Two Laptops Walk Into a Backpack…
My daily setup in 2025 feels like a split personality. On one side: a sleek, quiet MacBook Pro M4 Pro — 512GB of storage, 24GB of RAM, and a battery that lasts longer than all of my relationships before I met my wife. And we’ve been together for eight years. No battery’s that good — but the Mac tries.
On the other: the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14, a 14” OLED beast with a Ryzen 9 8945HS chip, RTX 4060 GPU, and the kind of screen that makes Mac users question if color was ever real.
I bounce between them depending on the day — writing on the Mac, gaming or running heavier dev workflows on the PC. And every time I do, I’m reminded: this isn’t just about hardware. It’s about ecosystems, workflows, and a rivalry that’s quietly reinvented itself over the years.
So yeah — the Mac vs PC fight isn’t dead. It’s just evolved. And if you’re trying to pick a side in 2025, here’s how it really plays out.
💻 What’s Actually Changed Since the Old Days
Macs Went Full M-Series — And It Worked
The M4 Pro chip in my 2024 MacBook Pro is absurdly efficient. Apps launch instantly. Fans barely spin. Battery life? I can go a full workday and forget where I left the charger. And with 24GB of unified memory, multitasking feels frictionless.
Apple’s vertical integration — owning the chip, the OS, and the hardware — means everything feels intentional. This is a laptop that disappears when you’re working, in the best way.
PCs Got Stylish and Smart
Meanwhile, my ROG Zephyrus G14 doesn’t just keep up — it punches back with attitude. The OLED 3K screen is the best display I’ve used, period. It’s snappy, powerful, and has actual ports (hallelujah). The Ryzen 9 CPU and RTX 4060 combo handle AI tools, Unreal Engine previews, and yes, Baldur’s Gate 3 on ultra, without breaking a sweat.
And Windows has come a long way. The new Copilot integration actually helps — summarizing docs, autofilling emails, even optimizing battery performance on the fly.
🛠️ The Ecosystem War: Apple’s Walled Garden vs Windows’ Flexibility
Team Mac
Apple’s secret weapon isn’t the hardware — it’s the ecosystem. iMessage on your laptop. FaceTime from the couch. AirDrop to your iPhone. Handoff between Safari tabs. Continuity Camera that turns your iPhone into a webcam that makes Logitech look bad. It’s all so… smooth.
If you’re already deep into that world, a MacBook is the most frictionless piece of tech you’ll use all day.
Team PC
But if you value flexibility? PCs have matured in a huge way. You can spec your machine how you want, upgrade storage, access a real file system, and run any tool under the sun.
And Windows has made legit progress. The Copilot integration is kind of like having a smart-ish intern who sometimes forgets what they were doing. It can summarize notes, generate code, clean up spreadsheets — and occasionally, it actually gets things right on the first try. That said, I don’t love Copilot. It still feels like a beta product half the time, and it needs a lot of fixing before I’d fully rely on it.
But honestly? It’s still more useful than anything Apple’s shipping under the “Apple Intelligence” label right now. (I broke that down more in this post👇 if you want the spicy version.)
Trevor Barnes
🧪 What It’s Like to Use Both in Real Life
On the MacBook M4 Pro:
- Battery life is unbeatable — a true “don’t think about it” experience
- Fanless silence is great for deep work
- Perfect for writing, editing, light design, and staying in the zone
- But: no touchscreen, limited ports, and I do miss gaming (or even just some high-end apps)
On the Zephyrus G14:
- Gorgeous 3K OLED screen makes everything from games to Google Docs look luxe
- Performance is wild — dev tools, AI tools, games, 3D rendering, all without compromise
- Can get warm and fan-loud when pushed, but that’s expected
- Battery life is… okay, not great. I keep the charger close.
Both feel premium. Both are fun. But they serve very different moods.
Trevor Score: 8/10 — More balanced than ever, but still tribal at times
This isn’t a formal review — it’s just how I felt using both sides. A gut-check from someone who actually used them.
2025’s version of Mac vs PC is less about performance and more about lifestyle. Macs win on simplicity and battery life. PCs win on flexibility and raw power. It’s no longer “one is better” — it’s “what kind of user are you?”
🧭 Final Verdict: Not About Hardware Anymore — It’s About Headspace
If I need to get into a focused writing groove, I reach for the MacBook. If I’m doing dev work, gaming, or pushing AI tools, it’s the Zephyrus. It’s not about loyalty anymore — it’s about use case.
In a weird way, the rivalry helped both sides level up. And I’m glad I don’t have to pick just one.
So yeah — maybe the Mac vs PC war isn’t over. But at least now, we’re fighting with better weapons.
