From Blue Screens to Apple Dreams: My Mac Transition Story

[LevelUP]

I've been a Windows PC user all my life, with the only experience I have with an Apple operating system being one of the early iPhone models that featured a 3.5" screen. When the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth chip in my iPhone failed, I switched to an Android device with a larger screen.

In my experience, Apple products typically cost about three times as much as their PC equivalents, which often use similar Intel chips. For example, the older Mac Mini models struggled with graphics performance until Apple introduced their own silicon chips.

Eventually, one of my PCs began to grind to a near halt. Simple tasks like viewing an image in the default Windows image viewer could take up to 30 seconds. Browsing certain news websites would frequently cause the system to lock up. Opening applications like CapCut could take around three minutes, and even waking the computer from sleep mode would take minutes. I needed a reliable solution. Although I have a gaming PC, it still relies on a traditional spinning hard drive.

When I saw the Mac Mini with the M4 chip go on sale, I realized it was too good a deal to pass up. Essentially, you can’t build a PC that matches the Mac Mini’s performance and energy efficiency at the same price point.

My Setup

• Mac Mini M4
  
  
  • 16GB RAM
    
    
  • 256GB SSD
    
    
  • Base Model: $499 (Black Friday), $529 (Cyber Monday on Amazon), $599 (Regular Price)
    
    
• Dell S3222DGM
  
  
  • 32" LED Curved QHD FreeSync Gaming Monitor: $199
    
    
• Accessories
  
  
  • Standard Windows PC keyboard and mouse connected to an Anker 4-Port USB 3.0 Hub with 5Gbps data transfer
    

First Impressions

This Mac Mini is, at times, up to 100 times faster than my Windows PC—no kidding. Applications open in about one second or less. Installing apps is quick and straightforward, especially considering they are Mac applications. The built-in speakers outperform those of most laptops, and the user interface is clean and intuitive.

My Issues

• Command Key: The Command key was initially confusing. I had to remap it to function as the Control key to copy and paste as I’m used to on Windows.
  
  
• Taking Screenshots: The process for taking screenshots is cumbersome. It involves pressing a combination of keys which is not intuitive.
  
  
• Closing Windows: On macOS, the close button is a red dot on the left side of the window, unlike the "X" on the right in Windows. It took some time to get used to.
  
  

Despite these minor issues, the folder system in macOS is similar to Windows, and the Dock serves a similar purpose to the Windows taskbar. For running Windows-only applications, options like Boot Camp, Crossover, Parallels, and Rosetta 2 are available. Personally, I don't miss anything from Windows, but I still use my gaming PC for gaming. It has an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060, which, while slower than the current generation 4060 graphics card, is sufficient for most games at lower resolutions. I also plan to upgrade the hard drive to an SSD.

Overall, my transition to the Mac Mini with the M4 chip has been smooth, and I’m excited about the performance improvements and efficiency it offers. If anyone has additional advice on using a Mac or transitioning from a Windows PC, I’d love to hear it!

[Ares]

Or you could have simply replaced the HD with an SSD in the bad PC for much less.

Also CHKDSK possibly could repair the drive too.

1. Open the Windows Command Line (CMD) in admin mode
   
2. type: chkdsk c: /r and press enter, then press y on the prompt and reboot (may take a long time to run [hours] so leave it alone.)
   
3. Open the Windows Command Line (CMD) in admin mode again
   
4. type: dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth and press enter
   
5. type: sfc /scannow and press enter
   
6. Use the newest and largest USB flash drive you have (32GB max), format it with the exFAT file system and dedicate it as a ReadyBoost drive (up to 8 USB drives can be used like this depending on available USB ports on the PC for maximum performance gains). Note this is only applicable to older PCs with a standard HDD not an SSD. This will significantly increase load times on older PCs with HDDs so long as it is Windows 7, 10 or 11.
   

Intel released the NUC PC over 10 years ago, Apple is now copying that model.

Using emulation software for native Windows apps is always a bad idea.

[LevelUP]

Or you could have simply replaced the HD with an SSD in the bad PC for much less.

Also CHKDSK possibly could repair the drive too.

1. Open the Windows Command Line (CMD) in admin mode
   
2. type: chkdsk c: /r and press enter, then press y on the prompt and reboot (may take a long time to run [hours] so leave it alone.)
   
3. Open the Windows Command Line (CMD) in admin mode again
   
4. type: dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth and press enter
   
5. type: sfc /scannow and press enter
   
6. Use the newest and largest USB flash drive you have (32GB max), format it with the exFAT file system and dedicate it as a ReadyBoost drive (up to 8 USB drives can be used like this depending on available USB ports on the PC for maximum performance gains). Note this is only applicable to older PCs with a standard HDD not an SSD. This will significantly increase load times on older PCs with HDDs so long as it is Windows 7, 10 or 11.
   

Intel released the NUC PC over 10 years ago, Apple is now copying that model.

Using emulation software for native Windows apps is always a bad idea.

I'll try running CHKDSK, and I might also defragment the hard drive.

It might perform better if I reinstall a clean version of Windows without the HP bloatware that's currently on it.  Upgrading to 16GB of RAM would also help ensure that the system doesn’t need to use the hard drive for memory swapping.

I'm planning to upgrade to an M.2 SSD, so I’m curious to see how much faster it runs. However, I believe the PC is limited to 500 MBps for the HD due to the way the motherboard is configured. (Already purchased the SSD & 16GB RAM)

CrystalDiskMark Current PC HD




Apple Mac Mini M4

[Ares]

Going from a HDD to an M.2 SSD drive is like going from a Chevy Truck to an F1 Race Car.

[LevelUP]

Update:

After running CHKDSK and Disk Defragmenter, I noticed a dramatic speed-up. Programs now open twice as fast. I'll keep monitoring the performance to see if it slows down again.

The most annoying issue now is that certain news websites overload Chrome, causing its resource usage to exceed 3GB. This slows my PC to a crawl, likely due to insufficient RAM and reliance on the hard drive for memory swapping. When I install the new SSD, I'll also upgrade the RAM from 8GB to 16GB.

[Ares]

You can improve loading speeds even more if you use a relatively newer (preferably 32 GB) USB flash drive as a ReadyBoost drive (works like an SSD cache).

Install an ad blocker on Chrome like U-Block Origins.

[LevelUP]

I tried using a 2.0 USB drive with ReadyBoost but didn’t notice any improvement. The system still locked up once it hit the swap memory limit.

For example, Google Chrome was consuming 5 GB of memory after opening just two windows of New York Post articles.

After upgrading to 16 GB of RAM, the system no longer locks up while browsing the internet. I’ve also installed an SSD, but I’m still in the process of setting it up with Windows as my primary boot drive.

Once everything is configured, I’ll share some performance metrics, including real-world task speeds and an HD benchmark.

[Ares]

ReadyBoost will only improve load times with HDDs and has no effect on memory consumption. It also requires a learning period of application and OS loads.

Do you have an adblocker installed?

[LevelUP]

ReadyBoost will only improve load times with HDDs and has no effect on memory consumption. It also requires a learning period of application and OS loads.

Do you have an adblocker installed?

No adblocker.

Going from a HDD to an M.2 SSD drive is like going from a Chevy Truck to an F1 Race Car.

Wow, my PC is flying now!



Often, people only post benchmarks, but these don’t paint the full picture of real-world performance. To provide a more practical perspective, I included some real-world tests. For consistency, I rebooted my PC before testing to ensure nothing was preloaded into RAM.

Real-World Test Results

---

Despite the Mac Mini M4 outperforming my upgraded PC (its benchmark is about 2.5x my CPU speed, according to CPU Benchmark), the upgrades to my old PC made a massive difference.

For reference, I have a GTX 1060 graphics card, which is about half as fast as the 4060. However, I don’t need a high-end GPU for gaming.

Next Steps

I scored a $22 Black Friday deal on CrossOver, so my next plan is to test Steam games on the Mac Mini. That’s really all the gaming I need for it.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I’m thrilled to have escaped the lag hell I was in. The upgrades have brought my PC to life, and I’m incredibly happy with the performance boost!

[bjcheung77]

Yes, for the PC users, I highly recommend at least 16G of RAM and a SSD... You can get by with 8GB if you're not doing anything intensive such as gaming or video editing, etc. Otherwise, having 16G and SSD would be recommended instead of going for 8GB and SSD... My laptop currently has 20G as it was an entry laptop with 4GB of ram, I upgraded it immediately after purchase a few years ago...