I did a recent search and didn't see anything so don't crucify me if this is a common topic.

I need to replace my 2020 XPS i5. I live on this thing at work and spend most of my days in excel. I've always had this feeling I should try a MacBook one day and here is my chance.

I like the Apple ecosystem and like my iPhones. Anyone have any thoughts? I'm very comfortable operating on an XPS and don't necessarily want to leave, but am wondering if MacBook can be better. Would this be a big learning curve?

I switched to a MacBook about 21/2 years ago and after some adjustment I'm happy I did. I've found Excel to be more stable in Mac than it was in Windows 11. The biggest adjustment came from the loss of Office 2003 keyboard shortcuts. So Alt+D+P Enter Enter Enter doesn't create a Pivot Table. Basically none of the old keyboard shortcuts that were tied to the old Office where every menu has its shortcut I can't find. Maybe someone will respond and tell me what I'm missing.

The biggest thing I like is that it doesn't force updates on you every Tuesday so you aren't losing work from a forced reboot. That was a nice win. So is texting from your desktop. And it doesn't get all ******ed when you close it without shutting down like every Windows machine I ever had. Overall Mac is just a better experience. You'll have to set some defaults if you want the Office products to be your defaults for emails and calendars, etc.

Thanks guys. Incredibly helpful

Pman17 said:

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MacBook Pro

Put the extra investment into it too with extra ram. It's gonna cost you extra but this will last 8 years. I have the 2021 MBP M1 Pro and it still runs like new. No need to upgrade the CPU.

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I use an early 2011 MBP for my drumset application, Superior Drummer 3. It works just fine.

MacBook pro

+1 MacBook Pro

91AggieLawyer said:

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Pman17 said:

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MacBook Pro

Put the extra investment into it too with extra ram. It's gonna cost you extra but this will last 8 years. I have the 2021 MBP M1 Pro and it still runs like new. No need to upgrade the CPU.

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I use an early 2011 MBP for my drumset application, Superior Drummer 3. It works just fine.

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My 2012 Retina MBP lasted me till 2021. It still works, but I had to update because Apple stopped pushing updates.

My 2007 MacBook Pro was unusable by 2020. I'd had to replace the battery once, but the power cable had a short in it and took a magic touch to get it to power the laptop. Even still, that's pretty decent longevity, and it was great to use until it gave up on life.

I switched to Macs last year. After 20+ years of using Windows machines for Army work, I retired and started with a new company that is all Macs. The transition wasn't nearly as bad as I'd heard, and I liked it so much that I swapped our family's personal laptops out a few months later. Battery life is awesome, shared ecosystem/handoffs with iPhone/iPad/AirPods is great, and I actually like using the touchpad.

Imagine how a 13 year old PC would have been doing.

I've generally made up the higher upfront cost of Macs when I trade them in, totally worth it for me day to day.

If you don't have apps that specifically require Windows, go with the Macbook Pro. As others have said, they last and keep performing well for many years.

The only gotcha I can think of that you might want to check out is make sure the macOS version has everything you need in excel. Since you said you spend most of your day in there, II would make sure the macOS version has any advanced features you need.

They've almost got the Office suite to a 1:1 on windows vs macs (it used to be a lot worse), but I have heard there are some little features that are different/missing for heavy pro users on the macOS versions that can drive you insane coming from windows (not sure what, just have heard that and thought I would pass it along).

Appreciate that. That's my chief concern. I primarily use my keyboard in excel without a mouse so I have memorized all the shortcuts which has taken years. Our IT warned the switch could mentally F me up.

jaypunkrawk said:

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My 2007 MacBook Pro was unusable by 2020. I'd had to replace the battery once, but the power cable had a short in it and took a magic touch to get it to power the laptop. Even still, that's pretty decent longevity, and it was great to use until it gave up on life.

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Your 13 yr old computer? Sound more like an endorsement than a negative

LOYAL AG said:

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I switched to a MacBook about 21/2 years ago and after some adjustment I'm happy I did. I've found Excel to be more stable in Mac than it was in Windows 11. The biggest adjustment came from the loss of Office 2003 keyboard shortcuts. So Alt+D+P Enter Enter Enter doesn't create a Pivot Table. Basically none of the old keyboard shortcuts that were tied to the old Office where every menu has its shortcut I can't find. Maybe someone will respond and tell me what I'm missing.

The biggest thing I like is that it doesn't force updates on you every Tuesday so you aren't losing work from a forced reboot. That was a nice win. So is texting from your desktop. And it doesn't get all ******ed when you close it without shutting down like every Windows machine I ever had. Overall Mac is just a better experience. You'll have to set some defaults if you want the Office products to be your defaults for emails and calendars, etc.

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Mac office shortcuts

Switched to MacBook at home a few years ago.

The file manager suck all get out, but other than that it works great. But I do miss being able to find stuff in a nice organized folder structure that I can click thru and not have it branch out the page. It's hard to explain, but if you search online you'll see it's terrible. Why my photos have to completely separate (no, you can't find them in Apples "finder" app) and then I need to go to YouTube to figure out a way to organize them under Photos (PITA) vs just file them in a neat folder structure the way I want is beyond me. Even when you pull photo's off your camera card, PITA.

Download a photo and into the downloads folder...oh, can't just copy it to another folder, you have to open Finder and Open Photos then drag that downloaded photo to the Photo's app..oh, where did it go? Nope, not where you'd think it would be. Apple sometimes makes what should be the simplest task ridiculously difficult

People have been begging Apple to make the "finder" more like File Explorer and so far Apple has refused.

agracer said:

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Switched to MacBook at home a few years ago.

The file manager suck all get out, but other than that it works great. But I do miss being able to find stuff in a nice organized folder structure that I can click thru and not have it branch out the page. It's hard to explain, but if you search online you'll see it's terrible. Why my photos have to completely separate (no, you can't find them in Apples "finder" app) and then I need to go to YouTube to figure out a way to organize them under Photos (PITA) vs just file them in a neat folder structure the way I want is beyond me. Even when you pull photo's off your camera card, PITA.

Download a photo and into the downloads folder...oh, can't just copy it to another folder, you have to open Finder and Open Photos then drag that downloaded photo to the Photo's app..oh, where did it go? Nope, not where you'd think it would be. Apple sometimes makes what should be the simplest task ridiculously difficult

People have been begging Apple to make the "finder" more like File Explorer and so far Apple has refused.

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Weird, I only do click through on the list view, which is pretty much the same as windows. Do people use the arrow twists on the folders for more than checking what's in a folder? Or am I missing something?

I agree 100% on the photos.

dubi said:

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LOYAL AG said:

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I switched to a MacBook about 21/2 years ago and after some adjustment I'm happy I did. I've found Excel to be more stable in Mac than it was in Windows 11. The biggest adjustment came from the loss of Office 2003 keyboard shortcuts. So Alt+D+P Enter Enter Enter doesn't create a Pivot Table. Basically none of the old keyboard shortcuts that were tied to the old Office where every menu has its shortcut I can't find. Maybe someone will respond and tell me what I'm missing.

The biggest thing I like is that it doesn't force updates on you every Tuesday so you aren't losing work from a forced reboot. That was a nice win. So is texting from your desktop. And it doesn't get all ******ed when you close it without shutting down like every Windows machine I ever had. Overall Mac is just a better experience. You'll have to set some defaults if you want the Office products to be your defaults for emails and calendars, etc.

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Mac office shortcuts

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Oooh! That's going on my Christmas list.

Thanks!