moving back to windows

[Cape Dave]

FYI I have found Win 11 to be the best OS I have ever used. Bar none. Rock solid and I know how to use it. My Phantom Canyon is a BEAST. SILENT, fast. I have a Air 15 and love that, but only use it when I travel, which is rarely. I use a mouse, so no thoughts about trackpads here. Even on a laptop, I use a mouse if possible. That said, I could not and would not use it without Start11.

 

[Technerd108]

Oh, there surely may be some. The problem for me was, how to find one ? It's a crap shoot, and it's almost like you have to try until you find, which is rather problematic with devices that cost over a grand each. The sellers don't really like people to keep trying the laptops until they find one that works for them, especially since you pretty much have to install everything and use it for a couple weeks to really evaluate the laptop.


Thank you.

This is a very good unit for the cost. It often goes on sale for $799 or $699. For the sale price it is a steal and for the MSRP it is a decent value.

ASUS Zenbook 14X 14.5" 2.8K OLED Touch Laptop Intel Evo Platform i7-13700H 16GB Memory 512GB SSD Inkwell Gray Q420VA-EVO.I7512 - Best Buy

Shop ASUS Zenbook 14X 14.5" 2.8K OLED Touch Laptop Intel Evo Platform i7-13700H 16GB Memory 512GB SSD Inkwell Gray at Best Buy. Find low everyday prices and buy online for delivery or in-store pick-up. Price Match Guarantee.

www.bestbuy.com

Other models I would suggest are the Samsung galaxybook 3 360 like this,

Best Buy: Samsung Galaxy Book3 360 2-in-1 15.6" FHD AMOLED Touch Screen Laptop Intel 13th Gen Evo Core i7-1360P 16GB Memory -512GB SSD Graphite NP750QFG-KA2US

Shop Samsung Galaxy Book3 360 2-in-1 15.6" FHD AMOLED Touch Screen Laptop Intel 13th Gen Evo Core i7-1360P 16GB Memory -512GB SSD Graphite at Best Buy. Find low everyday prices and buy online for delivery or in-store pick-up. Price Match Guarantee.

www.bestbuy.com

You can find the galaxybook on sale often as well.

 

[MBAir2010]

is Lenovo good anymore?

I was looking at the Dell XPS 2023 13" base model Saturday for $699 (I think)
and remembered how happy I was using that in 2019 until 2021 approached.
that laptop was beautiful, incredible screen and did everything with Wid10 and linux mint.
just the USBc port broke and the battery situation was a horrendous 3 months of tennis emails with Dell.

if one gets that model, they should use an external hub or port for relieving stress on the XPS.

 

[1BadManVan]

is Lenovo good anymore?

I was looking at the Dell XPS 2023 13" base model Saturday for $699 (I think)
and remembered how happy I was using that in 2019 until 2021 approached.
that laptop was beautiful, incredible screen and did everything with Wid10 and linux mint.
just the USBc port broke and the battery situation was a horrendous 3 months of tennis emails with Dell.

if one gets that model, they should use an external hub or port for relieving stress on the XPS.

Lenovos have been great, i know many with them, owned a few myself and my current gaming rig is a legion and its been flawless

 

[Technerd108]

is Lenovo good anymore?

I was looking at the Dell XPS 2023 13" base model Saturday for $699 (I think)
and remembered how happy I was using that in 2019 until 2021 approached.
that laptop was beautiful, incredible screen and did everything with Wid10 and linux mint.
just the USBc port broke and the battery situation was a horrendous 3 months of tennis emails with Dell.

if one gets that model, they should use an external hub or port for relieving stress on the XPS.

Lenovo makes some of the best hardware.

My personal experience may be different than popular opinion. I had a mother board failure on a babied Lenovo 7i 14" about 6 months after purchase. They fixed it and sent it back to me but I have never had a motherboard fail on any computer I have ever owned before then and I have been using computers for at least 30 years.

On top of that I tried to purchase a unit directly from Lenovo. Paid for it. Then a week later they said there was a delay. Then they said they could not fill my order and sent me a link to a more expensive unit. The sale I purchased was over and they would not extend the sale price on an exchange so I just had them refund me. Terrible customer service. Got conflicting information on several occasions.

All that being said if you don't have any issues they make very nice devices. The only thing to look out for is brightness and screen quality. A lot of times they have 300 nit screens.

I prefer HP or Asus. I have had a lot of HP laptops and even if I had a problem HP always took care of me.

 

[Heindijs]

I have completely left Windows behind me some time ago. I find it interesting how people can use the crapware, adware and spyware riddled Windows 11 on their work computers. W10 was already bad enough but at least you could still use W7 safely back then.
All of my computers are either running macOS or Linux, especially now with the direction Microsoft is taking the company. Letting a barely trained LLM loose in my work system seems like a terrible idea!

But power to you, I'm not gonna tell you not to use Windows. If I didn't have Macs I would also be forced to use Windows just because of my work.

 

[Lee_Bo]

When I was in IT I used both as I had to support both. Since retiring from IT, we are a 100% Apple household.

 

[LeeW]

I find it interesting how people can use the crapware, adware and spyware riddled Windows 11

If a Mac could do everything we needed it to do then fair but the reality is that Macs have plenty of issues that Windows does not. Just the same as Android vs iPhone. If Apple as a single supplier works for you then great but it's just not that simple for many of us.

 

[TPadden]

I find it interesting how people can use the crapware, adware and spyware riddled Windows 11 on their work computers. W10 was already bad enough but at least you could still use W7 safely back then.

I have no idea what you are talking about. 2 years on 2 Win 11 desktops and 3 laptops, not 1 ad, crap, or mal... Ad blockers in browsers, and email spam detectors work. There are valid pluses and minuses to all OS's but put down the Cool Aid.

Tom

 

[Heindijs]

If a Mac could do everything we needed it to do then fair but the reality is that Macs have plenty of issues that Windows does not. Just the same as Android vs iPhone. If Apple as a single supplier works for you then great but it's just not that simple for many of us.

I personally don't have any issues on my Macs or have come across something I couldn't do on Windows. I get that with gaming or whatever Windows is king. The thing is that Windows 11 is soon the only supported version of Windows and that scares me. A total mess and I don't know how professionals or companies are gonna put up with it.

I have no idea what you are talking about. 2 years on 2 Win 11 desktops and 3 laptops, not 1 ad, crap, or mal... Ad blockers in browsers, and email spam detectors work. There are valid pluses and minuses to all OS's but put down the Cool Aid.

Tom

Don't get me wrong, I haven't gotten any malware on Windows in last the years that I still used it but I meant that Windows 11 itself is basically spyware, adware and crapware in general.
Linux is more the replacement of Windows for me than macOS. Apple def isn't perfect.

 

[LeeW]

I get that with gaming or whatever Windows is king.

I mean if that's all you can come up with. If Apple alone works for you then great. I use a Mac and a PC daily. I use the Linux command line daily, would never recommend it as a desktop for all but a few. They all have their benefits and drawbacks.

 

[Technerd108]

I personally don't have any issues on my Macs or have come across something I couldn't do on Windows. I get that with gaming or whatever Windows is king. The thing is that Windows 11 is soon the only supported version of Windows and that scares me. A total mess and I don't know how professionals or companies are gonna put up with it.


Don't get me wrong, I haven't gotten any malware on Windows in last the years that I still used it but I meant that Windows 11 itself is basically spyware, adware and crapware in general.
Linux is more the replacement of Windows for me than macOS. Apple def isn't perfect.

You are saying that one of the largest used operating systems in the world is spyware. Obviously this is not true even in the slightest.

If fact, Windows with Windows security and defender are vastly more secure than even Windows 10 from a few years ago.

If you are conflating telemetry with spyware then it is possible that is where your mistake may lie. In Windows you can use the registry editor to add a key and make its value zero and now you have turned off telemetry. So now even Windows can be private.

I use multiple platforms. They all have advantages and disadvantages. When people come on here and just trash a particular OS and give some over used old excuse it shows that they have a rather extreme bias and maybe not as much experience as they think they have.

 

[Technerd108]

I have completely left Windows behind me some time ago. I find it interesting how people can use the crapware, adware and spyware riddled Windows 11 on their work computers. W10 was already bad enough but at least you could still use W7 safely back then.
All of my computers are either running macOS or Linux, especially now with the direction Microsoft is taking the company. Letting a barely trained LLM loose in my work system seems like a terrible idea!

But power to you, I'm not gonna tell you not to use Windows. If I didn't have Macs I would also be forced to use Windows just because of my work.

Why did you come on a thread asking for advice on what windows laptop to buy and you trash Windows OS? Why?

Obviously the person asking about what Windows laptop to buy on a Mac oriented forum probably already knows the advantages and disadvantages of both.

I wouldn't go on a thread asking what Mac to get and start trashing MacOS?

I just don't get it. I don't really care what OS anyone uses beyond my own personal preferences which don't really have anything to do with the question at hand?

 

[Technerd108]

Just a final word on Windows 11. When it first came out I pretty much hated it. Just lipstick on a pig. Same thing Microsoft does every new release. Now that Windows 11 is more mature I have gotten to appreciate it more.

I used to prefer using MacOS because of the aesthetics as much as the way it worked. I am not ashamed to say I loved to just look at and be in MacOS environment. Recently I have found that I am enjoying Windows a lot more than in the past.

Microsoft still after all these years has a lot to consolidate and fix. Microsoft has to get rid of a lot of legacy code. Microsoft needs to update the internals like file system, kernel, and get everything organized in one place for God sakes.

That all being said, Windows is extremely stable, fast, reliable and is starting to look more polished. Windows is far more secure than it has ever been which was a major pain point in the past. You have the largest software library available on any operating system in the world. You can control aspects of the operating system through the registry and other methods that are not possible on MacOS.

MacOS and all Apple products work better together than Windows alternatives but you can get similar functionality with Windows.

No operating system is perfect but when you buy a Windows laptop or desktop you can also use Linux. You can use Linux in Windows or you can install Linux along side Windows. You can wipe Windows completely off the drive and use Ubuntu Linux. You can't do that with a Mac. So although there are cons to Windows there is more freedom with the hardware.

I can buy a really good Windows laptop for around $800-1000. The hardware on said laptop is not as nice as a MacBook in every way but in some ways is better. OLED touch screen at 2.5k resolution, fast processor, 16gb ram and 512gb SSD. All aluminum construction. I can use this as long as I can put a supported version of Windows and when that stops I can use Linux indefinitely.

Alternatively I can get a decent M2 MBA with similar specs for around $1500 after taxes. It will be supported by Apple until they decide to stop which is also generally a long time. Extending that time with Linux is doable but not as easy. So it is possible that you get as many years of use as Windows but that is dependent on Apple.

So I can get a laptop that is at least equal to the MBA for several hundred dollars less. It can do everything a Mac can do.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

is Lenovo good anymore?

I've purchased several Lenovo's after they took over the IBM PC line. A few years ago I purchased a ThinkCentre mini PC and the thing is built so a 5 year old can take it apart and it has been super reliable. I'm currently running Ubuntu on it.

 

[Silvestru Hosszu]

I've been mac laptop and windows desktop for at least 15 years, excepting the butterfly keyboard era.
Since last spring when for 2 months I spent more time rebuilding indexes then working, I went all in mac.
To be honest, I prefer windows when it is working properly, but it seems that I draw the short stick regrading windows.
Most of my colleagues and friends have no issues with win 11. I had no such luck.
My IT specialist told me at the end (after 2 installs from scratch) that maybe it is not such a bad idea to go all in mac.
I kept a windows laptop and android phone for the rarish occasions when windows is a must.

 

[1BadManVan]

I've been mac laptop and windows desktop for at least 15 years, excepting the butterfly keyboard era.
Since last spring when for 2 months I spent more time rebuilding indexes then working, I went all in mac.
To be honest, I prefer windows when it is working properly, but it seems that I draw the short stick regrading windows.
Most of my colleagues and friends have no issues with win 11. I had no such luck.
My IT specialist told me at the end (after 2 installs from scratch) that maybe it is not such a bad idea to go all in mac.
I kept a windows laptop and android phone for the rarish occasions when windows is a must.

Sorry to hear about your bad luck, ive had a great experience so far on windows 11 for my desktop, but it's mainly for gaming, not work. Not sure if it's something your specific use case just doesn't agree with. but ive now been running the Mac laptop and windows desktop for the last 6 months and have been very happy with this combo.

 

[bousozoku]

I her good thing about Lenovo think pads and any one any experience with Asus what the word on them good bad ?

I've had Lenovo, ASUS, and HP and I would rather have ASUS than any other brand for Windows.

However, I have an ASUS ZenBook Pro with OLED display, Ryzen 7, and Nvidia 3050 Ti. It was about the same price as my M1 MacBook Air.

I would not choose another HP product at all. The Lenovo Flex 3 had a dual-core i7 but was so weak that it was barely useful.

 

[Silvestru Hosszu]

Sorry to hear about your bad luck, ive had a great experience so far on windows 11 for my desktop, but it's mainly for gaming, not work. Not sure if it's something your specific use case just doesn't agree with. but ive now been running the Mac laptop and windows desktop for the last 6 months and have been very happy with this combo.

Yes, it is strictly work related.
I am a managing a law firm and we are working with thousands of documents. When windows messes up the file indexing it is much harder to find a particular document. Same story with emails.
So, when indexing went down the drain 3 times in 6 weeks it was very unpleasant.
We had indexing issues before, usually once or twice very 2-3 years, which was manageable.
So far no issues on MacOs.

 

[bjbjearbuds]

I think the operating experience of Apple computers is very poor

 

[seggy]

FYI I have found Win 11 to be the best OS I have ever used. Bar none. Rock solid and I know how to use it. My Phantom Canyon is a BEAST. SILENT, fast. I have a Air 15 and love that, but only use it when I travel, which is rarely. I use a mouse, so no thoughts about trackpads here. Even on a laptop, I use a mouse if possible. That said, I could not and would not use it without Start11.

I had to check this post for satire vibes because after 10 (and we're talking even comparing with the initial period of it), Windows 11 feels like a forever work in progress. Explorer, one of the foundation parts of Windows, is still an absolute disaster at it's core and just keeps on getting new stuff tacked onto it instead of fixing what got broken with the move to 11.

 

[seggy]

I've had Lenovo, ASUS, and HP and I would rather have ASUS than any other brand for Windows.

However, I have an ASUS ZenBook Pro with OLED display, Ryzen 7, and Nvidia 3050 Ti. It was about the same price as my M1 MacBook Air.

I would not choose another HP product at all. The Lenovo Flex 3 had a dual-core i7 but was so weak that it was barely useful.

It's probably because you have an "if Windows, value" mentality which precludes you from buying any actually well built machines.

My stash is pretty much entirely HP/Lenovo, barring the occasional Asus in a non-pro role.

 

[bousozoku]

It's probably because you have an "if Windows, value" mentality which precludes you from buying any actually well built machines.

My stash is pretty much entirely HP/Lenovo, barring the occasional Asus in a non-pro role.

Well, the Omen by HP worked well enough but the hinge on the left-hand side was crooked, which made opening and closing more difficult than it needed to be and it looked as though it was something they should have rejected.

The ASUS ZenBook Pro is built as well as any from Apple I've had, including a PowerBook G4, MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air.

I really haven't wanted to buy any Windows machine over US$2000.

 

[Cape Dave]

I had to check this post for satire vibes because after 10 (and we're talking even comparing with the initial period of it), Windows 11 feels like a forever work in progress. Explorer, one of the foundation parts of Windows, is still an absolute disaster at it's core and just keeps on getting new stuff tacked onto it instead of fixing what got broken with the move to 11.

I meant every word. I also will qualify that I would not use WIn11 without Start11. That puts the menu back to Win7 days. Best menu ever!

 

[seggy]

Well, the Omen by HP worked well enough but the hinge on the left-hand side was crooked, which made opening and closing more difficult than it needed to be and it looked as though it was something they should have rejected.

The ASUS ZenBook Pro is built as well as any from Apple I've had, including a PowerBook G4, MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air.

I really haven't wanted to buy any Windows machine over US$2000.

I guess if you haven't bought it, you wouldn't know what you're not getting ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
All of my Asus's are over that and I'd say they're *ok* in that respect compared to my Thinkpads and Z's.