When I was looking for a new laptop that could handle video editing I considered something from Apple as they are supposed to be good at that sort of thing. I ended up with a Windows laptop only because to get the same job done it was a little cheaper and I didn’t have to learn a new OS, replace some software I already had, stuff like that.

So I’m going to agree with Molgrips post above.

Of course you have said you’d like a touch screen and that will limit your choice.

have we figured out what things the £180 laptop can do *better* than than a mac yet?

All pretty personal things but keyboard shortcuts, start menu, arduino environment, dropbox integration, range of free software. Pretty minor and quite personal but for a machine that is significantly cheaper and a little lighter. Of course there are a lot of things the more expensive machine does better but there blinkin well should be. Just saying it does some things better (for me), a £500 pc will do some things better and a £800 MacBook will do some things better.

arduino environment, dropbox integration, range of free software.

These things all matter to me – what arduino dev env do you use?

What’s better about Dropbox on windows – I use it a lot?

What free software do you find essential?

Microsoft Surface could be a good reason to switch for some. Little bigger than an iPad but can run all your Windows software. More powerful than most basic laptops in fact.

The surface pro is what appeals to me – but too expensive to make a blind leap of faith, hence testing windows first.

Or maybe it is, the reason is just “it’s cheaper and good enough”.

To be honest, I think that’s a large part of it. The counterpoint is, why pay three times the price for a premium product which ostensibly does the same thing?

The real strength in a PC is its agnosticism I reckon. For a given application, there’s almost certainly a Windows version and ‘probably’ a Mac version. As I said before, there’s been plenty of threads from Mac users wanting help because they need a Windows application; in over 20 years of using a PC I’ve never found myself thinking “wow, I really need a Mac for this, there’s no alternative” and never seen a thread asking that question. Though, I have seen situations where I’ve had to crack out a Linux environment, which I suppose is comparable.

It’s similar at a hardware level IME. You’ve got a gamut of hardware which you can use internally or externally on a Windows box, whereas with a Mac there can be compatibility issues. I’ve seen Mac upgrade threads where stuff will only work on specific OSX revisions or certain hardware models (anecdotally from memory, I don’t have examples and no doubt I’m about to be told I’m wrong).

So yeah. Market dominance is the PC’s strength I reckon. It’s usually the first platform for developers (in the same way that iPhone often is for mobile development, though that’s changing) so you can pretty much guarantee that whatever you need there will be a way of doing it. Some things may be better on Mac – Mac is traditionally the tool of choice for stuff like Photoshop work and iTunes is terrible on Windows – though I’ve never really heard how “better” is quantified. Comparing a Mac to a budget PC, you’ll find things like better screens as someone else mentioned, but it’s not really comparing like with like. You can get a PC laptop with a HD IPS display, but it’ll set you back £900 not £300.

FTP/SCP: WinSCP or Filezilla (find myself using the former more these days)
SSH/Telnet: KiTTY (Putty variant), with SuperPutty to manage windows
Picture editing: Paint.NET
Photo management: Picasa
Coding/Scripting: Notepad++
Zip files: 7zip
Packet sniffing: Wireshark
Audio ripping/encoding: EAC
Film encoding: Handbrake
Home movie editing: Not something I do too often but Windows Movie Maker (or whatever it’s new name is) did the job well enough.
System stats: Process Explorer

None of the above leave me in awe, but seem to do their jobs very well, although many need settings tweaks to get the best out of them.

These things all matter to me – what arduino dev env do you use?

Just the standard IDE on a PC. It just seemed a but flakey on a mac but it have might have improved as it was a little while ago. I can smoothly and simultaneously run multiple arduinos on different ports

What’s better about Dropbox on windows – I use it a lot?

Again it just seems a little better, good integrated between a couple of PCs, the web interface and Android. The right click sharing and features in the pop up menu are nicely arranged

What free software do you find essential?

Essential might be over stretching but recently: Arduino IDE, Thunderbird, notepad++, Draftsight, Image Resizer, Audacity, Paint.net, Open office, movie maker, cutePDF. I’m sure some of these will be mac, too not trying to make a pc>mac point, just listing what I use reasonably regularly. There’s also random stuff I download to solve a particular problem or do a particular task

not trying to make a pc>mac point, just listing what I use reasonably regularly.

That’s perfect through – I don’t want anyone to make the point. I want software suggestions so that I can try stuff out and make the decision myself informed by experience actually using both platforms extensively.

So thanks all for the good lists of suggestions I’m finally getting 🙂

The point about Linux is interesting – it’s partly why I went to Mac in the first place 12 years ago. Instead of needing to reboot into Linux (no VMs then) I could run or recompile my software on OSX as its proper Unix.

but too expensive to make a blind leap of faith,

Not exactly blind – there are plenty of happy Windows users around 🙂 Both platforms are good, as long as you are prepared to learn and appreciate the ways, rather than just moan about the differences like some people seem to.

notepad++

Notepad++ is bloody awful, please stop using it and let it die like it should’ve 15 years ago.

I think the UI of Windows 8 and 10 will be a draw, at least for me. Live tiles are great on my phone, would be even better on a PC.

Notepad++ is bloody awful, please stop using it and let it die like it should’ve 15 years ago

What do you recommend instead?

as long as you are prepared to learn and appreciate the ways,

Yup I am – I have a cheap windows laptop for this reason!

What’s better than notepad++? Interested for home and work use.

What’s better than notepad++? Interested for home and work use.

Sublime Text is a lot better, you can use it for free but it does pop up a “please pay for me” message every now and then. Not enough to be irritating, and I liked it so much I ended up paying for a license which is valid across all platforms.

The new atom.io editor isn’t bad, but seems to be a bit more resource heavy (at least on linux). I haven’t tried it yet on Windows, I just use Sublime Text there.

Sublime Text

That does look good… cheers.

That does look good… cheers.

Should say I’m using v2, not the new v3 (not tried that yet). BTW it’s well worth learning basic regular expressions to get the most out of it.

Oh I know my regexes etc. – that’s part of the appeal. Looks like it might let me do some stuff in editor that I normally drop to a command line and grep/awk/sed.

Looks like it might let me do some stuff in editor that I normally drop to a command line and grep/awk/sed.

Definitely, including things like search using () in your regex and replace using $1, that kind of stuff. Find all is great, and allows you to type in multiple places at one.

Also I am pretty sure Visual Studio is only available on Windows, that’s essential for creating Windows Phone apps.

Just spotted this, coincidentally.

https://code.visualstudio.com/

Code is free and available on your favorite platform – Linux, Mac OSX, and Windows.

This Is New I think.

Yeah announced last night, on my list of things to look at. More exciting for work TBH, Linux is crying out for a decent c++ IDE but that’s another flame war 😉

MS are way more cross platform these days.

Here’s something you can’t do with a Mac

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/6808476

That a pair of Titan Xs? They yours? Considering some (or quadro M6000) for a new work machine and I’d be interested in how you find them, especially Linux OpenGL stuff and multi monitor 4k.

And I already mentioned earlier in the thread that macs are no good if you need really high end kit – my work kit is all PC partly for this reason. Tho a Mac Pro is more portable than anything with a pair of Titans in it.

It’s not mine, a friends’ 🙁

I was just given 2x 970’s as a present.

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/6843054

That’s my score 😀