Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why Apple Eventually Lost Me and I’m Switching Back to Windows

medium.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 95 posts

Re: Why Apple Eventually Lost Me and I’m Switching Back to Windows

#61

Post by scarface74 »

gruez wrote: post #58
scarface74 wrote: post #29

As far as price, I was looking into getting a 5K iMac in a year specifically because of the price. It doesn’t seem like anyone sells a 5K monitor anymore except for LG and those go for $1300. $2300 for a decently equipped iMac 5K (16GB of RAM, 256GB SSD) is not bad.

I don't get this line of logic (if you want to get a comparable Linux/windows laptop with retinia/5k display, it will cost you just as much as a Mac, so macs are pretty reasonably priced) when justifying Mac purchases. why are you so dead set on getting a 5k display when you can get a comparable 4k display for $600? is the 25% increase in pixel density really that important?

The other side of the question, is why wouldn’t I spend an extra $600 for something that I’m going to use everyday that can easily last for 5 years?

Re: Why Apple Eventually Lost Me and I’m Switching Back to Windows

#62

Post by beatgammit »

m_mueller wrote: post #44
dTal wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're willing to put up with inconsistency and a time-wasting learning curve, value responsiveness, and have no attachment to Windows software (which seems likely if you're coming from a Mac) - why not Linux?

fear of driver issues. I've kept mental tabs on how many people (a) tell me that everything went smooth but on further inquiries admit that there were actually a number of issues, some of them unresolved (b) admit (and complain about) issues outright (c) actually have had everything going smooth For laptops I've yet to talk to someone in category (c).

I'm an experienced Linux user, and I've certainly dealt with driver issues (sound and wifi were my biggest hurdles).

However, I've heard more and more success stories recently, especially if you spend a bit more than the absolute minimum for your hardware. I or my co-workers have successfully installed on several laptops without any driver issues whatsoever, and some were really cheap pieces of crap (~$400).

Driver support has come a long way over there last 5 years or so, and I've actually had more trouble getting drivers after a fresh reinstall of Windows than Linux.

Re: Why Apple Eventually Lost Me and I’m Switching Back to Windows

#63

Post by crististm »

crististm wrote: post #60

Personal opinion. I've never used MACs before and just two months ago I've been given a brand new 2018 MACBook pro to do work on. Long story short, after giving time to work out differences to Windows and XCFE, I still don't understand what people see in them other than looks: - It crashed Virtualbox while a 200GB VM copied files close to max capacity (10 GB free on host). No RAM problems there - It stuttered the Set…

Yes, the high DPI screen is very good!

Re: Why Apple Eventually Lost Me and I’m Switching Back to Windows

#64

Post by Nerdfest »

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #45
lprd wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, complaining about Apple is so trendy these days.

Isn't that telling in some ways though? Apple has made some wrong steps lately, in some people's eyes. Will there eventually be enough people changing to make Apple get concerned? We'll have to wait and see.

People won't abandon Apple in droves unless the media start trashing them to the same degree they've been praising them. They've effectively given Apple billions in free advertising over the years, so I'd guess it would take a lot of trashing.

Re: Why Apple Eventually Lost Me and I’m Switching Back to Windows

#65

Post by Nerdfest »

m_mueller wrote: post #44
dTal wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're willing to put up with inconsistency and a time-wasting learning curve, value responsiveness, and have no attachment to Windows software (which seems likely if you're coming from a Mac) - why not Linux?

fear of driver issues. I've kept mental tabs on how many people (a) tell me that everything went smooth but on further inquiries admit that there were actually a number of issues, some of them unresolved (b) admit (and complain about) issues outright (c) actually have had everything going smooth For laptops I've yet to talk to someone in category (c).

I've been a Linux user for about 10 years. The only hardware I've had trouble with after setting up dozens of machines for myself and friends has been Wifi devices from RTLink. They were solvable, but requires an actual recompile of drivers after kernel updates.

I've had a couple of experiences in the other direction though, including a Sony Viao laptop where neither the wired or wireless network worked after Window 7 install. With Linux (Kubuntu), everything worked flawlessly. This was not some strange one-off laptop manufacturer.

The other thing won't matter to many, but the install time for Windows was almost three hours, while Linux (and all it's accompanying office software, etc) took about 20 minutes. Updates are similar though, so there is some value there.

Just a few more data points, but I, and many others find that Linux is far easier to use than Windows these days as well.

Re: Why Apple Eventually Lost Me and I’m Switching Back to Windows

#66

Post by Hippocrates »

"Look at the iMac line in 2018 and the specs, tell me if the value is there."

Every time I see one of these posts complaining about the value of Apple machines I want to scream. They are very competitively priced. (one could argue that is a matter of fact, by their success alone)

You can compare common "hard specs" about the processor, ram, video card-- and within that narrow field of vision I bet you can find yourself a "better" PC for the price. But try putting a value on these things and see where that lands you:

- (decent) Webcam - High-End 5k display (for iMac, or comparable quality display on the laptops) - High-end wireless keyboard/mouse or trackpad - Decent speakers - Metal construction in a (subjectively) attractive and minimalist package - Well designed (e.g. folding, portable, detachable extension) power brick

These things more than seal the deal for me, and I am convinced there is no better value out there. Maybe for the photo/video editor one would need to make concessions to afford the extra CPU/GPU/Memory in lieu of some other niceties.

Re: Why Apple Eventually Lost Me and I’m Switching Back to Windows

#67

Post by actf »

veesahni wrote: post #46
anthonybsd wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a long time OS X user. Macbook Pro as my work laptop and Windows 10 at home as a gaming/browsing desktop. Had Windows 8/7/Vista/XP/2000 as my home desktops prior to that, I actually dig building them. I don't get the drama. Yes, for vast majority of the users Windows 10 is pretty fungible for OS X. What do the majority of people do? That's right, launch the browser, maybe open Outlook. Would I use one for work gi…

> cygwin just doesn't cut it for me as a substitute for having a real UNIX underneath Windows 10 has WSL, which replaces cygwin. It's a wonderful compromise which lets me can execute unmodified ELF binaries on Windows 10. Realistically, this means I can install almost anything via apt, do bulk file management using scripts, use native linux rsync binaries for backups, etc.

WSL is a great idea and I think Microsoft is onto something super cool with WSL, but after a week of serious use I found that it was not a viable replacement for cygwin. The major problem with WSL right now is that you can't effectively edit files in both Windows and WSL. For me this was very limiting because I could not interact with a git repo via WSL and then also open the files from that repo with a Windows IDE. In cygwin this would be no problem though.

Re: Why Apple Eventually Lost Me and I’m Switching Back to Windows

#68

Post by nailer »

veesahni wrote: post #46
anthonybsd wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a long time OS X user. Macbook Pro as my work laptop and Windows 10 at home as a gaming/browsing desktop. Had Windows 8/7/Vista/XP/2000 as my home desktops prior to that, I actually dig building them. I don't get the drama. Yes, for vast majority of the users Windows 10 is pretty fungible for OS X. What do the majority of people do? That's right, launch the browser, maybe open Outlook. Would I use one for work gi…

> cygwin just doesn't cut it for me as a substitute for having a real UNIX underneath Windows 10 has WSL, which replaces cygwin. It's a wonderful compromise which lets me can execute unmodified ELF binaries on Windows 10. Realistically, this means I can install almost anything via apt, do bulk file management using scripts, use native linux rsync binaries for backups, etc.

It also has powershell, where everything has help and examples, the naming is consistent, and it neatly separates content from presentation so you pipe to 'select' and 'where' and don't scrape with regexs all the time. WSL is great if you don't want to learn anything but you can happily do everything you need in the powershell / Terminus.

Re: Why Apple Eventually Lost Me and I’m Switching Back to Windows

#69

Post by 8fingerlouie »

Hippocrates wrote: post #66

"Look at the iMac line in 2018 and the specs, tell me if the value is there." Every time I see one of these posts complaining about the value of Apple machines I want to scream. They are very competitively priced. (one could argue that is a matter of fact, by their success alone) You can compare common "hard specs" about the processor, ram, video card-- and within that narrow field of vision I bet you can find yourse…

I'm constantly met with "you can get a just as good PC for half the price", and when i ask them to prove it they usually come up short. They either find some inferior model, or a similarly specced model which ends up costing the same or more.

Apple also actively works to improve OS X performance on older hardware. They did with Snow Leopard, and they recently did with Mojave. What other operation systems does that ? for free ?

Their support is also seriously great. I have a 27" iMac from 2008 at home, and somewhere around 2012 a manufacturing problem was found in the Seagate drives they originally shipped with, so _4_ years later i could get my harddrive replaced for free. Name me any other hardware manufacturer that does that.

The attention to details with Mac builds are out of this world. Or at least it used to be (haven't bought new a mac in 4 years)

* Every MacBook can be opened with 1 hand. The counterbalance of the metal body vs the resistance of the hinges is matched. This goes for the 15" as well as the 11" Air.

* The sleep light is matched to the frequency of the breath of a sleeping human. Not particularly useful, just fun fact.

Re: Why Apple Eventually Lost Me and I’m Switching Back to Windows

#70

Post by beatgammit »

szemet wrote: post #23
edoo wrote: post #9

I've been on a linux desktop for several years now. I use a VM for any windows dev I have to do. I should have made the switch sooner. Consider that instead of windows.

I'm using Linux on desktop for more then 10 years now. I guess the main reason is that after a few years you just can't leave it - due to the IKEA effect ;) (same with using Emacs) And even if the desktop situation gets worse (so you have to fix something) you just bond more: Catch-22... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IKEA_effect

Huh, I didn't realize that was a thing.

My wife and I continue to buy unassembled products because:

- price - we like assembling stuff - our sedan is enough to buy furniture - cheaper, unassembled furniture presents less commitment

We've replaced Ikea furniture without any attachment issues that I can detect other than the sunk cost fallacy, but that seems to be more prevalent in our more expensive purchases. I didn't realize that so many people because attached to Ikea stuff.

Post reply on HN