Mac or PC for work?
June 14, 2022 10:37 AM   Subscribe

I'm starting a new gig in a couple weeks, and have the choice of a Macbook or a (nice) PC laptop. Which?

I've been a lifetime PC user, but my last remote gig (at an agency) gave me a macbook (2019). There were some drawbacks: Excel (which I use a lot) was unspeakably slow and lacked a couple features, battery management seemed to suck, and there were some growing pains. But I loved the fact that the laptop wasn't locked down, and that I could install Steam for the rare chance when I had time/inclination to game.

my new remote gig is at a startup, and they're giving me the choice of what laptop. For work, a windows PC might be marginally better (given my experience with Mac Excel), but I worry that it'll have the usual kludgy IT lockdowns that i've always had from work windows PCs. Most of them seem to have Macs.

I'd love to get others' experience here to help inform my choice.
posted by Vhanudux to Technology (17 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Take whichever you think is going to be comfortable for you to use all day, every weekday.

But definitely don't pick a machine because you can install gaming software (or worse) on it. IT departments are capable of seeing what you do on your computer, and using a work machine for leisure is a recipe for disaster.
posted by yellowcandy at 10:50 AM on June 14, 2022 [7 favorites]


You mention that it's a remote gig. The greatest issue I found, working from home on my Mac workstation, is connecting to the work site via VPN. The work site's VPN software wouldn't authenticate a log in from anything other than a Windows machine (the whole "Windows authentication" thing). I ultimately had to get a "loaner" Windows machine from work in order to connect. This might be worth asking the startup's IT guys about before committing to one machine or the other.
posted by SPrintF at 10:50 AM on June 14, 2022 [4 favorites]


I can't speak for Excel usage, but my Mac M1 is a huge leap beyond the Intel Macs in performance and battery life. I would recommend 16 GB though, if you typically have multiple applications open. The new M2 should be even faster.

But yeah, in a work environment it's usually best to go with the herd. Ask if there any Mac-specific apps you might have to use like Xcode.
posted by credulous at 10:52 AM on June 14, 2022


> but I worry that it'll have the usual kludgy IT lockdowns that i've always had from work windows PCs.

I can tell you from direct experience that it is very possible to have a work mac that is barnacled with crusty performance-killing ITware.

If I had to pick, all specs being equal, it would boil down to which has the better keyboard. I have to type massive reams of code and the Macbook's keyboard (I have a 2017 pro) is just legendarily shitty. When I go from my work macbook pro to my personal thinkpad, my fingers are just like ahhhhhh.

Also nthing don't put Steam on your work computer.
posted by Sauce Trough at 10:56 AM on June 14, 2022 [3 favorites]


> But yeah, in a work environment it's usually best to go with the herd.

this is another risk in your choice. at my shop, the macs are pretty poorly supported, we have thousands of windows pcs and fewer than 250 macs, and IT directs their limited resources accordingly. Not long ago I couldn't even change my corporate password on my Mac, I had to visit an office and use a loaner windows machine.
posted by Sauce Trough at 11:01 AM on June 14, 2022 [1 favorite]


macOS machines can be locked down extensively by an IT team much in the same way that Windows machines can. Some IT teams may not have the expertise to lock them down, and others may manage macOS machines with a "soft hand" given the overall lower risk of malware, but it's absolutely possible to set up extensive restrictions.

The new 2020-present Macs based on the M1 and M2 processors (instead of Intel processors) have remarkable battery life, some of the best in the industry. The 2019 Macs were pretty terrible in that regard. Apple really turned around the thermal/battery life issue their later Intel machines had. So, the year and model of the Macbook they give you is crucial here. Similarly, the newer Macbooks have radically better keyboards than the 2016-2019 Macbooks.

In addition, the current versions of Excel on an M1 or M2 Mac have excellent performance. On the 2019 Macs it felt like you could activate the fans doing anything remotely complex; the new ones take it in stride. The big question there would be the missing features and whether those have been added in more recent versions of Excel for the Mac.

With the exception of the Excel feature issue, this really all depends on the way the startup's IT team manages the Mac and what generation of Mac they'd give you. You may want to bring it up with them to get the details to make an informed decision; they may have a clear recommendation based on the typical needs of your position and the office culture.
posted by eschatfische at 11:02 AM on June 14, 2022


I would go with what the rest of your team is using.
posted by mskyle at 11:02 AM on June 14, 2022 [6 favorites]


If you don't have a preference, get whatever everyone else has. It will make your life considerably easier when standardizing on applications, file sharing, and even "how the heck did you do that?".

I've been firmly in the Mac camp for 13 years now, even through the bad years with horrible keyboards and other issues. But now the M1s are great. Even the latest intels with non-sucky keyboards are perfectly fine. I personally wouldn't go back to a Windows machine unless there were serious quality of life issues not having the right software, etc, etc.

And a locked down windows machine would drive me bananas. But don't pick it just for Steam. Gaming on a mac generally sucks, and your IT department can absolutely see everything. I just personally have a ton of little tools and other quality of life apps I'd prefer to be able to install easily.
posted by cgg at 11:03 AM on June 14, 2022 [1 favorite]


Do you write things with actual words in languages other than English, languages that have accent marks or letters that are not found in English? If so, you want a Mac. I switched to a PC a few years ago and I deeply regret it because I write things in multiple languages all the time, in multiple platforms and I hate hate hate how clumsy it is to switch back and forth from English to whatever other language I'm working in. Apple uses the same key commands for accent marks in all programs, which makes my life considerably easier. If I had thought of this, I would never have switched. But I recognize this is a niche problem (I'm an academic in a non-STEM discipline, so Mac use is both very common and well supported by my institution. YMMV).
posted by pleasant_confusion at 11:05 AM on June 14, 2022


Do you write things with actual words in languages other than English, languages that have accent marks or letters that are not found in English? If so, you want a Mac.

This may have changed, but support for Right-to-Left text was better on PCs (and in PC word processors) than on Macs a few years ago. (My partner writes in Hebrew sometimes).
posted by jb at 11:18 AM on June 14, 2022


But otherwise: I would definitely go with what the majority of the people you are working with are using. That will make a difference when it comes to sharing documents, techniques and accessing support.

I've never liked using Macs, but if I were working in a Mac-majority environment, I would strongly consider following suit (as painful as that would be for all my keyboard shortcut habits).
posted by jb at 11:20 AM on June 14, 2022


I generally use pc laptops, specifically Lenovo Thinkpads. I have always found apple products to do better battery management. I used excel on a mac and don't recall issues. Macs are constructed better. I have tendonitis and Macs are more mouse-dependent than pcs*, which causes pain, so I stick with pcs. If you expect to use Office a lot, not the Mac alternatives, a pc may be a better option.


Macs are more mouse-dependent than pcs* - some may disagree, but our Mac specialist agreed that there are some things on a a Mac that must use a mouse. On pcs, excepting games, graphics, and specialty programs, I can usually find a keyboard method.

Some Mac mice have been disastrous for me, and the keyboard is not my preference, but I adapt
posted by theora55 at 11:29 AM on June 14, 2022


oh yeah, Office support is kind of a big question on the mac. If your job is MS Office-centric I would go windows 100%

The last rev of Mac Outlook (16.61 is the one I have RN) was unusable garbage in my experience -- when my VPN had a blip, Outlook would go into a silent offline mode where it said that it was online, but it was not. Colleagues confirmed this bug, it wasn't just me. I ignored a lot of emails because of this feature. Using the web outlook now and it's 100% better, but I don't know if people generally have access to that.
posted by Sauce Trough at 11:49 AM on June 14, 2022


Command-F "Windows" ... ah, there it is. OK. /pedant

n-thing get what the rest of your team is using.

At my gig, I started working more closely with developers in 2017, and was overjoyed at being able to ditch the terrible HP laptop I had been issued two years earlier. M1 Macs just became available to us, and I'm waiting for this Intel model to die on me so I can upgrade. Macs are managed by IT the same way Windows laptops are, but having developer credentials means my laptop is not nearly as locked down as it could be. Still, don't install non-work software on your work-owned laptop.
posted by emelenjr at 11:56 AM on June 14, 2022


Before you get hung up on Excel performance, have you confirmed that you'll actually be using Excel (and Office) in this new role? AFAICT, the vast majority of US tech companies, and a significant fraction of non-tech companies, have migrated to Google Sheets and the rest of the Google Drive suite (or some other cloud based document solution). In other words, people live in web browsers and the speed of your computer matters less than it did.

(And to the extent raw speed matters, a generic M1 mac is much faster than a comparably priced generic PC laptop.)
posted by caek at 12:25 PM on June 14, 2022 [1 favorite]


I like Macs. I have an iMac as my home computer. But when I was WFH during the first year of COVID I pretty much exclusively used GoToMyPC to work on my office computer because Excel for Mac is useless for anything but the most basic functions. If I were choosing a work computer I would go for a PC with hardly a second thought (and will seriously consider it for my next home computer, which will be a while because Macs last forever).

I know that Parallels and other emulators are out there but I haven’t tried any of them since about 2008 - you could look into how functional they might be.

But don’t pick your work computer based on gaming.
posted by Kriesa at 7:33 PM on June 14, 2022 [1 favorite]


If you’re getting a model from within the last few years, ignore the stuff about bad keyboards. That’s been resolved. The Apple silicon (M1,M2, etc) models are blazing fast.

Macs are more mouse-dependent than pcs*

HARD disagree. Perhaps out of the box, but there are so many third part tools (Better Touch Tool, Keyboard Maestro, etc) that allow you to automate or replace GUI input with keystrokes. Macs are infinitely customizable with a huge swath of third party software to tweak everything.

I know I’m biased, but I would strongly recommend a Mac. Particularly given the fact that most of your team uses them.
posted by bluloo at 1:59 PM on June 15, 2022


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