2009, 2015, M1 MacBook Pros. All solid laptops that gave me years of productivity. Touchpad, screen, and form factor are all extremely important for me; I work 75% of the time on the couch with the laptop on my lap (on a laptop pillow of sorts), and having a quiet and cool M1 has been great.
I don’t need my esoteric linux setup on my laptop. I’ve had to use a Windows laptop for work for two years, and I did not enjoy the random lockups, file explorer crashing, driver notifications and malfunctions, windows filesystem, managed spyware by both microsoft and my company slowing things down considerably… and this was a more expensive engineering grade workstation laptop. If I could trim the fat and make it as stable and bloatfree as my gaming PC, it probably would have been a better experience.
Same. I usually say “they both suck.” Neither one really meets my expectations for what a desktop operating system should be able to do these days. Every now and then I find myself wishing for some little feature enhancement in Finder and shucks… that’s just never going to happen, is it?
This article is ridiculous because it doesn’t mention why these differences exist at all. Like for example Macs don’t have window snapping because Microsoft patented that feature back in the Windows Vista days. & Batch file renaming is a Unix thing. I have always liked Exposé and hot corners and also mission control, but many windows users hate it. It’s entirely subjective and not at all rational. I guess that’s the point of an opinion piece but it really lacks the context that would have made this article informative, just a little research would have been cool.
macOS is a great OS, and I’ve used it pretty extensively now. Every time I try to make it my primary OS I end up wanting to go back to Windows soon after. And this is from a die hard Linux advocate. Part of the issue is the cost and lack of easy upgrades for the hardware, the other is I just find macOS to be frustrating for anything but normal “user” stuff. So for me: Linux for servers and hobbyist stuff, macOS if no other option, Windows for just about everything else.
I'm the opposite, I'm a windows/linux sysadmin. I cannot stand to operate on anything aside from MacOS. I'm used to having to use homebrew, and have powershell for better integration to certain platforms. Aside from that everything is MacOS based for management of equipment. If I ever truly need windows I'll use a parallels VM/wineskin or a hosted proxmox VM that just sits idly 99% of the time.
I find the cost reasonable now because of the move to ARM, however previously I used hackintoshes for everything. I will say the only hardware gripe I have is dongles. Having to use a USB-C to ethernet dongle when I'm in the data center is annoying. USB-C to USB-A to connect a serial adapter is also equally annoying.
It's basically good there's choice. I run Linux exclusively on my gaming laptop, with the improvements in Proton I can now game on it as well as everything else such as desktop productivity/photo editing/Rust programming. I also enjoy MacOS (and love what they have done with the Mx series) but can't afford a Mac and well, I game a lot.
I can use Windows (My career started with TWM, so I can use anything) but it annoys me so I tend to avoid it.
The last version of Windows I used on a computer I owned is 3.1
Every time I need to use Windows I’m so insanely lost and have next to no idea what I’m doing, like it’s seriously like I’m 80 yrs old and using a computer for the first time lol.
It doesn’t help that it feels like it’s vastly different in how the start menu works depending on which version I’m using.
I much prefer MacOS over windows due to the spotlight search. The only thing I wish was added is a detailed audio interface. It’s frustrating having to go to a app to turn it up or down.
I much prefer MacOS over windows due to the spotlight search. The only thing I wish was added is a detailed audio interface. It’s frustrating having to go to a app to turn it up or down.
Yeah a volume mixer that isn’t natively built in is a very missed opportunity. I don’t want to have to pay extra money for software that most other OSes ship with lol
Yeah a volume mixer that isn’t natively built in is a very missed opportunity. I don’t want to have to pay extra money for software that most other OSes ship with lol
Yeah a volume mixer that isn’t natively built in is a very missed opportunity. I don’t want to have to pay extra money for software that most other OSes ship with lol
I use Mac for productivity but windows for gaming. I love spotlight on macOS. I recently discovered PowerToys for Windows (made by Microsoft), which includes a little add on that provides spotlight-like function on windows. You can even assign your own keyboard command to it, so I have main assigned to WIN+Space, just like Mac.
I use Mac for productivity but windows for gaming. I love spotlight on macOS. I recently discovered PowerToys for Windows (made by Microsoft), which includes a little add on that provides spotlight-like function on windows. You can even assign your own keyboard command to it, so I have main assigned to WIN+Space, just like Mac.
There are power toys for windows which add the spotlight search functionality as well as ear trumpet which is amazing for turning specific apps up and down by themselves just from a single menu
Yeah ear trumpet I’ve been using for years but somehow never see anyone mention it. Maybe there’s a better tool that I don’t know about. But the spotlight function in power toys is amazing since when I switched to Windows from Mac I missed that a lot.
MacOS window management is unfortunately a total mess. To the point that I still feel more productive on a dirt-cheap linux laptop, vs. my expensive work-isssued M1 machine with great hardware
undefined> If you’re trying to get it to act like Windows or your favorite Linux window manager, you’ll find it frustrating. However, if you absolutely insist then you should just install a third-party window snapping tool.
I mean there are things in Gnome that I prefer but what I found useful was to start using the workspaces / virtual desktops more and using the three finger swipe up a lot on my Air. That helped when using multiple profiles on chrome a lot because using cmd + ` was just not it for me.
Auto snapping would be great but at least you can tile windows to left / right so that's something and you can add keybinds for it
Virtual desktops (accessible with keyboard shortcuts) are a must IMO. I usually set up ten of them at a time- MacOS is actually mostly ok in that regard, expect for the fade animation you can never turn off, and the fact that as soon as you full-screen a window, the system insists on moving it to a totally new workspace (that can't work with any your predefined shortcuts), instead of just full-screening it within the current desktop. What were they thinking?
Yeah that behaviour is a bit weird with the full screen = new desktop I never really understood that either. But otherwise it works pretty well I just wish it would auto add desktops as you go like Gnome
If you’ve been using Macs for years and you learn all of the Mac-specific shortcuts and window management tools, it’s fantastic.
If you’re trying to get it to act like Windows or your favorite Linux window manager, you’ll find it frustrating. However, if you absolutely insist then you should just install a third-party window snapping tool.
I feel the same about Windows not having virtual desktops for years. Windows users had other solutions, but coming from both macOS and Linux window managers, I thought it was ridiculous they had nothing built-in, so I always installed a third-party virtual desktop tool for Windows.
I really like using MacBooks (for anything other than gaming). My biggest gripe is about how difficult Apple makes them to repair. I need to replace a battery on an old MBP and I’m dreading the dozens of screws and dealing with the adhesive…
And not to forget the little Finder function that allows you to create a new folder with all of the items you’ve selected, which are automatically moved into it.
Oh how I wish windows could or would add this. And hitting the space bar in the Finder to look at a file without opening the requisite app. And just Preview. He’s right, there are tons of little QoL improvements that make macOS feel so superior.
I’m a SysAdmin for a large university and work with our loan services team quite often to get faculty and staff loaner machines for various reasons. They typically stock Win, Mac, and Linux laptops for users. The number of Windows and Mac users that complain about the Linux experience in our surveys is off the charts. The Macs get the highest praise, with Windows right behind it and Linux systems are typically trashed in the surveys. It’s reached a point that team plans to reimagine the Linux to systems Windows and investing in more Macs.
I’m glad they mentioned rectangle, I found that app amazing. I have however upgraded to Amethyst for my app tiling though.
I’m a dev, so if I’m not doing .NET development. I found windows quite limiting. The new terminal stuff is nice but it’s native on a mac. I’m not sure about Docker because that really spins the fans on my 16 Intel Pro.
Also, things like Spaces and virtual desktops have been pretty sweet for a long time now. Windows, I can’t recall but it’s been a horribly broken PowerToy for so long. I can’t believe people were to recommending it. I think some people were telling me it’s native now, but like, it’s crazy how it wasn’t done properly years ago.
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