Should I switch from Apple to PC?

Achasanai

Just wondering what people's opinions on this are. I have a MacBook (from around 2009/2010) and it's on it's last legs. Would be in the market for something new, but no very little about RAM, processor, etc.

Ideally looking for something with a fair amount of storage (500GB-1TB), and would mainly be using it for basic work stuff (Microsoft type of stuff), internet browsing, watching things online, playing some basic enough games (Football Manager, that kind of stuff). Mobility would be key, as I would like to be able to bring it to work a fair bit. I could probably go to around 1400/1500 euro, but I imagine that that would be crazy money for what I want. With all the stuff that I am aiming for, I think it might be time to switch from Apple to PC.

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It's a case of personal preference. Apples or oranges!

TestLink

Achasanai wrote: »

Mobility would be key

What about Microsoft Surface Pro 4 (if you are going Microsoft way)?

Achasanai

TestLink wrote: »

What about Microsoft Surface Pro 4 (if you are going Microsoft way)?

Would you get the storage options with them? It seems to be around the 1400 for fairly basic storage with them

Riva10

Annabelle Careful Railroad wrote: »

It's a case of personal preference. Apples or oranges!

Surely Apples or PC

seamus

Curious as to why you feel the need for so much storage?

The trend at the moment is away from large storage formats, as most people realise that they don't need to carry huge amounts of data with them. For personal data like photos and videos that you might look at once a year, you're far safer keeping this in cloud backup, or a network media server at home rather than carrying it around on your machine.

For €1,500 you'll get a 256GB surface pro with 8GB RAM. Unless you work in an area that's storage-heavy like video or photo editing, 256GB should realistically be more than enough storage for doing some work and playing games.

If you were really pushed about having extra capacity (let's say you like to carry box sets around with you), you can get a compact 1TB external drive for next to nothing.

Achasanai

seamus wrote: »

For €1,500 you'll get a 256GB surface pro with 8GB RAM. Unless you work in an area that's storage-heavy like video or photo editing, 256GB should realistically be more than enough storage for doing some work and playing games.

If you were really pushed about having extra capacity (let's say you like to carry box sets around with you), you can get a compact 1TB external drive for next to nothing.

That's really great advice, thank you. I guess I'm just suspicious of the cloud 'services', where you have to pay a subscription for storage. But for some reason I didn't think about just getting a back up drive for those things like photos and so on (that, as you rightly say, you don't need constant access for).

The main reason is music, as I still have an iPod. It's one of the classic models, and it's a bit over half full. I guess if I moved photos and the like to an external drive, the memory you quoted would be enough for what I have (and what I will have) for the foreseeable future.

seamus

Cloud backup itself is perfectly fine and secure. But like you say, it's a hassle if you're having to pay a subscription. Or my current problem - having photos backed up all over the place - iCloud, Google Photos, home NAS, etc - means that I'm going to eventually have to consolidate it all together.

In that regard, the solution I continually tout to people is a private "cloud" setup. Basically you buy two NASes (hom media server) - put one in your house, and one somewhere else like a parent, friend or siblings house. Then sync them. If the other person wants to use the NAS themselves, then you have a two-way solution; his data is backed up in your house and your data backed up in his. Which provides fire, flood & theft protection for both of you, without a monthly subscription.

CalamariFritti

Just out of curiosity, why is it on its last legs? What model is it?
Often maxing out the RAM and replacing the harddrive with an SSD works wonders. Doesn't sound like you're actually doing anything demanding with it. I just passed a 2010 MBPro on to the OH and its the fastest laptop she ever had. Certainly flies through the internet and MS office etc. She loves it.

GreenFolder2

It's very much a matter of personal preference. Play around with Windows 10 before switching as you might like or hate it. Only way you can really tell is to use it for a while.

Both macOS and Windows 10 are very competent OSs with a wide array of commercial software available. Windows has a wider range of software available but macOS has a lot going for it in terms of just a very seamless and slick user experience, particularly if you're integrating with iPhones and so on.

Apple hardware is also generally very solid. It's overpriced some ways but its usually very well put together.

Also bear in mind Apple machines can easily run Windows or various flavours of Linux too so, you're not actually limited to just macOS

TimeToShine

The only reason I'd ever advise someone switching from Mac to PC is if they have financial issues or work requires it.

If you're willing to spend 1500+ euros and your first MacBook has served you well why switch? Pay a little extra and get either the 13' 512 GB or 15' 256 GB 2015 rMBP. Not to mention if you have an iPhone you're already in the ecosystem so it would make no economical sense to switch.

Just my 2c.

Alanstrainor

Achasanai wrote: »

That's really great advice, thank you. I guess I'm just suspicious of the cloud 'services', where you have to pay a subscription for storage. But for some reason I didn't think about just getting a back up drive for those things like photos and so on (that, as you rightly say, you don't need constant access for).

The main reason is music, as I still have an iPod. It's one of the classic models, and it's a bit over half full. I guess if I moved photos and the like to an external drive, the memory you quoted would be enough for what I have (and what I will have) for the foreseeable future.

There's no need to be suspicious of cloud services. Although I can see why there is a lot of confusion out there.

IMO (there's lots of opinions out there!) I would want one local backup (to external disk) and one cloud. The local backup would be to a NAS, or a USB external drive. And the cloud can be any service you choose. I use backblaze for system backups. And currently have Amazon for photo storage. The benefit of this system is that if your bag gets stolen with laptop, and external drive inside then you are completely stuffed. Or in a more extreme case where your house burns down you have lost all your data.

seamus mentions a plan of off-site storage at a parents house or similar. And this does work, but IMO it's too much work. If your parents internet goes down, and you don't backup incrementally you risk losing data. If something gets unplugged you may not notice.

Achasanai

seamus wrote: »

In that regard, the solution I continually tout to people is a private "cloud" setup. Basically you buy two NASes (hom media server) - put one in your house, and one somewhere else like a parent, friend or siblings house. Then sync them. If the other person wants to use the NAS themselves, then you have a two-way solution; his data is backed up in your house and your data backed up in his. Which provides fire, flood & theft protection for both of you, without a monthly subscription.

That's interesting, and would possibly encourage me to think twice about cloud services (I'm quite computer illiterate, as you may have guessed, so I'm making some assumptions about whether these things are cloud based. I'll probably have to do some fairly basic research).

CalamariFritti wrote: »

Just out of curiosity, why is it on its last legs? What model is it?

It's a MacBook from 'mid 2009'. It can barely take the latest OS, and the memory is fairly basic. It's mainly music files I have on it, but I have had to do a lot of deleting, and it's still giving me constant messages about being 'nearly full'. I know a clearing it would probably give it a boost, but it's really slow, and there have been some issues with it crashing lately.

The main reason for wanting to move away from Apple is that I feel I'm too tied in to their services, so when they pull certain things (like the headphone jack recently, and possibly a move away from USBs) I'm thinking it's a better idea to have more options.

The big issue I would have with this is switching my iPod over to a new system, and possibly losing all the data associated with the files. (And yeah, I'm aware that this might not even be an issue).

Alanstrainor wrote: »

There's no need to be suspicious of cloud services. Although I can see why there is a lot of confusion out there.

When I said 'suspicion', I probably misspoke. I really meant that I don't want to be paying a monthly subscription for something, when I could be saving to a hard drive or something like that. But I guess that might be a bit old fashioned at this stage. As I said above, I probably will have to do some research on cloud services.

I think I'm going to look into the Microsoft Surface, and compare with one of the cheaper Mac options, and see what might be best.

Thanks for everybody's help!