Thinking of Switching from Windows to Mac – Need Your Advice!

drtgns

drtgns

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So, I’m thinking about switching from Windows to Mac. For those who own an M2 or M3 MacBook Air, is 8GB RAM enough for you? Since the prices of the M2 and M3 Air are expected to drop further, I’m wondering if I should get one of those or wait for the M4 Air.

I’ve seen some people on Flipkart pre booking the M4 Air (13-inch) for around ₹76,000 with card discounts, so I believe we might soon see M2 and M3 models in the ₹60-70K range. If you own an 8GB Mac, do you think it’s still a good choice in 2025? My main reason for switching to a MacBook is its lightweight build and exceptional battery life, something I could never get with a Windows laptop.

If anyone gets the M4 Air today, please share your experience!

Also, to those who switched from Windows to Mac—did it improve your productivity? Was making the switch worth it?

And for those using a 13-inch screen mac, does it feel too small? I currently use a 15 inch laptop, and while it doesn’t feel too big or too small, I find it just right. My work is very lightweight for now (though I’m unsure about the future), so I’d love to hear your thoughts.

And to anyone in the same situation as me—thinking about switching to a MacBook—what are your reasons? Let’s discuss!
 
If your work mainly involves web browsers and office software like MS Office, you should be fine with 8GB RAM.

I have used an 8GB Mac Mini and browsing, coding, Excel etc. were all perfectly smooth. Never faced any stutter.

Will it improve your productivity? Probably not. Unless your current machine is so slow that you have to wait for tasks to complete, just moving to Mac is not going to make you more productive. In fact, your productivity will fall in the adjustment period when you're trying to learn how to use a Mac properly, since the OS is very different from Windows.

It does feel more snappy than Windows. Application launches are instant, browser responsiveness is fantastic, etc. But I find that if you have a decently new Windows machine, the difference isn't too stark.

All in all, you'll only know if it's good for you or not once you try. If it's at all possible to use it for a couple of hours without buying (like, a close friend of yours owns one), then do that. Otherwise you can always sell it off for a small loss if you don't like it. I ended up not liking mine and sold it for a significant loss after 1.5 years. But it was a Mini, Airs have a better resale value.
 
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gourav said:
If your work mainly involves web browsers and office software like MS Office, you should be fine with 8GB RAM.

I have used an 8GB Mac Mini and browsing, coding, Excel etc. were all perfectly smooth. Never faced any stutter.

Will it improve your productivity? Probably not. Unless your current machine is so slow that you have to wait for tasks to complete, just moving to Mac is not going to make you more productive. In fact, your productivity will fall in the adjustment period when you're trying to learn how to use a Mac properly, since the OS is very different from Windows.

It does feel more snappy than Windows. Application launches are instant, browser responsiveness is fantastic, etc. But I find that if you have a decently new Windows machine, the difference isn't too stark.

All in all, you'll only know if it's good for you or not once you try. If it's at all possible to use it for a couple of hours without buying (like, a close friend of yours owns one), then do that. Otherwise you can always sell it off for a small loss if you don't like it. I ended up not liking mine and sold it for a significant loss after 1.5 years. But it was a Mini, Airs have a better resale value.
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Well, I have a gaming laptop. its quite powerful. I’ve never felt any stutter or lag, performance is not an issue. The real issue is the battery life , it lasts only 2-3 hours. It’s big and bulky, and the low battery life frustrates me. however, it plays games very nicely. But I’m thinking of quitting gaming because it eats up most of my time and makes me lazy. So, I’ve been debating with myself, will buying a macbook and selling this laptop help me stop gaming entirely and allow me to invest that time in work? , And yes, you are right. First, I should try a MacBook for a few hours at least before buying it , to avoid regretting my purchase later
 
drtgns said:
Well, I have a gaming laptop. its quite powerful. I’ve never felt any stutter or lag, performance is not an issue. The real issue is the battery life , it lasts only 2-3 hours. It’s big and bulky, and the low battery life frustrates me. however, it plays games very nicely. But I’m thinking of quitting gaming because it eats up most of my time and makes me lazy. So, I’ve been debating with myself, will buying a macbook and selling this laptop help me stop gaming entirely and allow me to invest that time in work? , And yes, you are right. First, I should try a MacBook for a few hours at least before buying it , to avoid regretting my purchase later
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have you tried tweaking the power profiles to lower power consumption?
 
drtgns said:
But I’m thinking of quitting gaming because it eats up most of my time and makes me lazy. So, I’ve been debating with myself, will buying a macbook and selling this laptop help me stop gaming entirely and allow me to invest that time in work
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Not tech advice, but you need to invert this approach.

You shouldn't think "I'll quit gaming and use the time for something productive". Instead, think "I'll spend my time preparing for Gmat and will reduce gaming time" or "I'll spend more time working on my open source projects and reduce gaming time", etc. Aimlessly just trying to reduce gaming time doesn't work because you don't know what to do with your time. That "something" never materializes. So fix that part first.

Battery life is definitely going to be way better than gaming laptops. Gaming laptop CPUs are optimized for performance. Even if you use it in balanced or efficiency mode, it will still use more power than a regular CPU. It's very hard to achieve peak efficiency and peak performance in the same CPU, they always lean towards one.
 
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Go for the 16 gigs of RAM version. I have an M1 Macbook Air and the biggest bottleneck by far is the limited 8 gigs of RAM. Even the storage amount is fine but can be tricky depending on your workflow. The M4 Macbook Air is an amazing deal honestly, especially since they lowered the price again. Also, where are you seeing M4 Macbook air for 76k? If that pricing is real, it'll be the best deal for a laptop right now (even 90k is a one of the best deals out there).

Windows laptops aren't worth it in most cases unless you're really into gaming and prefer portability. Honestly, after using loads of linux distros and macOS, I have come to the conclusion that windows truly sucks as an OS. Even on my 1.3 lakh PC its not as smooth and fluid as my trusty M1 Macbook Air. All I can say is that Macbooks are the ultimate productivity machines - go for them if you can. I got my friend converted from a windows elitist to a mac lover within 2 weeks. You just gotta try macOS for a while to realize how great it is.
 
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drtgns said:
yes it at power saver profile, i have set most thing for power saving but not much difference...,
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i'm hoping you're using a laptop with igpu? if so, you can set the display/programs to only use the igpu instead of the dgpu. gpu tweaking tools like afterburner can let you slide power usage too, if that helps.
 
I also decided to get macbook air M4 for the same reason as OP, better battery backup, easy to use, long lasting hardware. On top of that it was very good deal at 77k from flipkart(still to be shipped but keeping my fingers crossed)

Will I like it? I've accepted that there'll be a learning curve and I'm fine with that, at least I'll end up being familiar with both major OSs currently available in market. I'm really excited to own my first apple product tbh.
 
I have 8gb ram m3 15 inch . It is super fast and didn’t face any lag . 8gb is more than enough . However 256gb is not enough space for me hence I connect super fast external ssd
 
@drtgns @nitin_g3 Where is this M4 MacBook Air for 76k listing? I am not able to find it anywhere online. The lowest I can find is 90k for the base variant with card cashback or student discounts.

Back to your question, switching to a Mac is absolutely worth it. If you're getting one, you should get the M4; the base variant, by default, has 16 GB. In older Macs, you had to pay 20k extra for that additional 8 GB; you never know when you'll need it. A lot depends on your usage. I have the base variant M1, 8/256 GB (I bought this for 74k almost 4 years back), and it's enough for working on small personal projects.
 
Mohan997 said:
@drtgns @nitin_g3 Where is this M4 MacBook Air for 76k listing? I am not able to find it anywhere online. The lowest I can find is 90k for the base variant with card cashback or student discounts.

Back to your question, switching to a Mac is absolutely worth it. If you're getting one, you should get the M4; the base variant, by default, has 16 GB. In older Macs, you had to pay 20k extra for that additional 8 GB; you never know when you'll need it. A lot depends on your usage. I have the base variant M1, 8/256 GB (I bought this for 74k almost 4 years back), and it's enough for working on small personal projects.
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I was getting it for around 76k with the Flipkart Axis CC offer (EMI), but the offer isn’t active anymore. It was available before the launch(12 march) and even till this morning, I was getting it for 80K with my ICICI Bank credit card. right now it looks like Flipkart has increased the m4 macbook air's price. There’s still a flat 10K discount on any credit card, plus an extra discount for Flipkart Axis Bank cc cardholders.
 
lockhrt999 said:
No one should be buying 8 GB RAM computers in 2023.
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You can always spot people who havent used a Macbook lol. People use windows 8 GB and just build their frame of reference from that.

Used a M1 for 3 years and using an M2 for the last year as my office laptop (both 8GB) and it is easily the best VFM laptops out there. Extremely light weight. Excellent build quality. Fantastic keyboard and touchpad. Amazing battery life. Great display.

And zero (like literally ZERO) performance related issues over 4+ years. That M1 is still being used by a junior guy and working fantastic.

For what it is supposed to be (every day office/home laptop) nothing comes close for that kind of money.
 
If your budget permits - get the 16gb / 512 gb SSD variant.

As explained by other members, 256 Gb SSD is going to be severe bottleneck in the future, unless you are ready to migrate your files to an external drive frequently. 16 Gb RAM will be a great shield for future use cases and you won't need to upgrade your laptop soon enough in the near future. Macbooks are ruggedly built, if used cautiously can last several years before needing battery replacements etc.

Apple does charge a premium for the memory and SSD upgrade right at the purchase, unfortunately that is the price you have to pay for their ecosystem. Look at it from a resale perspective though, as it may fetch a higher price when you do decide to upgrade and sell off the 16Gb/512Gb variant that you buy. Macbooks do hold their resale value pretty well as compared to Windows based laptops.
 
cellar_door said:
You can always spot people who havent used a Macbook lol. People use windows 8 GB and just build their frame of reference from that.
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People like these!

These are the biggest con of owning this wonderful laptop. People think you are, too, an Apple Sheep.

So far, I have been told by 2 friends that they have lost respect for me for getting an Apple. It's so funny. Getting an Apple is like having an inter-religion marriage.
 
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lockhrt999 said:
People like these!

These are the biggest con of owning this wonderful laptop. People think you are, too, an Apple Sheep.

So far, I have been told by 2 friends that they have lost respect for me for getting an Apple. It's so funny. Getting an Apple is like having an inter-religion marriage.
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lol bro, apple mac air(base version) are the only product in whole apple ecosystem i think that justify its price, that why they are the most sold mac
sporkydork said:
If your budget permits - get the 16gb / 512 gb SSD variant.

As explained by other members, 256 Gb SSD is going to be severe bottleneck in the future, unless you are ready to migrate your files to an external drive frequently. 16 Gb RAM will be a great shield for future use cases and you won't need to upgrade your laptop soon enough in the near future. Macbooks are ruggedly built, if used cautiously can last several years before needing battery replacements etc.

Apple does charge a premium for the memory and SSD upgrade right at the purchase, unfortunately that is the price you have to pay for their ecosystem. Look at it from a resale perspective though, as it may fetch a higher price when you do decide to upgrade and sell off the 16Gb/512Gb variant that you buy. Macbooks do hold their resale value pretty well as compared to Windows based laptops.
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I think any upgrade to the base Mac air is not worth it(maybe RAM upgrade for 8 gb mac), but 20k for a 250GB SSD? You can get a 1TB portable SSD for 5-6k with good speeds.
 
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