As a keen computer user I treat myself to flagship hardware, look after it, and upgrade infrequently. I’ve made some bum choices by trying to compromise on cost but keep power.
When my trusty Vaio powerhouse started having issues which I was unable to fix I decided it was time to splash out again.
I had been using a Microsoft Surface for work and was very impressed with the little thing. But there were some issues: the trackpad was barely usable, and it was quite difficult to use on a lap. These things should have been offset by it being a touchscreen – but I don’t actually like touching screens. Also Windows would be quite fussy about which actions were performed by touch rather than the mouse (scroll versus select). And whilst it had a high pixel density screen, Windows didn’t seem to know how to make the most of it. Some older software scaled, but others didn’t. That which did sometimes looked fuzzy. And when attaching a second (lower resolution screen), it got even more confusing.
I thought I’d do a lot of work in tablet form (diagrams, handwriting, etc.) but it really didn’t work out for me – not least because there was nowhere to keep the stylus. Having given it a fair shot I decided that I didn’t need a tablet. But a touch-screen laptop – that could be a good compromise? I looked at the transforming laptops. I was especially keen on the SurfaceBook, but didn’t trust the OS to handle that any better than the issues I’d faced on the Surface.
Long story short I visited an Apple Store for the first time ever, had a long and technical conversation with a helpful guy who demonstrated to me that my favourite personal workflows (I am a keen keyboard user) would all transfer well to the Mac, or even be improved on it!
I bought a MacBook Pro. It is amazing. It is the first time I’ve felt happy using a *nix-y OS. Despite fearing that this would clip my wings and deliver me a more basic user experience I actually found that a wealth of customisations opened up to me. I felt more in-control than I ever had with Windows. And I started to “get” some things that had previously been alien to me as a Windows developer.
But I hedged my bets, of course. I installed Windows 10 in a Bootcamp partition. I purchased Parallels so that I could run Windows in a VM. It even allowed me to run my Bootcamp partition in a VM, which meant that I had a single Windows install which I could run natively or virtually side-by-side with MacOs. Here’s MacOs – four-fingered-swipe – and here’s Windows, da-daaaah.
But when Windows ran I heard the fan – a lot. I never hear the fan when running MacOs. And I tended only to boot into Windows so that it could update – which was always. Part way through the last raft of Windows updates, and with the fan drowning out the tv, I switched it off.
Today I have used the breezily simple Bootcamp Assistant to restore my hard disk to a single Mac partition. Windows has gone, and I don’t think I shall even notice.
I am no Apple fan-boy. My phone is Android. I code C#. But my 2015-era MBP is the best computer hardware I’ve ever owned. And MacOs pisses all over Windows.
Then again, I was a reluctant Windows convert in the first place – due to the death of the Amiga. Maybe it was only ever going to be a temporary thing until I found my home again; and I’m only annoyed that it took me so long.
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