Perhaps you can analyze this a bit more, I have no idea if you also tile in windows or if you have a bunch of random window sizes floating around the desktop or if you full screen every window etc. Or is it a difference in font quality, scaling, resolution? Or is it a difference in things just working, less time spent tweaking config and dealing with issues?
Tiling in i3 must feel somewhat constraining after a point, maybe experiment with switching between two different modes/WMs?
I don't do anything to my Windows. It's mostly vanilla.
I think it has some thing to do with the loneliness of having a very customized environment. It's good, but when you work in a mainstream environment, it feels like there is a lot of energy being put by others into the same environment, which (sometimes) will get you high quality defaults and save you some time.
Tiling in i3 must feel somewhat constraining after a point, maybe experiment with switching between two different modes/WMs?