5 ms·

You think? With what, the chinese clones? I don't mind using macOS, it's a pretty nice experience, definitely nicer than windows but when I buy an Apple machin

You think? With what, the chinese clones? I don't mind using macOS, it's a pretty nice experience, definitely nicer than windows but when I buy an Apple machine the thing I'm buying is definitely the hardware and I'm not convinced the clones do a good enough job of matching that, can I get 14 hours of battery life from the leading air-clone?

alex_hitchins 10y ago
I am a Windows, Linux and macOS user (plus some PcBSD for good measure). I wonder why you much prefer macOS over Windows? I would agree that Apple have got 4k/retina displays done and that is much, much better than Windows. Is there anything else that you can identify as an advantage?
- martin-adams 10y ago
  I did the transition from Windows to Mac last year after many years of having both and hating OSX while loving Windows. Now I love it. The event that changed everything was getting a 34" Ultrawide monitor and the Mac experience was just so much more solid and respective of the screen space. I can't quite put my finger on it but I felt more in control. I have a Surface Book on my desk, but my Macbook Air is what I use daily. For me, Mac wins with: - Predicable window management - everything stays where you put it - Tidier fonts and app bevels so it doesn't waste screen space - Access to apps like Sketch - No UI delays when using Adobe Premiere, despite the less capable hardware - definitely an issue on Windows - Much better command line support (not used the Windows Linux subsystem) - Apps are easier to handle and less bloatware - Notes app that is actually helpful - Fast with an SSD - absolutely rubbish without (my mac mini is unusable) - I have gotten used to clicking the window first, before it doing something in that app - so fewer accidental actions But, I do still love Windows, it wins on the following: - Better graphical support (ok, hardware specific) - Windows Explorer is much better than Finder for me - Window snapping is easier (but might be also frustrating, can't put my finger on it) - I can open multiple calculator instances - Wider app support, but less of an issue these days for what I use Windows does have a lot more bugs, such as incorrectly scaled cursors in Premiere, or apps that a impossibly small or stupidly large when using a non-retina second monitor.
  - alex_hitchins 10y ago
    That's really interesting, thanks for taking the time to give a detailed reply. I love the iOS platform, it just works and has never failed me (I am leaving iTunes out of this). However, even with the scaling/DPI issues I find Windows 10 fast and easy to use. It must be biased as I've used Windows more, but I thought I'd love macOS more than I do, having loved my iPhone & iPad experience. I do always have to put the taskbar at the top of the screen, but that I think goes back to my Amiga Workbench days!
  - NTripleOne 10y ago
    >- I have gotten used to clicking the window first, before it doing something in that app - so fewer accidental actions Jeez is that an actual thing on OSX? That would just make it feel unresponsive to me.
    - srssays 10y ago
      Not entirely. For text fields and buttons, clicking them will usually work even if their window is in the background. But clicking them will also focus the background window. If you don't want to focus the background window -- or you want to use an element that can't be used if the window is backgrounded -- then holding 'cmd' will pass the click through.
      - macintux 10y ago
        > If you don't want to focus the background window -- or you want to use an element that can't be used if the window is backgrounded -- then holding 'cmd' will pass the click through. Whoa. I had no idea!
      - NTripleOne 10y ago
        >If you don't want to focus the background window -- or you want to use an element that can't be used if the window is backgrounded -- then holding 'cmd' will pass the click through. Damn, is there any equivalent functionality (be it integrated or third party) for windows? I'd love to be able to run games in fullscreen exclusive mode without having them lose focus every time I want to look at a different chrome tab on my secondary display.
- sleepychu 10y ago
  My desktop computing happens on Windows because I need graphics card support (games at home) and because my work pc is windows. I chose the Macbook Air for my travel machine because it's extremely light, it's battery lasts more than a day and macOS is unix-y, I initially planned to install debian on it but I couldn't convince myself that the power management would be as good so I left macOS on it. Window management is vastly superior in my opinion, I frequently just full screen everything and swipe between the full screens, this is particularly notable in my case since I almost exclusively use the keyboard (get bad RSI from mice) Updates feel like they have much less friction. But basically it comes down the underlying unix-y system. I'm never going to do serious development on a laptop but if I pick up a macOS machine it has the unix core tools that I need to get stuff done, vim, ssh etc. (Though there are some pain points mostly they're fixed by brew for machines I'll use for any length of time). Also, I helped someone set up Parallels the other day on their MBP and tried out air drop for the first time, show me friction-less 4GB ISO copying OTA between Windows laptops that aren't on the same network!
manmal 10y ago
I wouldn't mind buying something like a Xiamo Air if it had native MacOS support. I'd be picky about display quality though. I've never gotten more than 7h of usage out of my new 2016 MBP 15".

alex_hitchins 10y ago

I am a Windows, Linux and macOS user (plus some PcBSD for good measure). I wonder why you much prefer macOS over Windows? I would agree that Apple have got 4k/retina displays done and that is much, much better than Windows. Is there anything else that you can identify as an advantage?

martin-adams 10y ago
I did the transition from Windows to Mac last year after many years of having both and hating OSX while loving Windows. Now I love it. The event that changed everything was getting a 34" Ultrawide monitor and the Mac experience was just so much more solid and respective of the screen space. I can't quite put my finger on it but I felt more in control. I have a Surface Book on my desk, but my Macbook Air is what I use daily. For me, Mac wins with: - Predicable window management - everything stays where you put it - Tidier fonts and app bevels so it doesn't waste screen space - Access to apps like Sketch - No UI delays when using Adobe Premiere, despite the less capable hardware - definitely an issue on Windows - Much better command line support (not used the Windows Linux subsystem) - Apps are easier to handle and less bloatware - Notes app that is actually helpful - Fast with an SSD - absolutely rubbish without (my mac mini is unusable) - I have gotten used to clicking the window first, before it doing something in that app - so fewer accidental actions But, I do still love Windows, it wins on the following: - Better graphical support (ok, hardware specific) - Windows Explorer is much better than Finder for me - Window snapping is easier (but might be also frustrating, can't put my finger on it) - I can open multiple calculator instances - Wider app support, but less of an issue these days for what I use Windows does have a lot more bugs, such as incorrectly scaled cursors in Premiere, or apps that a impossibly small or stupidly large when using a non-retina second monitor.
- alex_hitchins 10y ago
  That's really interesting, thanks for taking the time to give a detailed reply. I love the iOS platform, it just works and has never failed me (I am leaving iTunes out of this). However, even with the scaling/DPI issues I find Windows 10 fast and easy to use. It must be biased as I've used Windows more, but I thought I'd love macOS more than I do, having loved my iPhone & iPad experience. I do always have to put the taskbar at the top of the screen, but that I think goes back to my Amiga Workbench days!
- NTripleOne 10y ago
  >- I have gotten used to clicking the window first, before it doing something in that app - so fewer accidental actions Jeez is that an actual thing on OSX? That would just make it feel unresponsive to me.
  - srssays 10y ago
    Not entirely. For text fields and buttons, clicking them will usually work even if their window is in the background. But clicking them will also focus the background window. If you don't want to focus the background window -- or you want to use an element that can't be used if the window is backgrounded -- then holding 'cmd' will pass the click through.
    - macintux 10y ago
      > If you don't want to focus the background window -- or you want to use an element that can't be used if the window is backgrounded -- then holding 'cmd' will pass the click through. Whoa. I had no idea!
    - NTripleOne 10y ago
      >If you don't want to focus the background window -- or you want to use an element that can't be used if the window is backgrounded -- then holding 'cmd' will pass the click through. Damn, is there any equivalent functionality (be it integrated or third party) for windows? I'd love to be able to run games in fullscreen exclusive mode without having them lose focus every time I want to look at a different chrome tab on my secondary display.
sleepychu 10y ago
My desktop computing happens on Windows because I need graphics card support (games at home) and because my work pc is windows. I chose the Macbook Air for my travel machine because it's extremely light, it's battery lasts more than a day and macOS is unix-y, I initially planned to install debian on it but I couldn't convince myself that the power management would be as good so I left macOS on it. Window management is vastly superior in my opinion, I frequently just full screen everything and swipe between the full screens, this is particularly notable in my case since I almost exclusively use the keyboard (get bad RSI from mice) Updates feel like they have much less friction. But basically it comes down the underlying unix-y system. I'm never going to do serious development on a laptop but if I pick up a macOS machine it has the unix core tools that I need to get stuff done, vim, ssh etc. (Though there are some pain points mostly they're fixed by brew for machines I'll use for any length of time). Also, I helped someone set up Parallels the other day on their MBP and tried out air drop for the first time, show me friction-less 4GB ISO copying OTA between Windows laptops that aren't on the same network!

manmal 10y ago

I wouldn't mind buying something like a Xiamo Air if it had native MacOS support. I'd be picky about display quality though. I've never gotten more than 7h of usage out of my new 2016 MBP 15".