How hard is it to swap to MacOS from a lifetime Windows user?

[GhostRoadieBL]

my main uses are;

Media consumption - Kodi and my home Plex server

General office tasks - Microsoft Office, GoogleDrive etc

Occasional gaming - Final Fantasy/Mass Effect/Borderlands series's, Lego coop games on LAN, Jackbox series etc maybe a few hours a month.

3d Print Slicing with Cura, design on AutoCAD

Photo editing on Photoshop, Luminar and Lightroom

Video Editing in DaVinci

Organizing a sizable e-book library with Calibre

 

That's really 90% of what I do on the PCs in our house. I'll be keeping Linux on the media/file server and keep Windows on our laptops until the next upgrade cycle (probably 4-5ish years from now)

 

recently I've been eyeing M1 Macs with more envy looking at the performance/$ and size compared to our current setup. None of our systems have TPM chips and will be ready for upgrading right when Win10 is going to lose support so I'm planning ahead, save now buy later.

Definitely looking to downsize from 2x desktops+media mini-desktop, 2x "office work" laptops, and a Plex/File Server in the office to a pair of Macbook Pros and the server (and hopefully a miniPC type device for the living room) I know gaming will be a tough one for MacOS but I should be able to run a VM from the server to a miniPC in our livingroom.

 

 

all that lead-up out of the way,

how do some of these programs run on MacOS vs windows?

Is it intuitive setting up network drives?

How restrictive is the OS when using things like dual Ultrawide 1080p monitors from a laptop? Can I still use bluetooth keyboards and mice?

How's the 3d printing software experience with M1? Obviously Cura is out (M1 incompatible with OpenGL) if I can't slice there's a problem

AutoCAD on M1 only works through x86 Rosetta as far as I can find, is anyone using CAD 2022 on M1?

Is it easy to add drivers to MacOS? drawing tablets, webcams, streamdeck for macros?

Can you stream the games/programs like I do with Steam In-Home streaming for games through rosetta/Wine to another device so I can access games in the living room from the laptop in the office? we do this for local coop on the bigger screen. 

 

I understand this is a wall of text and some pretty niche questions so any advice would be great!

[Levent]

It took me a week of tinkering on and off after work. In fact, I can argue that it was smoother transition than from W7 to W8. My use case is very similiar and I am extremely satisfied with my M1 MBA. I got a Microsoft bluetooth mouse connected to mine. I use PrusaSlicer and it works perfectly. I also tried in home streaming and it works as good as on windows and linux. Setting up network drives is also easy, not sure what exactly you are asking there?

[GhostRoadieBL]

2 hours ago, Levent said:

not sure what exactly you are asking there?

I haven't had much experience with the file system of MacOS. On windows it's a couple clicks and I can map network drives to shortcuts on the desktop or in system folders, I expect it's the same for MacOS but don't know for sure

[Paul Thexton]

6 hours ago, GhostRoadieBL said:

I haven't had much experience with the file system of MacOS. On windows it's a couple clicks and I can map network drives to shortcuts on the desktop or in system folders, I expect it's the same for MacOS but don't know for sure

For shortcuts to network drives you can either simply drag the frequently accessed share/sub-folder over to the Favourites area in a Finder window, or you can right click and choose "Make alias" which will drop a shortcut on to your Desktop by default (you can then move that to where-ever you want it)

 

From your original post honestly I'd say the biggest stumbling block is going to be compatibility with games that you want to play. There are games available for Mac, but it's a limited selection compared to what you're used to on Windows and a lot will need to be run via Rosetta2 (don't worry, you just double click and the system prompts you to install Rosetta if it isn't already installed).

 

Over time any new game releases for Mac I would expect to be shipped with ARM native support, but I'm not expecting any pre-existing games to have ARM native support added unless they're still being actively patched/developed.

 

If gaming is a key requirement rather than a "nice to have", and you still want to migrate to Mac, I'd honestly recommend you keep at least one PC or buy an Xbox Series X/S for gaming.  Or maybe your intended "miniPC" buy could be a Beast Canyon NUC with a good graphics card in it for gaming.

 

[Kilrah]

For me the main issues I have with macos are:

- Finder is a pain to use / manage files with

- Multi-display handling is crap especially if they're mismatched/uncommon resolutions, had some solutions but they probably won't work on M1

- Apple has their own keyboard mappings so you may need tools to use standard keyboards and have access to all characters where you expect them

- Some "specialist" devices will not have hardware/software support

- Long term performance tends to go down, my 2016 macbook runs like absolute garbage on latest macos, i have Monterey, Win11 and Ubuntu installed on it and macos is by far the worst

- Considerations about repairability and upgrading, soldered everything etc...

 

It works but I've never found it pleasant to use, it's comfortable if you do things the "Apple way" and accept all their choices but there's a pretty big gap if you want tinker / tweak things to your liking.

[Paul Thexton]

43 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

- Apple has their own keyboard mappings so you may need tools to use standard keyboards and have access to all characters where you expect them

Is there no US-PC keyboard layout in the OS?
 

I’ve never needed to look for other country layouts, but there’s a built “British - PC” keyboard mapping that I use and works perfectly, I even use that layout on actual Apple keyboards because as a programmer used to using the # key regularly, I find it bonkers that only uk keyboards seem to have that as a primary key (I guess others may have it that I’ve not seen) rather than tucking it away as a multi keystroke character.

[GhostRoadieBL]

38 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

Considerations about repairability and upgrading, soldered everything etc...

This was a concern until I looked back on how many times I've had to open a build in the past few years once it was set up.

The major tinkering I've done has been correcting design flaws manufacturers keep cheaping out on. (cooling on the MSI prestige and cooling +ssd on the Huawei matebook) the towers get opened once a year for cleaning but the parts haven't been changed since they were built years ago, may as well be soldered in at this point.

 

The performance degradation is a concern, time will tell on the M1 chips and storage controllers for how well they keep the nand fresh. This has been my experience in windows slowing down with system files after a few years but keeping everything in the nas has kept the filesystem from getting bogged down with junk files on each system.

 

They really need to get multi-ultrawide working because I don't think my wife or I could go back to single screens even at higher resolutions.

[Paul Thexton]

I use an external display in conjunction with MacBook built in displays, never have any issues, but I have seen other complaints in the past where people say “it’s crap”, but since they never elaborate on what their issue actually is I’ve always just figured that I’m simply used to how macOS works so don’t even notice whatever frustrates other users.

[jde3]

On 4/17/2022 at 6:52 AM, Kilrah said:

For me the main issues I have with macos are:

- Finder is a pain to use / manage files with

- Multi-display handling is crap especially if they're mismatched/uncommon resolutions, had some solutions but they probably won't work on M1

- Apple has their own keyboard mappings so you may need tools to use standard keyboards and have access to all characters where you expect them

- Some "specialist" devices will not have hardware/software support

- Long term performance tends to go down, my 2016 macbook runs like absolute garbage on latest macos, i have Monterey, Win11 and Ubuntu installed on it and macos is by far the worst

- Considerations about repairability and upgrading, soldered everything etc...

 

It works but I've never found it pleasant to use, it's comfortable if you do things the "Apple way" and accept all their choices but there's a pretty big gap if you want tinker / tweak things to your liking.

For another perspective.
- Finder does suck. It sucks less then MS's Explorer but it still isn't as good as Thunar and Nautilus. (that do run, but need X11)

- Rando displays do sometimes suck. That being said the apple (or apple approved 5k ones) are superb. They have some of the best displays I've ever seen.

- Never had a problem with the keyboard. EN-US works great. It uses more hot-keys than windows does but you'll get use to that an like them.

- You'll want to check your hardware is supported. USB stuff like any OS it's particular to the vendor and if they support it.

- Repairability is terrible, however.. Apple support is pretty good. I've had a system replaced 3 times by Apple for free. No chance of that in PC land.

- Apple has vastly superior backups with Time Machine.

- There is more UI consistency in MacOS than in Windows. Even MS's own apps look alien to each other sometimes.

 

You aren't always limited to do things "the apple way" being Unix as I mentioned before it can run pretty much anything Linux can natively. Just install MacPorts or Homebrew and off you go. You can install all of KDE or XFCE if you wanted to.

 

There is some benefit to having one company make the hardware and the OS. With a PC you could have half a dozen different company's make the hardware and associated drivers and they don't always play well with eachother.. On Mac, updates are seamless, there are no driver conflict problems with the system, updates never break hardware support.

 

Apple even now would be more private than Windows. (Windows 10/11 is like a trojan.. the amount of data they collect is criminal, worse the OS contently nags you so it can collect more.) - Apple collects data too but it never nags you and nobody, not even Google collects more than Microsoft. Apple does not share the same ad generated revenue business model as they do so it does not make you the product they sell to their real customers.

 

It's not perfect... but it sucks less than other alternatives. All computers have problems but as someone who's worked in the tech industry for 30 years and used dozens of OS's (most you've never heard of) all I can say is.. it has the least amount of problems of any current system out there. If it fits your use case, you will spend less time in frustration.

[GhostRoadieBL]

10 hours ago, jde3 said:

- Rando displays do sometimes suck. That being said the apple (or apple approved 5k ones) are superb. They have some of the best displays I've ever seen.

this would be the major deal breaker for us, if we were to replace our current setup it would be ~$8000 in displays alone, I could go with standard form factor 4k displays but that's also in the $3000 range for native USB-C input and the one cable experience I am hoping for. The option of thunderbolt docks to display port ends up costing around the same as just buying displays and daisy chaining so it's a tough call if we can't keep the ultrawides and spend a full featured macbook pro worth on displays.

 

10 hours ago, jde3 said:

- Apple has vastly superior backups with Time Machine.

this would be a major bonus to swap to MacOS, Acronis has been great for just imaging the OS as a timed backup and it works well for our setup (never going to trust windows to get backups right) definitely eats disk capacity for breakfast but it's something I built the NAS around. From what I've researched FreeNAS and Time Machine work perfectly together and it would allow more stored backups compared to the image system I run now.

 

11 hours ago, jde3 said:

If it fits your use case, you will spend less time in frustration

that's the goal, just want a system that works whenever I turn on the computer. (and is fast enough to not get in the way)

[jde3]

The displays might not be as bad as you think. I've had 4k Dell displays and they worked just fine. If it's a standard monitor it's prob ok, but it's it a "odd gamer display" things but not be perfect.

 

Yeah, Time Machine can mount a time machine disk volume inside a NFS mount. For a business you'll want each user with it's own mount point and automount.. perhaps also a way to deal with stale file handles if they are mobile. - These are all NFS issues as it expects a persistent connection.. it does work well tho when you have one. CIFS might also be possible, I never tried.

[FUIT1985]

On 4/17/2022 at 1:18 AM, GhostRoadieBL said:

my main uses are;

Media consumption - Kodi and my home Plex server

General office tasks - Microsoft Office, GoogleDrive etc

Occasional gaming - Final Fantasy/Mass Effect/Borderlands series's, Lego coop games on LAN, Jackbox series etc maybe a few hours a month.

3d Print Slicing with Cura, design on AutoCAD

Photo editing on Photoshop, Luminar and Lightroom

Video Editing in DaVinci

Organizing a sizable e-book library with Calibre

 

That's really 90% of what I do on the PCs in our house. I'll be keeping Linux on the media/file server and keep Windows on our laptops until the next upgrade cycle (probably 4-5ish years from now)

 

recently I've been eyeing M1 Macs with more envy looking at the performance/$ and size compared to our current setup. None of our systems have TPM chips and will be ready for upgrading right when Win10 is going to lose support so I'm planning ahead, save now buy later.

Definitely looking to downsize from 2x desktops+media mini-desktop, 2x "office work" laptops, and a Plex/File Server in the office to a pair of Macbook Pros and the server (and hopefully a miniPC type device for the living room) I know gaming will be a tough one for MacOS but I should be able to run a VM from the server to a miniPC in our livingroom.

 

 

all that lead-up out of the way,

how do some of these programs run on MacOS vs windows?

Is it intuitive setting up network drives?

How restrictive is the OS when using things like dual Ultrawide 1080p monitors from a laptop? Can I still use bluetooth keyboards and mice?

How's the 3d printing software experience with M1? Obviously Cura is out (M1 incompatible with OpenGL) if I can't slice there's a problem

AutoCAD on M1 only works through x86 Rosetta as far as I can find, is anyone using CAD 2022 on M1?

Is it easy to add drivers to MacOS? drawing tablets, webcams, streamdeck for macros?

Can you stream the games/programs like I do with Steam In-Home streaming for games through rosetta/Wine to another device so I can access games in the living room from the laptop in the office? we do this for local coop on the bigger screen. 

 

I understand this is a wall of text and some pretty niche questions so any advice would be great!

For games and simulations Windows is better and irreplaceable. Apple is better for audio and video editors on laptops. For desktop computers it depends on the configuration. For example, professionals use Eizo monitors. For CAD you have to ask your colleagues directly and to  check personally the program gui.

[Guest]

On 4/17/2022 at 10:40 AM, Paul Thexton said:

Is there no US-PC keyboard layout in the OS?

there is a swap in system preferences, keyboard
but windows users need to know that for cntl-enter alt is option on macs.

i use both and hafta stop myself from basic key functions, which is something i will never get used to.

hoped this helped!

 

[DogKnight]

On 4/17/2022 at 9:18 AM, GhostRoadieBL said:

Is it intuitive setting up network drives?

How restrictive is the OS when using things like dual Ultrawide 1080p monitors from a laptop? Can I still use bluetooth keyboards and mice?

How's the 3d printing software experience with M1? Obviously Cura is out (M1 incompatible with OpenGL) if I can't slice there's a problem

AutoCAD on M1 only works through x86 Rosetta as far as I can find, is anyone using CAD 2022 on M1?

Is it easy to add drivers to MacOS? drawing tablets, webcams, streamdeck for macros?

Can you stream the games/programs like I do with Steam In-Home streaming for games through rosetta/Wine to another device so I can access games in the living room from the laptop in the office? we do this for local coop on the bigger screen. 

 

A few notes.

- Network drives are easy. Not a problem.

- Drivers just come down to vendor support. Just need to check vendor support pages for anything you need. 

- To stream to a TV, AirPlay will let you do this (essentially mirror the display), which is fine for media consumption but would introduce lag for gaming. Many modern TV's have the functionality built in, otherwise you could use an Apple TV. 

- You can use Steam Link to play your steam games on your mac from another system. This is one way I sometimes game on one of my macs. 

- As mentioned by others, there are some games for Mac, but search each game you intend to play to see if there a version for mac. 

 

- Haven't used dual monitors on my mac's before, but have used some ultrawides.

One model is a 2019 MBP. It connects to an OWC thunderbolt 3 dock. The dock has an Active Mini Display Port to HDMI adapter to connect to the monitors HDMI port. This allows me to drive the monitor (LG 34GN850-B) at 3440x1440 @ 85hz. The lower refresh rate than the monitor is capable of is due to the docks Mini-DP version from memory. 

I also have a M1 Mac Mini. Connecting that direct to a Gigabyte G34WQC via HDMI allows it to run at 3440x1440 @ 120hz. 

So the main thing to take into account with monitors is the port type and how much bandwidth you need to support your preferred resolution and refresh rate. 

 

[GhostRoadieBL]

On 5/8/2022 at 5:33 PM, DogKnight said:

M1 Mac Mini. Connecting that direct to a Gigabyte G34WQC via HDMI allows it to run at 3440x1440 @ 120hz. 

That's excellent news for my setup hopes.

It was one of the things which made sense but not many people confirmed that MacOS really does function the same on all their M1 devices. So far from what I have tested a mac mini sends to displays the same as a macbook. Especially through a dock, much easier than windows which seems to forget what a monitor is unless I set manual resolutions each and every time.

 

[DogKnight]

19 hours ago, GhostRoadieBL said:

That's excellent news for my setup hopes.

It was one of the things which made sense but bot many people confirmed that MacOS really does function the same on all their M1 devices. So far from what I have tested a mac mini sends to displays the same as a macbook. Especially through a dock, much easier than windows which seems to forget what a monitor is unless I set manual resolutions each and every time.

 

 

Glad to hear it. 

Apple always advertise multiple displays as being an option with their products. Main issue will always be port version and bandwidth. From memory, all HDMI ports on recent macs top out at 2.0. So using thunderbolt ports will allow you to drive higher refresh rates and resolutions as long as you invest in the proper adapters and cables. 

 

As another point of reference, my parents have a Mac Studio. They are using an Acer 39" display. Over HDMI it is running 2560x1440 @144hz from memory. Huge display but really good for their eyes. This model to be precise: https://www.scorptec.com.au/product/monitors/25plus-inch/95480-xz396qup

 

 

[Willa]

I've used 2-3 displays with my Macs at times and have not had issues doing that. Caveat: my nicest display is an Apple Cinema Display 30' which runs great using the Apple thunderbolt 2 adapter OR a $45 USBC thunderbolt 3 to dual link dvi adapter I found on amazon. The rest of my displays are 1920x1080 or 1440x900 and all worked fine even with adapters & usbc hubs. I don't have any 4K resolution or high refresh rate displays.

 

I think a big consideration for display support is knowing the amount of supported displays at what resolutions for your Mac, and how you're doing the cable adapting OR converting for those displays to plug in to your Mac. Additionally, how much bandwidth each video out port (including Thunderbolt) on your Mac supports. E.g. you may be able to run the amount of 4K displays you want on some models, but only if you plug the monitors into the thunderbolt ports on opposite sides of the laptop (thus using different thunderbolt buses for older thunderbolt usbc Macs; I don't think thunderbolt 4 USBC M1 and above Macs have this consideration but I could be wrong) due to bandwidth constraints using the same thunderbolt bus for too many peripherals.

 

Adapters are cables that simply change the digital signal of one display connector type to another digital display connector type. E.g. you can use a "passive" non-powered adapter to interchange between single link DVI-D or DVI-I (both support digital signals, but DVI-A is analog only), HDMI, or DisplayPort without issues. Dual link DVI-D is a special case and you may need a powered "active" adapter in that case, because of the higher resolution (up to 2560x1600) on that older standard whereas HDMI or DisplayPort don't sweat to push that resolution.

 

Converters are cables that actually change analog video signals into digital video signals and vice versa. These will often require a powered "active" converter, say if you want to convert from an analog signal such as VGA or DVI-A to any of the digital signals I mentioned above.

 

I guess there's also the consideration how different video cable adaptations and conversions may play / work with a thunderbolt dock or hub. My guess is that adapters will have better success rates in complicated setups than converters will, based on my limited experience running converted monstrosities like VGA monitor into converter then into HDMI hub that connects via USBC thunderbolt lol...

Hope that helps