David, I would love to know why you “will never go back”. I’ve always been a Mac user but will need a new system in the next year or so. I have an excellent Nec monitor so am not interested in an iMac. The new MacPro is too expensive so I’m considering a Macmini but really would like something that will last at least six years and I am not sure about that. So, I have been considering jumping ship to a PC. What I’ve read is that the Microsoft OS has pretty much caught up to the Mac OS for ease of use and reliability. What about your Mac system has you locked in? Thanks.
I’m certainly interested in David’s response, but for me the answer is easy: Experience with PC’s has made me a devoted Mac user.
I’m forced now and then to work with PC’s new and old, OS systems new and old. And for me anyway, “close” only gets points with horseshoes and hand grenades. At best the PC OS could be labelled a faux Mac, and I’ve had about as much luck with it as other faux products.
Because we travel, we’ve become devoted users of MacBook Air models, even with MacBook Pro’s sitting at home.
I have been a Mac user for about 10 years. I am still running my 10 year old Mac Pro tower for my main Photoshop machine. I finally decided to get a laptop a couple years ago. I looked at the Macs, but decided to save money and go PC. I am anxiously awaiting the death of this Dell so I can justify getting what I should have gotten in the first place, another Mac. I just don’t like the interface all that much and I have had plenty of weird little issues. Others really like Microsoft. Canon, Nikon or Sony. Same thing. Each has it’s followers.
I split this post into a new topic since I caused it to go off topic
I never thought I would go with a Mac, I’ve been a die hard Windows user for so long and thought I didn’t need that because I’m a power user! Here are some of the reasons I can put into words:
Everything just works. I setup my Mac without having to troubleshoot a single thing. I installed tons of apps with zero problems, no driver issues, no weird errors, no blue screens, everything was just easy as pie. I’ve set up tons of Windows computers and ALWAYS run into problems, some driver always conflicts or something refuses to install for some frustrating reason that needs troubleshooting. Granted, I’ll eventually run into an issue on the Mac, but so far so good.
OSx is so fluid, smooth, and polished. My initial impressions using Jennifers Mac were frustration because I didn’t know it well enough, once I got over the hurdle of learning the little differences between OSx and Windows I was sold forever. I can do things faster and easier now even though I’ve been using this less than a month and I’ve been using Windows for nearly 30 years.
No worrying about viruses. You can still get malware, but even that is less likely and malwarebytes will keep you safe from that.
The apps are better designed. I’ve found all sorts of useful apps that I didn’t have in Windows.
Apps work better with high resolution displays. My Dell was a Macbook clone that had a ‘retina’ display, but many programs didn’t scale with the high resolution and looked horrible with tiny text and icons.
Battery life is significantly better, although I know many PC laptops are getting much better.
They last. The macbook I picked up still feels brand new despite being used for 3-4 years. My Dell’s trackpad was sticking, the C key was starting to not work, the battery was failing.
Windows has become much better over the years and Win10 is quite good, but it’s still buggy and glitchy. I always had weird problems like the computer not waking after I closed the lid (almost every time), freezing, randomly shutting down, restarting itself to update with no warning, etc., etc.
Most importantly to me, the Mac feels like a creators tool. Meaning it gets out of the way and lets me do my creative work without having to constantly fight and troubleshoot the OS. It’s just fun to use and doesn’t stress me out all the time.
I honestly can’t believe how much I enjoy this computer, I’m a lifetime convert.
You could consider a Hackintosh Tony, this could give you the best of both worlds but I don’t know enough about it, it may cause more headache than it’s worth.
I now use mac/apple because I like my programs and apps to work well and integrate well. I like starry landscape stacker and Helicon. I know I am paying a cost premium for using apple. I started with UNIX and green screen computers years ago. I converted to the windows platform for the hospital some years later. They never did do databases as well and we always needed tech support.
In the instances where my apple products have an issue, tech support is excellent and they speak english so that I can understand them. I just don’t want aggravation these days.
I cringed a little at the price of the MacBook pro I bought a couple of weeks ago, but the price was totally worth it.
I do have a desktop iMac and use it with the retina monitor and my NEC spectra vision as the second monitor. I have a windows partition on my iMac to run Quickbooks, Quicken, and I use Microsoft 365 for word and excell where I feel those programs are superior to the apple versions.
Ditto to everything David said. Especially his first point - They just work. I, too, came from the tech field and was reluctant to make the switch because I knew how to work on Windows systems. Switched probably 20 years ago. I’m on my second desktop and my second laptop so they’ve lasted for me. Thing is I don’t have to “work on” the Macs. That’s worth all the extra cost to me.
Just talked to our daughter and granddaughter (It’s father’s day after all!), and got an interesting report. Mom and dad both use PCs at work and are quite facile with them after decades of use. When our granddaughter needed her own computer, they went with a Mac since she was so devoted to her iPhone and using Macs at school.
Fast forward 2 years, and they all have their own Macs at home, even if they continue using PCs at work. According to our daughter, it will be a grand and glorious day when her office converts to Mac. “About twice a day, I want to throw my PC out the window. And about twice a day I hug my Mac.”
Well I’m the opposite, I’ve been a Mac user for years and switched to PC. I feel now days Macs are no longer worth their premium price tag as most windows laptops have more features that work very well with photography. I’m using a Surface Pro and have never had a issue with it. Everything works well and I use a nice little program called Tablet Pro so I don’t need the keyboard plugged in. Customised to run Lightroom and PS means normal keyboard shortcuts are just a touch of a button on the screen.
Both operating systems are like the old Nikon vs Canon debates and it comes down to what suites your style best.
Here are some of the reasons I can put into words: