now Apple makes their own CPUs and GPUs which perform quite well. For some workloads you would get better performance with Mac hardware and software than in Windows software and Intel/AMD hardware
Better performance because Apple's hardware is better, or because it handles certain tasks better overall? I am a total stranger to Macs so I have no clue where they fit in the IT world.
A bit of both. Overall they have good performance, and they added bits to the processor that make them much faster in certain tasks like machine learning. Basically it's like they took a small section of the overall CPU and dedicated to a specific type of task to boost that performance.
Previously, the latter. Since these new machines though, it’s really a mix. The processors are pretty much tailored to the types of work that macOS does most frequently, in addition to being hella fast outright
Objectively, Apple's M1 laptops are superior to AMD/Intel laptops per watt, fan noise, and burning your lap less.
If you're a hardcore gamer, you can buy laptops with more powerful GPUs, but your battery life will be 20 minutes, your cooling system will be very loud (sometimes even while idling...), and your laptop will burn your legs.
If you're a casual gamer, gaming on OSX is a minefield. Luckily for me, the 2020 M1 macbook air already runs the small number of games I want to play better than my current laptop, so when I get the M1 Max it'll be good enough. You'll need to pick out the dealbreaker games you want to play and research them to see if they have acceptable framerates, require anti-cheat software that operates correctly under OSX, etc..
If you do software development for linux servers (basically all non-C# webdevs), Apple provides a unix environment which is generally suitable for writing your code without giant slow virtual machines, which is an experience that is superior to using windows for the same task. To use a metaphor, unix is 2% different from linux, windows is 95% different from linux.
Also, windows telemetry, nagware, nagupdates, unsetting your settings, built-in malware, forced unwanted restarts, etc., has gotten a million times worse than it was under windows 7. I consider 7 to be the last usable version of windows.
I've never installed linux on a laptop where the headphone jack detection, suspend/hibernate, brightness keys all worked correctly, and could get working after a reasonable amount of tinkering And when you get a lucky 2/3, you still had other random issues where nobody else online has the issue, or the solutions online just don't work, or don't have any answers. There is this weird thing where people seem to think "using linux" means dicking around all day trying to figure out what settings work or installing 400 distros until one of them works, or being a full-on systems engineer just to have a working laptop. Apple gives you a better baseline of guarantees that your operating system is at least half-assedly familiar with that hardware it's running on. Windows has actually surprisingly declined in this regard, and the official/original drivers are typically written for windows first and foremost!
I'm not sure what the statistics are on the music recording and video editing industry are, but it's not rare that those types of people will swear by OSX for that. People who don't want to use OSX probably do fine also.
now Apple makes their own CPUs and GPUs which perform quite well. For some workloads you would get better performance with Mac hardware and software than in Windows software and Intel/AMD hardware
Better performance because Apple's hardware is better, or because it handles certain tasks better overall? I am a total stranger to Macs so I have no clue where they fit in the IT world.
A bit of both. Overall they have good performance, and they added bits to the processor that make them much faster in certain tasks like machine learning. Basically it's like they took a small section of the overall CPU and dedicated to a specific type of task to boost that performance.
Previously, the latter. Since these new machines though, it’s really a mix. The processors are pretty much tailored to the types of work that macOS does most frequently, in addition to being hella fast outright
Objectively, Apple's M1 laptops are superior to AMD/Intel laptops per watt, fan noise, and burning your lap less.
If you're a hardcore gamer, you can buy laptops with more powerful GPUs, but your battery life will be 20 minutes, your cooling system will be very loud (sometimes even while idling...), and your laptop will burn your legs.
If you're a casual gamer, gaming on OSX is a minefield. Luckily for me, the 2020 M1 macbook air already runs the small number of games I want to play better than my current laptop, so when I get the M1 Max it'll be good enough. You'll need to pick out the dealbreaker games you want to play and research them to see if they have acceptable framerates, require anti-cheat software that operates correctly under OSX, etc..
If you do software development for linux servers (basically all non-C# webdevs), Apple provides a unix environment which is generally suitable for writing your code without giant slow virtual machines, which is an experience that is superior to using windows for the same task. To use a metaphor, unix is 2% different from linux, windows is 95% different from linux.
Also, windows telemetry, nagware, nagupdates, unsetting your settings, built-in malware, forced unwanted restarts, etc., has gotten a million times worse than it was under windows 7. I consider 7 to be the last usable version of windows.
I've never installed linux on a laptop where the headphone jack detection, suspend/hibernate, brightness keys all worked correctly, and could get working after a reasonable amount of tinkering And when you get a lucky 2/3, you still had other random issues where nobody else online has the issue, or the solutions online just don't work, or don't have any answers. There is this weird thing where people seem to think "using linux" means dicking around all day trying to figure out what settings work or installing 400 distros until one of them works, or being a full-on systems engineer just to have a working laptop. Apple gives you a better baseline of guarantees that your operating system is at least half-assedly familiar with that hardware it's running on. Windows has actually surprisingly declined in this regard, and the official/original drivers are typically written for windows first and foremost!
I'm not sure what the statistics are on the music recording and video editing industry are, but it's not rare that those types of people will swear by OSX for that. People who don't want to use OSX probably do fine also.