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#11
I own both. I bought a 13" Retina MacBook Pro in May of 2014. I wanted a new personal laptop for myself, had a Windows 8 work laptop that I carry with me to and from work daily, and my wife and kids both had WIndows 8 laptops. Having another new Windows 8 computer was just going to be boring. So, I decided to try a Mac instead and see what all of the fuss is about.
#1). As a long time Windows user, I don't find the Mac overly intuitive. My 10 year old and 8 year old are fine with it, my wife on the other hand hates the Mac with a passion. She cannot figure out how to do anything on the Mac, but is just fine on her Samsung 13" UltraBook running Windows 8.1.
#2). As others have sIaid, problems are fewer and farther between in Apple land. This is mostly true. a). It's locked down more by default b). Apple puts together the only supported hardware with their OS, so they have it much easier as far as compatibility goes. It's only been on rare occasions I've had to reboot my Mac.
#3). I find that it (MacBook Pro)sleeps and wakes up from sleep far better than any PC based computer I have ever used. Makes it convenient, coupled with long battery life, and rare reboots, it just feels like it works really well.
#4). People say, "The Mac is way, way, way too expensive". While they are not cheap, they aren't built cheap. They don't make a budget machine. To get a Windows based PC, as light, thin, with as good of resolution, and as fast off a hard drive (remember, the MacBook Pro has a PCI Express based SSD), you are going to be nearly the same price. Within $150. I know because I buy them for work.
#5). Time Machine built it makes it super easy to backup, restore files, restore an entire image, or recover from a failed hard drive. Nice this is built into the OS.
#6). Reloading the OS is easy, no drivers from 3rd parties are needed and everything just works out of the box. Again, controlled environment, both hardware and software makes this possible.
#7). I upgraded flawlessly from Mavericks, to Yosemite to El Capitan.
With that said, the Mac hasn't revolutionized my life. I'm no closer to liking anything about iTunes. I don't have an iPhone., nor do I want one. If I could have 1 and only 1 computer in my life, it would still be a Windows based PC. But since I can have 2 computers, I use my Mac for almost everything that I do at home these days...including the vast majority of my posts on this forum.
This is the truth. Apple has a very controlled environment to develop their producs, and keep controlling them to prevent users to put their hands on the hardware, so the actual comparisons between OSX and Windows are not fair at all. If only they were installed in the exact same machines, we would be able to have a proper test. Usually, comparisons -specially in amateur circles-, are done between a Mac and a chuncky old Windows machine, which is absolutely ridiculous. Is like the people who is still claiming that Xp is the best version of Windows, and still comparing it to Mac. A total nonsense.
To me, the secret here is this: if you have time enough to pay attention to chich components are you buying to create your computer -and configuring them properly-, you can achieve a very reliable machine. As good as Apple ones, or even better.