MacBook Air vs Ultrabooks

Irish_Tom · 24 Feb 2012 at 14:12

The only thing I think Windows 7 does better out of the box compared to Lion in terms of windows management is snapping to the sides/corners of the screen.

This is solved with BetterSnapTool — a £1.50 app.

What does OSX do that grinds your workflow to a halt? I'm struggling to see how my productivity could be increased by using Windows 7 over OS X...

fez · 24 Feb 2012 at 14:25

Panzerbjorn said:
The only thing I think Windows 7 does better out of the box compared to Lion in terms of windows management is snapping to the sides/corners of the screen.

This is solved with BetterSnapTool — a £1.50 app.

What does OSX do that grinds your workflow to a halt? I'm struggling to see how my productivity could be increased by using Windows 7 over OS X...

I am wondering this too...

I have at least 15 programs open for work the whole time and have never had an issue with window management or anything else. I have worked on windows machines most of my life but I have never been so productive as I am on a mac. Using alfred I barely go near the mouse unless I expressly need it.

I have tried on numerous occasions to have windows taking up half my screen etc but I just get ****ed off with it very quickly. I rarely need to compare or copy between two files and I use text wranglers compare documents which splits them automatically.

bigredshark · 24 Feb 2012 at 14:27

Izi said:
what was the last version of Windows you used.

Windows 7 wins hands down for window management, and in an office environment generally.

I have to say I think this is just what you're used to, I could not productively use an OS without multiple desktops / spaces any more. For me that means OSX wins hands down for productivity...

Depends what you need / use / are used to.

For me, and several others I work with, OSX makes more sense. That is biased to our needs (merely being Unix based helps, having terminal saves about 4 different downloads on a windows system and is superior to any windows ssh client...).

Matter of opinion at the end of the day...

Irish_Tom · 24 Feb 2012 at 14:33

bigredshark is correct of course. If you're not used to an OS it's going to take you longer to do anything.

Disco Boy · 24 Feb 2012 at 15:05

bigredshark said:
For me, and several others I work with, OSX makes more sense. That is biased to our needs (merely being Unix based helps, having terminal saves about 4 different downloads on a windows system and is superior to any windows ssh client...).

Ubuntu has a better terminal though, so if you're serious about using the terminal for work then I find it's better.

bigredshark · 24 Feb 2012 at 15:08

Disco Boy said:
Ubuntu has a better terminal though, so if you're serious about using the terminal for work then I find it's better.

It doesn't actually, out of the box I prefer the OSX terminal and beyond that it's a terminal, they all work the same. There's also the issue that I can actually do the rest of my work on OSX which with Ubuntu isn't possible...

Hxc · 24 Feb 2012 at 16:08

Oh christ thankyou so much whoever mentioned Hyperdock, has removed one of my few complaints with OSX. BetterSnapTool is also a must have after using Win Vista/7.

Izi · 24 Feb 2012 at 16:10

I just saw the asus ux21e in John lewis. Damn its a nice machine. The asus ux31e (13inch) is due out soon.

It was next to the macbook air and honestly both were superb build quality.

The only thing the ASUS lacked was the magnetic charge point like the macs- i love that feature.

Amp34 · 24 Feb 2012 at 20:19

Panzerbjorn said:
The only thing I think Windows 7 does better out of the box compared to Lion in terms of windows management is snapping to the sides/corners of the screen.

This is solved with BetterSnapTool — a £1.50 app.

What does OSX do that grinds your workflow to a halt? I'm struggling to see how my productivity could be increased by using Windows 7 over OS X...

Funnily enough you just picked up on one thing I really hate about Vista and 7... I have the snapping tool turned off on all my windows machines...

BRS is right there, part of it is what you are used to but for me OSX is still just a toy, but then I've never got overly attached to any gadget I've owned. It's a tool, something better comes along and the old thing gets swapped.

ajf · 24 Feb 2012 at 23:17

There is a HP ultrabook coming shortly:
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/laptops/373030/hp-envy-14-spectre

Looks a pretty good alternative to the Air, althou a bit pricey. I think the Air advantage is its unibody which is exclusive to Apple I believe. Makes a very solid and seamless laptop.
For the best would be an Air with Bootcamp Windows 7.
Having said that, if Hyperdock is any good I might change that as the main gripe I have is working with OSX windows etc.

SIAT · 27 Feb 2012 at 15:53

Hxc said:
Oh christ thankyou so much whoever mentioned Hyperdock, has removed one of my few complaints with OSX. BetterSnapTool is also a must have after using Win Vista/7.

No worries. It's a must have app or me.

It should be in OS X by default though!