As any Windows 7 user can tell you,
Microsoft is getting more and more aggressive in pushing upgrades to Windows 10 from within Windows 7. Some of you may take advantage of the free upgrade, and some of you may be running on machines that don't support Windows 10 -- so you might opt to stay with Windows 7.
But what about those users for whom it's time to get a new machine? With the exception of some existing contracts or old inventory, you're pretty much faced with the choice of not only a new machine, but a new OS -- Windows 10. Given that you're going to make a big operating system jump, should you stick with Windows, or move over to the Mac?
From a pricing point of view, this isn't as far-fetched as it might initially seem. High end Windows-based ultrabooks are priced near (or even above) similarly equipped MacBooks and MacBook Pro machines.
Take, for example, the
spiffy new Microsoft Surface Book. With a Core i5 (Microsoft doesn't specify processor speed!), 256GB storage, and 8GB of RAM, you're talking $1,899. A
MacBook Pro with a 2.7Ghz i5 with the same storage and RAM is $1,499.
Sure, there are cheaper Windows machines, but if you shop for brand-name suppliers, the dollar difference isn't much (or may even give Apple an advantage). For the purpose of our discussion in this article, then, we'll skip any more discussion of machine price and move on to the other factors that should factor into your decision-making.
