Before I start I want to state that this is not a platform bashing article, It’s really not at all. This is simply my experience and my reasonings for using the platforms I do. My technical background is I’m a web developer and have been since 2010. I have been a windows user from at least 1995, and an android user for 9 years. I had the Samsung S2, S4, S6 plus, S8 & the S10 and I was happy! I could customise it any way I like, use any app I like to do anything I like. I could use launchers to totally change how the phone would actually work and launch applications. I would often scoff at the Apple users for being clueless and isheep’s (and other such stupid closed minded comments) believing that they were closed and controlled by their handsets manufacture.
I have always admired the build quality of Apple’s products, the user interface and user experience derived from design of the device and the interface also fascinated me.
As a web developer I use commands lines allot as a developer. Mainly to connect to remote systems, databases or for using and controlling development environments like Docker. As a Windows user using command lines just sucks. Windows is so limited in this field, and in the latest versions of windows they have an emulated shell. So normally if I want to go and connect to a server via SSH I would need to open an application like Putty. For git you really need to download another shell program and use that. I really can’t crack a shell and go.
So I was working away at one of my former jobs. The development group were mainly on Mac’s and 1 other and myself were on PC laptops. To this day I don’t know what happened, but when I pulled the code down from the server to work on it, my PC would change the line endings from Mac line endings to PC line endings. We tried everything but nothing would stop it happening. In the end we lost 2 days trying to get this locked down and resolved. At the end of the second day the boss came round, pointed to me and said “Enough is enough! Get this man a Mac!” And that was that! I got a 2010 MacBook Pro and just had to get on with it, and my journey to the world of Apple’s eco system started there.
Now apart from Windows I have also had hands on experience using (various) Linux distributions in a development environment, so the MacBook wasn’t entirely foreign to me as there are startling similarities. But what struck me is how simple things were. No anti virus required, the command line does everything! I can even switch different types of command lines zsh, bash etc. The file system from a users point of view works just like Linux so no real shock here. But what I wasn’t ready for was iCloud.
Sun Splits the (i)clouds
Windows tries it best to force users to its cloud system one drive. Apart from the name being as clumsy sounding as it’s implementation, it just seems like a shitty add-on. I mean If you who are reading this are a windows user, let me ask you this:
Do you use onedrive? How about the Edge browser. (More on this later) No? Yeh, you just proved my point. Apples iCloud works seamlessly with the system’s OS and can be used for storing documents and for backing up user data, which it does without any fanfare or obvious signs. There is a seemingly normal folder called iCloud and in it you can just drag and drop what ever you want to store on the cloud. And backups are just as breathtaking. I had an external Western Digital 2.5 inch external hard drive that I use for the Mac’s backup system called Time Machine. The system runs in the background once an hour and I found it such a non invasive wonder. It essentially take any file changes and catalogs them. In the event of a new MacBook being bought or upgraded to, you simply run time machine and all your files and system settings are moved over to the new machine, something that the PC platform just lags behind.
Which brings us to the next hurdle I came across. I was an android owner and now a Mac user and fast seeing the benefits of using the Mac platform, and seeing the benefits of their ecosystem. Not don’t get me wrong I was always a hater of apple and it’s users especially when they would come out with what I thought of as overused tropes such as the Apple experience, the Apple eco system and so on. At this time I was still using a Samsung S10 Android device and although I was happy enough with it my new window into the world of Apple was opening and for the first time I was seeing what all the fuss was about and the benefits it would actually hold. Slowly I creeped over to the dark side. Buying items Apple related.
What and Why?
Now I own a 2017 Macbook air, 13 inch 2020 m1 MacBook Pro, 2021 M1 pro MacBook Pro and run an M1 Mac mini as my daily driver. My 2020 MB pro is my personal laptop to do what ever I like on and generally is used in the living room. My m1 pro is my daily “work” laptop that I install all my work related software on it. The separation works well and now I’m immersed in the ecosystem and have some to use it and rely in it, now I understand it, now I get what all the fuss was about.
The big thing the Apple eco system has going for it is its inclusiveness and its seamless fluidity from device to device to device. Allow me to elaborate and give you some examples as to what I’m on about.
Before work I would grab my phone and using one of my planner apps I would note ideas and tasks I would need to do the next day. Then at work the next day while sitting at my MacBook all the notes and tasks I made on my phone would be sync’ed via iCloud to the Mac and I could action what needed actioning and so on. Next my boss would want a meeting to discuss what changes the website would need. So I grab my trusty iPad and pencil and head to the office and start taking notes, once done I head back to my desk. All my notes I wrote down are stored in iCloud and can be actioned or accessed on any of my devices. As can my txt messages and phone calls.
None of this is the case on windows and android although there are some mods and adding that could work, frankly that is time I just don’t have to spend messing about getting things to work.
The last thing I have issues with is the shear inconsistencies of Android. Screen sizes, hardware differing from country to country region to region is just not only uncalled for but unfair to the consumers at the end of the day. So this is it, this was my journey from one platform to Apple. For now I do not see me leaving any time soon.
If you would like to know more about what I'm talking about when it comes to hardware differences, check out the video below
FROM: Mark Ellis Reviews