Thinking of going for Apple for the first time..

[TravelerEastWest]

1 hour ago, sometimewoodworker said:

That is your theory. However that is not true, apart from the point that Apple does not make low quality cheap phones.

iPhones can certainly do a lot of things that that Android phones can not. The software under

iOS,

Photos, 
FaceTime, 
Contacts, 
Home, 
Reminders, 
Find My, 
Shortcuts, 
GarageBand, 
iMovie, 
Keynote, 
Numbers, 
Pages.

iCloud

7 years of system updates

can not run on Android to mention just a few, all of those are either unique to Apple or sync with other Apple devices.

 

Certainly Android has some of these and some of the Android versions maybe quite capable however the integration of the ecosystem with other devices does not exist and seamlessly integration with different Apple products doesn’t exist.

 

if you only look at an Android phone and an Apple phone in isolation the Apple advantage is less clear, but it is still there if you only use a small subset of the available software and have no other tech again the advantages becomes less obvious.

 

So on a ROI basis Apple is the winner

 

You are correct but the best thing about an Apple iPhone is that it simply works smoothly and really needs repairs.

 

The same for Apple computers I still have one Windows computer that I need to make DHL labels in my office and do Thai tax payments other than that no need for Windows.

[sometimewoodworker]

1 hour ago, JimmyJ said:

It's always been my understanding that Apple phones do not allow any apps other than thru the Apple version of Play Store.

Is that correct?

The (Apple) App Store is the only source for the vast majority of users to get the overwhelming number of apps, so from that point of view you are correct.

 

There are corporate ways for an employee to get apps that are restricted to those employees that are not available to general users, there are also educational IT programs that have apps available in a similar way. 
 

there are about 2.1 million apps that are available on the App Store the overwhelming majority are available to any iPhone, the Play Store does have a greater number (3.2 million) but Android covers 1300 brands, meaning that any one brand has a smaller number of apps available than Apple

 

These are purely statistical comparisons, if you need a specific app that is only available on your platform, then that makes your choice simple. 

[sometimewoodworker]

4 minutes ago, TravelerEastWest said:

You are correct but the best thing about an Apple iPhone is that it simply works smoothly and really needs repairs.

 

The same for Apple computers I still have one Windows computer that I need to make DHL labels in my office and do Thai tax payments other than that no need for Windows.

You may be able to avoid using a windows computer, even for that job. I have one program that is only available for windows however I run it in Parallels so I don’t have the problems inherent in running a pure windows computer. For that use backing up is a simple job of making a duplicate of 1 file.

[lujanit]

On 10/28/2022 at 7:20 PM, sometimewoodworker said:

Virtually everything you posted was spot on apart from that statement, most Macs get OS updates for about 7 years or in the region of 7~8 versions and apple has provided security updates for older versions of the OS with reasonable regularity when serious vulnerabilities have been identified.

I got the 'about five years' from https://lowendmac.com/2013/how-long-do-apple-support-your-mac/  This is for early Macs so I will check if Apple has changed the policy.  I know my 2015 MBP is capable of being updated to Monterey but not Ventura.  It looks Apple changed the timetable in 2007.

 

I checked across my three macs and you are right, it is seven to eight years now.  My bad for not going beyond this table.  Anyway I will try that OpenCore Legacy Patcher on my 2008 MBP.  If it fails I have a backup.  All my macs run Catalina so I have consistency.

 

Thanks for pointing out my mistake.

 

[ChaiyaTH]

Any professional user would change after the average of 5 years anyway, then if it comes to some security bugs due to older versions, that is just not a statement at all. First of all because the main target is still Windows computers aside of a majority of Windows computers running on outdated software too. 

The usual unsupported updates for older Macs also usually barely affects functionalities or the ability to still use all software over a full decade.

[sometimewoodworker]

4 hours ago, ChaiyaTH said:

Any professional user would change after the average of 5 years anyway,

That is an interesting idea, fallacious, but interesting. What is your definition of professional? If you are taking of video editing the time is likely to be much shorter as the newer machines will pay for them selves in 2 to 3 years. That is one profession where I have worked in support so I have some knowledge. Other professions will retain the machines for much longer, I’ve known business with the majority being 10 year old machines.

 

All the data I have is with Macs. However there are significantly older machines in the windows world where windows 7 has an extended support date to 2023 for specific volume licensing programs.

[Onerak]

On 2/20/2022 at 3:12 AM, Etaoin Shrdlu said:

It should not be too difficult to switch to Mac from Windows. Just check to see that any programs you use

It depends but for most people it is not that difficult but then most people don't need an Apple product unless they fancy it. 

[proton]

22 minutes ago, Onerak said:

It depends but for most people it is not that difficult but then most people don't need an Apple product unless they fancy it. 

I fancied the 18 hour battery and amazing stereo sound on MacBook Air

[TravelerEastWest]

On 10/29/2022 at 3:24 PM, sometimewoodworker said:

You may be able to avoid using a windows computer, even for that job. I have one program that is only available for windows however I run it in Parallels so I don’t have the problems inherent in running a pure windows computer. For that use backing up is a simple job of making a duplicate of 1 file.

Thank you for your idea but you lost me...

 

What file am I duplicating?

 

As an example every month I do several Thai tax forms such as social security etc these currently seem to be for Windows only computers I also daily make DHL labels again they don't seem to support Windows.

 

I need everything to be super simple and work perfectly.

 

The  money is not an issue for the Windows computer as I have one which a bit old works but fine - but not as good as an apple - keyboards etc..

[sometimewoodworker]

12 hours ago, TravelerEastWest said:

Thank you for your idea but you lost me...

 

What file am I duplicating?

 

As an example every month I do several Thai tax forms such as social security etc these currently seem to be for Windows only computers I also daily make DHL labels again they don't seem to support Windows.

 

I need everything to be super simple and work perfectly.

 

The  money is not an issue for the Windows computer as I have one which a bit old works but fine - but not as good as an apple - keyboards etc..

It dependeds on the Mac you have when your windows computer finally gets too long in the tooth. My situation is that I have a 2015 iMac so it is still capable but rather slow for the job.

 

At the time, or preferably when the current windows computer is letting you know it’s getting too old. You can do both the DHL and Thai tax forms in windows but you can run them on your Mac.

My software of choice for this, though they like you to keep paying for updates, is Parallels so to run windows on a Mac you can use this. https://www.parallels.com/uk/products/desktop/  For me my complete install of windows needs 1 file that varies between 22 and 40Gb so all I need to do to back up windows is to copy that file. I have stripped windows of all the junk files an only use the update program and the one program I need.

 

The Mac can run windows, windows computers cannot run Mac OS