OS X Icon
Mac was always my dream machine. I got one early this year and have spent a lot of time with it.

Is it better that Windows? Definitely! It is leaps and bounds ahead of any Windows PC I’ve used.

So, what is it that makes a Mac better?

If you have ever wondered about that and want to read opinion of a software developer/power user, read ahead!

Hardware

On paper, Macs use same hardware as PCs. However, Mac hardware is better integrated and is a pleasure to use.

On exterior, the keyboard and (force touch) trackpad are the best I’ve ever used. The retina display is gorgeous.

The internals have commodity hardware, yes. But SSD and OS X lead to a very polished and fast experience.

App Ecosystem

Windows is supposed to have more software written for it. And by the numbers, it has more software.

But all the cool software is being written for Mac. When I was using Windows, I remember how my usual hunt for apps used to go:

  1. Search on Google for “x app” or “x software”.
  2. See good ratings.
  3. Click search result.
  4. See software is available for Mac only for now, Windows is either not mentioned or is coming soon.
  5. Give up the search.

Here are some apps that I use daily. These either do not have a Windows version or alternatives are not as good:

  1. Dash
  2. Things
  3. Desk PM
  4. ReadKit
  5. Stache

And let’s not forget that most of the iOS apps have equivalent OS X apps.

Polish

When someone says that Mac is more polished than Windows, they are not blindly repeating Apple’s marketing copy. It actually is.

I used Windows for 12 years before shifting to Mac. After just 6 months, I can undeniably say that Mac is much more polished.

OS X

As a developer, I understand that Windows has to run on variety of hardware and everything.

But as a user, OS X just blows Windows out of the water. It manages to get great battery life and is efficient when it comes to resources.

My quad core, 8 GB Windows laptop used to crawl on running PhpStorm and Photoshop together.

Mac runs those, plus 3 browsers and several other persistant apps without a hiccup.

App nap, a feature that keeps apps in memory even after closing, makes an already fast system work even faster!

What about you? Are you a Windows user or Mac user? What is your opinion?