Why I switched from Windows to macOS

Simply put, Windows doesn't have what I need.

The Good

Before I talk about anything, Alfred is simply the most useful thing I've ever found in regards to anything technology related. It allows you to speed around the OS at the speed of light. I can't recommend it enough. I have the dock hidden on the left side of my screen to get more screen real-estate, and never ever activate it thanks to Alfred.

To elaborate a bit further about Windows, In general it is fine, it works well enough but when it doesn't work it's really frustrating. For example, every time I boot my Windows PC my microphone sounds like a robot and the only solution is to restart the Windows Audio service, and I'm not the only one with problems with the Windows Audio Service. I've had to make a script to restart it for others to use because it happens so often.

Generally, applications are less smooth on Windows. I'm reminded of this every time I update Signal. On Windows, it opens an installer that doesn't require any user input, and macOS just does it silently in the background. Why show popups and steal focus from what I'm doing if you can do it in the background? It's just minor annoyances like that, which really bothers me.

It also doesn't help that I'm fully in the Apple ecosystem. I have an iPhone, Watch, and iPad all from Apple, so the Mac just makes sense to add onto that. Being able to seamlessly send files back and forth with AirDrop, share clipboards with Universal Clipboard, share keyboard and trackpad with Universal Control, or use my iPad as a second display with Sidecar just makes for a really nice experience.

Most of the macOS default apps smash Windows. Does anyone even use the Mail app on Windows? The stock apps of macOS like Mail, Notes, Reminders, are all just plain better than their Windows counterparts.

Lastly, macOS being similar to UNIX is very nice when I work with Linux so often. Being able to just use UNIX tools natively without any workarounds (WSL) is just simply better.

The Bad

This doesn't mean I'm 100% happy with my choice.

Having to download a third party app to reverse the scroll direction on mouse/trackpad since they are the same setting in macOS is ridculous. I want to be able to scroll like Windows on a mouse, but like macOS on a trackpad. Yet you can't do that natively.

You also have garbage window management. Granted, the tool I use is free unlike other window management apps on macOS which is nice, and allows me to emulate the window snapping I'm used to.

While Windows doesn't have this functionality, neither does macOS so they both get a fail: the ability to adjust brightness of external displays. With macOS you have MonitorControl which just works with the macOS brightness popups too. With Windows, I've found that Monitorian works well enough.

Another thing that bothers me is the menu bar gets so cluttered with every background app in existence. While you can use Vanilla to hide apps behind a click to toggle, it's annoying you can't just change a setting to show/hide apps.

The worse sin of all, there's no individual application volume control. I can't state how annoying this is. The "Apple" way of computing applies here. (You need two applications at different volumes? Too bad.)

Conclusion

Simply put, I like macOS. There's plenty that annoys me but there's plenty that blows me out of the water. I didn't even talk about the blazing performance with the new M1/M2 chips. I have never once heard the fans on this computer, even while rendering Final Cut projects. The price is steep (especially if you factor in the whole ecosystem) but for me, it's worth it. I plan on keeping this laptop for years to come and I know it will remain a powerful workhorse.