Mac vs Windows 2024 - Can I Change Your Mind [Best Laptop]

OK , be honest .

Which would you be more excited to get a MacBook or a Zen book ?

That's right .

We're talking Mac versus PC or , you know , Mac versus Windows PC cos they're both personal computers , but it's a pretty good time to assess how they're doing .

See who makes better laptops cos it is actually the 40th anniversary of the Mac this year .

So yeah , which one would you rather go for ?

I'm sure the comments are all gonna be really positive for this one .

So this is the MacBook Air 13 M two .

And this is the Asus Zen Book 14 OLED .

I picked these two as they represent some of the best bits from both platforms and for a little bit over a grand .

They're actually very similarly priced and pretty much direct competitors .

So let's start with money .

The price , because that could make the decision for you , because there are literally hundreds of Windows 11 laptops that you can get between two and £600 .

But at £999 this somewhat ageing M one powered MacBook air is the cheapest .

You'll get a Mac outside of refurb and resellers .

Although Like most MacBooks , the base spec is usually the best value because once you start adding more Ra M or more storage , Macs especially , can start getting very expensive .

And just to give you a bit of an idea the MacBook Pro 16 with the M three max , which I'm actually using here as my daily workhorse , and we'll talk about this more in a second .

Max Dell , which actually is this review sample from Apple Uh eight .

Terabytes of storage .

The M three Max 128 Gigs .

Unified Memory .

It's like £7300 or something .

It's absolutely ludicrous .

Obviously , you can get super expensive Windows laptops , particularly gaming and workstations .

But generally we're not talking about that same kind of crazy money , and also you can upgrade them yourself .

You can upgrade the ra M , the SSD .

The one problem .

The biggest problem I have is that I recommend people upgrade to 512 gigs of storage on Mac from the base 256 with the M two air here because you can't upgrade it , you're stuck with it for life unless you carry around an external SSD , which , of course you can .

But just generally for value for money .

Windows is always the way to go .

I think .

For example , a two terabyte SSD costs around £100 and you can upgrade most laptops with this .

But specking two terabytes on MacBook Air costs eight £100 extra .

So being able to upgrade over time is much more cost efficient than having to upgrade the whole laptop .

And most of the time , it's not the end of the world to replace the battery , either .

The flip side is that generally Macs do hold their value for long , and they are more desirable items and also generally because there's less fragmentation .

Apple control the software and the hardware , and there's just fewer devices .

On the whole , you're probably gonna have fewer problems Buying a Mac , and also Apple's customer service is , you know , top notch .

It's hard to beat that .

This is always so dangerous .

OK , let's talk about the sort of designs and the displays , and as you can see , these are both as they turn off that one .

I haven't got any spare hands .

These are both beautifully designed , lovely laptops to use fantastic keyboards and trip pads .

Gorgeous screens .

There aren't enough superlatives to describe how these thin and light laptops , which , as I say are about love .

£100 are absolutely lovely and really good all rounders .

But there are a couple of differences , and the main one really is the screen .

I'm not even talking about the notch between these two .

The Mac gives you a 60 hertz uh , LED L CD screen right , whereas the Zen book gives you AOL D 120 Hertz Touch screen for the same kind of money .

It's fast as well .

This Zen book is one of the first laptops to ship with Intel's latest meteoric processors , a K 1/14 Gen .

CP US , which includes the much faster Intel Arc Integrated graphics , which is roughly twice as fast as last year's graphics .

We get a much bigger battery , although actual battery life is broadly similar .

Wi Fi six E We get double the storage double the ra M , and it's 50 quid cheaper than the air .

It's so much better value and plugged in this higher end .

Intel core Ultra 71558 chip I've got in here beats the M two in my G six CPU multicore score and also opens CL GP U tests , although Apple's chip still has a single core advantage .

And one of the key advantages of the Mac , especially going up to the pros , is its ability to give you pretty much that full performance .

Whether you're plugged in or on battery Windows .

Machines , particularly if you've got a dedicated graphics card , are going to slow down and throttle .

Also , quick mention While on the Mac , we have two Thunderbolt ports and a headphone jack on the Zen book .

We have two Thunderbolt ports and a USB type A and an HDM I 2.1 .

So in terms of connectivity and Wi Fi six .

And that's the boring stuff because actually , Windows laptop manufacturers are pushing P CS even further with convertible two in ones ultra lightweight machines , some of which can even squeeze in a GP U and really cool stuff like the Su Zim duo or the Lenovo Yoga nine I with dual OLED touch screens .

And then there's gaming laptops .

I don't know why I did that , but I could spend a whole video just talking about gaming laptops .

It is for many , the only reason they still stick with PC and Windows because , frankly , it is by far the best experience for gaming .

Yes , we have the Apple arcade , and actually Apple are pushing more for developers to , uh , port their games over to Mac OS .

But really , P CS are where it's at Windows PC SI know , I know with everything from an RT X 4050 to a four 90 .

And , of course , AM D's cards as well .

Beefy cooling systems , high refresh , low latency screens and fast memory and storage , which means they can also double as workstations , editing and rendering by day and gaming and streaming by night , if you will .

For example , the recently updated or G zephyrus G , 16 , looks just like the MacBook Pro .

It's like the same size , same metal chassis and same colour , really , But this can be specked with a 4090 an OLED screen .

And then , of course , there are actual workstations with extras and top quality screens designed for engineering or 3D work .

The bottom line is , there's just so much more choice when it comes to a windows PC .

Whether it's a thin light , a gaming laptop or workstation , whatever you fancy , they're upgradable generally , and also there's something for pretty much every budget .

And I genuinely think Windows laptops are more exciting than they have been in years , with even better stuff just around the corner , like Kel's Lunar Lake , CP US and a MD Z five CP US and NVIDIA Super GP US .

So why not just buy a Zen book or a Windows PC ?

Look how excited I am ?

Well , there's a reason these laptop manufacturers and video and intel and a MD and all those people are being extra competitive right now .

And that's because Apple is dominating .

The entire Mac range now is powered by Apple's own silicon , whether it's an M one , M two or M three Chip .

And this has been revolutionary for the PC market and right now and for the past couple of years , really MacBooks have offered the perfect balance of performance and battery life .

They're fast , they're ridiculously efficient .

They run just as well on battery , and also they generally run cooler and quieter .

And for me , I remember it was the MacBook pro with the M one pro , where I finally switched from my , uh , trusted Dell XPS that I've been using for years and constantly , like a little bit disappointed that each iteration of a year wasn't that much better .

But then suddenly Apple switched from Intel to their own silicon .

We had a new MacBook Pro , and it was fantastic .

Fast forward a couple of years , and now I'm using this pro 16 with an M three max as my workhorse .

I can edit high bit rate four K 60 video all day on my MacBook Pro with dozens of chrome tabs open Photoshop Lightroom .

It is a challenge to get this thing to slow down .

And if you're shooting in pro Wars and editing with F cut or working with logic in Apple's own suite of apps , it's even more optimised .

And frankly , the M three Max is overkill .

It's more than anyone really needs unless you're editing Pixar movies .

But what that means is you don't have to spend that much money on M three Macs because of the scalability .

Because of the trickle down performance , if you will , of the M series chips that you can get away with an M , two MacBook air or even still an M one MacBook Air and do pretty much everything you need and pay a lot less money .

Still get great battery life , fantastic Webcams and speakers , these lovely keyboard and touch pads .

If anything was gonna be described as a good all rounder , it will be the MacBook Air .

And if you do need a bit more screen real estate , as they say , then you've also got the option of , uh , the 15 inch MacBook Air M two .

And both of these should be updated , I reckon , in the summer this year at WW DC with the M three chips .

How much faster they will be , I don't really know .

But certainly these M twos are no slouch .

So there are plenty of powerful Windows laptops , but it's that efficiency that's key to a great laptop experience .

Although we are starting to see Intel and a MD come back and the blue team's new , more efficient and a I focused core ultra laptop chips do give the M two some proper competition .

Obviously , there is a lot of buzz around a I at the moment , and we do have a dedicated MP U on this chip , which kind of accelerates any a I tasks which can be handled by the CPU or GP U .

But either they're not as fast or it's just not as efficient .

The problem is , there aren't that many on devised A I applications .

Most of the stuff you use chat G , BT , Photoshop , generative that's all in the cloud .

There are a handful of things like , you know , blurring the background in your Web calls so it doesn't drain your batteries fast .

And there's some lightroom classic applications .

There's a few things , but right now it's still quite niche .

But over the next few months and a couple of years , as developers and apps start to be optimised to take advantage of the NPU power , we may start to see these new laptops really come into their own .

With these A .

I features .

And , of course , one feature exclusive to Windows 11 laptops is Microsoft Copilot .

This sort of a I personal system , which can search and answer your questions and summarise text and plan a route for you all sorts of things .

But it's something we just simply don't have on Mac .

Qualcomm are also worth a quick mention because while most laptops , the vast majority of Windows laptops use an intel or a DC PU chip uh , Qualcomm are developing their own arm based architecture arm is what we get with Apple Silicon , and it's much more efficient .

And we're gonna start to see some new snapdragon X elite powered laptops , which should give them Apple Air , some competition .

Whether they'll stack up against the new M three powered airs .

We'll have to see the downside with these arm based chips is that we have much more limited app compatibility .

Developers can need to optimise it or else you're not getting the best experience .

So that is still gonna be a hurdle .

But it's still great to see more competition and more options .

And speaking of apps , all this everything I've waffled on so far about could just be detail .

It could just be academic , because what matters most is that your laptop runs the apps and the games and the programmers you need within the software that you feel comfortable using and familiarity counts for a lot .

I have my MacBook and my desktop P CS , so I use both every day .

And for me at least , Mac OS does feel like a more refined and curated experience .

Fewer bugs , less junk , and particularly if you stick to Apple's own apps , the arcade and their ecosystem as a whole .

It's all very nice and very optimised , although the two apps I download straight away for any Mac is magnet , which allows you to basically snap the windows outside like we have , you know , in Windows with a snap tool and also , uh , vivid , which actually does not apply to MacBook Air only to the pros because they've got the HDR display .

But it unlocks that HDR brightness across the whole desktop , which makes it much easier to use outdoors .

Now , Windows 11 is a lot more streamlined than it used to be , and day to day it really isn't that much different from Mac .

Windows Defender does a great job , so I never really have to worry about other anti-viruses despite my zambo , prompting me every time I turn it on and everything runs every game , every app .

Every random piece of software your business still uses from the nineties is by far the most compatible and versatile , and you've got this big push for a I .

You've got copilot .

You've got the best gaming graphics drivers and hardware as well And , of course , the compatibility .

Yes , we've got Apple Arcade and a few games on steam , and you know it's getting a bit better on Mac .

But for proper gaming , you're still gonna want a Windows PC .

But is there a way to run Windows on Mac and Mac on Windows ?

Well , yes , but it's not easy .

Since the switch to Apple Silicon .

You can't officially dual boot Mac OS and Windows on a MacBook , although there are virtual machine emulator apps .

But Microsoft have just officially authorised an app called Parallels Desktop to run Windows 11 for arm .

It is still a virtual machine , but with more Native Win 11 features like DX 12 Hardware Acceleration .

You know , I told you I switched from my delax PS to the MacBook Pro .

That was because of the M one chips , but what's kept me there is the ecosystem .

Once I got my MacBook pro and got very happy and comfortable with it .

I then bought an iPhone 14 pro Max .

I think it was .

So .

I then had my iPhone and my MacBook , and at that point I thought , Well , I should probably get a pair of airpods .

Uh , I also have an iPad , which I tend to watch stuff on the plane with .

I am definitely in the warm , loving prison that is the apple ecosystem , and it's a fantastic place to be .

But it does make it hard to go back to anything else , because if you use an iPhone , airdrop alone will make you want to use a Mac .

Plus , you've got FaceTime iMessage iCloud .

You can even use your iPhone's camera as a Webcam via continuity camera .

And if you've got yourself an iPad , an apple watch airpods or if you're a complete lunatic and have spent 3.5 grand on an Apple vision pro for some augmented productivity , then it makes sense to go for a Mac .

Although if you are team Windows , you can grab yourself a meta Quest three , which also gives you a huge screen overlaid on your real environment .

So you can also get your desktop and do some work in a quest .

Three .

Although it's not as sharp and not quite as refined , but it's also literally a fraction of the price .

Also , Windows eleven's linked to Android lets you answer calls and messages , and we do also have quick share , which sometimes works as well as airdrop .

But again , it's the fragmentation of Windows devices that kind of makes it hard to unify everything together .

That's Apple's biggest selling point and breathe .

I think my takeaway is Buy the laptop that you feel comfortable using You can afford and runs the apps that you use .

I could have just said that at the beginning and saved you like 14 minutes .

And if you do go for a Windows machine , just read a couple of reviews before you buy it .

And not everyone needs the performance and the battery life of a MacBook , and not everyone can afford it .

But their reputation for quality and being easy to use is totally justified .

And my personal choice is a Mac and then sometimes a gaming PC for , you know , gaming .

But what about you ?

Which would you go for a MacBook or a Zen book ?

Let me know in the comments below .

And also what's your current setup ?

What laptop are you using ?

And are you thinking about upgrading this year ?

Thank you so much for watching guys .

I hope you enjoyed the video .

And if you did , then a cheeky little like and subscribe will be fantastic .

And I'll see you next time right here on the tech chat .