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Why I left Mac for Windows: Apple has given up

char.gd

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Re: Why I left Mac for Windows: Apple has given up

#52
post #15

The question I'm left asking from posts like these is: As a non-game developer, what practical advantages does Windows hardware and software provide over Mac? The writing doesn't make it clear to me. Sure, there are some interesting facts noted, but there's no connection drawn or relationship established between the facts and the impact on the author's ability to work, or the work product itself.

Why not spin it around the other way? What advantages does Mac now have over Windows, in a world where Microsoft is catering to developers from both sides?

I don't think it's "Mac vs Windows" specifically. It's more that the compelling advantages that the Mac once had over _every_ other platform are being eaten away.

My first Mac was in 1992 (a IIsi). Since then every computer I've bought (servers aside) has been a Mac.

Last week my MBP died. The battery overheated and 'burst', taking the case and trackpad with it. I'll still have a Mac desktop for development and cartography, but I need a laptop, and I simply can't justify £1250 for a MacBook.

Instead, for the first time in 25 years, I'm buying something else: a Chromebook, on which I'll install Ubuntu. It's pretty much the same weight (1.19kg vs 0.91kg) and size; it does word processing, web browsing, PDF viewing, and Ruby hacking just fine; and it costs £1,000 less. Sure, the performance is much, much worse, but for my uses that's fine.

Re: Why I left Mac for Windows: Apple has given up

#53

I'm in the same boat (with everyone, it seems). One remaining big differentiator, for me, is the resell value and service support of Macs. I can use a Mac for three full years, under warranty, and then turn around and sell it used the day AppleCare expires. And, I can regularly get 50-60% of original sale price (realizing that I've also sunk $300 for AppleCare and taxes). After three years, you'd be hard pressed to g…

> After three years, you'd be hard pressed to give away a Windows machine

Because they actually update the hardware...

Re: Why I left Mac for Windows: Apple has given up

#54

I'm in the same boat (with everyone, it seems). One remaining big differentiator, for me, is the resell value and service support of Macs. I can use a Mac for three full years, under warranty, and then turn around and sell it used the day AppleCare expires. And, I can regularly get 50-60% of original sale price (realizing that I've also sunk $300 for AppleCare and taxes). After three years, you'd be hard pressed to g…

I spent apprx. $2500 on a returned Lenovo workstation (box hasn't been opened) maybe 1.5 years ago. It has 64G ECC RAM and 20 physical cores, but it also has a lot of room for expansion (it can, theoretically, have 768G RAM).

I don't need to sell this in 1.5 years, probably not in 3-4 years. After 5 years, it'll certainly worth >$1000.

Re: Why I left Mac for Windows: Apple has given up

#55
post #15

The question I'm left asking from posts like these is: As a non-game developer, what practical advantages does Windows hardware and software provide over Mac? The writing doesn't make it clear to me. Sure, there are some interesting facts noted, but there's no connection drawn or relationship established between the facts and the impact on the author's ability to work, or the work product itself.

Why not spin it around the other way? What advantages does Mac now have over Windows, in a world where Microsoft is catering to developers from both sides?

Because why abandon anything if it's better than the alternatives?

Re: Why I left Mac for Windows: Apple has given up

#57
I am a developer on macOS who feels like I'm not getting the things I'd like to see out of Apple (real new Pro machines most specifically.)

But saying that Windows 10 is so much better than Sierra doesn't hold water for me. It's laden with spyware that is difficult to turn off, and even when you manage to, the next update turns it back on and changes what you have to do to disable it. Windows 10 is the most user abusing operating system in history. It's just that it does it in ways that are less obvious than Vista or Windows 8, on the surface (no pun intended) it seems all is good.

Microsoft is doing some good things with open source and making things like Code. But I can't abide the aggressive spyware.

Re: Why I left Mac for Windows: Apple has given up

#58
post #48

Looking through my dock, I would miss the following: Spark, Safari, Terminal (no, Hyper is no proper terminal compared to the native one), Paw, Sketch, Postico, Transmit, Bear, Pages, Numbers, Keynote and Textual. I think I would even miss small things like the Finder listing options, it's just that macOS was may many years ahead and Microsoft is playing catch up just now but has too much to catch up too, so I will w…

There are good cross platform options for most of what you mention. I just finished switching from Mac to Fedora 25 and aside from having to covert from 1Password to LastPass or from Paw to Postman...it's been pretty painless. I expected I'd be reaching for the Mac regularly and it's just been sitting in my backpack.

Re: Why I left Mac for Windows: Apple has given up

#59
While I am not fully on board with all of the negatives he mentions about Apple (and would add one of my own, XCode), Microsoft is doing a great job of becoming more relevant to developers who prefer nx tooling.

Things like Homebrew have given Microsoft a very clear feature roadmap for achieving parity with Apple in most open source development stuff.

At this rate it won't be long before nearly anyone using open source tooling will likely be indifferent between OSX and Windows 10. This is great news for everyone.

Re: Why I left Mac for Windows: Apple has given up

#60

I used to be hardcore windows guy... Then 10 years ago I got a mac. I never went back.. But what am I saving money for right now? To build a nice PC again. Mostly because of the exact reasons in the article. I have a fondness for apple... but they have definitely lost their way. First, they were a computer company driven by a man who loved computers ("first" here is the Jobs return era) ... then they became a Compute…

> I wont buy a laptop without a magsafe or similar connection

What about wireless charging? I see magsafe as deprecated and only Macbook air has it now.

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