One thing I don’t often see mentioned in the Mac or Windows (or Linux) debate is that by default macOS and Macs are simply better suited to writers/programmers in one specific sense, at least.
I’m not talking about the software, or the hardware, but the way an OS combines with hardware to make inputting endless acres of text more or less easy.
In this regard, macOS is simply better designed than the alternatives. E.g. the basic of text navigation and shortcuts: having the main modifier on the control key is more uncomfortable than the cmd key on the thumb. E.g. for something as common as forward/back word, which is used hundreds of times a day, that inconvenience soon builds up. (This isn’t a question of familiarity - of course you can get used to it, but of the unnecessary friction and bad design of having the most used modifier in the least convenient spot).
Of course you can (and should) correct this by modifying the layout on both platforms so that Ctl is on Caps Lock and therefore easier to reach. Still not as good as having it on a thumb key, but better than the stupid default position, at least. But… On the Mac this is a setting in System Preferences; in Windows you have to change an obscure Registry Setting, or install additional software like Autohotkeys. Windows is just more faff to get a decent setup. It’s additional faff to go through to correct a bad default design.
Then you have the issue of typing common accents and symbols. MacOS gives you two easy, logical, discoverable (through the keyboard viewer) methods of using accents (dead keys or long presses). Windows has to use 2014+Alt+x (or Alt+0151 on the number pad) for an em-dash. Is it still 1990? So you end up having to use something like Autohotkeys again just to get what should be provided by default as a simple shortcut.
The Mac also has some implementation of Emacs keys (ctl-a/b/d/e/f/n/p/t and you can add more) which are very useful and lacking on Windows.
The one thing Windows does better than MacOS is the Alt+Letter system for navigating menus… and the Mac could be improved (I use Karabiner Elements to do things like: tap caps lock for Escape, hold it for Ctl; and tap Return for Enter, hold it for Ctl), but by default, there is no question which system is better set up for the act of getting words onto the screen, as a matter of usability (rather than as what you’re used to).
For me. Of course, none of this may matter if you use the mouse/trackpad a lot (I avoid it as much as possible) and arrow keys rather than shortcuts, but otherwise, I think that there is noticeable extra friction involved in using Windows over Macs if you’re a heavy keyboard user.
This rant (and it’s not wholly serious…) has been brought to you by the intense irritation caused in using Windows 10 over the last six months on a used Thinkpad I bought to try to stop myself buying a new MacBook and finding that simple things are just harder than they should be…