Mac or PC?

Lounge
1

I was always an Acorn computer person, and had early ARM based machines after the early BBC models. Acorn A5000 and Risc PCs were probably well ahead of the game generally but they were tarred with the image of being UK school computers.

Acorn’s Phoebe project died a death in 1997 from memory and they became ‘Element 14’.

Acorn RISC machines became ARM.

Anyhow, in the late 1990’s I got my first PC, really disliked Windows 95/98/Me but XP was pretty good.

Switched to Mac in 2006 and haven’t touched PCs since.

I used to regularly update iPhones/iPads/Macs, but in recent years just can’t justify it.

Apple has always charged a premium but free macOS updates and inclusion of the old productivity suite for free potentially offsets that.

What I really dislike now is the lack of upgradability of their notebooks/desktops in terms of adding additional RAM or upgrading internal drives. The base models can’t be upgraded for the most part (if at all with Apple Silicon (ARM designs)).

Anyhow, where am I going with this?

I recently posted a thread about gaming PCs as I need to get or build one for my son.

I decided to try Parallels on a base spec M1 Mac Mini, downloaded Windows 11 Home and then downloaded Steam - I’ve been spending far too much time playing old games from Steam on it.

What’s really impressed me is how nice Windows 11 seems GUI wise, I actually think it’s nicer/cleaner in some ways than macOS.

Microsoft Edge seems to have far too many commercial integrations, but bizarrely website text is far clearer than in Safari and scrolling in Edge via emulation is actually smoother than in Safari on Mac natively. It’s quite jarring in some ways.

I’m perhaps struggling with the options of dedicated AMD/Intel PC for son’s gaming needs or maybe a Mac Studio as a base system for macOS and emulation. Doubt it would compete on paper with a proper Windows gaming PC, but I’m pretty impressed with Windows 11 running via emulation with less than 4GB or RAM.

What do you think of Windows 11?

2

Mac

3 Likes
3

Yep, probably - the ‘walled garden’ and Apple’s apparent efforts to keep user data private are very important.

Getting older, and vision maybe not as good it did strike me how much better the web page rendering in Windows 11 on Edge seems to be than in Safari - same monitor, Windows running via virtualisation, Edge just seems visually and responsively better. Never expected that.

Hmm, I think I can get Edge for macOS - worth a try?

4

I should naturally ask why?

5

Ive tried both over the years and currently use a Mac and wouldn’t go back to a Windows computer.
Just my preference.

5 Likes
6

I like win 11 (and 10 for that matter), you can achieve everything you would ever need to with it. I don’t like the whole Microsoft online account thing. Same for Apple I suppose. I use Linux, but its not for everyone.

2 Likes
7

I’ve felt the same for many years, I’m just surprised how much I like the Windows 11 GUI, as in some ways it seems more Mac like than macOS currently is. :neutral_face:

1 Like
8

MAC.

been using them for personal use now for approximately 20 years. Desktop, laptop and phones.

Personal preference for apple products and a personal dislike of Microsoft products. It narrowed the field considerably.

3 Likes
9

I’d find it hard to extricate myself from the ecosystem these days, and would have more confidence in Apple doing the right thing and protecting my privacy.

I’m just a little perplexed at how nice Edge looks in Windows 11 on a VM running on an M1 Mini with only 8GB RAM! It may be down to differently licensed fonts on the 2 platforms, but Edge is easier to read on Windows.

Must check if Edge is available on macOS - can’t see it.

10

Hmmm…

Screenshot 2023-02-12 at 18.33.12
Screenshot 2023-02-12 at 18.33.12843×422 59.2 KB

11

Changed to all Apple some seven years ago just could not get on with Windows or whatever it was I find the IMac so much easier to use would never go back.

1 Like
12

Apple are no worse than any of the other tech firms.
Your data is stolen as soon as its created when you are talking internet.
Sad but true…you are the product, not the customer.

3 Likes
13

Agnostic here. Wouldn’t use an Android phone having tried 5 at all levels and found them all requiring the deletion of much bloatware and all taking that extra press or 2 to get to the same place within iOS. A fine balance though as I’ve generally found Android phones better to find and hold a signal.

The whole Apple privacy thing is largely mis-sold. The fact the data is held on your device does not mean it’s not being monetised etc.

Not much difference nowadays between the intervals of a Mac and a PC. People who find definitively in favour of 1 or the other are either fan boys or talking about a specific use case such as graphics, music etc. Even then it’s personal preference. I use both at home and both in work. Could live with either.

4 Likes
14

Always built the family PCs (Intel processors, and nVidia GPUs). Most have been hight spec “gaming” machines. All use/have used Windows in its various incarnations. And Google Chrome as browser.

Other opinions are available, and YMMV.

4 Likes
15

I have MacBook (Pro and Air M1) on macOS Ventura (and also iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch) at home,
and PC on Windows 11 for work.

I can say that you can do exactly the same things with a Mac or a PC.

your only choice is your ecosystem.
I choose MacBook to go with my iPhone, my iPad, etc … with iCloud and everything else.

and the price too.
I bought a MacBook Air M1 for my wife (only 959€ on the Apple refurb), and it’s a wonderfull computer.

my 2 cts

2 Likes
16

Very interesting so far.

Most Apple users would not consider or go back to Windows.

Don’t think I would either for a main system but Windows 11 seems quite polished in a way that Apple systems always used to be.

17

I use both at home too. I’ve used a Mac for 35 years so I’m well used to the ecosystem. I had to use Windows 8 at work, then bought a gaming machine for my lad (this is now about 6 years old running Windows 11). I bought a Windows 11 gaming laptop to record my lectures on film and post them to the web. I use this for Zoom calls and Capture 1 for photo processing. The Mac is my tool of choice for writing and integrates with my phone. Macs are hard to program beyond the baby steps I’ve taken. You don’t have to use Safari, you can use Google Chrome and Edge (on some devices). Also Opera and Vivaldi. Handy when Safari won’t show you a form or display all aspects of a website. I did consider switching to Windows 11 entirely, but I’ll buy another Mac when I need to because I can generally get it to do what I want. The best OS is the one you are used to.

1 Like
18

High spec GPUs?

19

I’ve used Macs for 30 years, before that Windows. Work has always been windows and there were teething problems in the early days getting them to play together. When I went back into full time study there was no problem getting various pieces of software to work on the Mac. Now in retirement I moved from MacBook Pros and iMacs to a MacMini. I use both iPhone and iPad until I can’t upgrade the firmware, which is frustrating.

2 Likes
20

Had Microsoft for years the went Mac. My Mac is soooo sllooowwww :yawning_face:. Probably go back to MS next time.