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The state of switching to Windows from Mac in 2019

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Re: The state of switching to Windows from Mac in 2019

#161

Post by maccard »

pjmlp wrote: post #154
munchbunny wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For better or for worse, Windows these days seems increasingly designed for two main form factors. Surface products, and desktops. The hardware quality on a lot of other OEM laptops has really fallen behind. I use both OSes, and the only Windows laptop I've found compelling over the last four years is the Surface Book line.

I have been using ThinkPads (T, W and P models) with Windows since 2006 and seldom had anything to complain about.

My single biggest gripe with Windows laptops (I have a T470 now, previously a Razer Blade, and I have had various classes of Dell/HP laptops over the years) is the trackpad. The trackpad experience on a mac is leaps and bounds ahead of any of the windows machines I've used. The Mac trackpad via bootcamp is a downgrade, but still better than the trackpad on my T470.

Re: The state of switching to Windows from Mac in 2019

#162

Post by maccard »

silversconfused wrote: post #72
crispinb wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The best OS is the one you enjoy and are most productive on. What if like me you dislike them all? Actually I'm not kidding - I find the desktop OS in 2019 pretty miserable. I'm using Windows right now, but not because I like it. Current Apple hardware is of no interest to me, so macOS is ruled out. Linux and Windows are kind of neck and neck - I dislike each roughly equally, but find Windows wastes less of my time…

I have a 95, two 98, and two windows xp machines at home. They are SO MUCH EASIER to use than modern linux, mac, or android. And my goodness are they fast. I've booted my p75 98 machine faster than web pages can load on my i7 mac. Really makes you wonder what kind of hell the ignorance of "right tool for the job" will lead us to in the next few years. (no, they are not plugged into a network, I'm lazy, not stupid.)

> I've booted my p75 98 machine faster than web pages can load on my i7 mac.

I have an i7 windows desktop at home with an SSD, and if I turn on my monitor before I hit the power button on the desktop, the PC is logged in before my monitor powers on. Things can still be fast, if you're careful.

Just because your PC from the 90s is still fast, doesn't mean everyone elses were, this screenshot is famous for a reason [0]

[0] https://i.imgur.com/Ko5QcQl.jpg

Re: The state of switching to Windows from Mac in 2019

#163

Post by jhanschoo »

thiht wrote: post #156
pbreit wrote: post #9

I just switched from Mac to Windows and had to move back. I cannot believe how miserable the Windows experience is. I mistakenly thought that since so much is browser-based, it's not a big deal. But literally every single little thing is slightly-to-much worse on Windows. Even stupid things like changing scroll direction, saving the 5 second preference for notifications to disappear, finding a wifi password, arrangin…

Keep in mind you might be heavily biased because you're used to macOS. When I had to switch from Windows 10 to macOS last year for work, I was flabbergasted at how the general UX sucked compared to what I expected: - it's not possible to switch between multiple windows of the same application with Cmd+Tab - it's not possible to display two windows side by side without switching to fullscreen mode - it's hard to make…

It's supposed to be something that comes with the OS, but I'm a satisfied user of Moom (https://manytricks.com/moom/) that alleviates most of the window positioning issues you touched upon.

Re: The state of switching to Windows from Mac in 2019

#164

Post by systemtest »

I was tempted in switching from my 2011 MacBook Pro 13" to a Lenovo T490/x390 with Windows. I got a used x230 for the Thinkpad/Windows experience but didn't like it. Having a double Program Files directory. The messy user directory that is spammed with directories from all kinds of applications. Not knowing where to find a setting in the three options you have. Typing "Update" in the search bar and not seeing a result, only to find out that I need to search for it and then go to the "Apps" tab of the search result. And the popup that my battery was dying every time I booted. Yes I know that already. It all looked messy and overcomplicated.

Ended up getting a Mid-2015 MacBook Pro 15" Retina manufactured in 2017 with 14 battery cycles. Paid €900 for it two weeks ago, refurbished. The hardware is still very fast and the Retina screen is more than adequate for backend software development.

Re: The state of switching to Windows from Mac in 2019

#165

Post by knubie »

thiht wrote: post #156
pbreit wrote: post #9

I just switched from Mac to Windows and had to move back. I cannot believe how miserable the Windows experience is. I mistakenly thought that since so much is browser-based, it's not a big deal. But literally every single little thing is slightly-to-much worse on Windows. Even stupid things like changing scroll direction, saving the 5 second preference for notifications to disappear, finding a wifi password, arrangin…

Keep in mind you might be heavily biased because you're used to macOS. When I had to switch from Windows 10 to macOS last year for work, I was flabbergasted at how the general UX sucked compared to what I expected: - it's not possible to switch between multiple windows of the same application with Cmd+Tab - it's not possible to display two windows side by side without switching to fullscreen mode - it's hard to make…

> it's not possible to switch between multiple windows of the same application with Cmd+Tab

I think Cmd + backtick will do what you want.

Re: The state of switching to Windows from Mac in 2019

#166

Post by alushta »

nwallin wrote: post #138
pbreit wrote: post #9

I just switched from Mac to Windows and had to move back. I cannot believe how miserable the Windows experience is. I mistakenly thought that since so much is browser-based, it's not a big deal. But literally every single little thing is slightly-to-much worse on Windows. Even stupid things like changing scroll direction, saving the 5 second preference for notifications to disappear, finding a wifi password, arrangin…

My biggest peeve about windows is how it sends my laptop to sleep when I close the lid. You're plugged into a docking station with a keyboard, monitor, and mouse connected. I have several windows open on the monitor. No windows open on the tiny crappy laptop screen. Why the fartnugget do you think closing the laptop means "go to sleep"?! I didn't buy a docking station, monitor, keyboard and mouse to augment the shitt…

What happens when you close the lid is a configurable option: https://youtu.be/OFfDSEoneok

Re: The state of switching to Windows from Mac in 2019

#167

Post by username444 »

NeedMoreTea wrote: post #42

I'm debating switching to Windows when my 2015 Macbook gives up unless Apple really have learned their lessons from the 2016 model. I have two remaining major issues with Windows, which is down from the remarkably sizeable list that had me switch to Mac and OSX, which makes it easy to keep the Windows box as games only: + Extreme monochrome flatness. It's obtuse and hides information, like the edges of icons, encoura…

This telemetry thing is surprisingly overlooked in these discussions. I've disabled tracking and reporting on at least 4 separate occasions since windows auto updated my laptop from Windows 7 to windows 10 without user permission. They just keep adding auto-enabled features that override the previously disabled features doing the same thing.

"We heard you when you said you didn't want cameras automatically monitoring you. So we added this new feature where you can disable cameras based on DAY OF THE WEEK and turned every day on for your convenience"

Microsoft knows it lost the online tracking game, so it's playing dumb and putting in privacy-invading features and overriding user selections yearly. Why rely on a browser when you control the OS?

The paranoid part of me thinks windows is giving away windows 10 for free because it's making money selling the user data and access to intelligence agencies.

I know apple has received some flak for updates slowing their computers, but windows is no better. My 4 year old laptop is basically unusable at this point because every action takes 10-15s.

Re: The state of switching to Windows from Mac in 2019

#168

Post by ohm »

galkk wrote: post #89

I prefer to use Ubuntu for development and Windows+WSL for home/gaming. Somehow I don't have the need for Mac in my life. If ever there will be iTerm2 style integration with tmux, I will be able to say that there's nothing at all that holds me to Mac.

Looks like the tmux integration is in the works https://bugs.launchpad.net/terminator/+bug/1301605

Re: The state of switching to Windows from Mac in 2019

#169

Post by ToFab123 »

nwallin wrote: post #138
pbreit wrote: post #9

I just switched from Mac to Windows and had to move back. I cannot believe how miserable the Windows experience is. I mistakenly thought that since so much is browser-based, it's not a big deal. But literally every single little thing is slightly-to-much worse on Windows. Even stupid things like changing scroll direction, saving the 5 second preference for notifications to disappear, finding a wifi password, arrangin…

My biggest peeve about windows is how it sends my laptop to sleep when I close the lid. You're plugged into a docking station with a keyboard, monitor, and mouse connected. I have several windows open on the monitor. No windows open on the tiny crappy laptop screen. Why the fartnugget do you think closing the laptop means "go to sleep"?! I didn't buy a docking station, monitor, keyboard and mouse to augment the shitt…

That is very simple to change. Settings --> power and sleep options --> Additional power options --> Choose what closing the lid does

Or from command line https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Quickly-c...

Re: The state of switching to Windows from Mac in 2019

#170

Post by spiffytech »

knubie wrote: post #165
thiht wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keep in mind you might be heavily biased because you're used to macOS. When I had to switch from Windows 10 to macOS last year for work, I was flabbergasted at how the general UX sucked compared to what I expected: - it's not possible to switch between multiple windows of the same application with Cmd+Tab - it's not possible to display two windows side by side without switching to fullscreen mode - it's hard to make…

> it's not possible to switch between multiple windows of the same application with Cmd+Tab I think Cmd + backtick will do what you want.

Cmd-backtick technically works, but is its own mess. It doesn't have a preview mechanism like Cmd-tab/Alt-tab, so you bring a bunch of windows forward that _stay_ forward while you look for the one you want. Then you have to go back and bring forward the windows you just covered up so you can see what you wanted.

I wind up installing Contexts on my Macs, which changes Cmd-tab to behave just like Windows' Alt-tab.

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