Mac OS Experience: The Good, the Bad, and the Gaming

Summary: A four-year Mac user reflects on their experience switching from Windows, highlighting the excellent hardware, impressive battery life, and generally positive software experience, while acknowledging drawbacks like gaming limitations, minor software annoyances, and high price.

Highlights:

Hardware: Excellent build quality, great displays, amazing speakers, nice keyboard (though the large touchpad can be problematic on 16-inch models), great webcam and microphone, convenient fingerprint scanner.
Battery Life: Fantastic standby and active battery life, especially with Apple silicon.
Software: Intuitive trackpad gestures, powerful Spotlight search, consistent menu bar, good overall user experience.
Gaming: A major weakness, with limited game support and reliance on translation layers for some titles.
Other: Minor software annoyances like scrolling inconsistencies, limited window management customization, and lack of a good volume mixer. High price and lack of upgradability are also significant drawbacks.

Detailed Notes:

Background: Lifelong Windows user (98, XP, 7, 10, 11) switched to Mac in 2021 (MacBook Air M1, then 16-inch MacBook Pro M3 Max).
Hardware:
- Build quality: Premium feel, all-metal construction.
- Display: Great IPS panels, 120Hz on Pro models (60Hz on Air).
- Speakers: Front-facing, excellent sound quality.
- Keyboard: Good typing experience, but the large touchpad on the 16-inch model can lead to accidental clicks.
- Webcam/Mic: 1080p webcam, clear microphone.
- Fingerprint scanner: Fast and secure login.
- Price: Very expensive, especially the high-end models. Non-upgradable and difficult to repair.
Software:
- Dock and Launchpad: A different approach than the Windows Start Menu, designed for touchpad use but works well with a mouse.
- Menu Bar: Consistent access to app settings.
- Trackpad gestures: Intuitive and useful.
- Spotlight Search: Fast and efficient, prioritizes local files and settings over web searches.
- Minor annoyances: Dock moving between multiple monitors, limited window management, lack of customization options, no good volume mixer, reverse scrolling issue with external mice.
Gaming: Major drawback. Limited native game support, often requires translation layers like Wine or Parallels, impacting performance. Some games don't work at all.
Overall: Positive experience despite the drawbacks. Hardware and battery life are exceptional. Software is generally good, with some minor annoyances. Gaming is a major limitation. High price is a significant barrier. A good choice for users who don't game and prioritize hardware quality and battery life.