Now that Windows 7 support has ended, many people are faced with a choice: Upgrade to a newer Windows version or switch to Mac? Whether an Apple device is something for you depends not so much on what you want to do with it, but more on your personal preference of use. A few years ago I switched from Windows to Mac myself. A choice I am very happy with! Read my experience below.
The Apple doesn't fall far from the tree
For me personally, Apple computers were not entirely new: My parents swear by Apple. As a professional photographer, my father has worn out several generations of Power Mac and PowerBook. My mother preferred to write articles and stories on her bright blue refurbished iMac . We even had a classic Macintosh! I was allowed to use it occasionally. So I was introduced to Apple's user-friendly operating system at a young age. When I was about to start high school, I got my own computer. Because Windows was used at school and I really wanted to play games like The Sims and Rollercoaster Tycoon that were not available for Mac, I got a Windows PC. A big, white-yellow refrigerator. With Windows 1998 and later 2000. During my high school period, I worked alternately on my Windows PC and my parents' Apple devices. When I went to college, I bought a 17 HP laptop with Windows 7, on which I also started editing videos and photos.
From Windows 7 to Mac OSX
There was no real reason to go for a Windows laptop instead of a MacBook. Okay, there was a bit: The price (because Leapp didn't exist back then)! Let's face it: a new MacBook is just expensive. My education didn't recommend a specific laptop. My friend had a good model from HP that I liked and that was also on sale at the BCC. For word processing, internet and some games it was perfectly fine! And after almost 2 years it also seemed to be able to handle graphic programs like Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Pro well.
As my laptop got older, it also got slower and slower. While my photo collages and videos became more complicated. The HP could handle these heavy tasks less and less well. I made a lot of videos together with a friend. In between classes we would sometimes spend a week editing. Rendering the video - the computer converts the montage of images into a movie file - also took longer and longer. Eventually we could easily watch an entire Disney movie if my laptop had to render 10 seconds of film! At a certain point that was no longer possible. In 2015 I therefore took the plunge and bought a MacBook Pro Retina 15". A size smaller and quite a few kilos lighter. What a relief! The MacBook Pro is really lightning fast. My Windows laptop has never been that fast. Editing photos and videos also became much easier and faster. My girlfriend and I were so used to doing something else for at least an hour while rendering the video, that we now had to consciously take our breaks. Rendering was done within 5 minutes on average!
My MacBook Pro does have more trouble editing very large video files such as 4K, which is four times larger than Full HD video (the standard video format). Still, I am generally very happy with my MacBook Pro. Editing 4K video and larger is more pleasant on a more powerful desktop computer such as the iMac or Mac Pro anyway. In addition, I mainly work with Full HD video on my MacBook Pro, so I do not experience any problems.
Why a Mac and not another Windows?
A new laptop would come with Windows 8 at the time. I was not a fan of this operating system. I found the interface in particular illogical and did not appeal to me. The choice of Windows devices is so large that I could no longer see the forest for the trees. Which one is and is not suitable for graphic editing? And I also simply did not like many laptops. I did not have that problem with Apple. Although you can also choose the processor, working and storage memory per device, the choice with Apple is more limited and therefore easier. The MacBook Air can take a lot, but the MacBook Pro is the device for when you work with heavier graphic programs and want to be mobile at the same time. I also think that the OSX operating system looks much nicer than Windows. It also works much better. The structure is more logical, simpler. And let's be honest, the MacBook Pro itself is also just a beautiful thing. All in all, I find Apple more elegant on the inside and outside than the often angular and somewhat clumsy Windows devices.
Conclusion: there is no accounting for taste
An Apple device is usually a bigger investment than choosing Windows, but Apple will also last longer due to its durable design and use of high-end components. In the past, the difference between Windows and Mac was much bigger. A lot of software was only for Windows. Microsoft Word ran on Mac, but if you opened a text file on Windows that was created on a Mac, the layout was often completely different. Very inconvenient if you had a large document with a lot of text and images.
Nowadays, the difference between Windows and Mac has become much smaller. A lot of software that only ran on one operating system is now also available for the other. We also use many programs online, such as Google Docs, where the operating system no longer matters. So you usually don't buy Windows or Mac anymore because you are going to use a program that only runs on one of the two, but based on your personal preference and budget. Although I can work with both, my personal preference is Mac. Buying a new MacBook Pro was a big investment for me, but I can use it for years. For now, I don't want to go back to Windows!
Do you also want to make the switch from Windows to Mac? But don't want to pay the main price right away? Then take a look at our complete, affordable range of refurbished MacBooks and discover the benefits of student discounts on MacBooks. Also consider our refurbished iPads for a more complete Apple experience!
