Bit of a weird title, I know. But I can’t think of a better way of wording it.
At home I have 2 PC’s in regular use, using a 2 port KVM. One of those is my Linux gaming PC, running Ubuntu. The other is an M1 Mac Mini. I have an old Dell laptop buried away running Windows 10, that’s most definitely got a flat battery because it’s so infrequently turned on. I only use that for a label printer that only has Windows drivers and for my diagnostic tool that again, only supports Windows.
Aside from that my partner has a Windows 11 laptop, she only uses that when she needs to write a letter or to perform a task that needs it. For the most part she’s one of these that just does everything on her phone. When my son is old enough there is zero chance he’ll be getting a PC running Windows. If he wants to game it’ll most likely be a Linux machine.
In 2026 I can see absolutely no reason or benefit to someone using a Windows machine in a personal capacity. I understand it for work, a lot of the corporate world still revolves around it. Even in the workplace it’s becoming a hindrance. Forced obsolescence caused us to have to replace at least 50 PC’s when Windows 10 was deprecated, updates are constant, intrusive and generally break something.
At work I have a desktop running Windows 10 LTSC (I cannot rely on Windows 11, I’ve tried) and a laptop. My requirements for a laptop aren’t demanding. Generally if I’m on my laptop I’m only using it to use a remote session either back to my desktop or a server. At a push I might check emails and do some web related tasks. All I really need from a laptop is decent battery life, reliability and portability. For the past few years I have been in a constant battle to find a Windows laptop that meets those basic requirements. They either drain the battery when turned off, have a horrendous battery life when on, won’t turn on when I need them to due to hardware issues or have just broken.
My last laptop was a 2025 Lenovo something or other. It’s a far cry from the Thinkpads of old. The RAM, CPU and SSD are soldered to the board. The battery is glued in place. The keyboard is bad. It drains its battery when off, and has a habit of refusing to power on even when charged. As far as a tool goes, it’s terrible.
So when a Macbook Air M2 2022 was handed back to me, I decided to give it a go. Straight away I could tell it had seen a lot. The keys were worn and sticky, thankfully Apple Self Repair sell replacement sets, so I ordered those. The battery was at 86% health but I decided to wait and see how that goes. I decided I’d use this device as a dual purpose laptop, both personal and work.
The Microsoft suite of apps have Mac versions and I feel like I have more control over how deeply they ingrain themselves into my OS. My VPN’s into the offices work fine, as do my RDP sessions. In fact, there hasn’t been a single piece of software that I use that hasn’t had a MacOS version. Most importantly, the battery life. Even with a partially degraded 4 year old battery this Macbook runs rings around every single Dell, HP or Lenovo I’ve ever owned. I don’t even have to power it down, I can just close the lid and come back to it a week later and it’ll still be charged. For the performance this laptop has it is bizarrely frugal with its energy usage.
10 years ago I would never have even considered this move. Macs were things that arty people used, I had to occasionally navigate them when I had users that needed support but it was rare and it felt completely alien. That has definitely changed. I don’t know if it’s that Macs have got better, or just the fact that Windows and their OEM’s have become so bad and complacent that the alternatives are now more appealing.
Microsoft needs to realise, and fast, that Windows 10 was exactly what people wanted. No-one likes ads baked into their OS, or a PC that idles at 40% usage, or Copilot being constantly shoved down our throats, or half the settings in “Settings” and the other half in “Control panel”. No-one asked them to reinvent the wheel, their core user base was the enterprises and unnecessary changes do not go down well with them. They tried it with Windows 8, and everyone avoided it like the plague. People just want a functional, minimal operating system that doesn’t get in the way of what they’re trying to do.
At this point though I think it might already be too late for them. Microsoft has put all their eggs into the “AI” basket. Obviously maintaining a reliable and trustworthy operating system wasn’t impressing shareholders anymore. I think it’s time we all start looking to jump ship elsewhere.
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