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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

#591
post #433

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not actually true. Alt+F4 is exactly the same as clicking the Close window button, and sends WM_CLOSE to the app, which can then handle it gracefully (or not) as it chooses. In particular, if you have unsaved data, most apps will prompt to save on Alt+F4.

Did not know that, so if an app is non responsive but alt+f4 does the trick, does that mean the app maybe wasn't as FUBAR as I thought?

Yes. If you want to kill an app in Windows, use Task Manager or powershell.

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

#592

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Welcome to the Internet, where people express their opinions on matters that are often trivial in the grand scheme of things. I trust you are equally annoyed at posts praising Macs? macOS has never been more stable or developer friendly The OS is fine, although largely in maintenance mode. The hardware value is poor and has gotten significantly worse in the last few years. I'm typing this on a retina iMac that I'm ve…

> now that Windows has decent high-DPI support YMMV, but this is why I still use a Mac--because even Windows 10's high-DPI support is messy and not great. Applications act inconsistently and Windows is straight-up bad at handling different DPI on different devices (and when you've got two 27" 2560x1440 panels and the laptop's own panel, this is a pretty significant problem).

I have a 4k monitor and a 1080p monitor connected to my Win10 desktop I'm typing this from. The DPI scaling works pretty damn well, apps switch DPI settings the instant they pass the boundary between the monitors. Sure, sometimes it breaks when games etc change the resolution on the 4k monitor, causing a window to be unscaled on the 4k monitor, but that's fixed simply by moving the window to the 1080p screen and back.

What trouble did you have? It's pretty great for me.

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

#593
post #370

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…

Apple is a still computer company, because Phones ARE computers. For the majority of the population in developed countries, and almost all of the population of developing countries, smartphones are the only computer people have or need. I agree that Apple have shifted focus away from "making tools for people to create things and solve problems" towards consumption-oriented mobile devices. But those devices are still…

> Phones ARE computers

Computers that need jail-breaking, though.

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

#594
post #591
post #433

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did not know that, so if an app is non responsive but alt+f4 does the trick, does that mean the app maybe wasn't as FUBAR as I thought?

Yes. If you want to kill an app in Windows, use Task Manager or powershell.

Well aware of that alternative :P I had a display glitch with a game client where it would take the whole screen but not really display anything, leaving me with sound and a working computer but no display even after alt+tab or even ctrl+alt+del. I basically had to blind type win+r > "cmd" > taskkill /f /im Gw2-64bit.exe whenever it happened :(

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

#595

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.

I can answer this. (Background: I was a PC user 1989-2007. MBP user 2008-2016. Back to PCs from 2017 onwards.)

I do machine learning development. It is very helpful to have a CUDA-compliant GPU (read: NVIDIA) on your local machine so you can develop and run things quickly. Yes, you can use AWS, but that is costly, you need to push your data into the cloud, and you definitely cannot do it w/ sensitive data such as health records/medical images with localization clauses. None of the major machine learning platforms work well on non-CUDA compliant GPUs, most are barely functional outside NVIDIA cards.

I waited over a year for the new MBP and was disappointed to see no NIVIDA GPU on them. I love the MBP, it is an absolute pleasure to use. But the new line had barely any horsepower improvements. It was almost a step back from the 2014 MBP I already owned. Further, the cost was obscene for the value/improvements I was getting.

I'm not happy about it, but I purchased an Alienware w/ a hefty NVIDIA card and 32GB RAM. It is a beast, but it meets my work needs. I do miss the agility of a MBP (e.g., carrying it in one hand to a cafe or onto a plane), but ultimately horsepower is needed more.

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

#596

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.

I can answer this. (Background: I was a PC user 1989-2007. MBP user 2008-2016. Back to PCs from 2017 onwards.)

I do machine learning development. It is very helpful to have a CUDA-compliant GPU (read: NVIDIA) on your local machine so you can develop and run things quickly. Yes, you can use AWS, but that is costly, you need to push your data into the cloud, and you definitely cannot do it w/ sensitive data such as health records/medical images with localization clauses.

I waited over a year for the new MBP and was disappointed to see no NIVIDA GPU on them. I love the MBP, it is an absolute pleasure to use. But the new line had barely any horsepower improvements. It was almost a step back from the 2014 MBP I already owned. Further, the cost was obscene for the value/improvements I was getting.

I'm not happy about it, but I purchased an Alienware w/ a hefty NVIDIA card and 32GB RAM. It is a beast, but it meets my work needs. I do miss the agility of a MBP (e.g., carrying it in one hand to a cafe or onto a plane), but ultimately horsepower is needed more.

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

#597
If Apple has given up, then Microsoft has given up us well. Windows 10 is just as bad, it's worse. The majority of Windows users still use Win7, as Win8/10 has little benefits and makes things worse. Many (incl me) are sticking we the perfectly fine Windows 7.

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

#598

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The UI remains a convoluted Escher'esque nightmare. Comments like this make it hard to take any side of the discussion seriously. /Neither/ of the OSes are "Escher'esque nightmare[s]." My elderly mother can kludge her way through both of them, more or less reliably - admittedly, with more trouble than using her phone, but not a lot more. Nothing that a tech-illiterate can reasonably use on a day-to-day basis qualif…

> Comments like this make it hard to take any side of the discussion seriously. /Neither/ of the OSes are "Escher'esque nightmare[s]." • macOS Finder: http://i.imgur.com/9Y5hK0e.png • Windows Explorer: http://i.imgur.com/ef7CnJ4.png Alright. Maybe not nightmarish, but one of these IS objectively more convoluted than the other. Let's start with something simple: WHY does the "Options" button on the Windows Explorer Ri…

You're trying to compare a simple case of Finder with an Explorer screen that's on the middle of reconfiguring the view. Ordinarily it's much simpler-looking than that. This is not a remotely fair comparison.

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

#599
post #507

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the same time, Windows 10 on my Dell laptop will heat up, spin the fan noticably and something called "Service Host: Local System" will consistently use 48 - 52% of CPU when the laptop is sitting doing nothing at all, with no applications open. I really can't understand what it's doing but have a hard time taking it seriously as an operating system.

Check the resource monitor to see which service that corresponds to: it's likely Windows Update since they changed it to mine Bitcoin or something about a decade ago when it went from being I/O to single-core CPU bound.

Is this a serious statement, that windows update mines Bitcoin?

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

#600

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft's own Surface Book uses something very like MagSafe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bnIIuS0New http://www.cultofmac.com/174993/microsoft-steals-apples-mags... I've also been using MacBooks since 2006, and I love MagSafe - or at least, MagSafe 1 (haven't tried the more recent MagSafe 2).

Try to keep MagSafe 2 connected in any circumstances other than flat and stable. Sitting on the couch or laying in bed no way, it constantly disconnects. Good riddance.

I never had a magsafe2 laptop. I love magsafe1. I have no idea why they went through with changing it.
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