Mac Vs Windows PC (By Adriano Neves, Quora)

(Updated in June 2016, using El Capitan 10.11.6b and Windows 10 Pro IP)

If you’re a gamer, you’ll have to use Windows.

If you’re working in a network environment, don’t even bother, Windows is the only relevant option to consider.

Mac OS X has a few features that Windows does not have (or pales in comparison) that make it a better option for a single user environment - if you actually know you’ll use those features. In any other case there are no significant differences and applications for every major work activity are available for both systems; do consider though that Microsoft is probably developing a better ecosystem and interaction with multiple devices than Apple is.

I’ve used Windows in a corporate office environment for years (up to Windows 7) as regular user. Today I have deployed and have been managing Windows 8 and 10 on a fairly small Windows Server domain office infrastructure.

Mac OS X has been my home and personal business OS for the last 5–6 years, and before then I’ve always used Windows as a relatively savvy power user.

Back on point - everyone's answer will be different, but here are my key points for both systems (mostly UX). Sorry for not being too organized.

Price - Winner: Mac OS X

Windows is usually free if you buy it with a new computer, though it’s usually the Home version (which has some limitations compared to Pro, including not being able to change the display language).

Windows 10 upgrade from 7, 8 or 8.1 is currently free until July. For upcoming version who knows!

OS X is virtually always free, and updates are expected to remain free as well.

File Management - Winner: Windows

Explorer is much easier to handle in Windows than Finder is in Mac OS X. Even if the user is not savvy it is possible to be fairly soon using keyboard shortcuts and enhancing workflow.
Copying and Pasting files with your keyboard only is very simple on Windows. In fact, almost everything is easier, more logical and faster to do in Windows Explorer than with Finder, especially if you use the keyboard a lot. Using a mouse will still be better with Windows, but using a trackpad you’ll find some operations to be easier with a Mac.
Mac OS X Finder renaming features are far easier and powerful to use than Windows’;
The single most important feature in Finder, in comparison to Windows Explorer, is Quick Look. It’s impressively useful, for a ton of reasons: if you have a file selected OS-wide, just press the spacebar (which serves no other purpose OS-wide except when typing a space) and you get a preview of a document across workspaces, quickly preview an image before selecting it on an Open dialog box, press ALT to zoom in and move around, etc. I know you have that preview pane in Explorer but it’s not even in the same galaxy. Quick Look is awesome and the fundamental OS X Finder killer feature.
I also like the fact that the context menu selection options vary by changing the keyboard selector in OS X, but this is a minor feature.
Customizing folder/alias icons with OS X is not easy, if possible at all.
You can rename any document file, open or not, in Mac OS X. In Windows you can't. You can even change it on the window title bar.
Oh, and the 260 character limit with Windows [thanks for the correction, including the information that this should be no longer be an issue with the last major iteration of Windows 10]… It’s insane. I’m skipping this because it gives me headaches and can drive one to insanity.
Disconnecting external devices (usb drives, etc) is far easier with OS X

Search/assistant - Winner: Mac OS X

Note that I do not use Cortana, it’s not available in my location (though I heard good things about it). Siri is unavailable overall, so no comparison there.
CMD+Spacebar to activate Spotlight search is a marvelous tool, another killer feature of OS X. Here’s the thing: someone asks me for a friend’s phone number, I press CMD+Spacebar, type the name, select and copy the result; literally 3 seconds at most.