Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Have any longtime OSX users tried Windows 10?
- Thread starter OneSon
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I have to work with Windows fairly regularly (gaming and testing cross-platform software). In my opinion, and for my usage, its a barely usable OS. Its ok if you spend most of your time within a specialised application (Office, Photoshop etc.), but as a general-purpose OS, Mac is simply much more convenient.
^^that, but it depends how you use your Mac really.
If you use a lot of the gestures for swiping back and forth in Safari, use Mission Control frequently, and are accustomed to how macOS functions with windows (menus not tied to the windows and run on the top bar instead), then you'll have an abhorrent experience with Windows. It's a big step backwards with usability when you're used to a fluid workflow.
However if you're a point and click kinda guy with not much else, then you should be fine with Windows.
If you use a lot of the gestures for swiping back and forth in Safari, use Mission Control frequently, and are accustomed to how macOS functions with windows (menus not tied to the windows and run on the top bar instead), then you'll have an abhorrent experience with Windows. It's a big step backwards with usability when you're used to a fluid workflow.
However if you're a point and click kinda guy with not much else, then you should be fine with Windows.
It's a great OS that I use for gaming and video editing because the graphics acceleration is excellent.
For writing, file management and photo editing I prefer macOS because it's a more minimal, better fonts and better color management.
For writing, file management and photo editing I prefer macOS because it's a more minimal, better fonts and better color management.
I use both every day. It is not all that different. The biggest different I see is the file dialogs. It always takes me a second to remember which system I am on.
I'm missing what his argument is.. do you have that part?
To somewhat answer your question YES I have Windows 10 and and OSX on my 2016 MacBook Pro. I run windows mostly through Parallels but have it installed on a bootcamp partition if I ever need full power. I "need" Windows so I can use Revit (a 3D CAD application) which actually runs fin through Parallels.
To somewhat answer your question YES I have Windows 10 and and OSX on my 2016 MacBook Pro. I run windows mostly through Parallels but have it installed on a bootcamp partition if I ever need full power. I "need" Windows so I can use Revit (a 3D CAD application) which actually runs fin through Parallels.
Windows 10 is the best version of Windows ever.
But, you will still need to have a to robust virus protection program running at all times, especially if you surf the web and download stuff often.
The best part of Windows is the touch screen.
The second best part is it is slightly faster than OSX.
The bad part is programs on Windows are all over the place because of the open tradition "user experience" on the OS.
Personally I would not buy a Dell, especially a lower priced one. Stay with Surface Pro.
What do I prefer?
Mac OS X.
But, you will still need to have a to robust virus protection program running at all times, especially if you surf the web and download stuff often.
The best part of Windows is the touch screen.
The second best part is it is slightly faster than OSX.
The bad part is programs on Windows are all over the place because of the open tradition "user experience" on the OS.
Personally I would not buy a Dell, especially a lower priced one. Stay with Surface Pro.
What do I prefer?
Mac OS X.
It still can't compare to 7. It might be faster on stuff like the Surface Pro, but it's hit-or-miss depending on what hardware you use whether it's faster than 7 or not.
On top of that it's less modular, full of spyware bloat, and gives you zero choice whether to update or not (and soon enough will have ads in the file browser), and Cortana is worse than Siri (which is saying something).
The whole reason I switched to OS X in the first place was my disgust with Windows 10, and I haven't looked back.
The issue as I see it is Microsoft should have kept the "Pro" version clean so it didn't include all the crap. The good news is with CCleaner most of the "crap" can be removed. Once you clean it up its actually pretty nice, I use it on my work PC and its good.
The Pro version is clean. No games, etc. What are you removing with CCleaner from the Pro version
Windows 10 is sluggish and disgusting and needs constant patches, constant maintenance and constant antivirus. It's a disgusting operating system with insane ideas like the "registry" and a spiderweb of other legacy bloat from its 30 years of awful OS design, all of which needs to hang around just to support ancient apps from 1993.
And the apps for Windows are mostly butt-ugly and terrible, with zero sense of style, cohesiveness or usability, as if they were designed by tasteless idiots who wanted to see how many ugly, cluttered buttons and menus they could slap into a single GUI. It's like giving a retard a box of crayons and expecting their doodling to produce a mona lisa. Instead you get these scatterbrained "psych ward patient" "designs" (this is sadly an official promo screenshot from Microsoft.com):
+
=
If Windows 10 was good I wouldn't stay with stagnating and overpriced desktop Mac hardware. I'd own a touchscreen Windows PC in a second if Windows was acceptable or even in the ballpark of being a usable OS. But it is pure trash.
Same reason I use an iPhone instead of Android. If the software is disgusting garbage (Android/Windows) then it doesn't matter if the hardware is cheaper.
Oh, and to sweeten the awesome computer even more, Apple gives you these puppies, baby:
And the apps for Windows are mostly butt-ugly and terrible, with zero sense of style, cohesiveness or usability, as if they were designed by tasteless idiots who wanted to see how many ugly, cluttered buttons and menus they could slap into a single GUI. It's like giving a retard a box of crayons and expecting their doodling to produce a mona lisa. Instead you get these scatterbrained "psych ward patient" "designs" (this is sadly an official promo screenshot from Microsoft.com):
If Windows 10 was good I wouldn't stay with stagnating and overpriced desktop Mac hardware. I'd own a touchscreen Windows PC in a second if Windows was acceptable or even in the ballpark of being a usable OS. But it is pure trash.
Same reason I use an iPhone instead of Android. If the software is disgusting garbage (Android/Windows) then it doesn't matter if the hardware is cheaper.
Oh, and to sweeten the awesome computer even more, Apple gives you these puppies, baby:
Last edited:
I liked 7 much better. It was easier to hack apart and remove what you didn't need or didn't want. By the time you cleaned up all of the bloat it would be way faster than 10 is now.
Microsoft seems determined to lock down the OS so much it's suffocating, at least OS X has a nice experience.
Well I can't remember exactly now but for example I removed the xbox stuff, messaging, the alarm clock, etc. you can also remove the store (I didn't), weather app, Photos app just about all the tablet stuff.
Windows 10 post anniversary update is pretty nice. I would stay with the Surface book line though. I had the XPS13/15 last year and coil whine eventually showed up on all the machines, and it was annoying. The new XPS13 looks terrible as Dell decided to neuter the processor.
MacOS is still the better of the two, its much more elegant and I've been much happier with the 2016 13" non-TB, with the Surface Book right behind it (which had it's own issues, however), and the Dells further behind that.
I'm curious what his argument is, as I've owned the XPS13 and found the non-TB 13" to be much better..
MacOS is still the better of the two, its much more elegant and I've been much happier with the 2016 13" non-TB, with the Surface Book right behind it (which had it's own issues, however), and the Dells further behind that.
I'm curious what his argument is, as I've owned the XPS13 and found the non-TB 13" to be much better..
7 year Mac user here. I have 10 and Sierra on my MBP. I have to use 10 for some specific applications so I go back and forth a lot.
OS X (or MacOS) is easier to be productive with. The gestures, the scrolling, are far more natural and really are quicker to accomplish the same thing and multitask. These add up and I find myself getting more done.
Windows 10 is great, but is less fluid because it's the same UI as 95. If you don't care about the UI, then 10 is superior because of the performance and application support.
I should note that with a proper mouse and keyboard Windows becomes much more competitive.
It's the same old argument really.
The most impressive thing OS X has ever done is make the notebook usable. Before OS X, portable Windows was the only game in town and always a significant downgrade to a desktop experience and honestly still is. With OS X, I prefer the portable computer sometimes.
OS X (or MacOS) is easier to be productive with. The gestures, the scrolling, are far more natural and really are quicker to accomplish the same thing and multitask. These add up and I find myself getting more done.
Windows 10 is great, but is less fluid because it's the same UI as 95. If you don't care about the UI, then 10 is superior because of the performance and application support.
I should note that with a proper mouse and keyboard Windows becomes much more competitive.
It's the same old argument really.
The most impressive thing OS X has ever done is make the notebook usable. Before OS X, portable Windows was the only game in town and always a significant downgrade to a desktop experience and honestly still is. With OS X, I prefer the portable computer sometimes.
Been using Windows since 3.x and Mac OS for the past 5 years.. If I had to pick one, it'd be the latter. I loved Windows 7 Pro, but Win 10 Pro is..ok..
Also, like others have mentioned.. I'd get the Surface Pro or Book for Windows, but I'd really rather get a MB Pro!
Also, like others have mentioned.. I'd get the Surface Pro or Book for Windows, but I'd really rather get a MB Pro!
Windows 10 is pretty great IMO. I do not think it is quite as resilient or user friendly as OS X, but the gap between Windows and Mac is IMO more narrow now than it ever has been before. This is partly, IMO, because we are seeing better Windows hardware. I have a Surface Pro 3 with Win 10 1511 (the build before the current 1607) and am extremely pleased with it. I use 1607 in a VM on my MacBook Pro.
IMO, where as with Mac you can have a seamless and very reliable experience without having to know a whole lot about the OS, with Windows 10 I think you need to know a little more about the OS in order to have a good experience. For example, Windows 10 still hasn't quite merged the Control Panel and the Settings screen, so, unlike OS X, you don't have that seamless single System Preferences window where everything is extremely logically laid out and really gives comprehensive control that novice and advanced Users alike both appreciate. With Win 10, you have two main control screens, and each screen has both overlapping and unique feature controls. Another example is taking full advantage of the Start Screen, which I think is hard to do without knowing the two different locations where icon files are stored, and how you can create your own icons-->custom tiles representing documents, folders, shortcuts, executable commands, etc. Compared to OS X, there is more to it than there is with the Launchpad (but the Win 10 Start Screen has more capability IMO.) Diagnosing and solving certain problems require one to understand the Event Viewer. Further, unlike OS X, if the Maker of the hardware supplies crappy drivers, this can negatively impact the User experience, and this is largely out of Microsoft's control (except for their own hardware.) I do think that Windows 10 works best with touch screen capable computers.
At the same time, some of the things said about Windows are somewhat outdated. For example, Windows 10's need for "optimization" software is far less than previous iterations. The ChkDsk, SFC, and DISM functions on Windows are powerful tools for both preventive maintenance and for solving problems, and they do most of the functions that you previously needed optimization software for. When very bad problems strike, DISM can rebuild core operating files using a fresh .iso or .wim file, which can be useful over the nuclear option. In the future, when Windows switches to the ReFS (file system), the need for preventive maintenance may very well be drastically reduced (and, like the forthcoming APFS, should take advantage of newer developments since the implementation of HFS+ and NTFS.)
No different than Apple, Microsoft craps all over your privacy. Both Windows and Mac die hards love to talk about how bad the other is here, but both are pretty crappy in that they 'phone home' all kinds of things to the mother Apple and mother Microsoft. When you do the Win10 install, you can select 'custom' (or some option like that) and individually uncheck like 15 different check boxes to reduce the data that automatically gets phoned home. In some instances, this may require a reinstall on a computer that has Win10 already installed and setup, but this is a pretty easy process to do.
If you like whole disk encryption and are paranoid, you may want to delete your BitLocker Recovery Key off of Microsoft's server. If you are really paranoid (no differently than with Apple's FileVault 2), you might want to use Veracrypt instead of or in addition to BitLocker. It's free.
At one point I read that you cannot disable automatic updates with 1607. At least with Pro version of Win 10, you CAN permanently disable automatic updates (using the Group Policy editor and services.msc - I believe I read somewhere that the Win 10 Home versions cannot do this.)
I think it is also worth favoring NTFS and GPT over ExFAT and/or MBR for both OS and secondary storage drives alike (strangely, some new EFI-capable Win 10 machines come pre-installed with NTFS & Master Boot Record.) IMO if you need Mac-compatibility, go with FAT32, as ExFAT sucks.
IMO, where as with Mac you can have a seamless and very reliable experience without having to know a whole lot about the OS, with Windows 10 I think you need to know a little more about the OS in order to have a good experience. For example, Windows 10 still hasn't quite merged the Control Panel and the Settings screen, so, unlike OS X, you don't have that seamless single System Preferences window where everything is extremely logically laid out and really gives comprehensive control that novice and advanced Users alike both appreciate. With Win 10, you have two main control screens, and each screen has both overlapping and unique feature controls. Another example is taking full advantage of the Start Screen, which I think is hard to do without knowing the two different locations where icon files are stored, and how you can create your own icons-->custom tiles representing documents, folders, shortcuts, executable commands, etc. Compared to OS X, there is more to it than there is with the Launchpad (but the Win 10 Start Screen has more capability IMO.) Diagnosing and solving certain problems require one to understand the Event Viewer. Further, unlike OS X, if the Maker of the hardware supplies crappy drivers, this can negatively impact the User experience, and this is largely out of Microsoft's control (except for their own hardware.) I do think that Windows 10 works best with touch screen capable computers.
At the same time, some of the things said about Windows are somewhat outdated. For example, Windows 10's need for "optimization" software is far less than previous iterations. The ChkDsk, SFC, and DISM functions on Windows are powerful tools for both preventive maintenance and for solving problems, and they do most of the functions that you previously needed optimization software for. When very bad problems strike, DISM can rebuild core operating files using a fresh .iso or .wim file, which can be useful over the nuclear option. In the future, when Windows switches to the ReFS (file system), the need for preventive maintenance may very well be drastically reduced (and, like the forthcoming APFS, should take advantage of newer developments since the implementation of HFS+ and NTFS.)
No different than Apple, Microsoft craps all over your privacy. Both Windows and Mac die hards love to talk about how bad the other is here, but both are pretty crappy in that they 'phone home' all kinds of things to the mother Apple and mother Microsoft. When you do the Win10 install, you can select 'custom' (or some option like that) and individually uncheck like 15 different check boxes to reduce the data that automatically gets phoned home. In some instances, this may require a reinstall on a computer that has Win10 already installed and setup, but this is a pretty easy process to do.
If you like whole disk encryption and are paranoid, you may want to delete your BitLocker Recovery Key off of Microsoft's server. If you are really paranoid (no differently than with Apple's FileVault 2), you might want to use Veracrypt instead of or in addition to BitLocker. It's free.
At one point I read that you cannot disable automatic updates with 1607. At least with Pro version of Win 10, you CAN permanently disable automatic updates (using the Group Policy editor and services.msc - I believe I read somewhere that the Win 10 Home versions cannot do this.)
I think it is also worth favoring NTFS and GPT over ExFAT and/or MBR for both OS and secondary storage drives alike (strangely, some new EFI-capable Win 10 machines come pre-installed with NTFS & Master Boot Record.) IMO if you need Mac-compatibility, go with FAT32, as ExFAT sucks.
Last edited:
I use it every day, in fact I'll be booting my Mac into Windows 10 to start my work day. Windows has a lot going for it, and my work needs its much better then OS X. While I do enjoy OS X (and that offers some nice benefits), Windows provides a more robust system to work.
I also enjoy the flexibility, options and applications that can extend and enhance my workflow. OS X is fairly locked down and you cannot easily change how it looks or behaves.
Another advantage is the file explorer, not matter how you slice it, the file explorer is a better tool to navigating drives and directories.
Networking, is a lot easier and accessing networking resources is as simple as typing \\<some-server>\e$
No tool is perfect, but I find I'm more efficient in my day to day activities in Windows.
Stability, I find Windows as stable as OS X, no differences there, performance, I give the edge to Windows. Things seem to pop and return faster. I really don't play games, but the volume of games for windows vs. OS X, is like night and day.
Office is better in Windows, though MS brought the mac version near parity, but not quite. Also I use Skype for Business and the OS X version looks almost toy-ish compared to the windows version
I also enjoy the flexibility, options and applications that can extend and enhance my workflow. OS X is fairly locked down and you cannot easily change how it looks or behaves.
Another advantage is the file explorer, not matter how you slice it, the file explorer is a better tool to navigating drives and directories.
Networking, is a lot easier and accessing networking resources is as simple as typing \\<some-server>\e$
No tool is perfect, but I find I'm more efficient in my day to day activities in Windows.
Stability, I find Windows as stable as OS X, no differences there, performance, I give the edge to Windows. Things seem to pop and return faster. I really don't play games, but the volume of games for windows vs. OS X, is like night and day.
Office is better in Windows, though MS brought the mac version near parity, but not quite. Also I use Skype for Business and the OS X version looks almost toy-ish compared to the windows version
I first didnt like window 10, but later changed my mind after i saw it on a high res screen. In my opinion, it looks terrible with 1080p monitors due to poor scaling. Another thing that bothers me about windows in general is the lack of open source apps. Most free soft for windows is eiher adware or spyware.
Been using Macs since System 1.0 in 1984. - I still have the floppies.
Got tired of Apple's App downgrade cycle, and the absence of a decent new mini, so bought a Lenovo M900 tiny with Windows 10 a few months back. First time on windows since a brief flirt with Windows Vista (ick!)
Windows 10 is pretty nice. There's a learning curve, so best to give yourself a few months transition time.
You'll have to learn a new Terminal language, if you do that sort of thing. But overall the transition went smoothly. I've found over 90% of the functionalities I need, and some nice stuff my Macs don't have.
MUCH more bang for the buck.
Unless the Dell XPS 13 is somehow a horrible piece of self-immolating trash, I'd take your friends advice seriously.
Buy a big SSD and a decent set of speakers with the money you save.
Got tired of Apple's App downgrade cycle, and the absence of a decent new mini, so bought a Lenovo M900 tiny with Windows 10 a few months back. First time on windows since a brief flirt with Windows Vista (ick!)
Windows 10 is pretty nice. There's a learning curve, so best to give yourself a few months transition time.
You'll have to learn a new Terminal language, if you do that sort of thing. But overall the transition went smoothly. I've found over 90% of the functionalities I need, and some nice stuff my Macs don't have.
MUCH more bang for the buck.
Unless the Dell XPS 13 is somehow a horrible piece of self-immolating trash, I'd take your friends advice seriously.
Buy a big SSD and a decent set of speakers with the money you save.
Over two decades with the Mac, no issues here with Windows 10. Opted for Microsoft's Surface Book over the new MBP, as IMHO Apple no longer represents the value it once did. I rely on my system's as a significant component of my work therefore I always defer to the best hardware/software solutions.
Q-6
Q-6
It amuses me how people say Windows is faster than macOS. I did some tests, running Geekbench and Cinebench on both OSes on the exact same hardware and every time macOS did better in CPU tests.
With that said, I don't have any *major* qualms with Windows 10 and I think it's probably fine for most people but macOS works *really* well if you're happy working with Apple's ecosystem. The photos app is awesome in my honest opinion and I genuinely love Logic Pro X. I've yet to find a DAW I like as much.
With that said, I don't have any *major* qualms with Windows 10 and I think it's probably fine for most people but macOS works *really* well if you're happy working with Apple's ecosystem. The photos app is awesome in my honest opinion and I genuinely love Logic Pro X. I've yet to find a DAW I like as much.
I have had a Windows virtual machine running in macOS since Windows 7 and have updated to each new version of Windows as they became available.
My primary purpose for the virtual machine is to run a very few apps that have not macOS equivalents.
I have not had any major issues with Windows other than a few hiccups during Windows updates. So far, Windows 10 has seemed fine. However, I'm still far more comfortable in macOS. Everything makes sense to me in macOS. I enjoy using macOS and only turn to Windows when I must. What it boils down to is personal preference...
My primary purpose for the virtual machine is to run a very few apps that have not macOS equivalents.
I have not had any major issues with Windows other than a few hiccups during Windows updates. So far, Windows 10 has seemed fine. However, I'm still far more comfortable in macOS. Everything makes sense to me in macOS. I enjoy using macOS and only turn to Windows when I must. What it boils down to is personal preference...