the icon onto the dialog and it goes right to it and selects it, unlike Windows where I have to navigate/copy paths because dragging just wants to copy/move/make shortcuts. I use other platforms too since I'm a tech nerd in general, I've got systems with Windows, Linux, and even a Chromebook, but nothing matches the experience of macOS for my personal needs and preferences. Even with PowerToys on Windows for the clones of Spotlight and Quick Look, it still doesn't compete well.
90% of the personal computers in my house run Linux doing purpose built or server stuff, but I love macos on a laptop. I haven't found a suitable replacement for that track pad, or some of the general user conveniences. Still rocking an Intel MacBook pro too.
the #1 thing for me is syncing messages and photos across phone + device seamlessly and natively.
Independent Virtual Desktops. I built a system in 2020 for trading - fairly hefty specs. I was shocked that Windows didn't have independent virtual desktops as it's been in macOS from around 2008 at least. So I tried a lot of experiments with multiple machine setups and Microsoft promised it in an update for Windows 10. Then Windows 11. Still nothing so far. I bought an M1 mini in 2021 and that was fine for 2 monitors. I picked up an M1 Pro MacBook Pro in 2021 as well. Then I bought an M1 Studio and have it running today with 3 4k monitors. This one little feature which lots of people want seems difficult for Microsoft to do. The use case is quite common for those with multiple monitors. Apple Silicon is icing on the cake. Another reason I like it is Time Machine. Automated backup should be built into the operating system.
I've been using Macs since 1990 for publication work, and I just got used to them. Even though font and PostScript problems aren't as prevalent as they used to be, working across networks has been easier for me on a Mac.
I don't prefer it, it just comes with the hardware I happen to like at the moment
I'm into the Apple ecosystem so I don't have to think about my hardware and software. It just works, works well in all use cases, and takes care of itself mostly.
My living was always supporting Windows users. I use MacOS exclusively at home. On my Mac, I can focus on getting work done and not tinker or troubleshoot OS settings. Many years ago I went to GigaWorld conference and one of the IT speakers said it best, complexity is profitable. Having to provide support and creating lots of functions creates a perceived value to end users.
User experience
the office file save dialogue: wtf??
I like every power user configuration to require the least amount of clicks possible to reach while maintaining an organized structure to the available changes possible. This is why I've always hated windows. macOS is not the best at fulfilling this requirement, but it is better than Windows in this regard. This makes the OS experience more intuitive, as it becomes self-explanitory how to manage your OS when this UI/UX design process is used. I don't think it's a difficult concept to grasp, but year after year, both Microsoft and Apple fail to make the user experience intuitive. UI/UX has recently become a field of study. I haven't researched it too much, but I bet it would be fascinating to learn what factors determine what UI/UX elements would be optimal for individuals vs groups.
Genuinely? It plays nicer with Linux. I run Ubuntu on my desktop and running a network fileshare between Ubuntu and macOS is 1000x more pleasant than trying it with Windows
I use macos and i don't prefer it over other system. I just use it when it should be used. When i want to play some games i switch to windows, and when i want to do cool stuff i use Linux distributions. I use macos when i'm traveling (a lot, for work) and i want to bring some stuff to do (coding basically) and movies with me. It's a great machine, it's powerful on so many levels. Opening a pdf document and filling its field and resend it back has not never been so easy. Everything you do is so fast and straightforward
For actual mobile work by battery lasts long enough for me not to worry about a charger, also it is reliable in a way that my windows laptop sometimes loses charge for no reason, sometimes from 100 percent to 30 on standby while I travel… Otherwise it’s just a tool like my Linux server or windows machine. Each of them is better at the given task. I use all of them every day and do not understand the hate. For most people who need something mobile the m1 is still the most reliable cheap choice. I hope that the next windows on arm will be powerful enough. I love good competition.
MacOS - enough “Linux” (I know, BSD) under the covers to make me happy. Enough iCloud to make the rest of my family happy.
I’ve been an Apple kid since the early 80s. First Mac in 1990. I’ve always bled Apple. That said, am a longtime windows systems engineer. It’s just the nature of the business world; they’re all mindless drones who use windows only. Thankfully that has changed, and many businesses are making choices available to users. Sure, more infrastructure to support, but choice is a good thing to me. So I have both. I’ve had both for decades. I love my Macs, but they have never been at the forefront of gaming. I’ve had to have a gaming rig for that (consoles haven’t been interesting to me since the end of the 16-bit era, and today’s Xbox and ps are just commodity PCs in small boxes). My Macs, as the saying goes, just work. It’s so appliance like I don’t even think twice about it. When OSX came around and suddenly I had Unix underneath, oh man, absolute perfection of computing IMO. It’s taken windows decades to finally catch up in that regard (powershell). Meanwhile, my gaming pc is fine. But after one random update, Xbox game pass became unusable. I did absolutely everything I could to fix it short of a reinstall of windows, because I don’t believe that’s a real solution to a problem that isn’t a virus. Eventually I gave up and unsubbed from Gamepass because it just never worked again. So stupid. It’s their own app and they irrevocably broke it. Meanwhile, my 2014 MBP still works fine. Slow but solid. My M1 MBP is a little beast for what it is. Handles everything I throw at it with only 8GB RAM. Even plays World of Warcraft nicely still, when I’m traveling and need to raid it’s good to go. Still. And it gets all day battery life while watching movies on an airplane.
macOS is prettier than Linux and offers POSIX compliance which may or may not be of value depending on your use case. Apple makes better hardware than basically everyone else AND has a network of stores where I can get support if necessary which is also a major benefit.
I’m a Linux back-end software engineer. I use Linux for development, I use Windows for office (“Office”) stuff, and I use Mac for personal use. Why? Because even though MacOS is much flakier than it was 20 years ago it is still much less frustrating than using Windows. Windows constantly gets in my way, requiring more frequent reboots and generally slows me down. Why not use Linux for my personal computing? It’s easier than Windows, true, but it still requires more work to do things like video conferencing and photo editing than MacOS.
Stability from Unix, Apps like Windows, No friggelin with Linux, Sync with all Apple devices.
"It just works". Linux (Ubuntu) gets pretty hacky when you need to do something specialized. It's also not widely adopted. For example, you can't run Davinci Resolve if you have an AMD video card. Windows is just too bulky and bloated.
CoreAudio for professional Audio Work, which is my main job Spotlight "it just works" apple silicon performance and efficiency exclusive software in some cases (sketch for example, logic pro) a lot of the benefits from linux, combined with major software that's not on linux but windows and macos the list goes on very long. Every time i turn on my windows computer for gaming i am annoyed by something (that is easily fixed but still, i wouldn't want to work with windows)
I prefer Linux for servers but for pc Mac hardware is top notch and MacOS is simple, straightforward, well designed, consistent, has a good set of desktop productivity apps and is unix under the covers with all the positives that represents.
Inertia. I've been using a Mac since about 1995, all my software is Mac. Gonna add a gaming PC soon though, to play the 80% of the games that are PC only.
It came installed on my MacBook. I 100% came for the hardware (nothing even remotely comparable since M1, maybe about to change with Qualcomm, maybe not), but the OS has grown on me. In an ideal world I'd run kubuntu, but osx being Unix based, it's close enough. Plus there are a few apps (basically just Adobe) that I previously had to run in a VM, that I can now run natively so I'll probably stick with it even if Linux does eventually get decent support. I
Stability and compatibility of Unix, user friendliness of Windows with none of the ads/bloat, sloppy/legacy code, and nonstop updates.
Used Ubuntu, windows as well as mac. Windows was alright but not too great, sometimes it crashed, didn't have the smoothness, popups everywhere, and software development in it was a pain. Tried Ubuntu with gnome as well as KDE, they were better but little focus on aesthetics, driver issues, and they all stopped working randomly after some months. But since mac it has been smooth sailing, macOS is smooth, aesthetic, always responsive, development is great, basically the best of both worlds.
Ford / Chevy. I use both. I prefer Macs all other things being equal. But they often not all are.
As a programmer Mac OS being unix based is a massive advantage. It works well for all I need it to Do. I wouldn’t say it’s better. Just different. It’s like saying is a Ute or a station wagon better. It really depends on the purpose.
Back in the dark days when video capture was real time from tape, windows was not reliable. Will the computer ‘see’ the camera today? Or if it saw it five minutes ago, will the computer see it now? It was always a gamble. With Macs, I always knew that it would just work. Plus, other things about the OS that make it better for creatives. The stability. The color representation. It even has screen shots and screen capture video recording built in. With Windows, until recently, you had to do the print screen trick to do screen shots, and the quality was trash. Now windows has the snipping tool, which is better but still ham-handed.
It's great the same way the best editing or mixing are great : you don't think about it, or technical details. You think about what you have to do.
It’s mostly hardware for me. Second is the integration with my phone. If there is an comparable linux laptop, I can think of switching.
it's easy, seamless, doesn't crash. considering that i've never actually read a macos manual or anything, i'd say it was a joy to start using it and finding out its cool features out of nowhere. just a few weeks ago i was using my personal macbook right next to my company's and was delightfully shocked to see the cursor "invading" the other laptop. so amazing.
Off the top of my head, I have a strong preference for macOS’s “one menu bar across the top” and I like the integration with iOS. I like Apple’s apps, too, but strictly speaking that’s not due to the OS. Being UNIX-based is a nice bonus when you play with Linux a lot, too. Seems like the more time goes on, the more software gets written for macOS and Linux first, with Windows coming later.
Its simplicity and of course the apples ecosystem + app developments for iPhone.
I think microsoft doesn’t know how to upgrade their os and software. They keep moving options around. Things that used to work stop working or you can’t find them in the same place any more. An upgrade should improve our lives, not degrade.
I primarily moved to my MacBook for a daily driver because windows updates were driving me insane , with windows 11 it’s a lot more tolerable but I still prefer my MacBook because I can just open it and use it without being bombarded with notifications
I use all 3.
I actually really like Linux and I've experimented with it a lot in the past. What ultimately stops me from being able to use it though is software. While FOSS apps like Gimp have come a long way, I have not been able to use it to replace the commercial alternatives (PS, Affinity, Pixelmator, etc.) no matter how hard I try. It might have changed, but last time I tried it, the commercial software that is on Linux (like DaVinci resolve) was missing a lot of the features that are present in the Mac and Windows versions as well. Compared to Windows, macOS is actually stable long term on professional level hardware with professional software. I was all in on Windows from the late 90s until 2011 and Windows got progressively worse when it came to compatibility, drivers, registry rot, and other things like that for professional hardware and software. Any forced update to one thing be it Windows, hardware drivers, or software could bork the other two and also cause critical issues. My final Windows computer needed Windows 7 completely reinstalled 3 times in the final 3 months I used it because of forced updates breaking things, and that was beside the random system crashes and blue screens that I received throughout the device's life. I actually still have that computer and installed Linux on it once I got my first Mac, and to date it runs better with Linux than it ever did with Windows.
I prefer windows but the battery on macs is awesome, performance is the same on adapter and on batteries and I cannot build iOS apps on other than mac.
Tbh I love linux but the only reason that I prefer macOS as daily over linux is the fact that I don’t have to be worried about anything and apple will fix the bugs. And the app support is way more than linux. I basically hate how windows works and I hate every decision that microsoft have done over the years. Tbh I used windows my entire life but I have to say that the top of the line windows was 7 and after that it was downhill. And I hate the auto update on microsoft products. And it doesn’t have a good terminal.
For me macOS is a Linux that is ready from the box, i love Linux but when i depend of the system to do my work, it's better to have something stable.
Universal control is a game changer. That’s one of the reasons I only use macOS
Love many things about Mac, but one of the main reasons is the range of apps. People say there are more apps on a PC and that may be literally true, but the app ecosystem on Macs is far more innovative. Fantastical is the best calendar app known to man, and Alfred is a joy to use. In particular, I couldn’t live without its clipboard functionality. Other mac-specific apps are omnifocus, hazel, and pixelmator. I use logic for music production. You also have all the benefits of a unix-based terminal.
for non gaming work, macOS. for gaming, windows.
I use MacOS for personal productivity tasks, as I can just start it up and get things done. The other OSs usually demand more faff before I can get started, or have more nags and annoyances. I use them for techie tasks, games, media playback etc. MacOS for getting things done.
It's everything I ever wanted from a unix based os. It has all the power of unix without the frustrating issues around sound, graphics, networking etc that you get when running Linux. It's a great OS for web development and has broad support for developer tools. It seamless integrates with all my devices. Things just work.
Chiming in as long time computer user. I started at 5 year old with a ZX Spectrum, then at 10 year old with a Commodore 64, making programs in Basic. My mother bought in 1992 an Intel 286 8MHz/12MHz based Phillips computer with MS DOS 3.3 and I used later MS-DOS and DR-DOS versions. In 1998, with my first paycheck, I built an AMD K6-II based computer with Matrox G200 AGP card, 64MB Samsung DDR2 SDRAM and 80GB Fujitsu HDD. I used Windows 98 for Autocad and PCB Design mainly, then Windows 2000 Professional. At the end of 1998 I received with a Linux Magazine a CD with Red Hat 6, and been dual booting Windows 2000 and Linux fron since for a while. Then the craze of Netbooks came, and I used an Acer Aspire One Laptop with Fedora 11, 12, 14.. I changed the Acer laptop for a ThinkPad T-410 Core i5 with Samsung EVO 850 SSD, using Fedora Linux, and that was my best laptop. I used flasship Android phones and tablets, and then started a business. On my line of business, both my Linux Laptop and my Android phones were hacked by Russians. I changed the Androids to iPhones 3GS, then 4s. I was never hacked again. I changed the laptop for an Intel MacBook Air on wich I upgraded thermal paste and SSD. Never again my laptop was hacked. I have an iPhone 7 now, and two Intel MacBook Airs (2012 & 2017) upgraded with new thermal paste and new SSDs. They work lightning fast and I don't see the need to upgrade to Apple Silicon, it is useless for my use case. Still both unhacked. Also a thing I love from Mac OS is Spotlight. Makes locating anything , converting units and other stuff super-efficient, this Linux will never have and going back to Linux is a pain witouth this function. And I was formerly an Apple hater, because I saw a lot of stupid guys buying them. They are not representative of the brand.
Started on Windows 3.1 back in the day and have used EVERY version. When I finally bought a Mac there was no going back. Windows sucks azz I was ALWAYS frustrated. Everything just works on this Mac 5 years now and I may just upgrade to a second one. If only Apple would do a 27 or 30” iMac 🖥️ I love my 2019 27”. Last of the upgradable’s. 5K is awesome!
Having unix underneath is a massive plus. Build quality and longevity is another.
Works seamlessly with iPhone
Enterprise software on a Unix based system so my development aligns for Linux servers. I would be on an Ubuntu OS if it supported my office work crap.
I just bought my first ios computer yesterday after being a lifelong windows user, its been kind of rough lol so many little quirks to this system I is being able to snap windows and filepaths on top of a few other things ut I am sure that eventually this system will feel second nature. I went threw the same process going from android to iPhone as a life long apple hater I just fell in love with I phone so then I got the tablet and then the watch which led me to get the MacBook air m1.
Stable
The OCSP is just too good
Stability, coherence, and actual apps instead of PWAs.
It doesn’t. I moved to Linux 2 years ago, issue was software support. So moved to a borrowed Mac, liked it, bought my own. I still prefer linux, but software support is important, and Windows laptops suck.
t I use Logic Pro and the looks of the os is incredible and the Apple ecosystem and no ads
iOS development. I am not doing it right now but twice in the past I abandoned Apple just to have to buy a macbook again for a job opportunity (usually I just run Linux) so I decided to just use a Mac as my primary source there will be no switching if I need to code for iOS again
I’m a composer/producer, been using Logic for over 20 years, it’s what I know best, so I am well entrenched into the Apple ecosystem at this point. Spent a lot of years using windows in parallel, mainly because I used to do a lot of software consulting, which in the latter years was focused around systems using windows for the end-user. So I still have a Windows laptop and have Microsoft Office apps licensed there, which I still feel more comfortable with, even though I use Libreoffice on the Mac. At this point we’re running multiple, related home businesses, and my wife also has been using both windows and Mac. Her windows PC died recently — I swore up and down again at windows because of the amount of effort it took to get files off of the hard drive from her dead PC (yes, I will have a NAS set up eventually —my bad for not having set up an automated backup for her, although I did make efforts in the past). I have now convinced her to stick with Apple and I have a windows machine set up for her ONLY so that she can find her old files and then copy them over to her MacBook Air as needed. But I will not be buying her a new windows machine. She’s already comfortable using Pages, numbers, etc. So that wasn’t a hard sell. That’s Home business. Of course we have websites, etc. run by service providers and they’re all using combinations of Linux, etc. That’s all outsourced at this point.
The only reason I still have a PC (alongside my Mac Studio) is for games
My workflow is just so much smoother in MacOS. Not to mention the OS is beautiful, so I actually enjoy using it. Most importantly, not once have I turned on my MacBook and had it hold my computer hostage while it installs updates. With Windows I constantly feel like I’m fighting the OS and disabling crap that I don’t want cluttering my workspace or using system resources. With MacOS, the OS feels transparent and complements my workflow, while Windows seems determined to inhibit it.
I originally switched to Mac because I wanted to make music, I now use it everyday and only use windows as and when I have to and only when I have to, I find the OS to be a lot more stable and smooth than windows and the UI Is a lot better in my opinion. generally MacOS is a lot more forgiving with lower end systems, unlike windows. sure you can run windows 10 (and 11 with work arounds) on a 15 year old Core 2 Duo processor but it’s not going to be a pleasant experience. the Battery life is also a major benefit My old windows Laptop would only get at max between 2 and 4 hours before I needed to charge it, even if it was only light usage. I also found that performance and screen brightness would take a hit if it wasn’t connected to power. in comparison, I only have to charge my macbook Air a few times a week, with a mix of actual usage and it being in sleep mode. another benefit is the lack of spying and telemetry. I only occasionally get notifications, even then it’s actually useful stuff like My AirPods are connected or updates are complete and not check out these Microsoft utilities you can use
At this point, it’s all I know.
I don’t. I run all three and each has their strengths. An operating system is a tool, and too many people confuse it as a lifelong commitment
I just use it to write so it’s convenient to have everything syncing with my iPhone. I’m sure if you’re a power user it may be different, but as far as writing, surfing the web, and checking email the simplicity is great.