Friends, it has been a while… and this may come as a surprise, but the last month I have been working exclusively in the Apple ecosystem. I know, I know, this may feel traitorous and the fact that I have been so dedicated to Microsoft and spent countless hours in Windows over the years does make any type of comparison a bit unbalanced.
There were some key reasons why I wanted to explore and invest time in the Apple MacOS. Firstly, I am intrigued by the transition from traditional Intel x86 processors to the new Apple M1 processors. The bold promises Apple made on their release of the M1 Macs was not only confirmed by technology nerds benchmarking in real world situations, but in many cases the M1 is performing better even for emulated software. And this result by using much less energy consumption and a very attractive price tag. The numbers was so impressive that I just had to investigate… and so ordered a Mac mini M1 and decided to give this a real go and set out to do all my normal tasks and workflows in MacOS for at least 30 days.
One of the first things one notices when unpacking any Apple product is the feeling you get when opening the boxes. The attention to details and materials is impressive. This is a great starting point as the first impressions lasts a long time. The material touch of the hardware is so much better than largely anything I have seen from any other pc supplier. One of Apples core values is privacy, and information privacy is something I also strongly believe in and on the privacy topic Apple is leading the way and even dragging some nasty trolls into the sun.
“Privacy is a fundamental human right. At Apple, it is also one of our core values. Your devices are important to so many parts of your life. What you share from those experiences, and who you share it with, should be up to you. We design Apple products to protect your privacy and give you control over your information. It’s not always easy. But that’s the kind of innovation we believe in.” – Privacy – Apple
I have documented some of my findings in this tier list ranking screencast:
Conclusion:
One of the best things I have experienced on this exercise is the “sound of silence”. The Apple mini M1 is completely silent and yet deliver performance like a beast, amazing engineering by Apple.
Apple leads the way in both privacy and low energy consumption, this is key aspects for the future. On top of this, the pricing for the new Apple M1 computers is probably the best value for money you could find today.
The next generation Windows devices will really have to step up to match the engineering brilliance that Apple has delivered. But there are still some ways to go before I could use MacOS for everything I use the computer for. I am already deeply invested in Microsoft tools and technologies so I will not migrate completely any time soon but see myself using MacOS more as I feel creative in this universe and want to be in control of my information, by design.
If you would like to create your own tier-list ranking, please visit the ALMBoK.com – Tier lists
