Lifetime Apple / Mac user - thinking of jumping to Windows - need advice.

[nadroj915]

I'm not sure if this is the right thread for this question, but I'm looking for advice. I've been an Apple/Mac user for most of my life - that would be 20+ years that I've been using their products (computers, laptops, etc.). Their hardware, software, and all their products always impressed me. In my mind they were always far superior to any PC, or anything Microsoft or Windows could do. Over the years however, I have not been as impressed as I once was. It kind of seems like after Steve Jobs, they've been really lacking, especially when it comes to innovation. A few years ago, when I bought my first smartphone - I was actually dead set against getting an iPhone, because OMG, EVERYONE had one, and with tech, I guess you could say I'm one of those people that likes things that are different. Along came Nokia with their N9, and I was immediately impressed. I paid a premium for it, and purchased it right around the time of its release instead of waiting for prices to go down. Anyway, it was a great phone, it was different. Nobody else had one. Sadly, it was very poorly supported and eventually left me with an OS that was discontinued. It was my love for that phone though that kept me with Nokia, and eventually into my first Windows experience - with the Lumia 925. I loved it, and still do - I'm still using it now, and think it's a great phone. I also love the Windows mobile OS, but there's really no synchronicity or compatibility with anything I do in the Mac OS.

In comes Microsoft with their latest Windows 10 Devices event. I watched it. I was thoroughly impressed. It was like watching an Apple event 10 years ago (now they just don't have the same passion or flair they used to). I can't wait to get my hands on a new Lumia 950, and Windows 10. Without rambling on too much, the bind that I'm in, is that I'm so impressed with what Microsoft is doing now, I'm seriously considering jumping ship, crossing over, going completely Windows. So, for a guy like me, who basically has and does everything on his Macbook Pro (with the exception of my phone), how do I switch? MS Office is a no brainer - I'm sure the Windows experience is just as cool now. A lot of the same apps that I'm used to using - I'm sure also have Windows versions (ie. Adobe Lightroom, Firefox, iTunes, etc.). One that I'm not really sure about though is Logic Pro X. I'm not really familiar with other DAWs, and I do a lot of recording and arranging using this powerful tool. Do I really want to get familiar with a completely different DAW in the Windows environment?

Hardware is another issue. Since I already have a pretty juiced up MBP, I'm reluctant to spend money on a Windows machine, especially knowing that I can run Windows on my Mac. The big question is I guess, is in terms of running Windows - if I decide to make this my primary OS - do I run it in the virtual environment (Parallels Desktop), or do I partition my hard drive via Bootcamp? If I do really make the switch, I'll probably only use my Mac for running Logic Pro X, and do everything else in Windows.

Sorry for the long story....hoping for some advice/tips. Thanks in advance!

 

[Zachary Boddy]

I think you'll find Windows 10 to your liking. It really shines on devices like a Surface Pro or a new Dell XPS but it runs well on Macs as well. If you want to put it on your Mac I'd suggest partitioning your hard drive. It's a more complete override and in my experience more reliable and solid. Plus, you can delegate as much memory as you want and if you're only planning to do one thing with Mac OS then it's pretty obvious that's a useful thing to have. And so far Windows 10 plays well with Windows 10 Mobile and it's quickly becoming better. With the reveal of Messaging, Phone, and Video applications in Windows 10 Insider Build 10565 that are the same on Windows 10 Mobile Insider Build 10549...it's looking very, very good. Give it until Spring 2016 and Windows 10 Mobile and Windows 10 will be the perfect duo. They're already pretty darn good. It might also be a consideration for you to keep your Mac and buy a Continuum dock just to take it for a spin.

 

[Wajeeh Maaz]

Like Zach said,I think you'll like the fluidity of Windows 10 and how it syncs with Mobile. Now,what you said about Logic. I'm an amateur producer who likes to dabble with a DAW from time to time,and I would advise you to get the trial for Ableton Live and FL Studio. I mainly use Ableton and as an ex-Logic user,I can tell you that in my opinion it's much better and more flexible. You can get a lot more done in Ableton and if you love to refine things to perfection (like deadmau5) then Ableton is the perfect DAW to learn and jump to from Logic. On the other hand, if you like an easy to use interface and to quickly put together tracks while still having pro-grade quality go for FL Studio. Its easily the most user friendly DAW there is,and while the native plugins do lack a bit in comparison to Ableton and Logic, I'd stoll a great DAW to use and learn. Hope you make the jump soon man, it's worth it.

 

[d1stort1on]

I'm kind of doing the same thing. I've been playing with the demo of StudioOne Pro (version 3) and like it. You might want to check that out. Presonus is the company behind that app.

 

[nadroj915]

@ Wajeeh...I don't mind learning a new DAW, but I'm just wondering how much something like FL would have compared to Logic Pro X. Logic has a ton of sounds, loops, and that new intelligent drummer feature is something I've really liked using and would hate to leave unless another DAW also had something similar, as good, or better. Also, I have the Komplete Ultimate suite for additional sounds, loops, effects, etc. Would this work on the Windows platform, or would I have to get the Windows version of Komplete?

 

[tapehead]

From somebody who used both for a long time... I'd like to vote no on a switch to Windows. I just got two people to hopefully switch to Mac for good after having to fix stupid issues like graphics drivers and a strange sound issue where the solution was "open Windows Media Player."

If you're used to Mac, you're going to be very annoyed by Windows's ridiculous bugs thanks to OEMs doing a terrible job of writing for their own machines. If you go with Windows, stick with a Surface. At least then it's designed by Microsoft...

 

[anon(123856)]

My advice would be to try it out in Bootcamp. That way you can really get a feel for how well it works on your hardware. I have used Bootcamp before and it worked well. If you have VM software you could always give it a quick try out that way but running right on the hardware is the best way as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Sarveshwar]

If you're used to the perfections of Mac OS X and you've a thing for consistency in design, I would strongly oppose a switch to Windows 10. At least for one more year. Microsoft has barely improved the OS on the UI design consistency as well as usability since it was released in July, as I notice in Insider Preview 'news' here on Windows Central, and it still has light years to go to even feel half-complete. I will show you one picture which will show you the kind of inconsistencies and UI design flaws that Windows 10 has at the moment.



Notice the "red" close button's appearance. This is just one.
Search the internet and you will know how many types of context menus are there in Windows 10! Somewhere grey, somewhere white and somewhere something else.
If you turn off shadows, you will still not have disabled them at action centre fly-in menu and many other places.
The shadows of windows and menus have completely different offsets. Menu shadow is the old Windows XP style and window shadow have changed so many times with different styles in each of the OSes viz XP, Vista, 7, 8 and now 10.
If you need to work in MMC, it feels like a decade old software.
You surely know about two control centres - Control Panel and Settings.
The forced automatic update is a problem (not a feature as Microsoft says).
Windows 10 apps are way too buggy to be used. Even Groove Music - the bundled app stops playing music when screen turns off because of power saving. I feel Windows 8/8.1 had better app design (both in UI and usability) and apps were smoother.

One software that has always remained consistent and always one step ahead in design (UI and in general) at Microsoft is MS Office. I use the 2013 version and it is good.

If you want to switch just be ware that there are lot of annoyances in Windows 10 at the moment. So better wait for another year and ask the same question again and listen to people's views before switching. Knowing the kind of software you use, I see no advantage of switching anyway.

Now, probably, you will see hardcore MS fans bashing me here.

 

[elindalyne]

That is the most nitpicky thing I've ever heard...

As for the forced Windows updates... I've never had an issue with it. Restarts are deferred until a time that's useful based on your usage.

 

[jeffoffline]

I will show you one picture which will show you the kind of inconsistencies and UI design flaws that Windows 10 has at the moment.

View attachment 115246

Notice the "red" close button's appearance. This is just one.


Now, probably, you will see hardcore MS fans bashing me here.

The OCD is strong in this one

 

[_Emi_]

If you're used to the perfections of Mac OS X and you've a thing for consistency in design, I would strongly oppose a switch to Windows 10. At least for one more year. Microsoft has barely improved the OS on the UI design consistency as well as usability since it was released in July, as I notice in Insider Preview 'news' here on Windows Central, and it still has light years to go to even feel half-complete. I will show you one picture which will show you the kind of inconsistencies and UI design flaws that Windows 10 has at the moment.

View attachment 115246

Perfections? yeah, I am sorry but this calls for BS.
OSX is horrible, and it's not perfect at all, and it looks terrible... the design, and the way it works. have you notice the rounded corner when you maximize a window? it leaves a space, since it's not squared... is that what you call perfection? just that is a small example in how bad OSX looks. and it had only been dull, gray/white, and if you add color to the bar (whatever is called), it doesn't even look that pretty.

perfections really? also you can change windows to whatever you want, with no effort and easy hack, so there is no excuse to complain about it. but calling osx and apple design perfect it's just (and I am sorry) BS.
And not to use a more powerful OS because of closed buttons being slightly different, it's just dumb.

 

[tuxedo323]

Sorry not to sound bias, but OSX is a dumpster fire. That spinning rainbow wheel drives me friggin nuts. Let's call it what it is..... 'Trendy' and that's all.

 

[Sarveshwar]

OSX is horrible,

Not as horrible as Windows 10 is. Powerful OS? Really? Even XP can do a lot of things. Mostly same things that Windows 10 can do. It just has lost support from Microsoft for obvious reasons. Most industries still use XP.

when you maximize a window? it leaves a space

Yes that may be ugly. But moving on from one ugly thing to a pool of ugly and nasty things is no smart thing to do.

and it had only been dull, gray/white

What do you think Windows 10 looks like? Open Settings. Then open Control Panel. Or Windows Explorer. And customising Windows via third party applications just messes up the OS in a really bad way so that is not countable.

On a side note, I suggested to refrain from switching to Windows 10 for a particular period of time as I expect things to improve by then. Both in UI and under the hood.

 

[Sarveshwar]

That is the most nitpicky thing I've ever heard...

As for the forced Windows updates... I've never had an issue with it. Restarts are deferred until a time that's useful based on your usage.

If you don't have that much sense of attention to detail (which is normal), it is not something I would blame you for not having or call you a nit for that. Similarly, I should not be blamed for having one.

Windows Updates installed wrong touch pad drivers for my laptop. Many people are reporting issues relating to NVidia and ATI drivers. I have myself faced WiFi issues on two laptops. That's not a situation you want to be while at some important time-limited work - after the restart!

 

[mnsiw]

I use both, Windows 10 at office and El Capitan at home, using Windows since Windows 95 and OS X since Leopard (10.5) days. In my opinion it depend on apps and what you do on your desktop, I prefer OS X when possible because of its simplicity and stability, no virus or malware issues, few updates, no or rare app crash. If you use Logic Pro X, I don't find any reason for switching, for experimenting you can install Windows 10 in Boot Camp.

 

[tapehead]

Sorry not to sound bias, but OSX is a dumpster fire. That spinning rainbow wheel drives me friggin nuts. Let's call it what it is..... 'Trendy' and that's all.

It depends on what you're looking for. If you like some sense of stability... stay with OSX. If you want experimentation, go with Windows. But you're not going to come across Macbooks whose screens have suddenly lost their resolution because of an official upgrade.

My boyfriend upgraded to Windows 10, and the lock screen refused to appear. So he had to log in blind or put the computer to sleep first before he could use it. These only worked about 85% of the time. Are you kidding me? I gave him an old Macbook to use. Microsoft has no idea what it's doing. And I'm still bitter that Microsoft, without warning, killed the Windows Phone syncing app for OSX.

 

[920Walker]

And I'm still bitter that Microsoft, without warning, killed the Windows Phone syncing app for OSX.

Does Apple have their own WP syncing app on OSX?

Does MS have their own iPhone syncing app on Windows 8.1 or 10?

 

[tapehead]

Does Apple have their own WP syncing app on OSX?

Does MS have their own iPhone syncing app on Windows 8.1 or 10?

No. For Windows, Apple provides iTunes and Quicktime. Microsoft previously had an app for syncing media to and from WP devices. It wasn't great at syncing, but it did a decent job of handling files via drag and drop. Unfortunately, without warning, they removed it from the App Store, leaving Mac users with no way to sync devices unless they had it previously installed on their machines. As for my friend, who is using a Lumia ICON, this means she's stuck transferring over media via MusicDrop. Me? I bought an iPhone a few months ago, and while it hasn't been seamless, it has been more so than with the Windows Phone. When I saw that I could deploy Android apps, Microsoft almost got me back. But no.

 

[mnsiw]

No. For Windows, Apple provides iTunes and Quicktime. Microsoft previously had an app for syncing media to and from WP devices. It wasn't great at syncing, but it did a decent job of handling files via drag and drop. Unfortunately, without warning, they removed it from the App Store, leaving Mac users with no way to sync devices unless they had it previously installed on their machines.

I wasted my hour on this, I didn't know that they've removed it, so we lost only available option for syncing files to Lumia, I don't understand whats wrong with adding some kind of standard USB connectivity to Lumia like MTP, PTP or Mass Storage, while most Android devices have these options. After some googling finally I found Easy Transfer, it's a Windows Phone app, not that good but you know, something is better than nothing

 

[anon(123856)]

From somebody who used both for a long time... I'd like to vote no on a switch to Windows. I just got two people to hopefully switch to Mac for good after having to fix stupid issues like graphics drivers and a strange sound issue where the solution was "open Windows Media Player."

If you're used to Mac, you're going to be very annoyed by Windows's ridiculous bugs thanks to OEMs doing a terrible job of writing for their own machines. If you go with Windows, stick with a Surface. At least then it's designed by Microsoft...

Well I've had two Macs and here I am back with Windows. So I guess I wasn't impressed. Use whatever floats your boat. 10 is running fine on my laptop.