kona0197

Join Date 02/2003

+85

Adventures With MacOS

So earlier this year I bought a new desktop. Came with Windows 11. I quickly found out that I don’t really care for Windows 11. So I installed Windows 10/ everything worked great. However I know Microsoft is ending support for Windows 10 next year and I don’t wish to pay for more patches from Microsoft or any third party. So I starting thinking outside the box. I don’t want to learn how to use Linux. No flavor of Linux has ever worked for me. Steep learning curve. So I bought myself a cheap 2018 Mac Mini. This Mac has an Intel Core I3 processor, 8GB memory, and a 128GB SSD. Running the latest version of macOS. At first it was great. Everything else I own is an Apple product so to integration was cool. However I missed my games and other Windows apps. So I tried installing Windows 10. It worked out fine. You could tell that a Mac wasn’t quite made to run Windows. Everything was a bit laggy. And my whole point in buying the Mac was to try something new. So I did a fresh install of macOS 15. And ever since then I haven’t used the machine. Just can’t get used to the way macOS works.

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Your Mac-mini detour echoes my own OS hopscotch: cut my teeth on MS-DOS, laid out high-school yearbooks on a set of four Beatle-named beige Macs (Ringo, John, Paul and George) then spent years shuttling print files between both worlds. I still default to Windows—compatibility is king—but I miss macOS’s application structure, its easy system font management, and the way ColorSync keeps images honest. My biggest hurdle is muscle memory: Cmd-versus-Ctrl swaps and Finder’s take on file paths.

If gaming is the pain point, maybe a streaming service (GeForce NOW, Xbox Cloud) or a Parsec link to a Windows box can save you a reboot. Boot Camp on an external SSD is another “both worlds” fallback that keeps the internal drive clean.

What macOS quirk is tripping you up most—shortcuts, settings, or the app ecosystem? And for anyone who ping-pongs between OSes, what single tweak or mindset shift finally made macOS click?

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Chasbo

Join Date 01/2005

+987

So I used to work in the newspaper business. During my long career I had to learn how to use Macs and Windows PC's. What I always tell people is that a computer is a computer. I like Windows better because it's more customizable. I use Stardock products. I also use Rainmeter and Rainlendar2.

Both of those computers have a lot to offer. Once you learn how to use both systems it isn't that hard to go from one to the other. That's my experience.

I bought a used Mac just so that I could use both but I found that the Mac was just collecting dust so I gave it to my daughter. She quickly learned how to use the Mac. She had always had Windows computers. She likes it.

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DrJBHL

Join Date 04/2002

+4123

Always wanted to try a Mac, but never had one available to play with.

Now I wonder if it's really worth it because I'm thinking of abandoning Ps...dissatisfied/angry with Adobe's nonsense.

I'll probably end up going with a tablet...maybe an iPad.

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Its funny oftentimes..

A Mac user loves Apple and dislikes Microsofts

A Windows user dislikes Microsoft, but dislikes Mac even more

A Mac just works but at the cost of software / hardware freedom and flexibility

A Windows OS kind of doesn't work, but with the software / hardware flexibility you can make it better regardless of what Microsoft is trying to do.

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Jafo

Join Date 03/2001

+1830

Quoting PhoenixRising1,

reply 4

A Windows OS kind of doesn't work, but with the software / hardware flexibility you can make it better regardless of what Microsoft is trying to do.

In spite of ....

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In the late 80's into the mid 90's, I used the Mac exclusively. Mac was a different beast back then. The UI was similar to Windows during that time period, but the CPU architecture was RISC instead of 8086.

As far as reliability goes, a total system crash at least three times every day was normal. So many times I lost work since most software didn't offer auto-save and I would forget to save.

The UI is so different now, I'm not sure I could easily jump back and forth between Windows and Mac.

I believe most of the new Mac's run on an Apple proprietary ARM chips, which seems to be the direction personal computing is headed. Once the major software vendors offer native ARM compatibility, the industry will make the switch.

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kona0197

Join Date 02/2003

+85

So after following a few tutorials I actually managed to get Windows 11 installed on the Mac. Runs flawlessly. Very stable. A bit more stable then Windows 10. I even managed to get my old games to run on the Mac, even a few of the new ones.

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