I like the Macs running Apple M1 system on a chip (SoC).
“The M1 was welcomed with very positive reviews and recorded industry-leading performance and efficiency in popular benchmarks (GeekBench 5, Cinebench R23).” (Apple M1 – Wikipedia)
I like the fact that it’s considered to be a fast and good value for the price.
I thought of waiting for a new generation of Apple M1, and buying either a Mac Mini or iMac 24″/27″.
After reading some reviews, viewing some videos (rational: M1 iMac Review: Ultra Thin Design Choice! – YouTube or emotional: New Apple iMac 2021 Unboxing & First Look! (Green) – YouTube), and thinking more about it, I decided I will stick to PC + Windows 10, and postpone switching to a Mac indefinitely.
Below, my thought process.
When I’ll give, below, my reasons, they’ll refer both to Mac Mini or iMac 24″/27″ – with Apple M1 SoC.
What don’t I like about Macs? Why do I prefer a PC to them?
- Everything is glued together. You can’t upgrade, repair, change anything. If the monitor breaks, you can’t repair it. Need a bigger hard drive? Can’t change it. And so on. You buy one thing, it’s going to be with you forever.
- Everything is more expensive. Even Mac Mini. If you compare what value € 1,000 brings you for a Mac vs. for a PC, the PC wins.
- You can’t upgrade. My current PC is 8 years old. But I changed some things during that time, I had some warranty issues. I can’t imagine a PC working perfectly for 8 years, with no change needed. Sure, when you buy a PC perhaps 8 or 16 GB of memory will be fine, but in 8 years a lot of things could change. I don’t like a PC, even a performant one, on which I can’t attach anything.
- I didn’t work with a keyboard that much, but from my tests – I don’t like the Apple keyboard. And the problem with the charging port on Magic Mouse is just incredible (Why is the charging port underneath the Magic Mouse 2? – Quora). I like to have the freedom to choose my own peripherals, perhaps a better camera or another keyboard and so on.
- I can’t run a lot of programs. Yes, all the essentials are there, I could do SEO-related tasks well, but there’s pleasure in life, not only work, and for that – I think macOS is not so good.
- Some files might not be compatible (details »).
- I like Microsoft Word with Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) and other features, for which Apple is only partially compatible.
- I consider the security weaker in some points.
- Strange ports in the machine, unless you own other hardware in the Apple system.
- Few ports available, I need a port hub.
- I consider the warranty to be more problematic for Apple in Romania than with other systems.
- Lack of options to choose from. I think it’s much more limited than the PC market.
- A lot of the computers I’ll work with, in Romania, will be Windows-based, not macOS. I’ll likely run into issues with that.
- Hardware is not just the processor. Sure, M1 is fast, that’s great. But I will also need RAM, SSD, and other things. For some, the Mac will be great, for others – no.
- More than this, I currently don’t need a top processor. For what I currently do, an Apple M1 is just too much. I might buy it as a future-proof option, but I’m just not that dependent on it.
- I can’t run some games.
- I can’t run Notepad++.
- I consider (most) PCs might be more eco-friendly than Macs, due to the fact that Macs are more expensive and more difficult to repair. That’s just a personal thought.
- Compatibility with iPhones – I really don’t like this. Apple goes a long way to make the Macs compatible with iPhones. Not so much with Android phones. To me, that’s bad business ethics!
What do I like about Macs?
- Great apps for Linux, programmers, photo/video editing.
- Apple M1 is great! (as far as I read about them)
- The design is very cool.
- I like the colors.
- I like how macOS looks sometimes.
- The monitors are pixel-perfect.
- A lot of times, as far as I read, they’re worry-free – you connect something, it works. You install something, it runs.
- For some things – better security.
- Very compact, it occupies little space.
- Energy-efficient – at this point, it’s more ECO-friendly.
- It would force me to learn to adapt to macOS, and that’s fine.
- Lots of shortcuts.
Deal-breaker:
- No upgrade;
- No repair;
- No compatibility.
- Generally, I consider them less ECO-friendly.
I would have chosen it for:
- M1 processor, that’s just cool.
To whom it would be a great fit? A programmer/designer/web geek – especially with MacBook Air or Mac Mini. To the people who wish for simplicity, lack of troubles, no desire for upgrade/easy repairing.
But if you use it for lots of different general things, I don’t think they’re OK.
