3 ms·

As an "old fart" that has used just about every operating system for the past 30 years (OS/2, BeOS and Linux included), i switched to Macs around the time OS/X

As an "old fart" that has used just about every operating system for the past 30 years (OS/2, BeOS and Linux included), i switched to Macs around the time OS/X was released. Besides the "keyboardgate" on recent Macbook Pro's, i don't really have any complaints about the hardware. Maybe it's getting worse, but still way ahead of the generic PC vendor quality. I have a 2009 MBP that still sees daily use, and still fulfills a purpose (not it's original one). I can't say that for any of my regular laptops. Just a simple thing as the touchpad. On my Mac it "just works" as i expect it to, and rarely gets in my way. I've yet to meet a generic PC touchpad that doesn't annoy me in 30 seconds or less. As for the software. I can't really say it's gotten worse. I rarely experience crashes on my Macs, and kernel panics has been maybe 3-4 times in a decade. Most of the time i open up my Macbook, do "stuff", and close the lid again. It auto installs software updates whenever it's charging and not being used, and automatically reboots and resumes whatever windows i had open (minus terminal windows), so from a user perspective i never reboot it. It integrates well with my iPhone, Airpods, iPad, and even Apple TVs. Yes i'm aware competing technologies exists, and individually they may even perform better, but they don't integrate fully with each other. As for Apple, it "just works". Apple may be a popular target, but they're still a lot better than the alternatives, especially if you're dug in deep in their eco system.

woof 6y ago
Old fart here too. I have the exact same experience as you, and even after using Linux om multiple machines for 20+ years (desktops, laptops and servers) I still prefer Macs and MacOS. Changed work recently and went back to my late 2013 MacBook Pro for a few months. It still works great with Big Sur - try that on a 7 years old PC... And I love my 2 days old MacBook Pro m1, the keyboard is perfect and the esc-key is as God intended it (yeah, for emacs...).
visarga 6y ago
> As for Apple, it "just works". Counterpoint - I have an MBP and AirPods and often I can't connect them together. Both produced by the same company, yet quite unreliable together. It's probably related to the shitty BT implementation, or WiFi noise. But to sell expensive headphones that fail at producing, you know, ... sound, it's quite a feat. And on this MBP model there's no wired microphone input, because aesthetics, or just to save a penny.
- throwaway843832 6y ago
  The 3.5mm headphone jack on the MBP is also a microphone input.
  - visarga 6y ago
    oh :-/
taylodl 6y ago
Another old fart here. I switched to Macs back in 2006. I've used every OS you can imagine going back to VMS. I like Mac OS the best. I missed the whole "keyboardgate" thing. My daily driver is a 2012 MBP with 16Gb RAM and 512Gb storage. It still does everything I need to do. From the development side that means running multiple VMs, running Docker and general application development. From the creative side that means writing and recording music with Logic Pro and working with photos in Adobe's Lightroom. That's what Mac does so well - it gives me a good platform for both development and my creative outlets. I was recently thinking about my options for moving off of the Mac platform and they're rather bleak. On the software side Ubuntu Studio looks like the best option but on the hardware side? Slim pickings. For starters there's nothing, and I mean nothing, that compares with Apple's trackpad. Then there's the fact that the "Apple Tax" has largely evaporated - by the time I get a similarly-configured PC I'm in the same ballpark price-wise as a Mac. But I have a worse software experience. I'm looking hard at the new MBA. I'm likely going to need a new machine in 2021/2022. At a minimum homebrew and Docker need to be working before I can make a switch. I've been stoked hearing that the performance of x86 applications are as good or even better than their performance on the current generation of MBP's. That's an impressive feat! Plus I figure if I ever need a "genuine x86" I can always spin-up an EC2 instance. For development and creativity it's hard to beat a Mac!

woof 6y ago

Old fart here too. I have the exact same experience as you, and even after using Linux om multiple machines for 20+ years (desktops, laptops and servers) I still prefer Macs and MacOS. Changed work recently and went back to my late 2013 MacBook Pro for a few months. It still works great with Big Sur - try that on a 7 years old PC... And I love my 2 days old MacBook Pro m1, the keyboard is perfect and the esc-key is as God intended it (yeah, for emacs...).

visarga 6y ago

> As for Apple, it "just works". Counterpoint - I have an MBP and AirPods and often I can't connect them together. Both produced by the same company, yet quite unreliable together. It's probably related to the shitty BT implementation, or WiFi noise. But to sell expensive headphones that fail at producing, you know, ... sound, it's quite a feat. And on this MBP model there's no wired microphone input, because aesthetics, or just to save a penny.

throwaway843832 6y ago
The 3.5mm headphone jack on the MBP is also a microphone input.
- visarga 6y ago
  oh :-/

taylodl 6y ago

Another old fart here. I switched to Macs back in 2006. I've used every OS you can imagine going back to VMS. I like Mac OS the best. I missed the whole "keyboardgate" thing. My daily driver is a 2012 MBP with 16Gb RAM and 512Gb storage. It still does everything I need to do. From the development side that means running multiple VMs, running Docker and general application development. From the creative side that means writing and recording music with Logic Pro and working with photos in Adobe's Lightroom. That's what Mac does so well - it gives me a good platform for both development and my creative outlets. I was recently thinking about my options for moving off of the Mac platform and they're rather bleak. On the software side Ubuntu Studio looks like the best option but on the hardware side? Slim pickings. For starters there's nothing, and I mean nothing, that compares with Apple's trackpad. Then there's the fact that the "Apple Tax" has largely evaporated - by the time I get a similarly-configured PC I'm in the same ballpark price-wise as a Mac. But I have a worse software experience. I'm looking hard at the new MBA. I'm likely going to need a new machine in 2021/2022. At a minimum homebrew and Docker need to be working before I can make a switch. I've been stoked hearing that the performance of x86 applications are as good or even better than their performance on the current generation of MBP's. That's an impressive feat! Plus I figure if I ever need a "genuine x86" I can always spin-up an EC2 instance. For development and creativity it's hard to beat a Mac!