non windows laptop?

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82116445#Comment_82116445

Depends what you define as "Magic" and certainly various EU court ruling demanding Apple opens up several features to non-Apple devices would suggest judges disagree with you.

Apple are never first to market with stuff, they didnt invent the smart phone or the tablet or the mp3 player but what they have done many times is take an existing product and make it significantly better and more desirable. Often others copy it after, sometimes after mocking it when it first comes out.

MacOS itself, personally I would say it's simply different rather than better than another OS. There are elements that I like, having the ability to tab between windows of the same application independently of tabbing through all applications windows and being able to select and copy text from within any image natively, there are others that are more frustrating like not having a simple one click button to maximise a window without it being full screen.

Apples main strength though is the vertical integration, the make all the hardware and all the OS so you dont have all the compatibility and pairing issues you'd have if you have a Dell laptop, an Acer desktop, an Android phone and a Apple Tablet.

Google have got some of the way there with their Fast Pair, but your limited to a Chromebook and there is no desktop option. Samsung not quite as close plus is something running on top of Android/Windows not native support as they dont own the OS

My business runs on Macs, about half our clients insist on us using their Windows devices. We end up raising at least 10 tickets for IT problems on the Windows machines compared to our Macs. Currently we have Microsoft Surface 8 laptops with Ultra 5 CPUs and they are terrible despite the £2,100 price tag

ididgetwhereiamtoday

If £300 to £400 is unaffordable then they can’t really afford a new laptop.
Used is their best optoon. But a used windows laptop is fraught with potential headaches.
I had a 2015 MacBook Air i7 8gb ram 256 gb SD from Amazon renewed several years ago, I think a I paid £320 for it, it was only a cup of tv spilt over it that killed the WiF/bluetooth card. I would still be using it now if I could even though it’s technically out of support as it is still suitable for basic computing. Much nicer than any new alternative for the money.
a similar machine is available from CEX for around £140 and comes with a 5 year warranty. I would have now hesitation in recommending this to anyone on a very tight budget.

finbaar

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82117737#Comment_82117737

Vertical integration or system lock-in, it's the same thing. And blaming the Windows machines for being not being compatible with Apple laptops is the wrong way round.

And how does the EU making Apple be more customer friendly means that they are "magic"?

GDB2222

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82118702#Comment_82118702

What do you mean by technically out of support, though? You mean that it’s not getting security updates, don’t you? So, it has unpatched vulnerabilities that are by now well known. That would, at best, severely limit what you can do with the machine.

TheComputerGuru

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82118702#Comment_82118702

For me it's not a question as to whether £300-£400 is affordable. It's whether you want to send perfectly functional (If you install a Linux flavour) to landfill!

chunter

I have an old Windows 98 disk, if they wan that.
Yes, Windows is now at least three OSs sandwiched together, and should be written again from scratch.
But the pace of the security / technology change is one excuse why it won't happen.

Ask the great Messiah that is AI. Maybe it'll build one from scratch.

zagubov

Being into gaming or using windows for work are reasons for sticking to windows.

Switching from one os to another isn't an even symmetrical process. I gather that when people switch systems it's more often from windows to mac than the other way round (and more often to mac than to linux).

People switch from macos to windows less frequently and to linux hardly at all.

If you want to learn from other people's experience (and this being a frugal website) you might consider looking for a secondhand mac which could be cheaper in the long run. You can even run windows software on it if you need to.

TheComputerGuru

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82119581#Comment_82119581

Don't touch Windows 98 with a barge pole if you need to surf the web safety.

TheComputerGuru

Good point I don't know of any Linux distros which are good for gaming.

QrizB

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82120225#Comment_82120225

Steam OS?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SteamOS