This blog serves more like a therapy session, an admittance if you will, that I have tasted another fruit and I am so far liking it.

I have been a long term Windows desktop user for all my career, with Ubuntu as my goto work horse when developing. For the last 10 years (maybe longer if I think) I have ran Ubuntu via a virtual host (VMWare or VirtualBox). I like being able to quickly snapshot an instance incase I have to “edit/undo” on my whole OS.

There has always been that healthy rivalry with Apple machines – the classic PC vs. Mac debate. We’ve had many a spirited argument as those from the other side of the OS river try to convince that we in the PC world were living in the dark ages. As I look back on those, I have no regrets. There was a time that Apple was a more expensive option and wasn’t as polished.

I have been successfully working with my Windows/VMWare combination as my desktop with no complaints. I jump into Ubuntu desktop for the vast majority of my working day, all very responsive and snappy. Though this does not scale when going to a laptop. I have tried a number of options, and frankly, it’s been a compromise.

Then an opportunity presented itself. Jason, our diligent and ever loving Mac CISO, wore me down enough and advised that I just give it a go, since I was going to do an off-site and taking my desktop wasn’t on the cards, it seemed to make sense.

Jason’s big boast was the Mac’s battery life, he would often note how he could go for days without charge. It was never a worry. We in the PC world however, pretty much have to have the laptop tied to the wall ever time the lid is open. My presumption was there was a bit of exaggeration/show-boating going on, just to hammer a point.

Well, in a moment of weakness, I agreed, but only if Jason was there by my side, as I got setup and was able to ask all the dumb-ass newbie questions out of the gate. The machine arrived and to his word, he was there with me, early in the evening, as we worked for a few hours getting setup.

I got all setup, with my office and development environment. All my usual toys available to me. A lot of my Ubuntu shell scripts came over with no major changes required. I am at home in a terminal shell, and there is no doubt, Microsoft’s Powershell is no substitute.

So it has now been 2 weeks of intensive daily use, from our off-site, so it is time to draw some conclusions. What follows is my major dislikes and likes.

Things that I dislike:

• I don’t like the bar at the top of the screen; it is taking a lot of getting use to
• Losing a window; if I close say a finder, or a Teams window, and I CMD+TAB around to it, all that happens is the top-menu changes, now I have to go and figure out how to reopen
• The Control/Option/Command keys are inconsistent in their nature, especially between applications. Copy’n’Paste has taken a little rewiring
• The “fn” button a complete waste of time – I was told how to turn it from always popping up the Emoticons popup. Game changer. Would like to reassign it to something useful
• Not a fan of the Finder; the Windows Explorer I think wins out here
• Notifications is a bit hit’n’miss; but would like an indicator on my Outlook icon in the top-right that there is a new email waiting. Maybe I am missing a setting. As it stands – it is just using up space

and for the things I like:

• OMG the battery was not understated; how the hell has this been done. We had 4 Mac’s at our conference table, and only one charger, that was shared around as and when needed. I recharged like 3 times in the 2 weeks. No joke
• Shutting and opening the display, the Mac gets back to where it was instantly. Do that on a PC and its like you have awoken it from a deep-sleep and it has no idea what the hell it was doing prior: what? who is this? what was I doing? give me a minute to get my bearings
• Hot Corners – that is a nice touch and have used it more than I thought
• Finger reader – probably the best one I have ever used, fast and responsive
• Did I mention the battery life?
• The speakers are extremely good, not tinny or distorted. Best I have had on a laptop
• Overall build quality; reminds of my Samsung Chromebook, which has always been my favorite laptop build
• I have the M4 Pro and it just does not get hot – no fans running either. Amaze balls

All that said, I have been converted to a Mac for my laptop needs. I am reaching for it in the evenings, instead of my Dell PC, because I know it will be on instantly, and not decide to do a suite of OS updates before I get to do something.

I choose a good time to switch, as I sat close with a number of other long term Mac users, so I could howler “Mac support required” as and when I hit something that I needed some assistance with.

I am not yet ready to abandon my desktop configuration yet – I like my Ubuntu desktop, and besides, it is healthy to jump between multiple, always keeping my options open. While I enjoy the laptop experience, the same will not be said of the mobile space – I like my Samsung Fold and I am not giving up that eco-system.

The Mac has surprised me. It has lived up to all the “Jason” hype and so far not failed to deliver.

There is no doubt, I am eating a shit load of humble pie and the more people that come to discover my conversion, have had questions, mostly around what happened to me. So in true support group fashion I leave you with this:

My name is Alan and I am a proud Macbook Pro user.