No simple answer I'm afraid - a lot depends on you and quite what you want it to do. Personally I can't say I've had much to do with Apple, but I use both windows 11 and various flavours of Linux professionally and have few problems with ether. But it's all horses for courses. I wouldn't run a large financial system under windows, but windows does have advantages for more "consumer" end stuff - not least because a lots of apps and drivers for various peripherals and gadgets either don't have Linux versions at all or require a fair amount of manual tweaking to get to work with your particular flavour of Linux. Generally, I'd say windows is probably easier, but I feel much more in control with Linux.

   - Andy.

well what software do you currently run on the win 7 machine - or is it mostly web based applications - in which case what browser? What hardware do you use it with - printers scanners, specialist CNC machine etc?

Find out what software exists on the other platforms that support this - that may well be the clincher if something you depend on does not exist on one platform or the other. (phone brands talk about the 'killer app' being some program that is so good that the customers keep coming back for the same operating system again. )

I have a machine that is dual boot W7 and Linux mint, and have not booted into windows for over a year, but as an example, I am happy with Libre office, I know some find it awkward to use if they have come from the Microsoft  stable.

Not all printers and certainly not all scanners are supported, but (my favourite) there are a lot of free electronics design and CAD programs out there for Linux,

you could do worse than experiment with dual boot linux on your existing system and see how unpleasnt or odd it feels or not. If you realise you don't like it then at least you have not wasted anything other than some time.

Mike,

Peter Brooks said:

In view of reported technical problems and cost associated with Windows 11, I am reluctant to purchase a new Windows based computer system.

If you buy a PC from a major manufacturer, it will probably come with Windows 11 preinstalled.  So in that sense, you've already paid.  If you buy a Mac, it will likely be more expensive - that's the premium for having an Apple badge.

The key points to consider are

What software or apps you currently use.

What tasks you perform on the machine on a daily, weekly and yearly basis

As an example a

Home user does a bit of email and internet surfing

A designer might need to use several programs with one of them being Sketch then it is Mac only.  Generally speaking creative people tend to use Apple Mac however there are a lot of home users now moving into Apple Ethos as they have the phone, Tablet and desktop. 

Some people vote for Linus based OS and apps.  This I think comes with the caveat that they need to be willing to learn a bit more about the OS and Apps and also be flexible to taking different approaches to issues.

Other points to consider are can you do all your needs online?  If so then, the world is your Lobster.  The caveat here is speed of connection and the reliability. 

My personal choice is to use an Apple Mac desktop and an Android based Smart Phone. 

Windows 11 is highly compatible with Windows 7.  Unless you're running ancient applications that Windows 7 only barely supported.  Drivers maybe less so if you have old peripherals.

Hello Andy:

Regarding Linux - I have spent the past hour looking at a youtube video by a guy who has tested the following versions/distributions for various types of end use applications.

They were Fedora 4.0, Red Hat, Nobara 4.0, Cachos, LINUS Mint and Ubuntu.

Which version have you got?

Which version do you think came out on top?

Peter Brooks

Palm Bay 

As many others have written, it depends what you intend to use it for and what applications you wish to run.

My home computer is used for gaming. The Linux graphics drivers are not as well developed as those for Windows, so inevitably I end up on Windows. However, I have a small Raspberry PI running Raspbian (which is based off the Linux kernel) that is perfectly adequate for web browsing. I wouldn't use it for gaming - well maybe Minecraft at a push.

Note that Linux only truly refers to the kernel of the OS.

Over the years I have dual booted Ubuntu, Mint and Mandriva. The main issue is that the Linux derived OSs are still a little rough around the edges. So it you are happy to go diving into the details when something isn't quite right, then its a good OS for you. If however, you want something that you don't need to occasionally look under the "bonnet" then Apple might be better.

I dislike Apple for the fact that it tends to push you into its own eco-system. Microsoft also has some of these bad habits.

Although I run Windows, I still run GIMP, LibreOffice, etc on my home computer. Using LibreOffice in particular does cause some compatibility issues when sharing files with MS Office users. But its no major problem. Most of the open source applications have versions for Windows. Less so for Apple.

As a historical interest, there have been times when I have been tempted to emulate a VAX/VMS cluster on the Raspberry PI. The Raspberry PI far exceeds the processing power of a MicroVAX of course.

Mark

Hi Peter, well I will add my anecdotes to all the others:-

At home I run Linux and have done for over 20 years. Initially this was to get beyond windows 95 and get under the hood, plus cost saving, plus avoiding some of the lock-in with microsoft. Settled now on Ubuntu and Mint (different machines) which have been very reliable and have all the programs I have ever needed. With more and more services going online it makes day to day use pretty easy. I have also used chromebooks and a mac but the simplicity of use (familiarity) keeps me running Linux.

At work we have gradually moved from XP to 7, some 10 and now 11 machines (still have a mixture). Win 11 is pretty stable now I think, we buy new machines with it pre-installed and it works well (Pro edition). Obviously cost matters but for a business is doable. The servers run Linux for reliability. From your question you may be just upgrading the existing hardware, in which case Linux is the obvious choice being less dependant on specific requirements - Win 11 won't run on just any old junk!. If buying new then as others have said, depends on use. Top tip - get plenty of memory.

Which version have you got?

Mostly RedHat at the moment (but work pays the subscription), a few years ago I ran SuSE at home.

Which version do you think came out on top?

No idea. Most of the differences are either what's been left out to make it slimmer/faster or decorative details - so it ends up being quite a personal choice.

   - Andy.

Microsoft keep asking for yearly sub and passwords than I have forgotten. Linux would be fine if it can work the paint app which I use for technical diagrams and sketches.

I take it that Linux and Android are compatible as they all do docs, spreadsheet, adobe, powerpoint, MP4, youtube, I think? 

CliveS