The Painful Regression

A Developer's Return to Windows After a Year of Apple Exclusivity

Today I used (or at least tried using) Windows after almost a year of only using Apple devices. I've been a big Windows supporter and have continuously used it since 2015. I was immediately attracted to the Microsoft Surface and later the idea of having Ubuntu through WSL. There is something beautiful in having a fully functional tablet that works as a laptop while looking as good or better than an Apple device.

I also like how Windows systems have embraced the idea of hybrid computing with touch surfaces, plus of course, NVIDIA GPUs.

However, however, sadly, Windows devices are barely usable. Unless you are using one of the newest Qualcomm or Intel or AMD chipsets that are power efficient and don't heat, Windows machines are incredibly noisy and get so hot even on the most basic tasks.

I was browsing the internet and the fan noises were equivalent to the sound of a pressure cooker.

Then, once you look at the software, and I must reckon, Apple devices are not what they used to be and they are also starting to get too clunky, but Windows is so unbearable. The ads and news in the Start bar or that they add a Copilot button, or that you seem to be permanently updating the machine. It is just a mediocre experience.

And going back to the topic of WSL, we are 8 years in and it does not feel like it has improved. I would rather say, it has gotten stale.

Software development outside of the Microsoft ecosystem (.net) in a Microsoft device is definitely not a nice experience. I wanted to run a Python repo that I thought had good abstractions and thus could install all its dependencies with one command. It worked on Ubuntu and Apple devices without an issue, but with WSL on Windows, I kept hitting a wall.

Sadly, I just can't recommend Windows to anyone. If you are on a budget, just get an older Apple device, an M1. If you don't like Apple, get a Windows laptop and use Ubuntu, or explore switching to mobile-only / tablet-only workflows. Do you do a lot of coding? Then just learn the command line and embrace any Unix distro. But don't use Windows.

Life is too short to spend it downloading Windows updates.