Each one signifies an error, but Windows often doesn’t tell me what I did wrong, or even what application is protesting. These are the best Windows notebooks, MacBooks, and Chromebooks on a budget.

Inconsistencies abound: Sometimes Control+F4 closes an application, and sometimes it’s Alt+F4, even in Microsoft’s own programs. Tasks that used to be done with Apple’s Command key are done with Windows’ Control key. Muscle memory is very stubborn, so this made things frustrating. In my writing and video editing, I’ve come to rely heavily on keyboard shortcuts-those magical keystroke combinations that save tons of mousing-but shortcuts in Windows are virtually never the same as their Mac counterparts. Even within Windows itself, you’ll find screens that look modern and fabulous (like the Start menu and the excellent multitasking interface) alongside things like the Disk Management application, which looks like it teleported here from decades ago. Some Windows applications look like they haven’t been updated since the late '90s. There is no way of getting around it: Windows just doesn’t have the same level of polish as macOS, the new name Apple has given to the operating system formerly known as OS X.

After many hours of research and hand-wringing, I decided to take the plunge and go back to Windows. It had the latest-generation silicon, and even with 16 gigs of RAM, the whole thing would cost roughly half the price of the MacBook Pro with weaker specs. It could be folded back into a (gigantic) tablet, and it even had a mechanical webcam kill switch for added security. It had a gorgeous 4K screen-and a touchscreen at that! It sported a pair of Thunderbolt-equipped USB-C ports, as well as a standard USB-A, a full-sized HDMI port, and an SD card slot. Most looked like relics made of cheap plastic, but there was one that immediately caught my eye: The 15.6-inch HP Spectre x360. In a bit of a daze, I wandered over to the PC laptops.

And for this I was supposed to pay 4,000 bucks? I was shocked. The screen was nice, but that display hadn’t really improved much since my late-2012 model, and it was using processors and graphics cards from nearly a whole year earlier. I hated that it had only USB-C ports, and I imagined myself in dongle hell each time I needed to connect a standard USB-A cord or an HDMI cable. The keyboard was awful-the same “butterfly switch” model that would soon become notorious-and as I tried some online typing tests in the store, the errors piled up. So I went to a Best Buy to try the latest and greatest MacBook Pro.

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