I am a Mac user.
I switched to Mac and OSX in 2006 when I simply could not stand the pain and frustration of using Windows. Being in a work environment at the time that used Linux, I was finally motivated to make the switch. Years later in a new “big job”, our mobile enabled work-force, which just like most other companies uses Windows, left me with a long string of laptops that continued to bring frustration: horrendous battery life, Windows memory leaks and crawling performance, rebooting, crippling corporate security software, and the like. Early last year, after complaining to a co-worker about how my Lenovo X220 had a battery life of, optimistically, 2 hours (if I turned the brightness on the screen to an indiscernible level and did nothing but read a Word document), I learned about how we could get a native MacBook. Thank, god. And I mean “native” in the sense that they wouldn’t just stick a virtual machine on your MacBook, in which case you’d have a nice-looking, crippled, MacBook Air that runs the same Windows software that drove me insane in the first place. This blissful state of my new computer went on for just over a year. Then, while rolling-out centralized directory and password management on the fleet of Macs, my MacBook was crippled by a configuration error that took IT three rebuilds to fix. In the meantime, I got my hands on an Window 7-enabled HP ProBook.
HP ProBook 430 G1 | MacBook Air 13-inch (mid-2013) | |
Spec Sheet | http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=emr_na-c03848418 | https://support.apple.com/kb/SP678?locale=en_US |
Comprehensive Review | http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-HP-ProBook-430-G1-Notebook.104999.0.html | Everywhere, you know it’s the best laptop out there |
Configuration | Windows 7 Enterprise SP 1
256 GB SSD 4 GB RAM Intel Core i5-4300U 1.9 GHz |
Mavericks OS X 10.9.5
256 GB SSD 4 GB RAM Intel Core i5-4250U 1.3 GHz |
Wireless Mouse | Could not reliably connect Microsoft Arc mouse to the Windows 7 operating system (it turns out it’s not supported), problems involved intermittent connectivity despite adjusting BLE power management settings; manual workaround needed to connect | Connects on power-up, and awakening from sleep mode; holding the Magic Mouse button for a couple seconds always reconnects |
TrackPad | Generally fine for point and click, two finger scroll functions awkward and clunky | Very smooth point and click, seamless scrolling and gestures, unbelievable difference to the ProBook: worlds ahead |
Keyboard | Chiclet keyboard, not quite as nice; no backlighting on the keyboard – very annoying on airplanes | Backlit keyboard chiclet keyboard |
Construction |
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Dimensions |
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Display |
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Sleep mode | Closing the top periodically results in a crash, Windows had to restart; need to put into sleep mode to avoid problems – I am amazed this is still actually a real problem with Windows laptops | Close the top: goes into sleep mode, open the top: comes out of sleep mode, every time, very fast |
Battery Life | Maybe 5 hours | At least 10 hours, often times would not take AC adapter charging cable into the office for a full day of work |
OS Features |
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Wireless Networking |
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Microsoft Office |
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Other Applications |
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Stability | It is normal that Windows Explorer, a fundamental system service, crashes one in a while? | Base operating system always stable |
Travel |
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I kept a comparison log of experiences which I am sharing here below. Now, with both machines in hand, the question is: what now?Migrating Tips for Moving Between Mac and Windows:
- Use ShareFile or Cloud Storage. Keep all your files and folders on cloud drives, which automatically syncs between computers including Windows and Mac.
- Use Outlook folders on Server. Migration to the Outlook server will take a while, but everything will be on the Exchange server and migrates between Mac and Windows.
- Use Google Chrome. You can keep your bookmarks in the cloud and they are automatically synced between your Chrome instances.
- 1Password on DropBox. I moved my 1Password archive to the cloud, and it keeps in sync between my iPhone, Windows and Mac boxes.