Seven years later, I bought a new MacBook. For the first time, I don't love it
The XPS 17 will be my next “MacBook”.<p>It should be out this month and it ticks all the boxes for me (great screen, supposedly good cooling, user-replaceable SSD&#x2F;RAM, acceptable weight and size for a 17&quot; laptop).<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theverge.com&#x2F;2020&#x2F;5&#x2F;13&#x2F;21257006&#x2F;dell-xps-17-15-redesign-specs-features-update-2020" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theverge.com&#x2F;2020&#x2F;5&#x2F;13&#x2F;21257006&#x2F;dell-xps-17-15-r...</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=XyRUWM_LOPQ" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=XyRUWM_LOPQ</a><p>I&#x27;ve been trying Windows again after ~20 years on Macs (via a borrowed Lenovo Carbon X1 and then a second-hand XPS 15) and — unlike the author here — I&#x27;m surprised how much better it has gotten.<p>Having fully expected to buy a Windows laptop and just run Linux on it, I&#x27;m happy enough with the general Windows experience and the new WSL2&#x2F;Windows Terminal&#x2F;VS Code improvements that switching full-time makes sense for me.<p>The perks for me over macOS are the widely increased hardware choice, improved repairability&#x2F;upgradeability, access to Windows-only software&#x2F;games, better default desktop environment (window snapping&#x2F;management, keyboard shortcuts for apps in the taskbar), and being able to boot real Linux images within ~1 second and work out of them comfortably.<p>The perks for me over Linux are the ability to run Adobe and other Windows apps, lower manual maintenance, fewer rabbit holes (I used Arch for about a year and found I was personally prone to exploring Arch instead of doing pet projects), better general integration with video cards, authentication hardware (fingerprint sensors&#x2F;Windows Hello), projectors&#x2F;external monitors, as well as a generally better experience with power management, wake-from-sleep, and connecting&#x2F;reconnecting to Wi-Fi.