Should your next laptop be a Mac or a PC?

A friend of mine has been an avid Windows user for basically their whole life, but is now contemplating switching to macOS. They asked me whether they should finally ditch Windows. I didn’t really have a good answer to that question.

I had been in the same position twelve years ago, when I bought my first-ever Mac. Coming from Windows and having had no prior exposure to Macs at all, the first few months were a bit rough. I have since gotten used – maybe even attached – to macOS, but that doesn’t mean macOS is the right choice for everyone.

In this blog post, I list some pros and cons of each operating system, in the hope that it helps people make a (slightly more) informed decision about their next purchase.

Right off the bat, I’d like to start with the main reason why I personally prefer macOS over Windows despite all of its downsides: stability. macOS just works. It does the things it promises to do, and not much else. It doesn’t crash, it doesn’t randomly slow down, and it never locks me out of my system because BitLocker got out of bed on the wrong side. macOS also never tries to install system updates at the most inconvenient moments as it will only do so when I explicitly allow it to.

There are six other areas where I think macOS really shines compared to Windows:

• Apple has a better track record than Microsoft when it comes to respecting user privacy. macOS doesn’t collect as much data as Windows, and when it does, it’s easier to opt out. You also don’t have to jump through hoops if you want to use macOS without an online account.

• Unlike Windows, macOS doesn’t try to shove ads into my face all the time. The ads in Windows can be easily disabled, of course, but it’s annoying that it has to be done in the first place.

• macOS is more or less a Unix, which means that many things that work in Linux, like Bash scripts and command-line utilities, also work on macOS. Something similar can be achieved in Windows with WSL, but that’s mostly limited to a virtual environment that’s cobbled together to integrate with the host environment.

• You may have heard some good things about the Apple ecosystem, where all your devices work together seamlessly as one coherent whole. From what I’ve seen, those things are all true, as long as you only buy Apple products. Sadly, I’m not one of those people, so my Mac experience is very similar to what I would have had with Windows.

• Computers running macOS are more energy-efficient than those running Windows. I don’t know how much of this is due to Apple’s Silicon processors, but the difference in battery life is very noticeable. Most MacBooks will easily last a full workday (side note: Even with demanding tasks like compiling software.), while Windows users will need to find an outlet after a few hours or so.

• Company-issued laptops that run Windows are often very restricted, to the point where you’re not even allowed to change your desktop wallpaper. I have never run into such issues with Macs, so I assume they must be harder to lock down.

Windows is the most popular desktop operating system on the market, and for good reason – it has a long list of things going for it.

The most important reason is that Windows “just works” – it’s compatible with almost all peripherals and software you’ll ever need for work or leisure. This is true for both new software (like AAA game titles) and older software (like the ones that your company probably mandates because nobody likes change). No need to waste time and energy on badly programmed ports, virtual machines, or lesser alternatives.

There are a few other good reasons to choose Windows over macOS:

• Apple’s design philosophy seems to be based on the idea of “Take it or leave it”, which unfortunately means that there aren’t many ways to customise macOS. As someone coming from Windows, I felt that I sometimes had to resort to (paid) third-party software to fix glaring issues in macOS.

  This is partially why Windows is slightly cheaper to run than macOS. Not because of the hardware (side note: If you are seriously considering getting a machine that runs macOS you are probably also looking at Windows machines that are just as if not more expensive than MacBooks.), but because of all the additional tools you need just to make your operating system truly yours.

• This one is a bit debatable, but I personally believe that Windows is a better-looking operating system than macOS. The Fluent 2 design system in particular is a joy to look at, whereas macOS uses the same flat, minimalist style that it popularised over a decade ago with the introduction of iOS 7.

• Finally, you may also have a very petty reason to prefer Windows over macOS: its name. Everyone knows how to pronounce Windows, but not everyone knows that macOS is pronounced “Mac OS”. Many people mistakenly call it “Mac OS X (side note: As in “Mac OS 10”, the successor to Mac OS 9.)” or simply “OS X”, which hasn’t been its name since 2016. Some savages even pronounce it similarly to “Macca’s”…