XPost: alt.computer.workshop   
   From: David@hotmail.co.uk   
      
   On 19/02/2026 17:29, Tom Elam wrote:   
   > I bought a 14" MacBook Air this week.   
   >   
   > Having used an iPhone and iPad OS for several years has made MacOS an   
   > easy transition. I have to admit I wish I had done this sooner. Several   
   > CSMA Mac fans "encouraged" me to do so. But years of Windows laptops   
   > made it hard to give up all that experience and learning. In the past   
   > there were a few other reasons too, but those have vanished in time.   
   >   
   > Then there was the experience of trying a M1 MacBook Pro in late 2021.   
   > It needed to run Parallels and Windows for a stats program that is   
   > Windows-only. Needed a faster computer to analyze a huge dataset that is   
   > far beyond what Excel can handle. Set that all up and 2 weeks later the   
   > MacBook failed to boot. I returned it to Apple and bought the Dell I   
   > have today. Swore I'd never do that again.   
   >   
   > Why now you ask? This week I took the wife's iPhone 14 to the Apple   
   > Store for battery replacement. It hit 79% at 3 years of otherwise   
   > excellent service. While there I looked at the Air and an Apple rep told   
   > me to take it home, set it up and give a go. If not happy after 2 weeks   
   > return it for a full refund. So, why not? Nothing to lose but some time   
   > and setting it up would be fun.   
   >   
   > So, less a week into it the Air is not going back to Apple. We leave for   
   > Colorado tomorrow and it is going with us. The Dell will stay here until   
   > I put it on eBay.   
   >   
   > The Air is a VERY impressive piece of technology. It's at least as fast   
   > as the Dell i9 XPS it replaced. It runs all day on a charge, the Dell's   
   > aging battery about 3 hours at best. The Dell runs hot even with dual   
   > fans. The Air has no fan.   
   >   
   > Then there is storage space requirements. My Dell has a 2 tb SSD. Never   
   > needed all that but the upgrade was cheap. Only 420 gb was used. The Air   
   > has a 512 gb SSD. That was bit of a worry. I moved about 20 gb of stale   
   > data on the Dell files to an external drive and everything else over to   
   > the Air. All in, only 262 gb, just over 50%, is used on the Air SSD.   
   > That is a lot of OS slop that went away. The Apple migration program was   
   > not used. I used the external HD to move data and did fresh app   
   > installs. Took a few hours.   
   >   
   > The Air works great with my Dell 4k external monitor, BT Logitech   
   > keyboard and mouse, HP printers and 2 external hard drives. I did have   
   > to buy a SD card dongle to move my GoPro YouTube channel videos onto the   
   > Mac. Also purchased a travel charger. I still need two RC aircraft radio   
   > apps that are Windows-only but have a basement Windows 11 laptop that   
   > will work for that.   
   >   
   > It's also very nice to have many of my iOS apps now on the laptop too.   
   > Other than Quicken my core Windows apps - Office, Edge browser, Roboform   
   > and VideoPad - all run just like Windows.   
   >   
   > The only OS transition issue for me is just how different application   
   > windows management is on MacOS. Then too there is Quicken. The MacOS   
   > version interface is totally different from Windows. Just as capable,   
   > but the interface and workflow takes some effort to get used to. In   
   > fact, while MacOS version is missing some useful interface features it   
   > has a few other functional features missing in the Windows version.   
   >   
   > So there you have it Macaholics. I'm one of you now.   
      
   *WELCOME* to our club! 😅   
      
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSWIR3I4Bxg   
      
   --   
   Kind regards,   
   David   
   Shared with ACW!   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)