will47 Loc: Indianapolis, IN

I have never used a Mac, always Windows based. If I chose to switch to Mac how difficult is this? What could I expect and do I get anything better by doing so? Thanks.

Bluetick Loc: Flowery Branch, GA

Very good and timely topic. I, too, have the same question. Looking fwd to seeing the replies.

Picdude Loc: Ohio

Lots of controversy can get stirred up with this question.

My personal feeling is that I have never yet had a satisfying experience with the Apple phones or iPads I have had to use for work and have no intention at all of messing with an Apple computer.

Having said that, A good friend of mine (who used to part own a PC computer shop a few years ago) just bought a used Apple laptop to use with software in his music room. His comment on it is "it just plain WORKS", and he wishes he had got one several years earlier.

You will get strong opinions on this from both sides. Bottom line, go with what YOU feel most comfortable with.

a6k Loc: Detroit & Sanibel

I am not going to try to persuade you in favor of Mac although that is my own, strong preference. However, I do have a small text file which I can give anyone who wants to do that transition. I developed it for the purpose of making the learning curve much easier for my "students" when I was teaching computers to fellow senior citizens.

Anyone who is interested can PM me. I DON'T want to get into a public argument, merely to help where help might be wanted.

johngault007 Loc: Florida Panhandle

It's all personal preference. I do not prefer either OS, so I would say stick with what is comfortable to you, unless you are the type that enjoys jumping into new areas to explore and learn about a new operating system.

I will say, getting into the Apple game will exercise your check book for sure!

Tomcat5133 Loc: Gladwyne PA

The Mac is an amazing story. I have been using their computers many of them since the first mac
was sold. The ease of use and the reliability is great. The clean interface and their attitude makes
working with them great. I have their Final Cut PRO X VIDEO editing program $300 bought years ago.
Every update had been good and free. Adobe is make for the make. The whole suite of PS etc etc.

Now I know that PC is a must for some users. Business software is PC. etc.
With PC you have to deal with Microsoft for Word Excel etc etc. Constant updates
and issues. Bought I budget PC couple of years ago. HP said I could update to Windows 10.
Never could do the download. Waited didn't get whole download and sometimes nothing.
True you can save money their are screaming good setups for the PC.
My iMac is 7 years old. I take care of it. It is still working great. Even does most 4K edits.
An elegant machine. The 27" monitor is great. I upgraded the RAM myself.

I would never had the big creative biz I had if not for Apple.
And now it runs my life and small business.

Mac ships with their version of Word and Excel etc. It comes with the computer free.

xt2 Loc: British Columbia, Canada

I use both... PC for office and Macs, iPhones and iPads everywhere else. The office requires PC software thus the lone PC in the “family.” The downside of Mac... it’s more expensive, & not as much professional work-related software available. The upside of a Mac (for me)... The Mac environment/OS, is so much more intuitive for the user, photography and video software really shine on a Mac, & speed and dependability are hallmarks of the Mac. It is not perfect, however, with adequate hardware my 11 Apple products all run well, enjoy longevity and are well supported by the manufacturer. In the end it seems to me that there are three real issues...personal preference, price, and the old adage,” you get what you pay for,” Macs simply work and work well over the long haul. Enjoy “the hunt.”

Cheers!

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

I tried a MacBook Pro 5 years ago. I never looked back. I now have a I Mac Desk top and a MacBook Pro just for my photography. For the what is worth department the IBM corporation has switched to apple for two reasons. Reliability and cost of maintenance.

johngault007 Loc: Florida Panhandle

Not entirely true. I have a "not-budget" PC and there is nothing Microsoft on it. There are other options for those that wish to take a leap.

But since OP is on a Windows vs. Mac OS decision, I will guide my response back to that:

OpenOffice is a free and very powerful alternative to M$ Office. It can open AND save in current Microsoft Office formats, as well as it's own native file system.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

A Mac is a computer, now that they are based on INTEL chips they are closer to the same, but in most cases the hardware is more specific instead of general like Windows. The good of that is it usually means longer use without needing to upgrade hardware, the bad might be that it is difficult to upgrade hardware later like a Windows computer.

I switched from a Windows PC to a LINUX PC years ago, then switched from Linux to an iMac after a couple of years. I still have my 21.5" iMac, a 27" iMac used as a second screen and my current 27" 5k iMac used everyday, It is slightly over 3 years old, runs as fast as the day I got it.

OS X is based on BSD Unix, so it is very robust. OS X runs everything that I need in the way of software with the exception of a radio scanner programming aid, FREESCAN, that is only available as a Windows application to program digital radio scanners. I was able to run it under WINE in Mojave on my Mac, but WINE was 32 bit, so moving to Catalina eliminated WINE, but running Virtualbox software allows me to run Windows 10 as a virtual machine in OS X to run FREESCAN.

Your best option if you can is to visit an Apple Store if one is near you and sit down and play with a Mac. You will see it is really not much different in the way it operates then a Windows computer. Your biggest worry in switching is getting the apps you need - your data is still just data....

I pretty much get along fine with Libre Office as a free MS Office replacement, Safari, Firefox & Chrome are all good browsers. Photoshop, Lightroom, Bridge - all the same as the Windows versions, Apple Mail is built into the OS, good replacement for Outlook. Plenty of built in tools and utilities.

MichaelH Loc: NorCal via Lansing, MI

Windows and OSX operating systems have converged to be very similar. The main difference in the two is in the hardware. Apple is the only maker for OSX systems and can command a higher price for the same performance. Adobe software ten years ago worked better on Macs but today the performance is at least as good on a well built Windows PC.

Since you are used to Windows I would choose a well built PC from Puget Systems. Apple does not even have a "real" high performance computer yet. It will be the new Mac Pro due in this fall and will be an awesome Mac but very pricey.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

My question to you would be: why do you want to consider changing OS, and what do you expect the advantage to be?

The short answer without knowing your response to the above is that you can expect to spend 50% to 100% more in price for equivalent performance with a Mac.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I started with personal computers using the Apple IIa. When Apple introduced the Mac, I switched to PCs. I needed flexibility and Apple gear would only interface with other Apple gear. No third party hardware (unlike the Apple IIa). I needed hardware that was only available on a PC so I started to use PCs.

I stuck with the PC since then (around 1980). I'm still primarily a PC guy and I have no problems with it beyond occasional updates moving things around. But I have heard that Mac updates do that also.

Also used an Android phone for maybe 15 years.

My new wife is a Mac person. Last summer I got an iPhone because texts between iPhones and Androids took up to 24 hours to go through. Apple has a few quirks for an Android guy but it seems to work OK for the most part.

Occasionally she asks me how to do something on her Mac. I can usually figure it out. I am not yet at the point where I want to switch from a PC to a Mac because my PCs are all working. I did learn how to program in Python because my Object Oriented Pascal compiler would only work in a PC and I had a lot of homemade apps that I depend on for various things. If I need to port to Mac I can translate them to Python.

My personal opinion is that Apple is very tight with their hardware. They are a company who sells stuff to people who don't care about the details of a computer. They just want it to do standard things. Specialized hardware is still hard to come by. There are a lot of all-in-one machines sold. I much prefer modular machines. You can use third party sources. I want to do specialized things with my computers. I want them to do what I want done (I must admit that Microsoft is getting hard to use from that point of view -- it's hard to customize things). It also appears to me that for what you get, the price of Apple machines exceeds PCs significantly.

Bottom line: Macs work. PCs work. They sometimes do things differently but they can get the job done. Macs are built by one company. PCs are built by a thousand different companies. You can buy individual parts for a PC and build it yourself. Don't think you can do that with a Mac. But then, not everyone wants to do that.

This is my opinion. YMMV.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

My take, after years of working on Windows computers - in Windows you need to figure out how to do the thing you want, on a Mac, you need to just figure out what thing you want to do.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I always seem to want to do too much.