Key takeaways
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The Mac Mini is efficient and quiet, making it perfect for heavy workloads and multitasking. It never heats up and remains silent.
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macOS puts the user first, without intrusive features or ads. It prioritizes what you want to do, not what Apple wants you to do.
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The integration between iPhone and Mac is seamless and no third-party apps are needed. Messages, photos, FaceTime, and app transfer work effortlessly between devices.
My everyday computer is a Surface Laptop Studio. I love Windows 11, and always will, because it’s one of the best operating systems for productivity thanks to features like Snap Layouts and the ability to run Android apps, and even apps like PowerToys. I’ve visited these topics before when I highlighted 5 reasons why I hate macOS so much that I avoid using my M1 Mac Min, but it’s time for a follow-up. You see, there are also 5 reasons why I love using my excellent Mac on my Surface, and many of them have to do with macOS itself, although some of them are also hardware dependent.
5 A Mac Mini is much more efficient than a Windows PC
And incredibly quiet.
Every time I go home and use my Mac Mini, there’s always one huge thing I notice about it. The Mac is so efficient and super quiet. Sometimes I wish I could say the same thing about my Surface. In my busy workflow, where I’m always opening a ton of tabs in Chrome and Microsoft Edge, my Surface starts letting me know when I’m pushing it too far. The fans will turn on loudly and I will notice some web browser tabs going into sleep mode. None of this happens on my Mac Mini. The Apple Silicon is so efficient, and even if I open all the apps at once in my dock, open a virtual machine on top of a web browser, and dive into Photoshop to edit something while working on a review , the system never heats up once. up. It’s very quiet.
4 There are no “ads”
macOS puts the user first
As I’ve explained before, Microsoft has become a little too aggressive lately with advertising on Windows and its products. The company is banking heavily on AI by integrating Copilot into Windows and even the Microsoft Edge web browser. For some people it’s useful, but for me I find it annoying, because it’s something I never or rarely use. Like the pre-pinned partner apps you’ll see in the Windows Start menu, it sometimes feels like it’s in the way.
Of course, you can turn it off via Settings, but that’s a big difference from what I got with my Mac Mini. There are no intrusive features like this on macOS. Safari, for example, doesn’t have any of the intrusive in-app shopping features or even any indication that Siri integration exists. Apple never pins partner apps to your dock for you to use. macOS puts you first, what you want to do, not what Apple wants you to do.
3 iPhone integration is much more seamless
While complaining about why I hate macOS so much that I don’t use my Mac Mini, I pointed out that not all iPhone notifications sync or appear on a Mac. This is something you can do better with apps like Intel Union or Microsoft Phone Link on Windows 11. With these apps, every notification from every app on your iPhone can sync with your PC, but it’s still not as transparent as what Apple does. accomplished.
If you own an iPhone like me, as well as a Mac, the experience is amazing, with no third-party apps needed to switch from an iPhone to a Mac. All my messages live in the iMessage app, all my photos live in the Photos app, I can use FaceTime directly on my Mac, and I can even transfer apps from my iPhone (like Edge) to my Mac’s dock. Don’t forget that I can also Airdrop files from my iPhone to my Mac, instead of having to manually copy them via the cloud or OneDrive. Much of this convenience sometimes tempts me to just put my Surface away, especially since I drive an iPhone daily.
2 macOS is just different
It’s a beautiful sight for sore eyes
Another reason I love booting up my Mac has a lot to do with the feel of macOS. Although you can install programs like Start11 on Windows to make Windows look different than how Microsoft offers it, I still feel different when I use my Mac. After years of using Windows, this is a great thing to see.
The dock at the bottom of the screen on macOS is simply inviting, with all the apps I use daily right in front of my eyes, without needing to go to the Start menu or overflowing with apps in the taskbar. Hell, features like widgets on macOS also work better than on Windows, blending seamlessly into the desktop without needing to place them in a separate space filled with ads and news. Sure, other things like multitasking don’t work as well as Windows, or even things like sideloading apps, but the visual basics are still what gets me.
1 I love iMovie
…And other apps in Apple Inbox
Sometimes I love to edit quick movies and videos on my computer. On my Windows PC, the application I use to do this is Wondershare Filmora, a paid software. I tend to gravitate toward this paid app because it’s a lot like iMovie on macOS, with a simple, easy-to-understand user interface. Even when I’m not using Filmora, I tend to use Microsoft’s video editing app, Clipchamp, but it’s a headache to manage as it’s entirely cloud-based and requires an internet connection to function.
All of this leads me to say that on Windows, no one does it better than Apple with iMovie. You saw, I compared Filmora to iMovie, because that’s what iMovie is for. This is one of the best movie editors for amateurs like me because it’s so simple. Nothing beats the original. And even beyond that, Apple also offers other solid inbox apps. I like how you get Apple’s version of Microsoft Office (Pages and Numbers) for free on a Mac. I use these apps from time to time and, well, they work, even if they’re not as feature-rich as Office itself. Even the Mail app is better than Microsoft’s Outlook app, offering features like the ability to protect email activity by hiding IP addresses and nifty features like tracking suggestions.
The Mac vs. PC debate will still rage
I’ve looked at both sides of the aisle in this still-ongoing debate between macOS and Windows, but things will always rage on. macOS has its fans, just like Windows. Yet, as someone who uses both, I still see some areas where both operating systems have strengths and weaknesses. That’s why it’s always fun to switch from a Mac to a Windows like I do.