New Computer...Windows versus Apple

As an IT professional, I disagree with this. Macs are very solid machines, we used them at my until they were no longer supported and hardly ever had issues with them. Are you having problems with your Mac? For reference, I finally upgraded my 2012 Macbook Pro last year (11 years strong) and the main reason I had to upgrade was because I couldn't upgrade the OS anymore.
That all being said, I would still stick with a Mac because they are solid machines. You can get used Macs for significantly less if you don't want to buy the most recent release.

ETA: they are very expensive, that is for sure!

Hi woodysbetty - welcome back, and hoping your health continues to improve!

I'm someone who has only gone Apple once - it was a desktop model, and it did NOT live up to it's price tag for us because we only got 4 years out of it before it was too obsolete for what we wanted power/RAM wise and we always felt like we were arguing with it! That was 20 years ago, but since then we've had good luck with ASUS laptops. Our current laptop is 4 years old and still doing well for everything except the newest graphics intensive games. DS's ASUS is a gaming laptop, still doing well at 6 years old, but will likely need replacing in the next year for video card reasons.

Because we like updated and high end performance in our laptops we'll probably stick with Windows-based machines since they are less expensive so we don't feel as bad about updating every 5 years. DH wants to get a desktop again next time.

When I was researching a laptop for my Mom, the Lenovo brand (IBM) was still well regarded. We did buy ACER for the kids 2 years ago, and they've been surprisingly good thus far. They were a really good price at costco.

What were you doing on the Mac? Video editing? Gaming? I'm trying to understand. 20 years ago those machines were pretty solid so I'm very confused what you were trying to do. If you were trying to make it into a server they are definitely not built for that.

I will only use Mac, and I don't replace mine every 5 years. My laptop is 10 years old and my desktop iMac is new but only because I gave my older 6 year old iMac to my son for his house.

Now's a very good time to pick up a discounted M1 or M2 Mac with the M3's having recently come out. If you're not a power user there's no real difference between the M-chipsets other than a hefty price. All the desktop Macs I've had lasted for 8+ years. Generally a desktop Mac is going to be usable a lot longer than a desktop windows machine. Windows machines can be upgraded or rebuilt, and have more software options outside of the graphic design/art spheres. A Mac you pretty much have to buy specc'd out as you want from the get-go.

If you have an OS preference for one over the other, just go with that. The amount of time it takes to become proficient in a new workspace isn't worth the effort unless you need to dual-wield Mac/Win/Linux for compatibility reasons.

My Mac is still going strong I ‘have’ to replace it because they will no longer update the software. ( which I think is ridiculous ) but it’s not like I haven’t gotten my moneys worth from it. It’s over 15 years old, but works fine until I want to bank online.

While I agree apples can be rather expensive, I also can not complain about what I’ve gotten out of it for the money.

My sons non Apple laptops last about 5 years at best, but they were very inexpensive. I’m sure there are non Apple products that last a long time but I suspect they are nearly as expensive.

I'm on a 2017 MacBook Pro. I love how everything is integrated! I can few and work on my laptop files on my iPad. I can get to these files on my phone too.

I use Apple stuff in my personal life. I have an iMac, a MacBook Air, and an iPhone (and Apple watch). That makes it really easy to get stuff to transfer from one device to another. I have only had my iMac a little more than a year, but it's doing great so far. I spend most of my time on my MacBook Air. I think it's two years old. I'd love to get another 5 years out of it but we'll see. I'm very happy with my Apple stuff, but you're right--it's expensive.

Just a thought.......is there an Apple store close to you? If so make an appointment at the Genius Bar. Have them look at your computer. It's not right that you are having issues with a Mac that is only 5 years old. You could also call Apple to see what help they can give you over the phone. With your permission they can view your computer desktop. They can point to things and tell you what to do. They CANNOT do a thing on it. You have control. 800-275-2273

We have always used Windows computers, but when DD went to college, they used Apple computers. She preferred them……at first. Eventually, she decided thwt she preferred Windows based computers. I have an iPad, which I love using for some things, but I overall, I prefer my Windows computer.

Fun fact: computers usually have to be replaced about every 5 years or so. They become obsolete, even if they still work fine. Technology advances so fast that most people will want to upgrade by that time, anyway.

I recommend that you get whatever computer and brand has the features you prefer.

My big Mac is from 2012 and still going strong. I did upgrade the RAM for $85 about 5 years ago and it solved a lot of the issues with it being slow. I can't run the Silhouette software and Photos at the same time without it being super slow, but I seldom need to do that. If I do, I'll just put the photo into a document and retrieve it that way.

If your device is only 5 years old, definitely call or bring it into an Apple store. That's why you pay the big bucks--you pay for the support up front. When you call, you can agree to them being able to see your screen, but they don't control it. They will show you where to click, but you do the actual mouse/keyboard moves. Same for in-store.

They don't want it to work with the older hardware. That's the point I was making really. They want customers to have to update to new OS, new hardware, new systems. They want products to become obsolete so that people have to continue buying more. These large corporations don't care about the end user. They see their profit margins. 
We have a lot of customers with machining businesses. Their equipment is so old, the software will only work on Windows XP or maybe Windows 7. New software is often $10,000 - $30,000! And the new machines are over $100,000! Small businesses can't afford that! They can't afford to update and buy new just because the software companies don't want to support old versions. It's a crappy spot for these businesses to be in. 

Totally agree.

This is the exact scenario where you silo the heck out of the system and never connect it again.  Siloing means no electronic I/O - no wifi, no bluetooth, no usbs, no internet period.   Think of it like digital quarantine.  Keeps critical systems protected from anything but hardware failure if done correctly.  Many industries and professionals that rely on silo'd setups will often have reserve vintage machines or parts waiting in the wings so they can hotswap and keep going.  Music industry is another big one that is often running 10+ year old setups.