Laptop help

[Wazza]

So my cheap HP laptop seems to be on its last legs and I’m looking to replace with a newer model.

I’m looking at either the latest MacBook Air or the Windows Surface Laptop 4. Most reviews can barely separate them so I nm after a bit of Dibb help.

It’ll mainly be used for phot editing so I’m leaning towards the MacBook but the thing holding me back is I’ve only ever used windows. Nothing I currently use is dependent on being run on Windows and I own an Apple phone, so I guess it’s just fear of change holding me back.

Has anyone got any real life experience of switching from Windows to Mac, either positive or negative

[Bozza]

Once you've had Mac you never go back.

[madasahat]

go for the pc so much more versitil and you are not ripped of by bapple lenovo are good as well

[BevS97]

So they say but I know I did.

Not because I didn’t like the Mac. Just because when it came to replace my MacBook I couldn’t afford another.

I swap between them without issue but it does take a little bit of getting used to initially.

If you are confident with a Pc you should be fine


They are nice to use but you do pay for the name.

I haven’t used the surface laptop but worked with Surface 3 tablets for a while and really don’t like them.

[wanye]

i switched to mac in 2010, and nowadays my only windows laptop is my work one. i found a few things frustrating at first with macos, but now i'm used to it. its mostly keyboard shortcuts, menu options and stuff that are slightly different

prior to getting mac kit, i used a mixture of windows and linux for various machines (i still run some linux kit on my home network) so was already used to other OSes, so moving to macos wasnt that much of a stretch.

i have a 2020 macbook air M1 and it is now my main browsing laptop which i take on holiday with me. in my office i have a 2018 mac mini which is fully loaded and i use for more intensive tasks like video editing.

if you get a laptop though, get a dock and an external monitor, you will be thankful when editing photos, it makes a huge difference.

hth

[Wazza]

Originally Posted by wanye

i switched to mac in 2010, and nowadays my only windows laptop is my work one. i found a few things frustrating at first with macos, but now i'm used to it. its mostly keyboard shortcuts, menu options and stuff that are slightly different

prior to getting mac kit, i used a mixture of windows and linux for various machines (i still run some linux kit on my home network) so was already used to other OSes, so moving to macos wasnt that much of a stretch.

i have a 2020 macbook air M1 and it is now my main browsing laptop which i take on holiday with me. in my office i have a 2018 mac mini which is fully loaded and i use for more intensive tasks like video editing.

if you get a laptop though, get a dock and an external monitor, you will be thankful when editing photos, it makes a huge difference.

hth

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Thanks. That really helps

[shauney]

My day job is in IT and although I can't help with Mac as i've never used them i'd try and steer you away from Surfaces.

We provide support to a customer that has a mix of laptops - Dell and Surfaces.

The Dells just work. Surfaces we are continually having to faff around with firmware updates to fix weird problems. This weeks was a surface that worked great in the office on Wifi but crashed when used on home Wifi.

Last week one of the directors asked me to take a look at his Surface. Not the first one i've seen where there's been a hairline crack in the screen but no sign of physical damage. £508 to fix it.

I really do not rate them.

[tspill]

Originally Posted by madasahat

go for the pc so much more versitil and you are not ripped of by bapple lenovo are good as well

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If you spec a windows laptop to the same as a Mac, the price will likely be similar.
Given the useable life of a Mac is at least twice that of a windows PC, they can actually work out better value over time.

The issue is that if you are in the market for something low price (and hence low spec.), Apple don't offer a solution for these price points.

I moved to a Mac ten years ago. I have just replaced it. The old one is still fine for most stuff - I just fancied a new one. I looked at going back to Windows, but tbh, to me the MacBook Pro is just so much better in my view. Ans with the new M chips, there seems a canyon of difference in performance until Intel/AMD catch up.

[madasahat]

Originally Posted by tspill

If you spec a windows laptop to the same as a Mac, the price will likely be similar.
Given the useable life of a Mac is at least twice that of a windows PC, they can actually work out better value over time.

The issue is that if you are in the market for something low price (and hence low spec.), Apple don't offer a solution for these price points.

I moved to a Mac ten years ago. I have just replaced it. The old one is still fine for most stuff - I just fancied a new one. I looked at going back to Windows, but tbh, to me the MacBook Pro is just so much better in my view. Ans with the new M chips, there seems a canyon of difference in performance until Intel/AMD catch up.

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how is it twice the life of a pc ? the parts are inferior and you cant fix or upgrade them and the genius bar is anything but

[loldis]

Originally Posted by Bozza

Once you've had Mac you never go back.

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Meh. I've gone back and forth between the two for the past 20 years or so, depending what suited my requirements at the time. But I say the same for business vs economy class, so maybe I'm just always the exception to the rule.

Right now I'm using Windows, as I switched to Android a few years ago and didn't feel tied to the Apple infrastructure. So when it came time to replace my Macbook, I ended up with a HP Omen as it had the best balance of specs vs price for my needs. This was just before the M1 chip was released though, which may have tempted me to stay on Mac more.