Why I switched from Windows to Mac for UI/UX Design?

— Seeking the perfect workstation

Windows vs Mac has always been a popular topic of debate among the techies. Probably, this article is not about comparing the two platforms rather it states five simple reasons why I switched from Windows to Mac for my UI/UX design job.

Design space is filled with a number of awesome graphic design tools. These tools have endless possibility and gives great flexibility to the designers. Photoshop, Illustrator, Corel Draw, After Effects etc being the few classic names. But when it comes to the industry, productivity becomes the most important factor. And most of the classic tools inspite of being so versatile, may not be very productive. You can refer to this article to understand why.

Most of the new age tools, especially for the UI/UX design, like Sketch App, Adobe XD, Principle etc are designed for the productivity. They may not be very versatile like the classic ones but they perform the intended tasks very efficiently. But hey! most of them are mac exclusive. The windows version is either planned for future or may not be developed.

That has become a problem for me, I wanted to work on these tools but the platform became an issue. After going through a lot of considerations I finally decided to switch to mac. The following were the five main reasons, at-least for me, that favoured mac as the better workstation for UI/UX design.

1. Accessibility To Mac Exclusive Apps

There was a time when mac store was having far less no of applications than the windows. But since the number of mac users (especially designers) have increased, the developers have started supporting macOS more aggressively than windows. Thus in order to access the new UI/UX design tools like sketch app, origami, principle, framer etc you need to have a macOS.

2. Beautiful Retina Display

Designers spent most of the time glaring at the screen, tweaking colors or making the text standout from the background image. And retina display on mac have no doubt one of the best displays in the market. So it will always be a perfect choice for the designers.

3. Portability Of the Setup

MacBook might not be the most powerful machines, but until you are playing a graphic intensive game or generating 3D images compositions, the power is useless. I am having pretty much justified use case and the power that a 13" MacBook Pro offers is enough for me. But the portability that it offers is appreciable. The high quality retina display, replacing the requirement of an extra monitor and highly sensitive track pad, replacing the requirement of mouse. They also have some of the best battery backups in the market.

4. There are too many PC’s to choose from

My laptop was really getting older and outdated, and I really wanted a new machine. But the number of options available for buying a pc is almost unlimited and as the number of options increase the decision time also increases (Hick’s law). But macs have almost limited options and the options will become more tight if you are low on budget like me 😛 . Only dilemma for me was to choose from MacBook Pro 13-inch 2016 model and 2015 model. I opted for 2015 model, because of the obvious price differences.

5. Visual Stimulus

The apple products are no doubt most beautifully designed. And designers love to be visually stimulated and constantly surrounded by beautiful things. That was also one of the driving force for me to buy a MacBook.

Finally MacBook Pro (13-inch, Model 2015) became my primary workstation and now it has been more than six months I am using it. There are certain things that I really liked and disliked about the machine. Things I liked are the standby mode, graphics performance, gestures and accuracy of track pad, multiple desktop feature, portability, clarity of screen etc. And the things that I really hate are the lack of compatibility with other devices, Finder App, storage issues etc.

For sure the perfect workstation still doesn’t exist. And you have to make choices from the available options only. I found MacBook Pro, more close to what I was looking for .

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