6 ms·

Who Is Most Likely to Switch From Windows to a Mac?

17 points by ramshanker 9y ago

mherrmann 9y ago
What I find ridiculous are Apple's prices. I need 16GB RAM, 256+GB SSD for dev work. In 2014, a MacBook Pro with these specs cost me €1500. Today, it would be €2000. I lost my MacBook on a train two weeks ago [1]. Because of this surge in prices, I decided to go for a Dell XPS 13. It's supposed to be the best Linux laptop and cost me €1600 with 16/512GB. [1]: https://fman.io/blog/lost-laptop/ https://fman.io/blog/lost-laptop/
- ProblemFactory 9y ago
  In 2014, USD/EUR exchange rate was around 1.35-1.40. In 2017, it has been around 1.05-1.10. So assuming Apple originally prices things in dollars and converts for foreign markets, 1500 EUR in 2014 is the same price as 1900-2000 EUR today just based on the exchange rate changes.
  - simonh 9y ago
    I'm in the UK. Don't even get me started. Thanks Brexit voters, you really stuck it to The Man this time!
simonh 9y ago
In the actual article it says 25% are 'willing' to switch to the Mac, not that they will. I'm 'willing' to switch to a Porsche 911. That doesn't mean it's going to happen. The truth is we really don't know exactly what the report said at all. The whole article looks like it's predicated on deliberate distortion and misrepresentation of the underlying source.
boyce 9y ago
Here in Britain there's a Microsoft advert at the moment (maybe elsewhere too, no idea) that says at the end of it "You don't expect to be able to draw on a screen" That's literally the only feature they mention. Touchscreen compatibility. It makes them look like they're from the stone age and completely unaware of the competition
- DaiPlusPlus 9y ago
  It's true, to an extent: only the more expensive iPad Pro supports Apple's native "Pencil" tool - the non-Pro iPad can only use third-party Bluetooth styluses that have a sub-par user-experience. But yeah - Microsoft just won't let the "Pen computing" vision die - they've been at it since their first "Windows for Pen Computing" release in 1992. Serious question: does anyone use the handwriting note-taking abilities they added to the Edge Browser when people were begging for Extension support?
  - kodfodrasz 9y ago
    I have used the feature in the maps app. I have a simple old wacom tablet, which is not the same as "drawing on the screen", but I have a preference of this input method and note taking. If i'd have more suitable hardware, probably I'd use these features more, but my hardware are doing great, so no updates yet.
  - boyce 9y ago
    surely anyone's reaction to "you don't expect to be able to draw on a screen" will be "I really do though" regardless of what they mean, what they say is ridiculous
  - actsasbuffoon 9y ago
    As an owner of both a Surface and an iPad Pro, I can confidently state that the stylus experience is much better on the iPad. The stylus is a neat gimmick on the Surface, but usability suffered after they stopped licensing their stylus tech from Wacom. Sometimes it tracks the stylus when you’re not quite touching the screen, so you get messy little lines before and after your strokes. The pressure sensitivity isn’t very good either. It doesn’t track well enough to take hand-written notes at the scale you’d write on paper, so you have to write in huge letters. Microsoft should go back to Wacom. As for Apple’s Pencil, it’s fantastic. It’s actually better than my Wacom Cintiq (admittedly, it’s a previous gen Cintiq. The new version may be better). The accuracy and latency are great, pressure sensitivity is excellent, and tilt sensitivity works well. The only bad thing is that you have to charge the stylus, but a full charge takes about 20 minutes. So if I were Microsoft, I wouldn’t be using the stylus as a selling point, considering their stylus is way behind the competition. And seriously Microsoft, you have no business trying to develop your own stylus tech just to save a few bucks. Wacom has this stuff figured out, so just pony up the dough and be done with it.
mulvya 9y ago
As the conclusion says, I’m not implying wrongdoing on Verto’s part, but I don’t believe their survey results. The idea that such a huge chunk of the PC market could or would simply up and move to Apple, or that Apple could even absorb the influx of customers within such a short period of time, are both highly dubious assertions. Customers may talk about making these kinds of moves due to brand halos or favorable perception, but there’s no indication that PC consumers are going to leap for Apple en masse.
dagaci 9y ago
This article feels like click bait. Windows install-base is so vast that the "25% Will Switch in 6 months" part is clearly ridiculous. Just be clear Apple sells around 8 million mac in 6 months while the Windows 10 installed-base alone is 500 million...
PixelB 9y ago
Clickbait trash.
xbmcuser 9y ago
The real threat to Windows is Chromebooks as more and more people are realizing they don't need to spend $1-2k for something when they can do most of the stuff they want with a $2-300 device.
Zekio 9y ago
good luck for that to happen, really doubt these Surveys are even gonna be close to reality
dialupmodem 9y ago
After being a windows jerk for 20 years I fully switched over about a year ago. My only remaining attachment to Microsoft is an old version of office I have running in CrossOver. I think what did it for me was the hardware, but the forced updates and telemetry completely sabotaged trust and closed the deal. It was a tough move, but my new found hatred for Microsoft fueled the whole journey adequately. Just what are they thinking? This survey is making me think I may start packing my things and moving to Linux. With great numbers come all the nasty viruses. No thanks!
- marcus_holmes 9y ago
  yeah, interesting that the survey doesn't report the numbers of dissatisfied Mac users who plan on switching to GNU/Linux. I suspect they were never given this as an option. Anecdata would suggest that the desire to move to something else is more prevalent amongst devs and techies. The MacBook is becoming a consumer device.
  - simonh 9y ago
    >doesn't report the numbers of dissatisfied Mac users who plan on switching to GNU/Linux It's the year of the Linux desktop, at last! Maybe it really will happen before I start drawing my pension after all.
  - digi_owl 9y ago
    > The MacBook is becoming a consumer device. I think it always has been. The "pro" has been aimed more at artists than techies, and even there thing have been sagging as of late. That Macbooks ran unix was a legacy of Next, and there in turn i was a convenient choice for rapidly bringing up a usable OS. The BSD side of OSX/MacOS have been largely stagnant since the first release, afaik.
- kodfodrasz 9y ago
  I hope you know that you have a false sense of security regarding Linux and viruses. I have became a windows user from linux user, and I don't regret it. I can still use linux on my servers, but on desktop it didn't suite my needs.
k__ 9y ago
I'm using Linux PCs for development for 10 years now, but when I started mobile development, had to buy a MacBook. And I have to say, it is kinda nice. I don't think the gains for developer are so big that they justify a double price, but they are certainly nice. The alu body is very sturdy and the touchpad disabling when typing is really good. I also started doing educational videos and QuickTime + iMovie are pre-installed so I could start without any hesitation. On the other hand, macOS has bad UX, often I can't find how to do things right away, because they aren't correctly named or hiding is some strange sub-menus somewhere. I don't think it's much worse than on Linux, but everyone was praising macOS UX and I just can't see it. Also the keyboard has a different layout than on PC and it feels like shortcuts are randomly spread between Ctrl and Cmd. The first week I had to Google some keys, because the keyboard didn't have labels for them ([, ], ~ and | for example). I also read that many people are switching from Apple MacBooks to MS Surface Pro since the latest iteration of MacBooks came out.

17 points by ramshanker 9y ago

What I find ridiculous are Apple's prices. I need 16GB RAM, 256+GB SSD for dev work. In 2014, a MacBook Pro with these specs cost me €1500. Today, it would be €2000. I lost my MacBook on a train two weeks ago [1]. Because of this surge in prices, I decided to go for a Dell XPS 13. It's supposed to be the best Linux laptop and cost me €1600 with 16/512GB. [1]: https://fman.io/blog/lost-laptop/ https://fman.io/blog/lost-laptop/

ProblemFactory 9y ago
In 2014, USD/EUR exchange rate was around 1.35-1.40. In 2017, it has been around 1.05-1.10. So assuming Apple originally prices things in dollars and converts for foreign markets, 1500 EUR in 2014 is the same price as 1900-2000 EUR today just based on the exchange rate changes.
- simonh 9y ago
  I'm in the UK. Don't even get me started. Thanks Brexit voters, you really stuck it to The Man this time!

simonh 9y ago

In the actual article it says 25% are 'willing' to switch to the Mac, not that they will. I'm 'willing' to switch to a Porsche 911. That doesn't mean it's going to happen. The truth is we really don't know exactly what the report said at all. The whole article looks like it's predicated on deliberate distortion and misrepresentation of the underlying source.

boyce 9y ago

Here in Britain there's a Microsoft advert at the moment (maybe elsewhere too, no idea) that says at the end of it "You don't expect to be able to draw on a screen" That's literally the only feature they mention. Touchscreen compatibility. It makes them look like they're from the stone age and completely unaware of the competition

DaiPlusPlus 9y ago
It's true, to an extent: only the more expensive iPad Pro supports Apple's native "Pencil" tool - the non-Pro iPad can only use third-party Bluetooth styluses that have a sub-par user-experience. But yeah - Microsoft just won't let the "Pen computing" vision die - they've been at it since their first "Windows for Pen Computing" release in 1992. Serious question: does anyone use the handwriting note-taking abilities they added to the Edge Browser when people were begging for Extension support?
- kodfodrasz 9y ago
  I have used the feature in the maps app. I have a simple old wacom tablet, which is not the same as "drawing on the screen", but I have a preference of this input method and note taking. If i'd have more suitable hardware, probably I'd use these features more, but my hardware are doing great, so no updates yet.
- boyce 9y ago
  surely anyone's reaction to "you don't expect to be able to draw on a screen" will be "I really do though" regardless of what they mean, what they say is ridiculous
- actsasbuffoon 9y ago
  As an owner of both a Surface and an iPad Pro, I can confidently state that the stylus experience is much better on the iPad. The stylus is a neat gimmick on the Surface, but usability suffered after they stopped licensing their stylus tech from Wacom. Sometimes it tracks the stylus when you’re not quite touching the screen, so you get messy little lines before and after your strokes. The pressure sensitivity isn’t very good either. It doesn’t track well enough to take hand-written notes at the scale you’d write on paper, so you have to write in huge letters. Microsoft should go back to Wacom. As for Apple’s Pencil, it’s fantastic. It’s actually better than my Wacom Cintiq (admittedly, it’s a previous gen Cintiq. The new version may be better). The accuracy and latency are great, pressure sensitivity is excellent, and tilt sensitivity works well. The only bad thing is that you have to charge the stylus, but a full charge takes about 20 minutes. So if I were Microsoft, I wouldn’t be using the stylus as a selling point, considering their stylus is way behind the competition. And seriously Microsoft, you have no business trying to develop your own stylus tech just to save a few bucks. Wacom has this stuff figured out, so just pony up the dough and be done with it.

mulvya 9y ago

As the conclusion says, I’m not implying wrongdoing on Verto’s part, but I don’t believe their survey results. The idea that such a huge chunk of the PC market could or would simply up and move to Apple, or that Apple could even absorb the influx of customers within such a short period of time, are both highly dubious assertions. Customers may talk about making these kinds of moves due to brand halos or favorable perception, but there’s no indication that PC consumers are going to leap for Apple en masse.

dagaci 9y ago

This article feels like click bait. Windows install-base is so vast that the "25% Will Switch in 6 months" part is clearly ridiculous. Just be clear Apple sells around 8 million mac in 6 months while the Windows 10 installed-base alone is 500 million...

PixelB 9y ago

Clickbait trash.

xbmcuser 9y ago

The real threat to Windows is Chromebooks as more and more people are realizing they don't need to spend $1-2k for something when they can do most of the stuff they want with a $2-300 device.

Zekio 9y ago

good luck for that to happen, really doubt these Surveys are even gonna be close to reality

dialupmodem 9y ago

After being a windows jerk for 20 years I fully switched over about a year ago. My only remaining attachment to Microsoft is an old version of office I have running in CrossOver. I think what did it for me was the hardware, but the forced updates and telemetry completely sabotaged trust and closed the deal. It was a tough move, but my new found hatred for Microsoft fueled the whole journey adequately. Just what are they thinking? This survey is making me think I may start packing my things and moving to Linux. With great numbers come all the nasty viruses. No thanks!

marcus_holmes 9y ago
yeah, interesting that the survey doesn't report the numbers of dissatisfied Mac users who plan on switching to GNU/Linux. I suspect they were never given this as an option. Anecdata would suggest that the desire to move to something else is more prevalent amongst devs and techies. The MacBook is becoming a consumer device.
- simonh 9y ago
  >doesn't report the numbers of dissatisfied Mac users who plan on switching to GNU/Linux It's the year of the Linux desktop, at last! Maybe it really will happen before I start drawing my pension after all.
- digi_owl 9y ago
  > The MacBook is becoming a consumer device. I think it always has been. The "pro" has been aimed more at artists than techies, and even there thing have been sagging as of late. That Macbooks ran unix was a legacy of Next, and there in turn i was a convenient choice for rapidly bringing up a usable OS. The BSD side of OSX/MacOS have been largely stagnant since the first release, afaik.
kodfodrasz 9y ago
I hope you know that you have a false sense of security regarding Linux and viruses. I have became a windows user from linux user, and I don't regret it. I can still use linux on my servers, but on desktop it didn't suite my needs.

k__ 9y ago

I'm using Linux PCs for development for 10 years now, but when I started mobile development, had to buy a MacBook. And I have to say, it is kinda nice. I don't think the gains for developer are so big that they justify a double price, but they are certainly nice. The alu body is very sturdy and the touchpad disabling when typing is really good. I also started doing educational videos and QuickTime + iMovie are pre-installed so I could start without any hesitation. On the other hand, macOS has bad UX, often I can't find how to do things right away, because they aren't correctly named or hiding is some strange sub-menus somewhere. I don't think it's much worse than on Linux, but everyone was praising macOS UX and I just can't see it. Also the keyboard has a different layout than on PC and it feels like shortcuts are randomly spread between Ctrl and Cmd. The first week I had to Google some keys, because the keyboard didn't have labels for them ([, ], ~ and | for example). I also read that many people are switching from Apple MacBooks to MS Surface Pro since the latest iteration of MacBooks came out.