First Impression of Mac vs. Lenovo WINDOWS

As I told you in my previous post, I started my new job lately as a DBA team lead (I didn’t tell you where, but now that I started and updated my LinkedIn profile, I’ll say it’s at Monday.com).

As I wrote before, the technology they use is different than what I’m used to as they don’t use Oracle database at all. They do use MySQL (which is still under the Oracle umbrella), PostgreSQL, and some NoSQL databases. So I assumed my next posts will be comparing MySQL and PostgreSQL to Oracle (as I started to do here). But no!

Apparently my first post will be about Mac vs. Windows as they use Macs only. As someone who loves Windows (with all of its problems), and Linux (but that’s for servers, less for desktops), I tried to object but it was fruitless. So Mac it is.

I’ve never used a Mac, so I need to learn, but I’m not going to teach you how to use it or do basic tasks, just give you my impression about it compare to Windows (Lenovo laptops series T which I used to years).

Let’s Start With Physical Things

When comparing the Mac (Macbook Pro) to the Lenovo (T470s is what I have now), the Mac is much heavier. I didn’t expect it to be that heavy, but it’s significantly more than the Lenovo.

As for the monitor, I can’t really compare resolution and quality and stuff (I’m not qualified enough for that), but I do like the matte finish of the Lenovo better than the Mac’s glossy one (I’ve seen glossy monitors before, I just don’t fancy them).

Keyboard

I don’t like the Mac’s keyboard at all. I think Lenovo excels with its keyboards and in my opinion it’s a lot better.

Now for the keys. There are some differences, mostly I think will be okay once I get used to it: there is no dedicated “delete”, instead you can press “function + backspace” and it will do what you want. There are no page up/down and home/end buttons either, but this can be done in other ways (option+left/right for home/end, option+up/down for pgup/pgdn, and command+up/down instead of ctrl+pgup/pgdn). And the last one is the small enter, I find it a bit difficult to press when I type. But again, all of these are minor and I’ll have to get used to them (just like I did on Windows). And in any case it will be better with an external keyboard.

Touchpad

Regarding the touchpad, the Mac is winning big time. On the Lenovo I usually use the trackpoint (the red thingy in the middle of the keyboard) but the Mac doesn’t have that. Instead, it has a bigger touchpad (as it doesn’t have buttons on it). Regarding usage, on the Lenovo you can left click using the buttons, or by tapping on the touchpad, for right click you use the buttons. On the Mac, the entire touchpad is a button (that you actually click, not just tap). A click is left click and a click with 2 fingers is right click. The click instead of tap makes it really easy to use drag and drop or highlight (on the lenovo it’s double click and then drag which is less convenient).

I have to admit that it didn’t take me a long time to get used to the trackpad and it’s quite easy to use.

One thing I still have problems with on the Mac (maybe it’s solvable and I just don’t know how), is to drag and drop beyond the trackpad size. On the Lenovo, once I get to the edge with my finger, it keeps moving the mouse in the same direction, on the Mac it just stops.

Languages

Okay, this might be a bit unique, especially if your native language is English. I use Hebrew as well as English, so I need to switch between them as I write or when I move between Windows. Changing the language in Mac is super easy with the function key, easier than Windows’ alt+shift. However, when I write in Hebrew and want to add just a few uppercase letters (like acronyms: DB, CRM, OK, etc.) on Windows I can hold the shift and write the word (just like write a few letters in uppercase when I’m typing in English). Since Hebrew doesn’t have lower/upper case letters, When typing with the shift key pressed, Windows will write in capital English letters. Mac won’t.

Taskbar / Dock

This is another difference between these operating systems, and I get it, each one has a different GUI and concept. But did they really have to put the clock in a different place? Yes, I know it’s a bit petty, but it drives me crazy that I’m used to look for the time at the bottom right and now I have to look at the top right.

But besides that, I think both Windows’ taskbar and Mac’s dock and relatively comfortable, with some differences I’ll need to get used to.

One thing I do find annoying in Mac is that when using multiple monitors, the dock is only on the main one. With Windows you can set it up to show the taskbar on all monitors.

Arrange Windows and Multiple Monitors

While we are talking about multiple monitors, I think Windows does a better job here. There are out-of-the-box shortcuts to move things around including to other monitors (Win + shift + left/right) while with Mac you need to install an app for that.

The same goes for arranging windows. Both allow double click on the title to maximize, but with Windows I find it super easy to drag a window to the right and it will automatically take the right half of the screen and will allow you to put another window on the left half.

Terminals

And now we get to the thing I hate the most in Windows: batch. The built-in scripting language is simply the worst! Yes, I know there is powershell (not great at all as well), and all kind of other stuff, but you can’t even start comparing this with the unix shell abilities, and Mac has that!

The fact that I can natively connect to Unix/Linux with ssh straight from the command line, and the ability to use the shell scripting right in Mac is amazing!

Summary

I’ve been working with the Mac for about 2 weeks now and still struggle quite a bit. Every time I want to move the cursor one word forward or back I still click the control instead of option, and I still can’t get used to stuff like page up and page down, or home/delete keys, but I guess I’ll get used to it eventually. It also sucks that notepad++ doesn’t have a Mac version.

Anyway, I’ll be fine and maybe I’ll write another post in a few months, just to update how it goes. In the meantime I’m learning a lot of new things and hope to write about DB topics soon.