Apple MacBook Pro Disappointment

qvinto on 22/08/2019 - 16:54
Last edited 22/08/2019 - 20:52 by 1 other user

I recently got a $6k Top of the range Macbook Pro after being a windows power user for my whole life. In short it is going back. The whole premise of "it just works" is BS. In the 5 days of using it it has crashed with a black screen 3 times. I have not been able to install bootcamp because of some bug in the latest version of Mac Os with drive partitioning. Also a bunch of obvious shortcuts which you have in windows are not available - no way to quickly snap or move windows to different screens to be just one example. I could go on. I can't see how they can justify the ridiculous pricing for these machines.

I will stick to my work issued Surface Book 2 15 which has its own share of issues but they don't seem any worse than Mac. It is a shame because I was really hoping to like this laptop and that it would be hassle free, however this is definitely not the case. I think the days of Mac being significantly better than Window systems are long over and they are both as crap as each either when it comes to having to manage a bunch of performance issues

Thought I would share my experience in case anyone else thinks the grass is greener in the Apple/Mac OS world

EDIT: SOME ADDITIONAL COMMENTS/OBSERVATIONS ELABORATING ON THE ABOVE IN SOMEWHAT RANDOM ORDER

• Random reset and black screens. I have used this PC for about 5 days. In that time I have had it randomly reboot 3 times. The screen suddenly goes black and I can’t wake the device with the keyboard or power button. Eventually it starts up again by itself and boots back into Mac OS. No error report is provided. At least windows gives you BSOD with a vague error code when it crashes. It is probably a hardware dud

• I can’t install Bootcamp due to “your drive could not be partitioned error”. After 1 hour of googling and trying various solutions I gave up. The consensus seems that it is a bug in the latest Mac OS version and the only way to fix it is to wipe to drive and install Mac OS again and then try the bootcamp installer. This is a new machine with only a few apps installed, I should have to mess around with this.

• Some apps seem to randomly use the dedicated graphics card e.g. Chrome severely affecting battery life. No obvious way to force an app to use the integrated graphics.

• Battery life in general is not as good as my Surface Book 2 15. Only getting about ~ 4-6 hours. Probably related to the above point. Also the Apple CPU is 45W vs ~20W for SB2 so fair enough.

• Animations such as swiping between apps can be slightly choppy at times. I have enabled “reduce motion” in the accessibility settings to make this faster. Minor point but it is disappointing to see this in an expensive machine with a seemingly the best and most refined OS out there. No better than windows in this regard. In fact in windows you can turn off all animations to make the UI very responsive. Mac OS does not seem to allow you to turn off the animation effect to the same extent

• No quick way to switch apps as you do in windows with WIN+NUMBER. I have used Better Touch Tool (BTT) to enable this but you can’t switch to finder using this technique as it is not counted as the first app in the dock (?)

• When saving an email attachment in the Mail app. It does not show up in recent items folder in finder. Instead, click through the whole folder pathway to get to my file. In windows I just go to the recent items folder and my saved file is there even if I didn’t open it. Annoying.

• Can’t move and snap windows to external monitor. I used BTT tool to provide a keyboard shortcut but this only works for windowed apps, not full screen. To move a full screen app I have to click on the resize button, then move the app with the keyboard shortcut, then maximize again. In windows you can just use WIN + Right arrow anytime.

• There is slight but annoying lag in showing dock and top menu when in full screen mode.

• Scroll direction with touchpad and mouse different. You have to get a third party app to make them the same. In windows you can set your preference easily.

• Office version is several feature releases behind the windows version and is missing functions e.g. Small corner setting icon under settings such as paragraph.

• Stupid shortcut combinations for common functions. If I want to do a screenshot clipping in Mac the shortcut is CMD+SHIFT+CONTROL+4….this needs two hands. In windows the same function is WIN+SHIFT+S, simple one-handed shortcut.

• No separate delete and backspace buttons

• Spotlight search is great but you cant resize the window width so long file names are cut off. You can’t right click the file and open the location. Stupid. In windows you can get similar functionality to spotlight with “Search everything”, “quicklook” and “wox” apps. These also have limitations though but at least I can read long file names and open file locations easily. Windows as-installed search is pretty crap though.

• Dark theme is system wide which has some benefits and drawbacks. Benefits: all apps are affected, Drawback: I cant say use a permanent dark theme in Office and a Light theme in finder or safari. Ideally it would be nice to set the separately. Windows has issues with dark theming too – mainy that it is inconsistent; some apps and dialogue boxes are affected other are not.

• No Mac equivalent of windows single key link to search and program menu with the WIN key.

• You can only swipe between fullscreen apps, not all open apps. In windows, swipe is between all open apps. This seems more intuitive.

All in all Mac OS does not seem to be that much better thought out than windows for power users. In both you have to spend time setting up productivity shortcuts and third-party apps. However at least in windows some obvious productivity features are better implemented: keyboard shortcuts for: app switching, moving and snapping windows, screenshots, etc.

General summary:

Mac Book Pro 15 benefits:
• Better screen: brighter, wider colour gamut, anti-reflective coating.
• System wide colour calibration
• No throttling (SB2 has issues with this regularly).
• More RAM and better usage. SB2 hits the limit regularly and once it does the whole system slows down. Even if you close apps and release RAM the performance remains slower and a reboot is required. This is one of the most annoying issues with my SB2.
• Charging port on both sides
• Mail app has good search capabilities. The windows Mail app and outlook are stupid. E.g. a search for the term “as advised” returns every email with the letters “as” appearing in a word such as cast, mast etc. The Spam filter is also terrible. It flags replies from colleagues which I sent an email to as spam!
• Bluetooth hotspot connection to my android phone is easier and faster than in windows

Surface Book 2 benefits:
• Touch, pen and tablet support are obvious.
• Keyboard is not as prone to oil stains and does not require constant cleaning to look “as new”
• Ports, SD card reader etc.
• MS power connector is magnetic, the MS dock is a useful single cable dock solution. No native dock in Mac world, have to buy third party devices.
• Easy control over which app uses discrete graphics. In Mac OS some apps seem to randomly use the dedicated card e.g. Chrome.
• Maximising a window does not automatically hide the taskbar and menu.

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Comments

  • nubix on 22/08/2019 - 17:01
    +1

    Been using MBP for ~8 years. I don't even mind the Type-c only, but my 8 core runs for 2 hours on battery with nothing but Chrome + a text editor so this'll probably be my last one. Stability wise, it's been fine. Also never attempted Bootcamp as I have access to a few Windows machines when I need it.

    | Also a bunch of obvious shortcuts which you have in windows are not available - no way to quickly snap or move windows to different screens to be just one example

    Try https://www.spectacleapp.com/

    • qvinto on 22/08/2019 - 17:06
      +2

      Thanks. I know there are apps for that and I used Better Touch tool to configure them. The annoying thing is that with all the talk of usability and attention to detail of apple you would think they would implement them natively in Mac OS after all theses years. Windows snapping and moving are very common use cases. I was genuinely surprised that the built in shortcuts in windows seem to be better thought out. Windows has issues as well though which are very annoying (random BSOD once in a while, regular driver updates messing things up etc.). So in all they both suck

      • Zedsdeadbabyzedsdead on 23/08/2019 - 03:30
        +2

        "I recently got a $6k Top of the range Macbook Pro"

        Woop woop, the OzBargain police have arrived, please hand the badge over.

    • cynicalmike on 22/08/2019 - 19:13

      do you have the new 8 core macbook pro? that's really bad battery life if you do.

    • qvinto on 22/08/2019 - 20:38

      Check if chrome is using the discrete graphics card. This is what is happening on my system. You can check in "activity monitor" under the "energy" tab

      • nubix on 23/08/2019 - 09:14
        +1

        Yeah it does. I've moved to Firefox now and my battery life has doubled. Assume Safari would be even better but the dev tools are complete trash.

        The discrete graphics is just too sensitive, open a PDF in Preview and the discrete graphics turns on! Whyyyyy… I'm so desperate for battery life I wish this had no discrete graphics at all =/

  • macfanboy on 22/08/2019 - 17:05
    +3

    If it is crashing take it back.

    • qvinto on 22/08/2019 - 17:08

      I will but I think for a refund not an exchange. The cost does not seem to be worth it overall.
      The crash is a strange issue - the screen randomly turns off and the machine is unresponsive. About 10-20s later it reboots. All i have done is install some basic apps which should not do any critical system changes which could mess things up

      • macfanboy on 22/08/2019 - 17:11

        As you can tell by the name I certainly prefer mac computers.
        Have a 2006/2007/2012 iMacs and a 2013 MacBook air.

        All still going strong, no issues so far.

        2006/2007 iMacs are triple-boot with windows and Linux.

        • N1NJ4W4RR10R on 22/08/2019 - 22:03
          +1

          Tmk the mood on reddit/yt was "they were fine till that 2015 period". Think that was around the time they focused more on making sure the things were thin and unrepairable rather then thin but sturdy.

      • kipps on 22/08/2019 - 19:45
        +5

        This is highly unusual for Mac. You have a dodgy device. Replace before you write the whole thing off.

        • qvinto on 22/08/2019 - 20:39

          Ok will do. Will be annoying to have to set everything up again

          • jace88 on 22/08/2019 - 22:34

            @qvinto: Could always Time Machine it if you want but it might just carry over whatever issues/gremlins you have.

          • Zedsdeadbabyzedsdead on 23/08/2019 - 03:31
            -1

            @qvinto: Even more annoying that you get a great solution and carry on whining….

            • jace88 on 23/08/2019 - 09:45

              @Zedsdeadbabyzedsdead: I even had a faulty OG launch Apple watch which was a lemon and replaced thrice, and then they just gave me a cash refund in Aug 2017 which due to prices falling over time for newer watches, meant we could get the current gen and keep the change.

            • qvinto on 29/08/2019 - 10:37
              +2

              @Zedsdeadbabyzedsdead: Yeah, great solution to have to spend hours fixing a new machine.

              Reinstalled, issue persists.

              Got a replacement, issue persists.
              Must be some of the software I installed. Considering these are just productivity apps it does not inspire confidence that some simple apps can cause such a system fault.

              Piece of crap is going back for a refund.

              "It just works" yeah right..

            • Nereosis on 29/08/2019 - 13:19
              +2

              @Zedsdeadbabyzedsdead: Since when is having to replace the entire computer a 'great solution'? Jesus Christ.

        • daryar daryar on 26/08/2019 - 16:36

          Exactly, this was my first though. This is also one thing the Apple customers pay for – the support.

  • [Deactivated] on 22/08/2019 - 17:10
    +8

    You got a dud, it happens. Easy swap with apple or refund. And the grass has been greener for 10 years here.

  • HighAndDry on 22/08/2019 - 17:20
    +15

    I recently got a $6k Top of the range Macbook Pro

    Hand in your OzB badge please…

    • qvinto on 22/08/2019 - 17:25

      Used salary sacrifice to buy it which i can only spend on a laptop, i'm not that much of a chump..
      So in all it only cost about $3k

    • Zedsdeadbabyzedsdead on 23/08/2019 - 03:33

      I just posted the exact same and then read this. Plus 100, haha!

  • david clarke on 22/08/2019 - 17:21

    Surface Go user here and love it, but for moving between desktops don't forget 3 finger swipes - https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT204895

    • qvinto on 22/08/2019 - 17:25

      I have a Surface Go as well. It really needs a faster processor. Can be really slow at times. But good for travel and light work.

      With 3 finger swipe, to me it seem counter intuitive that it does not swipe between all apps, only full screen ones. Maybe i'm missing something though

      • salbee28 on 23/08/2019 - 13:04

        If you go into the settings for Trackpad, and to More Gestures, you can somewhat customise what the swipes are doing. For instance, mine is set up as a 3 finger swipe up shows Mission Control (all open apps & their windows) or you can use 3 finger swipe down for App Exposé (all open windows for a particular app), or a pinch with thumb & 3 fingers takes you to Lauchpad (just a full screen of all your apps, open or not). Is this kind of what you are looking to do?

        Also under the Scroll & Zoom settings of Trackpad /Mouse, check they are both set to the same settings so they scroll in the same direction, either Natural or turned off if you prefer to scroll the other direction, note that is also dependant on your mouse, but either way turning this on/off should make them scroll in the same direction.

        Re: screen clipping, you only need to select Command, Shift & 4, it works with control selected as well, but its unnecessary, that should make it a bit easier to do one handed.

      • netpenthe on 29/08/2019 - 09:35

        yer it is a bit underpowered.. i think ok for sitting on the couch, quick interstate trips

        not really for main computer

  • crentist on 22/08/2019 - 17:46
    +4

    Use safari instead of chrome, it'll improve your battery life. Annoying, but that's how it is.
    Use the touchpad multi finger swipes for navigating around and switching apps.

    No Mac equivalent of windows single key link to search and program menu with the WIN key.

    This is what spotlight does? cmd+space

    I haven't used a windows laptop in a long time, nothing with a touchscreen, and my last macbook is a few years old so I may be out of date. But a large benefit of macbooks seemed to be how well the touchpad works, to the point of feeling nicer than a mouse. Which means it's less good as a desktop.

    Kinda sounds like you might have got a dud though with the crashing, and may need a bit more time to get used to things.
    They generally work pretty well, but some stuff can be a massive pain. And their whole marketing image makes it more infuriating. Same with their phones. Every time my iphone crashes feels worse than an android crash.

    But since apple has a 14 day return policy for any reason, might as well swap for a non-dud and give it another couple of weeks.

  • pln on 22/08/2019 - 17:46
    +4

    Sounds like you've got a faulty one or could be some 3rd party software conflict. I haven't rebooted mine in over a month & it's running fine - goes to sleep when not in use & commuting between home & work.

    Also, it's not exactly "out of the box" intuitive, there is a learning curve, especially if you've come from many years behind a PC. If some of those PC specific features are things you can't live without, I'd say stick with it. macOS offers alternative ways of doing things but ultimately it's up to you to decide which approach you prefer. For example, I create multiple desktop on my MacBook from mission control & switch between them quickly using cmd+1,2,3,4 or 5 depending on which I want to jump to: https://imgur.com/RuFVJFy

    Haven't used Bootcamp in a long time, thought Apple stopped supporting it. I use Virtualbox instead which works pretty well, probably a bit more resource intensive.

    • macfanboy on 22/08/2019 - 17:59

      I just recently had to put windows on my MacbookAir due to a course I was doing that only uses windows software.
      Installed just fine.

  • [Deactivated] on 22/08/2019 - 17:48
    +2

    no laptop is worth 6k

  • wiselyfoolish on 22/08/2019 - 18:52

    Agree, sounds like yours is a dud. I am agnostic with technology, using windows, mac, ios and android equally. I have had no problems with my new macbook pro. I think this bootcamp may be an issue. Recommend return laptop before the 14 day return policy expires

    • burgermaniac on 22/08/2019 - 19:12

      Recommend return laptop before the 14 day return policy expires

      Australian consumer law will be in place (reasonable time), but as this may be inked to OP's Apple ID (if made), it may show up negatively if they wait too long

      • jace88 on 22/08/2019 - 22:35

        14 day return policy is great for returns for any reason so you don't have to debate/argue or settle for a warranty claim/etc.

        • burgermaniac on 23/08/2019 - 09:02

          Yeah I agree. Usually, Apple is good when it comes to refunds in a reasonable amount of time

  • cynicalmike on 22/08/2019 - 19:10
    +5

    to answer your dot points

    • sounds faulty. return it.
    • wipe and reinstall. minor inconvenience if you can get it setup the way you want.
    • chrome and web browsers typically use more GPU so enable dedicated graphics by themselves. power consumption will vary depending on what you're doing anyway on any platform.
    • it seems you know the answer to this and state it at the end. different CPUs different power consumption.
    • think you can via terminal commands. need to google this.
    • i use alt tab and select the icon, sure it's more key presses but i'm slow anyway so a mere extra second doesn't matter if i'm not switching all the time.
    • i disable recent items, don't want that porn visible to everyone now do we? :)
    • think there's another app for good snapping functionality. part of the mac thing is not really having anything in full screen, it took ages before they even had resize from edge of window, it was always corner.
    • never had any lag issues but i don't auto hide top menu. i think the opening delays (if thats what you mean) is just a system wide thing.
    • office is always behind because it's a microsoft product. it was absolutely terrible before >10 years ago.
    • i can do this easily with one hand (among other things ;)
    • i got used to it. think fn enables it? don't know as it doesn't bother me (using an external keyboard for my machine)
    • spotlight has always been better than windows search, but naturally it's never perfect
    • i never used dark theme system wide because i know it's always going to fail because of browser windows and any app that doesn't properly support it.
    • keyboard shortcuts for menu items is lacking, but there was an app for it. i gave up after a while and stopped caring.
    • there's expose and all that junk so things are done differently.

    overall

    • mac has never been targeted towards power users. then again windows probably falls short in that regard to true power users to linux (where commandline is everything and you work at the speed of light)
    • sounds like you have faulty hardware, return it
    • everyone that seems to 'try' the apple ecosystem automatically expects everything to carry over. it doesn't work that way. things are done differently because it's always been regarded as an operating system that is 'easier to learn'. the command line is more powerful than windows is and has been stable for longer than windows has. windows typically has more control via menus whereas mac abstracts it from the user, or removes it altogether. this is where 'power users' are more likely to complain.
    • dropping $6k is a lot to 'try' a new ecosystem.
    • qvinto on 22/08/2019 - 20:52
      +1

      Thanks for the detailed response. Some good points there.

      The $6k config was just because I could take advantage of salary sacrifice deal which I could not use on anything other than a laptop. Might as well get the best.I was planning on selling it later with no loss anyway and windows laptops have crap resale value compared to Macs

  • mskeggs on 22/08/2019 - 19:20
    +5

    I’ve owned PCs since dos 5 and macs since system 7.
    The macOS is easier to use most of the time, but it is incredibly hard to get useful support info - all the support threads are choked with imbecile users posting their superstitious attempts to solve issues.
    For this reason, windows is easier to deal with when stuff goes wrong.
    I think you should persist for longer than a few days if you are interested in being competent with macOS, quite a lot of the points in your expanded section are just about the os different way of approaching tasks.
    I don’t know why your device is crashing. I can’t remember the last time I had a crash. Maybe last year? So I agree it is likely faulty.

    • qvinto on 22/08/2019 - 20:53

      Good points, windows support threads have a lot more IT systems admin types rather than apple fashion victims

      I might get the device exchanged and give it a bit more time

  • lunchbox99 on 22/08/2019 - 19:25

    For app switching. In my opinion for years now Mac has been designed around full screen apps (ie each app occupying it's own desktop). You can 3 finger swipe left/right between them, or 3 finger swipe up and down for the desktop switcher.

    Go to the trackpad preferences - it shows all the different gesture videos.

  • neophytte on 22/08/2019 - 19:35
    -1

    Instead of Bootcamp (which requires a reboot to use), I have Crossover installed, https://www.codeweavers.com/products/ - it's frequently on special via StackSocial.

    However, as others have suggested, if it's rebooting, it could be a dud; mine is a 2015, which crashes occasionally when I'm running Bash scripts from the command line that have network calls, and it's gone to sleep. Also, disable sleep.

    HTH!

    Richard

    • qvinto on 22/08/2019 - 20:37

      I am using Parallels which is equivelent. However a modelling program I need has graphics issues when in VM mode. I need to boot directly into windows.

  • Maxxjet on 22/08/2019 - 20:11
    -1

    I just wish my workplace issue PC not Mac…pain in the a** to use even after a year….they just don't get it.

  • qvinto on 22/08/2019 - 21:53
    +1

    Tried OS reinstall to see if crash issue is fixed since hardware diagnostic checks out. Will see if crash shows up again

  • AustriaBargain on 23/08/2019 - 00:06

    • Some apps seem to randomly use the dedicated graphics card e.g. Chrome severely affecting battery life. No obvious way to force an app to use the integrated graphics.

    I don't know if it works on the latest MacOS, but I use this iittle thing to tell me if im on integrated or dedicated, or to force it to stay on one or the other. Battery lasts longer if it uses integrated only. But some apps feel a lot slower.

    https://gfx.io

  • Karlos101 on 23/08/2019 - 07:58
    +1

    Mac Book Pro Disappointment should be the model name of that device.
    Ffs, for that coin you can get a highly capable windows device and then some, not sure why you would fall for the 'it just works' gimmick after being a windows user for so long.

  • Whisper Quiet on 23/08/2019 - 08:08
    +5

    No "windows power user" would ever go to a Mac! It's a step down in almost every single way. Customisation, Software, Power. No freedom to get whatever you want and being limited only to what Apple allows you

  • Cavok on 23/08/2019 - 08:50

    I've seen this a few times with other people. Never buy a Mac to run native Windows. It's not going to end well. If you want to change ecosystems, learn how to use the native apps. If you need to run windows, really NEED to, get Vmware and run it as a VM as an exception, rather than the rule. I spin up Linux distros on it as well in VMs.

    If you want to customise and play, don't buy a Mac.

    I do tech work and my mac I never mess with. It does everything I need and is RELIABLE.

    Same decision when selecting iPhone or Droid, Droid to play, iPhone always works and if it doesn't, it just a local store away to a quick solution.

    • AncientWisdom on 23/08/2019 - 13:05

      I use my MacBook Pro 2016 predominantly as a windows device, works fine. The thing is you can dual boot windows on Mac but not the other way around. And hardware wise, they were good machines.

  • magic8ballgag on 23/08/2019 - 08:52

    It sort of sounds like you purchased it just to dual boot (why?), and now regret your purchase because you've probably realised you can just buy a custom Windows PC for a third of the price.

  • snooksy on 23/08/2019 - 09:15
    +2

    I’m a software developer and use a computer for average of 10 hours a day. I have to use Windows 10 at work and I use Mac at home for video editing, photography etc. I’ve used Windows for 20 years and Mac for 10 years. I also just purchased the latest 13” MacBook Pro and I run an external GPU at home. Firstly, you can’t expect things to be the same as Windows. There are Some advantages and disadvantages to each OS. I’m not sure why you had issues with the MacBook crashing. I suspect you have upset something trying to repartition the hard drive. However this should not be happening. I’ve had three MacBook pro’s over the last 12 years and only ever had issues with crashing on a 2008 MacBook Pro in 2012 and Apple replaced the main board under warranty and it was resolved. It sounds like you really didn’t give yourself time to learn and settle into using MacOS. It’s a really nice stable clean sensible operating system. You just click the Spotlight magnifier icon in the top toolbar to search for anything on your computer, use the calculator, or load any application. It’s a one click action. Mac is more mouse driven than keyboard however you can enable additional shortcut keys if you wish. It would have taken 2 minutes to set up a one key click to bring up the Spotlight function. Mac is a Unix system underneath so you need to spend some time to get used to it. If I had a choice I would prefer using MacOS at work because Windows is a bit of a mess with duplication of functionality and annoying interface dialogs for many settings. Plus Apple laptops last forever. I’m still using my 2008 one for general Word processing, web browsing etc and it boots in 30 seconds and is responsive. As for running Windows, I don’t think there are Windows drivers for the GPU in the top MacBook as it’s a Mac only GPU from AMD. I think you should just look at parallels to run the occasional Windows app. If you want to run games then get a desktop PC as it’s easier to change graphics cards often so you can run AAA titles. What exactly did you buy this machine for? If it was to produce things then MacOS is a great OS because it gets out of the way and lets you work. These are work computers not really toys.

  • Bid Sniper on 23/08/2019 - 09:51

    Return and refund, $6k geez. I bought a car for almost half that and its more reliable than that laptop, change left over for a decent windows PC and android phone too.

    As posted above, a windows power use has no place in the jail that is OSX

  • smalltime0 on 23/08/2019 - 15:19

    From the sounds of it, your GPU is faulty.
    BTW The Macbook Pro CPU absolutely does throttle down, you can't maintain boost clock on it.

  • XanderYuan on 23/08/2019 - 16:38

    for screen splitting use 'Spectacle' also strongly encourage you to try launchbar or Alfred it will solve nearly all your issues mentioned above regarding software, you can also run terminal command to reduce the app bar pop up time to instant. In conclusion, I don't think you spent long enough to learn it, once you get used to launchbar or Alfred you would never want to go back to windows

  • superuser on 23/08/2019 - 17:23
    +1

    I have a hackintosh, no way i spend 6k for a laptop, not even 1k.

    • qvinto on 24/08/2019 - 23:51

      Good for you. Find me a $1k laptop with 32gb ram, 2tb ssd, Adobe rgd LCD, i9 CPU, high end gen GPU and a small and well built chassis

  • extrobe on 24/08/2019 - 11:50
    +1

    I'm in a very similar situation to you, so thought I'd add my experience (though won't help with the crashing issues)

    I too am a life-long Windows power user (though also used Linux based systems quite a bit). After 2 years of my boss trying to persuade me, I traded in my work Thinkpad for a MacBook Pro 15. Not a $6k model mind, but not the base spec either. Had it about a week now.

    Now, I had the benefit of trying out someone else's older MacBook Pro for a few weeks, so knew what I was getting into - I would highly recommend this for anyone else thinking about switching. Once I'd spent a bit of time with it, there were really only a few 'major' concerns for me;
    - Excel (and Office in general) sucks compared to Windows. Now, I don't use it as intensely as I used to, in favour of other tools, so gotta suck that one up.
    - There were a handful of programs I need that just don't exist for Mac that I need to use. Parallels is a pretty good (albeit not cheap) virtualisation program allowing you to run Windows, but also run windows apps in a seemingly native mac environment. The programs in question aren't ones I use daily, perhaps weekly max, so this is a good approach for me (and also means I can use Excel there if I really need to).
    - Windows snapping was perhaps the most-missed feature for me. Plenty of apps to replicate this though - I use Magnet
    - Probably the steepest learning curve though is all the various shortcuts that you have engrained in your muscle memory. I came across an app in the appStore called Buttons Shortcuts. Simple app which when commanded (double command key) lists all the available keyboard commands for the current app you're in. This has been a massive life-saver

    Now, the app bar. I was really wary about this - I use f-keys a lot. And sadly Apple's implementation of touch bar is awful. You've already mentioned BTT. I've sunk a lot of time into BTT now to customise the touch bar. It's a lot of work, but by fine-tuning this, it can greatly support my workflow, and starting to grow on me.

    I also found some of the animations in the OS really naff (eg Genie transitions). Going through the preference menus and tweaking the environment helps make it a bit more 'you'. Finder is another example of this. Out the box, it's not great, but go through various menus and preference screens and it becomes a bit more usable.

    I do wish some of the others apps were as well integrated as Apple apps (yes, I know it's obvious why) - the calendar / reminders in particular - trying to get it to use Outlook Calendar is beating me. And I too hate the fact I can't force certain apps to only use iGPU rather than dGPU - but not yet spent much time trying to figure it out either. Otherwise, battery has been pretty solid for me.

    Oh, and spotlight has been great for me - love it - Windows search has not been the same since windows 10. Not Played with Alfred yet, but is on my list to try out.

    For me, I'm pretty happy. I'm not going to trade my personal machines for Mac - for me the biggest issue remains upgradability and longevity, but this isn't an issue for a work laptop.

  • The mikky on 24/08/2019 - 18:40

    You kind of sound like you don't really know what you are doing. Boot camp is not an off the shelf product from Apple. It's not always Going to work perfectly.

    I don't expect Microsoft to support all of the weird / dodgy stuff I run on my pc.

    Secondly the max does throttle because of the insuffcient thermal design for the CPU.

    That said I like the Mac's' especially for administering Linux servers with the inbuilt bash terminal.

    • qvinto on 24/08/2019 - 23:48
      +2

      Bootcamp is a built in feature provided by Apple in Mac OS. It can't get past the partitioning stage of the process (before it even opens the windows installer) on a brand new laptop. No, I do know what I'm doing and Bootcamp is a buggy piece of crap and it's no one else's fault but apples

      Maybe you just don't realise that actually out of the box mac os has a fair few limitations and bugs compared to Windows.

      • The mikky on 25/08/2019 - 08:51

        Different does not mean it's worse. I am not a mac fanboy.

        Windows is full of bugs as well.

        And I stand corrected on the boot camp. It wasn't supported when it first came out but now is.

  • AncientWisdom on 25/08/2019 - 23:48
    +1

    Yes I'm with you. I got to the point where I understand and can use a Mac, but I don't love it. Many years of being a windows "power user" are hard to beat. I can do everything on a Mac, but definitely not as fast. And some things are simply not there. This isn't even a purely windows vs OSX (MacOS) issue, it's about the eco system as well. Windows have so many free third party tools that I can't really replace on a Mac… For example Listary is simply irreplaceable for me (I've tried Alfred etc.). And on a Mac most good apps cost money (which is fair enough but usually more than a few bucks as well). Probably one of my biggest gripes OS wise is the window switching (Alt-Tab). The way windows does this just make much more sense to me, especially with the very common task of switching between the last 2-3 windows. And don't even get me started on Finder… The thing is obviously not fit for use out of the box (my way of measuring it is with my windows non techie friends they can find files in their documents folders while on a Mac most of them just use the desktop, which funnily enough will also take a performance toll on the machine).

    Edit: forgot to mention the other big one, which is introducing breaking changes between OS upgrades. A big no no on Windows, as Microsoft has always taken extreme care with backwards compatibility. I have quite a few muso friends that are still on 10.9 or something because half their plug ins break or their soundcard stops working if they try and upgrade. Insane…

    • qvinto on 26/08/2019 - 20:50
      +1

      Some very good point there. It does seem windows actually has some of the common functions better figured out. I know Mac users will jump in and say that I don't know how to use Mac. Well look at the examples in the OP and the ones above - these are clear limitations of Mac OS.

  • Cavok on 18/09/2019 - 10:24

    I guess that is why there is choice. I would never spend big bucks on an unknown device. Took me a long time to warm and learn enough to use a Mac. I also still use other platforms as well, except Chromebooks.

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