When replacing Windows 7 PC: Should you switch to Windows 10 or Mac?

[Brink]

If you're going to make a big operating system jump, should you stick with Windows, or move over to the Mac? David Gewirtz details the factors to consider.

As any Windows 7 user can tell you, Microsoft is getting more and more aggressive in pushing upgrades to Windows 10 from within Windows 7. Some of you may take advantage of the free upgrade, and some of you may be running on machines that don't support Windows 10 -- so you might opt to stay with Windows 7.

But what about those users for whom it's time to get a new machine? With the exception of some existing contracts or old inventory, you're pretty much faced with the choice of not only a new machine, but a new OS -- Windows 10. Given that you're going to make a big operating system jump, should you stick with Windows, or move over to the Mac?

From a pricing point of view, this isn't as far-fetched as it might initially seem. High end Windows-based ultrabooks are priced near (or even above) similarly equipped MacBooks and MacBook Pro machines.

Take, for example, the spiffy new Microsoft Surface Book. With a Core i5 (Microsoft doesn't specify processor speed!), 256GB storage, and 8GB of RAM, you're talking $1,899. A MacBook Pro with a 2.7Ghz i5 with the same storage and RAM is $1,499.

Sure, there are cheaper Windows machines, but if you shop for brand-name suppliers, the dollar difference isn't much (or may even give Apple an advantage). For the purpose of our discussion in this article, then, we'll skip any more discussion of machine price and move on to the other factors that should factor into your decision-making...

Read more: When replacing your Windows 7 PC: Should you switch to Windows 10 -- or a Mac? | ZDNet

 

[groze]

I read the article, I never understood why people get high end computers or like I call it high cost computers. If it is really do to gaming then they need to work on the programs to use less resources & memory. You can get new computers for under $600 U.S. and even cheaper refurbished ones.

 

[jonnyhillow]

It's extremely unfortunate that most PC's you buy new will have Win 10 on them , if i was to purchase a new PC i would put Linux Mint on it right away .

I also agree about not spending a lot on new computers , the only reason would be for high tech gaming , if your not into that you can get outstanding PC's for around $600.00 and most of the time less.

 

[lafnsu]

Not just for gamers

I create digital graphics with collaborative projects, and the need for higher end is there. I don't game at all but have always purchased or made gamer machines to suit my needs. Recently I purchased an iPad Pro and after that experience I'm pretty sure I will be migrating to mac when my 7 dies. I've already sold off my Windows 10 machine because it couldn't keep up with Creative Cloud updates, and email was a nightmare.

 

[ThrashZone]

I have thought about moving to mac
Not much freeware but paid for software if it has a mac version is often a tad cheaper than the win version.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I've been advising my non-computer-tech-savvy friends who need to upgrade or replace their computers with Macs simply because of how much M$ has changed for the worse in the past year.

 

[ThrashZone]

Yea I was thinking laptop wise macbook might be best :/

 

[UsernameIssues]

I point users to macs as well, but it is sad how Apple ignores security issues:

iPhone 'cookie theft' flaw took three years to fix, say bug finders

Angered by Apple delay, hacker posts Mac Java attack | JavaWorld

Opinion: Apple’s unforgivable DNS delay | Macworld

 

[z3r010]

Yea I was thinking laptop wise macbook might be best :/

I love my Macbook Air - It runs Windows 10 great

 

[ThrashZone]

lol That's not what I had in mind :roflmao:

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

in the past year.

In The Past Year?????? Since Vista!!!!!!!! :mad2::mad2:

Actually, Win 7 was an improvement over Vista until M$py started messing with it in the past year.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I point users to macs as well, but it is sad how Apple ignores security issues:

iPhone 'cookie theft' flaw took three years to fix, say bug finders

Angered by Apple delay, hacker posts Mac Java attack | JavaWorld

Opinion: Apple’s unforgivable DNS delay | Macworld

For non-tech-savvy people, Mac is the lesser of two evils.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Yea I was thinking laptop wise macbook might be best :/

I love my Macbook Air - It runs Windows 10 great

There's one in every crowd.

 

[plodr]

When 2020 comes, I'll pull the Win 7 computers off the internet as I did with the XP and 2K computers still in the house. We can still do work on each with the version of Office and WordPerfect Suite installed. There are printers attached so they can print anything we need.

The next bit of hardware I buy will be for internet use only. (We're senior citixens so don't have much need to do real work on a computer.) I don't need a Microsoft or Apple product to do that! I been testing a live linux distro called LXLE desktop on two different netbooks. I'll probably install that on one of the netbooks so my husband can surf. It comes with SeaMonkey and since he is used to FF and Palemoon, he won't notice much of a difference using SeaMonkey.

I already own an Android tablet. Surfing on a 7" tablet isn't good for days on end. Hopefully in the next 4 years google will produce a netbook running Android instead of ChromeOS. I might buy one of those.

 

[Cr00zng]

Yea I was thinking laptop wise macbook might be best :/

I love my Macbook Air - It runs Windows 10 great

There's one in every crowd.

Or two... I love my MacBook Pro with W8.1 running in VMware

 

[Cr00zng]

The article is pretty much fair with emphasis of the applications being the deciding factor in selecting the platform. One aspect that the article did not mention is the privacy management. While both the Windows and OSX provides interface for that, the interface for the MAC is nicely streamlined:



Windows 7, 8.1, 10 privacy settings on the other hand is a mess, with some of the telemetries being impossible to disable. While people going out of their way to do the impossible, most of them forget about doing the same for MS Office...

Note: MS Office 2016 and/or Office 365 for OSX do have built-in telemetry from Microsoft that virtually just as impossible to disable.

 

[clasof56]

dual boot

been reading posts....heres my take: keep win7 and set up a dual boot with linux mint. yeah, i know, linux, bah, humbug... but heres my experience...i love win7 and love my privacy so just dont like the path microsoft is going down. so i downloaded linux mint, burned it and installed it as a dual boot with win7. been slowly playing with it...i use Palemoon browser as i didnt like the ugly interface of the new firefox. palemoon works perfectly in linux mint. and i have it set up to look exactly like windows. it is faster in linux as most things are. but i think the cool thing with linux is that while you are in it, you can go to the files and folders you have in windows easily...open them or copy them...so easy. linux has come a long way and its just as fast and just as easy as windows...just takes a little learning. if you have a question all you do is google it and you have your answer right now. my email works the same, my movie and tv downloads work the same. my stock market stuff works the same..so i will be keeping win7 and playing with and learning linux. i keep my windows updates just turned off..and always run windows sandboxed. i do a macrium backup once a week (5min) and keep three images of it....i am online 7-8 hours a day and do everything and go everywhere...and never have any problems. i am not a nerd and am 72. i still value my privacy but so many younger people just dont think that it matters... good luck to all

 

[clasof56]

just an addition so users dont think i dont update. although i keep updates turned off, i check them at intervals. i look up each update and its reviews to make sure it is not a problem. then i install those that dont intrude on my privacy or are worthless to me as in win10updates or IE, which i havent used for a decade.

 

[lafnsu]

I point users to macs as well, but it is sad how Apple ignores security issues:

iPhone 'cookie theft' flaw took three years to fix, say bug finders

Angered by Apple delay, hacker posts Mac Java attack | JavaWorld

Opinion: Apple’s unforgivable DNS delay | Macworld

----------appreciate the links of information. Have any of these effected you personally?

 

[lafnsu]

Thanks for the responses, gives me food for thought! You're all very helpful!