Context

• Never had a Mac before and spent my whole life on Windows, from Windows 98 to Windows 11. 
• Switched to a MacBook Pro M5 14’’ a few months ago.

What I like

• First impression. Setting up the computer for the first time was easy and fast. With my last Windows laptop, I had to go through several rounds of firmware and software updates with reboots.
• The terminal. It's Unix-based. All common Linux commands work. Ssh, scp, vim, etc. I really hate Windows PowerShell with its complicated commands. And it's supposed to be an upgrade over the regular Windows terminal…
• System Updates. I don’t fear them anymore. On Windows, I was always afraid a new update was going to break something. And Windows updates are mandatory; you can only briefly pause them, never turn them off.
• AI. I don't feel Siri is as much forced on me as Copilot was on Windows. It got everywhere. They're desperate to have you use it.
• Battery life. My previous Windows laptop was a Dell XPS that I bought specifically for battery life, sacrificing a lot of performance. Mac’s battery life is even better, with no performance sacrifice.
• Sound. Music and movies sound incredible. I never had a laptop sounding this good.
• Support. Quality of phone support is great. It’s also great to know I can walk into any physical Apple Store location if I have an issue. With Dell, once the warranty has passed, the (chat) support person had no motivation to help.
• Compatibility. Most coding and productivity apps I used on Windows have a Mac version.
• Window switching. It took some time to get used to, but I actually like that on Mac you use separate keyboard shortcuts to switch between apps (Command + Tab) and between different instances of the same app (Command + `)
• Privacy. I really got tired of constant new rumours on the different ways Windows is either already spying on you or intends to spy on you in the future, including taking constant screenshots of your desktop (they seem to have backtracked on that one)
• Preview. Preview of PDFs is really good, it avoids opening the heavy and bulky Adobe Acrobat app.
• Spotlight. My favourite way to launch any app. I love that there is a dedicated keyboard key for it.

What I don’t like

• No dedicated page up, page down, home, end, and ‘delete’ (not backspace) keys, which are quite handy to navigate inside a document. Instead I have to use combinations of several keys.
• Almost no native games on the app store, existing games have very few reviews.

Context

• It's my first ever Garmin watch.
• I got it to replace my Samsung Galaxy Watch 3.

What I like

• Battery life. It was my biggest "wow" moment, and the biggest difference compared with my previous watch. Even with 4-5 tracked activities per week, I still only need to recharge once every week and a half. I hope battery life doesn't degrade significantly over time.
• Support for treadmill and indoor bike. My previous watch could only sync my outdoor (GPS-tracked) activities to Strava. Because of that, my Strava feed looked empty every winter, when I mostly ran indoors.
• It hasn't lost GPS in the middle of an activity so far. It happened several times with my previous watch and it was very annoying. I would do a full half-marathon distance and the watch would only report half of that or less.
• Nighttime mode is really useful. I can see what time it is at night without getting blinded.
• Offline maps. I was running in a new place, the road was about to split and I wasn't sure which way to turn. Then I switched the running screen to map view, and immediately knew which way to go.
• OLED screen. It's beautiful. One of the main reasons I didn't switch to Garmin before is because the non-OLED screen looked quite dull.
• The default watch band is very comfortable for continuous use. It still leaves a mark on my wrist and I still have to move the watch on my wrist several times a day.
• Race time predictions. It is much more motivating to see your progress in a very concrete predicted race time than other stats that are more abstract.
• Good morning screen. I thought the novelty effect would pass, but it still feels great to wake up to it after two months.
• I really like to have a dedicated button to start an activity.
• The watch can be fully controlled by buttons. This has two advantages: 1. Easy to control with sweaty fingers. 2. The screen stays nice and clean without fingerprints. I ended up completely disabling the touchscreen and only using the buttons.
• The watch vibrates every 5K when biking. Very nice to track distance without looking at the watch.
• The watch is very light. I often forget it's even there.

What I don't like

• Several times, the watch incorrectly identified my wake-up time too early. When I corrected it manually afterwards, it just filled the remaining time with "light sleep".
• I scratched the screen during the first week. Probably because I wasn't used to wearing a watch all the time, especially outside of tracked activities. I hoped Gorilla Glass would be stronger than that. I didn't even hit it very hard. But because I hit it against a granite kitchen countertop, it must have been enough to leave a mark. It's almost invisible indoors, but annoying in bright sunlight.
• Even after learning my fitness level for two months, running workout suggestions from the watch seem overly optimistic in terms of pace.
• Having to move my arm a specific way for the screen to turn on can be annoying. Most of the time I just press the light button.
• The light button makes a clear springy sound each time I press it. Quite noticeable and annoying in a silent room.
• The Garmin Connect website looks ugly and cheap.
• Interacting with offline maps (panning and zooming) using the buttons is quite annoying. You have to press the buttons many, many times to move the map.
• Tracking gym workouts is not great. It always creates a set when syncing to Strava, even when I disable set tracking.

What I haven't tested yet (but will soon)

• LiveTrack
• PacePro mode
• Full hike with offline maps
• Swimming pool swims