Time for a new Laptop. Moving from Windows OS to Unix

I am losing trust in using Microsoft Windows. Is there any meaning to continuing using Windows 11 .. n? (I am about to move on to something new and better(?) I know this is Unix forum but my question is also if Unix or GNU Linux is a overkill for some users since I am not using Unix or GNU Linux at the moment? Or would I become a happy user of Unix or GNU Linux quite easy?). This is an all in all consideration question not directed to the bleeding edge topic of hardcore coding only, ( a more considerated and cultivated question than just a topic about coding )

My direct question is in the end paragraphs.

With Win.X I am not an traditional user no more (like in the eighties : D ). Now windows has forced me and the rest of us, at least those that are still using W to accept being "cloud user" running uncountable internet/Network processes and services with my will or any need for them, like running Xbox services just to mention one of them. Damn it, I do not even use a Xbox console. I am running a Windows Pro OS and think this is not very polite and is an unrespectful way of consuming my resources!!
Also I do not have deep knowledge into Windows soul ( Registry database ) and all the uncoutable sysadm. tools that comes along, cmd, Powershell, DISM, AD tools, Policy Editor tools, tools.msc, tools.cpl, tools.exe, 3rdpartytools.exe..

Because I do not have the time and I really do not find it very amusing at all more then often ending up reading plenty of third-party articles and then realize just one out of 10 have some substance to it (excluding the time I lost for searching.)
It just feels ridiculous, just to mention a some of the problem that seems to quiet often occurs Windows update service, deleting "ghost" folder or file ..etc. It just seems like Microsoft also created a market based on their product failure instead to clear the clouds they hand over all these registry hacks to the market.

Also the tools that you expect be working in the event of crtical system failure, guess what you cant even count on them. Safe boot.. after the october, 2022 update, windows update and windows defender service stopped working, updating service failure. Pretty much everthing else runs but not the critical components.. this happens more then often we talking about figures of % (to consider a Quality product it should be down to less figures than 1%.) This also not includes system setting changes or profile settings that is not to the liking of the user, typical activate Xbox services, Windows firewall settings, Policy settings.. etc. And getting update back on track can at the best of time spending be a quick fix but also it could be another huge effort in time scale of a day to get this problem fixed. I would say even if you are an quite literate on computer system administration it can take you at least some hour or day to get this problem out off your way if you do not have deep knowledge about the Windows Soule. "Safe boot" at least it has a great sounding a mercy for your Windows soule... but then you then realize it cant even use the Keyboard!! ... and other Critical applications seems not working either... I manage to start the "Create a recovery disc"... after 3 hours it finished. As a stupid and Idiot user I feel I am when I use Windows.. I know in the back of my head that you should only connect a storage that you do not have any importent on... but in the WIndows dialoge Windows asked me to choose which partition I would like to place the "Disc Recovery" partition.. I had two partitions on the disc so I thought great! I do not need an extra spare disc storage just for the purpose of just puttin a recovery disc on it! That was just a fake news! Windows give the user a selection menue but that it is not of any god use for the user at all! So If you are going to use a Recovery disc storage do not trust the menue options Windows gives you, It just erases everything and that be with out any summary of your selected path of action. So that was a bad day! 4 hours just to see everthing go down the drain! I am even not sure if I have a stable recovery drive? How can you tell when not even "Safe boot" application run as expected?

What is the strategy behinde Why Microsoft put in all these congleremate of different platform applications, what use it is in the perspective to the user or is it just to make things easier for Microsoft to control the user in someway?

Now my question. I am in the situation of bying a new computer, my budget is 3500 - 4000 $ ( I do not buy computers every year ). I feel Windows is a risky business of loosing to much time spending it on getting the system up running not to mention update problems, stuff running without my consent or knowledge etc. AND I want a computer OS that is not change things without my consent or knowledge, change my system settings after every update.

If someone please could help me out with some good advice at least some substencial facts and knowledge I will give you a fanfare (or why not a cup of coffe with an icecream when we meet). Give me your point view if I should get on with W11 or if something else would be worth spending on? Are there any Unix OS still kicking, ARM based systems...? I have seen Qualcomm is in business with Microsoft Windows.

I recommend macOS (based on unix, darwin) and in particular for your budget, the Mac Studio. I have a Mac Studio and absolutely love it. It has never crashed or ever given me any trouble at all. It's super fast, beautiful and compact (for my desktop).

Unix / Darwin under the hood and a very polished user interface (and very fast).

Lots of great macOS laptops too. I own two Mac Book Airs.

MacBook Pro

Actually, I own 5 macs:

• Mac Mini (2012) - my failsafe backup (mostly a file server, lots of storage).
• Mac Book Airs (2) - for travel only (rare these days).
• Mac Pro (late 2013 now retired) - uses too much energy and is 9 years old, retired this year.
• Mac Studio (2022, amazing, a huge fan of this baby)

Mostly I use the MacStudio M1, but I take a MBA with me when I travel (which is becoming more rare these days). If I started to travel again (a lot), I would buy a new MBA, fully loaded.

Thanks for your insight. What is your thoughts about Unix platform and Linux ? Is the Mac terminal much the same as Unix or Linux terminal? DO MAC has any platform similarities with Windows specifically Registry database, and what about Active Directory and Policy based system environment? I just feel annoyed of all these background services running just for the sake to please Microsoft churning out their updates and keep their other serives a live withou much use for me as a user. Not to mention all the flaws that has been through out the years in the past.

Great advice from @neo. MacOS is indeed a great Unix based operating system.

You don't say what variety of hardware you currently have.

If you have a x86 PC with sufficient clout then you could run up a *nix o/s without buying new hardware until you are familiar with *nix including the command line stuff.

For example, there's a Linux distro called Zorin that can emulate Windows (from a user training point of view) but, of course, is pure Linux without the Windows overhead which you detest.

For example, my Dell T7500 that I use for trading has dual 3.06GHz processors and 192GB RAM, and with a compatible powerful graphics card can run MacOS of various versions. Search online for how it's done.

Of course, again, you have not mentioned which apps you normally run and therefore what O/S's might support them.

The largest group of unix users in the world are macOS users..

macOS == unix

You should read the link refs @Neo shared with you @UnixUser2022 .

Hello,

To give you a bit of historical background on the current Mac OS, it is essentially descended from a version of UNIX from the late 1980s called NeXTSTEP. This was the operating system run on the NeXTcube and NeXTstation line of UNIX workstations which were made by a company called NeXT, which curiously enough was started by Steve Jobs (one of the two founders of Apple) after he left Apple in 1985.

What NeXT tried to do was to make a line of UNIX workstations with advanced graphical user interfaces, and they mostly tried to pitch these at the education sector. Steve Jobs' idea was to try to make the power of UNIX as accessible to use as the Macintosh then was - so you'd have a point-and-click GUI, and be able to manage everything graphically without ever having to touch the UNIX command line. In practice it wasn't always quite so clear-cut, and of course you could access the full power of the underlying UNIX any time you wanted just by bringing up a terminal, but that was the basic concept.

For a variety of reasons - principally the fact that the NeXT hardware was priced way out of what most of the education sector could afford - NeXT died a slow death for most of the 1990s, and ultimately ended up getting out of the hardware game altogether and porting NeXTSTEP to Intel and other architectures as OpenSTEP.

Now, at around the same time NeXT were starting to really flounder, so were Apple. Again I'll skim over a load of history here, but Apple at the time were having serious problems with the Macintosh system software. Due to the design choices made back when the original Macintosh OS was released in 1984, it was proving very hard to modernise it without it breaking completely. Things like proper pre-emptive multitasking, memory protection and a real 32-bit architecture (all of which the Windows world had finally caught up with, courtesy of Windows NT) were things Apple just couldn't get working on the Macintosh.

So, essentially they solved this problem by scrapping the existing OS entirely, and going shopping for a new one from another company. And in a curious twist of fate, Apple ended up buying NeXT. Steve Jobs came back to Apple, and after a few false starts and re-jigging of plans, NeXTSTEP/OpenSTEP was ported to the Macintosh and given a shiny new GUI called Aqua, and that was what became OS X 1.0.

The Mac of today then is running underneath its shiny Finder an operating system that is bona fide 100% actual real UNIX. It's been changed a lot over the years, but underneath it still inherits a lot of the original frameworks and design of NeXT's NeXTSTEP OS. So when you walk into the Apple Store and buy a Mac, you are, believe it or not, buying the closest thing that still exists today to a mass-produced 64-bit UNIX workstation.

It doesn't look like Apple have bothered to update this in, oh, ten years or so, but by way of re-assurance that the Mac really does run "proper" UNIX, you can take a look at the following PDF:

OS X for UNIX Users

And also here, take a look at The Open Group's list of UNIX-certified OS's, on which macOS can be found:

The Open Group official register of UNIX Certified Products

And also...

Apple is one of the few big tech companies in the world fully committed to user security and privacy.

I'd like to add that if you choose to run a Linux distribution, you can, if you want, get an $800-1200 system that'll be as fast or faster than a $3000-4000 Windows system and in my personal opinion, much simpler than MacOS or iOS, the Apple systems based on Next.

I live in a senior citizen community and many people who use Apple phones, tablets and laptops regularly have difficulty understanding how to use them properly.

A Linux system like Zorin or Mint has no such difficulty; the user interface is easier than any Apple or Microsoft interface in my opinion; no need to spend a lot of money unless you want to do so.

Hello,

A few quick thoughts about Linux laptop suppliers; if you're looking to buy a decent Linux laptop but also want to get one where you know everything "just works" (as they say), then you could potentially look at the offerings of System76 or Tuxedo Computers. They are two companies that are dedicated to producing laptops that support Linux from the ground up, and actually go as far as making their own dedicated Linux distros, which are re-spins of Ubuntu optimised for their own hardware. Their hardware offerings scale from the low end to the high end.

At a slightly lower end than both of the above, you also have Purism (mostly a Linux mobile phone vendor, but they also make their own laptops) and Think Penguin (a smaller vendor originally an accessory and peripheral supplier, who now also do their own laptops as well).

Lastly, if you're wanting an ARM Linux laptop off-the-shelf, then Pine's PINEBOOK Pro could also be worth a look. Of course you will find less off-the-shelf software is available in a ready-to-go state for ARM64 than you will for x86_64, but if you're just looking for a low-power-consumption Linux laptop, then this could be worth a look too.

Good discussion.

I am a big Linux fan and have been using Linux in production applications since Slackware 0.8 (before the 1993 release), which was nearly 30 years ago.

We should be clear here.

Linux is NOT an operating system (like macOS). Linux is a computer program at the core of a computer's operating system, not a full operating system. So, Linux is installed in distributions, like Ubuntu, RedHat, and myriad more. A typical Linux distribution comprises a Linux kernel, GNU tools and libraries, additional software, documentation, a window system (the most common being the X Window System, or, more recently, Wayland), a window manager, and a desktop environment.

I currently have around four (or five) Ubuntu Linux distributions in production, all of which are servers managed remotely for various projects.

In my view, Linux distros are not the best choice for Windows users who want to move to unix. For the following reasons, to name a few:

Support

Just about every major (and even minor) cities in the world have Apple stores providing complete Apple support. You can take your Mac to Denpasar, Bali or Chiang Mai, Thailand or Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam or New York City or just about anywhere in the world and get professional, high-quality service, under warranty for both hardware and software (and extended warranties as well). This is not possible with Linux distributions. There is no Ubuntu or RedHat or any other Linux-distro store in Denpasar, Bali, for example.

Security

Apple is one of the largest tech companies in the world. As of October 2022 Apple has a market cap of $2.366 Trillion USD. This makes Apple the world's most valuable company by market cap, give or take. Apple has always been dedicated to security and user privacy and have a proven track record for both. There is no consumer-grade operating system in the world more secure than macOS. Software patches and backups can all be seamlessly configured to be performed manually or automatically. The list goes on and on. Apple computers are as solid as a rock from the world largest tech company with complete global support (maybe not in Antartica or in island nations, etc.)

Standardization

macOS is certified fully UNIX compliant (mentioned earlier). There are no other fully UNIX compliant, globally supported laptops on the planet, to my knowledge. macOS is UNIX.

Interoperability

Between the iCloud, macOS and iOS, the Apple ecosystem is fully and securely interoperable. As mentioned earlier, I own five macs (some retired now) and three iPhone, currently using an iPhone 12 Mini (I like small versus large). I can even run most iOS iPhone applications directly on my Mac Studio (a feature of the new Apple M-series architecture), which I do occasionally (not often). I can configure all my data to be backed-up to iCloud OOTB and my Apple ID manages all of these devices, seamlessly. This is not true for any Linux distribution under the sun.

Elegance

The macOS user interface is a stunning achievement. This UI is far superior to any UI available in Linux distros and also far superior to Windows, hands down, no argument. I have only used Windows a few times over the past 40 years and that was only because there was a corporate policy that I had to use Windows. I would not work on Windows even if paid to do so and have turned down high--paying jobs and projects to NOT work on Windows. I love UNIX

Reliability

Over the years, I have never had a serious crash with any Mac. Currently I do not use laptops often and my Mac Studio is the most amazing desktop workstation I have ever owned. It is fast, secure, robust and rock solid.

Summary

I could go on and on. I am both a Linux distro user (Ubuntu) and a macOS user. We are talking here about laptops which are designed to be carried around the world, used in hotels, coffee shops, on airplanes and trains. Apple has global support and is far superior to any Linux-based distribution for support, security and privacy. On the other hand, I use Ubuntu Linux exclusively for servers because, of course, I don't need a UI as I only remotely SSH in. I don't need global support for a Ubuntu Linux server sitting in a data center in St. Louis or Houston or Dallas. However, I do need global support when I am sitting seaside on a tropical beach; and I have an Apple support center just 10 minutes from my current seaside condo.

For lifelong Windows users who have the money (you get what you pay for), I strongly recommend Apple computers (macOS) for desktop workstations and laptops if you want to move away from that piece-of-shite operating system known as "Windows", the target of myriad malware and computer viruses.

Furthermore, if there was by chance (or is) a zero-day OS vulnerability is found on macOS, you can be assured that Apple with release a software upgrade for it ASAP and if your computer is configured to automatically install it; you will wake up to a fully upgraded OS. This type of security and global support is not available for Linux distributions on the same scale and robustness as the Apple ecosystem.

Finally, if you love UNIX and the UNIX philosophy, Apple supports more UNIX systems than any other company in the world because, as mentioned, macOS is fully UNIX certified by the Open Group. UNIX is alive and well in 2022 primarily because of Apple and macOS (and to a lesser extent, iOS).

If you love UNIX, get a Mac. I use both the terminal (the black and green world) and the Apple UI daily and you get the best of both worlds with macOS. You get a fully UNIX certified OS under the hood and the most elegant user interface (UI) on the planet.

And, I have only scratched the surface on why Apple and macOS is so great, in my view of course!

Hope this helps.

See Also:

Thanks for dealing some good insights to this subject. I think it is not easy to be a user/Superuser of any computin platform nowadays. And I think data integrity and security will remain as one of the top issues because the actions Putin took on with his decsion to bring back terror to the World arena, cold war long time ahead and it will be more important than ever to have a Reliable/stable platform, Very important is my guess. Will that have any meaning to the GNU Linux platform Architechture, The wide open world.. Will that last in this situation, would the user space be up to that. My opinion that can be a dangerous path.
Not that I favor any platform architechture over the other at the moment, it just comes down to Stability/Reliability and how the platform perform in boosting your working experinece and how it hadles processes and serivces, how it respect and goes along with itse actual user/superusers using its resources. For sure from reading some text materials Unix, Apple or GNU systems have a clear lead in this field. Now that Microsoft implemented GNU Linux into its Architechture along with its mediocre NT Kernel platform how will that play out in longer terms what can be seen coming out of that? Also a new buisness era for Microsoft is that they gettin into the ARM universe with Qualcomm.. will that have any meaning for the soule, the Registry or what kind of Windows Architecture is this ?

At the end of the day, the best computer to use is whatever the best computer for the job at hand is. For a desktop system, very often that means a PC running Windows, because whatever job the business needs the desktop for requires software that's only available on Windows, for example. Sometimes it might mean a server running Linux, if the application in question is available on Linux and it will need to be accessed by multiple users.

Overall, you are best to think about what the problem you're trying to solve is, or what the business need you have to fulfil is, and then working back from there to see what the best solution is. It's generally a mistake to pick a platform first because that's the one you want or like, and then to think "now, how do I shoehorn this into the business and make it work". Best to start with "what do we need to do", and then think about "what's the best way to solve that actual problem".

I have always viewed the Mac Pro as a workstation and never confined the definition of a workstation as @drysdalk has done.

A quick Google search confirms that I am not the only person with this worldview:

image960×1549 167 KB

I reckon that is rather poor advice. Given the OP message, he does not want a company to take care of his resources and personal info nor be handcuffed by it.

Apple is really a worse Spy and naughtier than Micro$oft. Both companies are cancer to humanity and the only way to achieve freedom and privacy is to use free software the most you can.

For example, i am not sure macos has a very capable service manager such as systemD. Linux is run in all top 500 super computers in the world, that should mean something...

Now Apple collects a horrendous amount of personal info and puts handcuffs on their users.

The fact that Linux can run under WSL on Windows does not make running Windows any safer or better. Windows and MacOS are garbage software for precisely the reasons i meantioned b4.

Hello,

I think that describing either Apple or Microsoft as a "cancer on humanity" is definitely taking things too far. Keeping perspective here, both these companies have ultimately been a key part of the computer revolution that has taken place over the last forty years. Each of them, in their own distinct ways, provided access to computers to individuals who otherwise would never have had access to them, or who would never have been able to operate them even if they did.

Now that's not to say that both these companies have done everything right, or that they have never done anything wrong. There are times when each of them have used their position and power in ways that may not have been to the greatest benefit of their customers. But ultimately, without MS-DOS (and later Windows), and without the original Macintosh in 1984, the computer market of today would be unrecognisable, and many of the subsequent developments we all take for granted would have happened in very different (and not necessarily better) ways.

Also I can certainly think of companies that have had a far more negative impact on the course of the digitisation of society. In our present time, for example, surely Facebook, Google or Twitter are far more deserving of being called collectors of "a horrendous amount of personal info" than either Apple or Microsoft are.

I would also from a technical perspective disagree with you, when you say that macOS does not "have a very capable service manager". Since OS X Tiger or thereabouts, macOS has used a process called launchd to control the stopping and starting of services. It is also relatively straightforward to use and configure. There is a launchctl command which can be used to list, stop, start and re-start system services. It is also possible to set up user-defined services using so-called plist files, which are again roughly analogous to systemd unit files. Underneath, macOS is a fully-functional modern UNIX - it just hides that complexity and power from users unless they go looking for it.

Now I can see how one could make an argument that Apple "puts handcuffs on their users". Certainly when it comes to iOS and iPadOS, Apple do very much restrict the capabilities of the OS, in particular where the installation of third-party software is concerned. But this is a trade-off that does come with undeniable benefits.

For example, I know of one person in my life who prior to switching to an iPad used a Windows PC. And that person found their PC getting infected with malware several times a year, on average. They were just a regular everyday person, with very little technical knowledge, and inevitably ended up clicking on things on the Web that they really shouldn't have clicked on. Now, since switching to an iPad, they have had zero occurrences of malware, spyware, adware or anything else of that ilk. That's not due to their own skill, or their own luck - it's due to the locked-down nature of the OS, and the fact it protects the user from what would otherwise be the consequences of their own mistakes or errors in judgement.

So whilst it can certainly be the case that an Apple or Microsoft device may not be best for you, that doesn't mean that's true of everyone. Some people just want a computer that works, and that's really all they care about. And for those people, both Apple and Microsoft offer solutions that ultimately make those people's lives better than they otherwise would be. Regular non-technical users would struggle with many Linux distributions, and in particular with fixing things when they go wrong - and things do go wrong, on every platform, inevitably, sooner or later.

So that's my take on it all really. I can understand why you personally dislike Apple or Microsoft, if they don't fit with your own requirements, or your own philosophy of computing in particular or life in general. But for many people, the near-ubiquitous nature of Windows, the ease of use of macOS, or the safer-and-more-secure nature of iOS make for a far better computing experience than they'd ever be able to get anywhere else. And sure, for the rest of us, there's plenty of choice in the Linux world.

This is just nonsense by @lilikoi, who shows a complete lack of facts and is posting total misinformation.

Apple is know for protecting the privacy of its users better than any tech company on the planet.

Apple is not in the super computer business. Apple is in the consumer market. Totally off base.

Nonsense. Apple collects information mostly used to validate users and their Apple ID. Users can opt-out completely of sharing information with third parties.

Well, I agree with you about Windows. However, you are totally wrong about macOS. Even mentioning Microsoft and Apple in the same breath shows a complete lack of understanding of personal computing, privacy and policy.