After 5 years, I'm switching back to PC from Mac

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huxley00

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Disclaimer

This is my work machine, not my home machine (although I do use Windows at home).

I like my Mac, quite a bit actually. I just don't feel like it has a place in my business environment. I've tried to work with it, tried to use Mac only applications as much as possible and I have had terrible luck.

Pros
Touchpad is awesome, finger swipe/motion is great and intuitive.
Looks good

Cons
Office applications are far weaker in OSX than in Windows. Its a tough trying to use Excel/Word/Outlook in the Mac version of Office. They look worse, have less features and don't always work correctly.

System crashes, this may not be the norm but this laptop has crashed on me at least 10 times in the past 2 years (laptop is only 2 years old). Sometimes, when it comes out of sleep, I get an OS crash report and it boots from scratch. I haven't had a Windows computer crash on me in....years.

I'm a Systems Administrator in a large Windows environment (Exchange, AD, Windows DNS, DHCP etc). Its annoying to have to use a VM to manage these utilities.

Parallels just isn't that great. It works OK but I run into issues where screen focus is stolen by other applications...seemingly randomly, can be quite annoying.

No docking station...seriously? I have to plug in all my cables, everyday, this is almost reason enough for Macs to not have a place in an office environment.

Anyway, I think most of the problems stem from Windows crossover, if I could use my Mac and only my Mac with no Windows software or utilities, I think I'd actually be quite happy. Sadly, as a Sys Admin, thats just not my world.

I'm curious if anyone else here uses a Mac at the office and in what capacity? What has your experience been like?
 
My experience shows that I'm a lot more productive in Windows than on Mac. Yes the Mac trackpad is GODLY but the OS itself isn't that great. The ability to snap windows quickly and efficiently, Libraries, etc makes Windows so easy to task between multiple applications. I'll continue to use Mac at home though - that trackpad is too good for browsing.
 
As someone who literally got his first Mac yesterday, the lack of snapping windows is very, very sorely missed for my programming needs.

And no, four finger fullscreen swipe is absolutely not a substitute.

Sir_Crocodile said:
why would someone want to use two computers at work, why would their boss want to pay for them to use two computers.
Click to expand...

He was probably referring to dual booting.
 
Nozem said:
Why did you even start using a Mac in the first place?
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We have a decent sized user base in mac land. I'm also the Casper Suite admin so it just made sense to try. Plus for OSX upgrades it made sense to have an IT person who used a Mac as their primary workstation to detect issues.
 
Frustrated_me said:
My experience shows that I'm a lot more productive in Windows than on Mac. Yes the Mac trackpad is GODLY but the OS itself isn't that great. The ability to snap windows quickly and efficiently, Libraries, etc makes Windows so easy to task between multiple applications. I'll continue to use Mac at home though - that trackpad is too good for browsing.
Click to expand...

Now, I have only used a Mac for about three hours, but I really really could not deal with the ability to snap windows quickly and efficiently. It is by far the worst issue that I have with Windows XP. And I haven't even used it with multiple monitors.

I don't remember anymore whether I found a third party program for that though.
 
huxley00 said:
Cons
Office applications are far weaker in OSX than in Windows. Its a tough trying to use Excel/Word/Outlook in the Mac version of Office. They look worse, have less features and don't always work correctly.
Click to expand...

This so much. I like my MBP quite a lot for the most part, but the OSX versions of Office software pretty crappy. Despite this, they are still miles ahead of Pages/Numbers (Keynote is great, but I never have to use it). I'm due for a laptop upgrade in about a year and will probably go back to using a Windows machine because I spend so much time in Excel. I've also considered getting rid of my Parallels partition, getting rid of OSX entirely, and using this solely as a Windows machine because I like the hardware so much.
 
My wife works in education and dreads the day that macs might take over windows in her workplace.
Although they recently had all of their shitty laptops upgraded to windows 7, even laptops that give out hardware errors.
My nephew just sold his MacBook and went back to a windows laptop for gaming, I guess he wanted a MacBook because they're appeared to be all the rage.
Also Apple cloud services are far behind googles and microsofts.
 
Macs have no place in a business that isnt graphic design or some shit. They use them in my office while i use a windows laptop. They constantly complain about the internet being slow and poor wifi connection, while i sit here with a stable, fast connection and a look on my face like

50centlol5aq1q.gif


They are useless as work machines.
 
I'm a Mac user at home and PC user at work, and I agree with office applications. Microsoft's suite is well behind the MS Office Suite for Windows, and Apple's suite is just a complete joke if you want to / have to do any real work or collaborate with others. Most Office applications just much much better on a PC and the OS X equivalent stagnates. Also agreed on Paralells and BootCamp, I've never felt like running Windows on Apple hardware is as efficient or well performing as it should be for the specs of the hardware you're using.

I was a long time PC user who appreciated the industrial design of Apple's hardware but never liked Apple's software, but I finally went all in on Apple software, dedicated to just convert myself by the sword. Today, I much prefer OS X overall to Windows, but I still have a lot of frustrations with it.

I do not like how the file system is purposely obscured out of the box, taking a cue from iOS, and even after you "unobscure" it, most default applications intentionally obscure it from you. This is frustrating when having to work, once in a while, with some default application like iPhoto or something else. I write restaurant reviews as a side job and take photos of the food that I eat or the restaurant, and I have to email those photos to my editor, and so you'd imagine it would be seamless to get my iPhone cameras onto my Mac, into Photoshop to compress them and set them up for web, and then send an original and the web copy to my editor. But Photo Stream and iPhoto make this almost impossible. iPhoto obscures the file system so hard that I find the easiest way to get a photo into Photoshop from Photo Stream is to -take a screenshot of it- and then edit that.

As a developer, though, having the unix backend that is always a keystroke away is just a game changer. And also most of the apps that I use often for development are just better on OS X... From Coda 2, to CodeKit, even Github's desktop client, they're just more reliable, more polished, have more support, etc., than anything on windows.

lunarworks said:
I've never understood this obsession with docking stations.
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There's no obsession, but it's a simple convenience that is cheap and almost every work-grade PC laptop supports. Unless you've got a Thunderbolt Cinema display, docking a Mac laptop is enough of a pain in the ass each time to simply not dock it. Thunderbolt cinema display helps ease that, but it still isn't great.
 
Prophet Steve said:
Now, I have only used a Mac for about three hours, but I really really could not deal with the ability to snap windows quickly and efficiently. It is by far the worst issue that I have with Windows XP. And I haven't even used it with multiple monitors.

I don't remember anymore whether I found a third party program for that though.
Click to expand...

Windows...XP? Why would you use a 13 year old operating system?
 
Aurongel said:
As someone who literally got his first Mac yesterday, the lack of snapping windows is very, very sorely missed for my programming needs.

And no, four finger fullscreen swipe is absolutely not a substitute.



He was probably referring to dual booting.
Click to expand...

I use Cinch and it works pretty great. Stinks that OSX hasn't included this functionality, but with Cinch it doesn't really matter.
 
I switched to a Retina Mac Pro (2014) at work from a good PC. Overall I feel my productivity has been hampered by it some and I'm considering dual booting it to a PC to get back that productivity while getting to keep the hardware.

The biggest issue, as already raised, is the Office Suite. Outlook 2011 is the worst POS ever made.

Add to that sharing of internal network links from mapped drives on PC's to mac's does not work at all, meaning everytime my programs department sends me an internal design file, I cant just click the internal link, nope, have to go navigate to it.
 
Good for you but I couldn't go back. I've used a Mac for 5 years and in the course of it I also changed our small business computer from a Windows machine to a Mac mini running OS X server w/ a Filemaker DB running on it, as well as a VPN. iWork, Dropbox, Mail/Mailbox do the rest of the work.

Life became good. Mac x Windows may be shit but Mac x Mac is god tier.
 
huxley00 said:
You pop your laptop on instead of plugging in cables everyday, I don't get how you don't get the obsession...
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Yeah, there is a point to that but I've never found power, video, and USB cables that much work.

Then again, I plug in my car every night and never had a problem with either.
 
mnannola said:
I use Cinch and it works pretty great. Stinks that OSX hasn't included this functionality, but with Cinch it doesn't really matter.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm still surprised that Apple hasn't just ganked how Windows snaps/docks windows. It's a feature that I sorely miss on my Macs. I've grown used to just layering windows side by side when need be, but it's something that I do miss on the Mac side.
 
You have nice docks for Mac actually, Thunderbolt based. Bit pricey though.

belkin-f4u055cwapl-thunderbolt-express-dock-3-large.jpg


The Albatross said:
Yeah, I'm still surprised that Apple hasn't just ganked how Windows snaps/docks windows. It's a feature that I sorely miss on my Macs. I've grown used to just layering windows side by side when need be, but it's something that I do miss on the Mac side.
Click to expand...

Install better touch tool, enable window snapping and never look back.
 
jts said:
You have nice docks for Mac actually, Thunderbolt based. Bit pricey though.

belkin-f4u055cwapl-thunderbolt-express-dock-3-large.jpg




Install better touch tool, enable window snapping and never look back.
Click to expand...

Or just install hyperdock, it had windows snap for OSX built in. Plus without it the dock is horrible.
 
jts said:
You have nice docks for Mac actually, Thunderbolt based. Bit pricey though.

belkin-f4u055cwapl-thunderbolt-express-dock-3-large.jpg
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link and or title of this product. I guess we should all just know what it is from the image? :)

But, even so, it's likely an expensive piece of hardware that isn't as seamless as a $40 dock compatible with even mid-tier PC laptops. Similarly, if you have a Thunderbolt display, docking is pretty easy, but it's still two wires... Thunderbolt + MagSafe (+ Adaptor) and those displays are $800.

jts said:
Install better touch tool, enable window snapping and never look back.
Click to expand...

This looks awesome, thanks!
 
The Albatross said:
Thanks for the link and or title of this product. I guess we should all just know what it is from the image? :)

But, even so, it's likely an expensive piece of hardware that isn't as seamless as a $40 dock compatible with even mid-tier PC laptops. Similarly, if you have a Thunderbolt display, docking is pretty easy, but it's still two wires... Thunderbolt + MagSafe (+ Adaptor) and those displays are $800.
Click to expand...
All right mate, there you go:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D6BYDGC/?tag=neogaf0e-20

I know, $200.

Plus $10 more for the Thunderbolt to HDMI adapter ;)
 
I use both Mac and Windows at work but i use more Windows because it's more suited for an entreprise environnement.

At home though, Mac all the way !
 
Brother had a macbook, and I told him it wasn't a good idea for what we do, but he didn't listen. Had so many problems with the programs we use.

Construction btw.
 
lunarworks said:
I've never understood this obsession with docking stations.
Click to expand...

Plugging in network, power, usb and display gets old fast if you have to do it every day. Or even several times a week. Especially for computer users who don't know which is which. I've seen people plug their usb cables into ethernet ports.
 
I think embracing the idiom of how each is intended to work leads to more happiness than trying to make one like the other.

I've been a Mac user for 25 years, and like most long time Mac users, my screen is a goddamn mess of windows (12 windows on this virtual desktop alone) and I fucking love it— trying to use Windows this way is terrible, of course. Window snapping in 7 is neat, and I do use it there, but I've never wanted it on my Macs.

Working on the Mac reminds me of working with papers and books on a desk. It's spatial and organic. Windows feels prescriptive - this in full-screen that in the left 1/2 and this in the right, etc, always.

No quibble on the shitiness of Office for the Mac if you're an Excel or Outlook power-user.
 
I've been running a macbook for work for the last 4 years (engineering, alot of our user base is Mac) and every laptop or OS upgrade seems to be a less stable experience. I find myself running Ubuntu more and more as I'm doing more work on cloud services as opposed to desktop applications.

OSX is great for music production (PC drivers are just behind), but for any other purpose you will likely find better performance on identically specced PC.
 
After 5 years my Mac has never crashed.

i was thinking of moving to PC next year for the better value, but Retina iMacs are priced pretty aggressively and I love the Apple ecosystem so I'll be sticking with a new iMac I think.
 
My job made me switch to a Mac a couple of years ago. Everyone at the office told me not to worry about it, that Mac was much better, etc., and that I'd become a Mac person in a few months. Two years later and I'm thinking these people have never used a Windows machine.

MS probably does this on purpose, but Office is much better on a Windows machine. More and better features, more reliable, and easier to use. Since Office is what we're using 95% of the time when we're working on the computer (outside of emails) a Windows machine is a better choice. I asked an IT guy about it once (while begging to be switched back to a WIndows machine) and he said that some exec made the decision that everyone was going to a Mac.

In terms of everything else, they're pretty equal in terms of usability. If anything Windows is still easier to use for me because its more familiar, the Macs still do odd things I don't get (like why does the Mac keep randomly changing my wallpaper when I tell it not to?). But a lot of people have a perception of Macs being easier to use, which seems like a holdover fro 20 years ago.
 
I have a gaming PC, I have a retina Macbook Pro that I use and I have a Chromebook with Lubuntu for Linux admin.

Each to their strengths. Apple make the best general usage laptops with the best trackpads and the best screens but come with average GPUs at best. PCs come with the most outright powerful kit but the HiDPI support of Windows is god damn terrible compared to OS X.

But I can also do cool stuff like stream games from my PC on Steam over to my MacBook Pro so I can do stuff like play Beyond Earth while I'm not at my PC or play a game that requires a reasonable amount of performance that the GT750M struggles to keep up with. That's the beautiful thing about technology. A lot of the time you can have your cake and eat it too.
 
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