Windows to MacBook

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Changing from Windows to MacBook and Android to iPhone

My Trusty old Lenovo ThinkPad
My new MacBook Air 13″



As I have moved over (almost) completely from windows to a MacBook I think it’s time I consolidated my original post. Changing to a MacBook

All Apple stuff

  • The Mouse
    I still much prefer to use a wireless mouse than the touchpad..
  • BackupsI Its all on the iCloud
  • Browser I use Safari and use Apples Keychain instead of Firefox and Lastpass
  • Photography I use Apple Preview or Gimp instead of Photoshop CS2
  • Spreadsheets I use Libre Office instead of Excel
  • Website design and maintenance I now use WordPress instead of Microsoft Expression Web 4 and HTML sites
  • Audio recording I use Audacity as I did on the windows machines
  • Video recording I record on the iPhone and edit on VideoPad 

Partly Apple stuff

  • Books  I use Calibre to store books on the MacBook but I read them on Readera on  my Samsung Android Tablet
  • Circuit design I use TinyCad and VeeCad running under Wine. I could use Kcad instead of TinyCad but there is nothing like VeeCad for the MacBook. Unfortunately I can’t print from them, but the files are saved on the iCloud, accessed on my Lenovo, and printed from there.

Non Apple Stuff

  • Circuit Simulation I use LTspice on the Lenovo running Windows 7 – the MacBook version is awful.
  • Hotspot The iPhone is still a pain to use as a hotspot.  I keeps disconnecting and sometimes won’t connect at all.  If we are away for a few weeks I buy a PAYG sim and use it in my old Motorola G5 or in an old Mifi  unit. For shorter times I put up with the iPhone.  
    Curiously the iPhone seems to work better with my Android tablet than it does with the MacBook!
    The G5 also seems more sensitive.  Even when on the same network it can often pick up a useable 4G signal when the iPhone can’t.
Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.5

So I am almost completely Appled. But I have an Android Tablet that gets used extensively for reading books with Readera, Web browsing with FireFox, and reading magazine with Readly.  I have no intention to swap it for an iPad. 



To lose the Lenovo I’d have to have working MacBook Circuit design tools (preferably free like the Windows ones).

My old Motorola G5
My iPhone 12

To lose the Android phone I’d need a more reliable hotspot on the iPhone.

 

Do I find the MacBook better than Windows? Marginally, but I am comparing it to a quite old Laptop running an out of date operating system.  I suspect a modern PC would be just as good.
The same is true of the iPhone and the Android.
But I do like the way they operate together. For example I write a shopping list in Notes on the MacBook, and it appears almost instantly on the iPhone.  When a verification code is texted into my phone number, the MacBook offers to insert it into the webpage. When I take a picture on the iPhone it appears on Photos on the MacBook – albeit not instantly, and on the iCloud.

Overall, I am glad I changed. 

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