Advantages of Macbook pro?

[hans007]

'We're not in the junk business'

Tim Cook-

Is not only a premium product, the prestige and name of the company as with everything plays a role in the price. Also customer service and guarantee is part of the price. Yo have a problem with any apple product go to the apple store and get in fixed or replaced (I got 3 free iPhones and 2 laptops over the past years) Buy any other brans and you will have to work very hard and use a lot of your time to get the warranty or service to work for you. Peace of mind has a price. Also the detail of everything, from the box and wrapping to the manuals and cables everything is elegant and very detailed. Is not necessary the best computer available in terms of hardware, but definitively is the one with the best design, quality and you can feel it when you use it, touch it and carry it. You are paying the hight ticket for the whole package: Prestige, excellent customer service and warranty, detail on every aspect, excellent quiality and overall very good performance.


The top tier Mac Book Pro with Retina Display 15'' cost $2,599.00 (16GB, 2Gb Nvdia 750M, 512 GB Flash SSD, and i7. http://store.apple.com/us/buy-mac/ma.../A&step=config

The Toshiba Toshiba Portege Z930-BT9300 Ultrabook with 8GB, 256GB SSD, no dedicated video cost $1,939.00

$600 Less for half the SSD capacity no dedicated video, and half the memory. If the Mac is overpriced people at Toshiba are insane. http://www.toshiba.com/us/computers/laptops/portege/Z930/Z930-BT9300

Not really a fair comparison as the Toshiba is a business laptop. You are paying for things like corporate level support and manageability. I'd guess that portege has things like AMT vpro support etc which high end consumer laptops won't have.

I use a macbook for work and have worked at a lot of places that used macs. But apples corporate support is somewhere near terrible and nonexistent. You can't even order macbooks with a standard purchase order from what I remember at one job. Yes I realize that isn't part or the laptop but Toshiba is rolling that cost of purchase order acceptance into the price as well. We had some dell latitudes break at work and they had a guy come in and fix it in our office. Thats not happening with apple.


A more fair comparison I'd say is something like an hp envy or a dell xps machine. Sony VAIO etc. I'm not saying those aren't overpriced but its an easier comparison .

 

[Franco_Barba]

I selected the configuration with basic 1 year limited warranty and no support.
But you might be right, any ways any other ultra book cost about the same with similar specs, I was looking and I could not find anything close to Macbook Pro with the same body time weight and dimensions and similar specs

 

[hans007]

I selected the configuration with basic 1 year limited warranty and no support.
But you might be right, any ways any other ultra book cost about the same with similar specs, I was looking and I could not find anything close to Macbook Pro with the same body time weight and dimensions and similar specs

Well its hard to find anything exactly like a macbook...

I still think its generally a bit expensive but you are paying for the apple ecosystem. I mean I like my work macbook pro retina. Its a perfectly good laptop better than most windows ones. But yeah its not my money, its not $1000 better anyway

 

[you2]

The macbook, to me, seems like a really good deal. The ultra books tend to be a bit more expensive, worse battery life and worse support. They do have touch screen (if that matters to you), run windows (some find a pro others a negative) and a few of the models are noticably lighter (3.5lb vs 2.8 or 2.6). I'm not a fan of apple eco system or proprietary designs that make it difficult for end users to modify.
-
The asus 301 looks very sweet but it cost $500 more than the apple and Asus customer support is not nearly as good (or prompt) as apples (imho). Anyway if I were buying such a beast (esp since I would run linux and neither windows nor mac os) i woudl definitely go with the macbook pro but I think I will go with something a bit lighter and more portable.

 

[vbuggy]

I have the latest 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro,

Oh really, you too?

My points stand.

Your bitterness is growing old. Knock it off
-ViRGE

 

[Galatian]

Oh really, you too?

My points stand.

What point? That you know how to use text size 118?

EDIT: I want to be fair...why don't you give me instructions how to repeat your problems? Tell me what program you use and what you are doing and I can see for myself. If there really is such a huge problem that you claim there is I stand corrected.

 

[lakedude]

The macbook, to me, seems like a really good deal...

If you are looking for the specific attributes that a Mac has the price is reasonable.

I'm not about to give a kid a computer that costs over a grand. Apple sells no product I'm interested in. We have one $400 laptop in the living room being used as a HTPC, the wife has a $400 laptop for surfing, and the kid has a $700 laptop with a real video card so he can play games. I've got a huge big heavy gaming/desktop replacement with higher performance than any Apple laptop. I don't need a thin, light laptop with a nice screen (although having a nice screen is very nice). We all use our laptops plugged in most of the time so battery life isn't an issue. Also I'm a man so lugging a 8lb laptop around really isn't a big problem.

None of this is to say that the Mac is bad in anyway, it just isn't something I'll ever need.

 

[Accord99]

But you might be right, any ways any other ultra book cost about the same with similar specs, I was looking and I could not find anything close to Macbook Pro with the same body time weight and dimensions and similar specs

For the 15" MBP Retina, the Dell XPS 15 Touch is the natural comparison.

 

[Riceninja]

you know times have changed when apple is the one offering the best value in the industry

im looking for:

13" higher than 1080p
i5 or i7
8gb
256gb ssd
thin & light
high build quality


and for those specs:

samsung ativ 9 plus is $1799
acer s7 is $1799
lenovo x1 carbon is $2099(!)
asus ux301 is $1699
macbook pro retina is $1549
sony vaio is sold

so am i missing something here? mbp seems the best value choice. my only problem is that this will be a business laptop, so i -must- have windows on it. does the mbp have problems with windows 8/8.1?

 

[hans007]

you know times have changed when apple is the one offering the best value in the industry

im looking for:

13" higher than 1080p
i5 or i7
8gb
256gb ssd
thin & light
high build quality


and for those specs:

samsung ativ 9 plus is $1799
acer s7 is $1799
lenovo x1 carbon is $2099(!)
asus ux301 is $1699
macbook pro retina is $1549
sony vaio is sold

so am i missing something here? mbp seems the best value choice. my only problem is that this will be a business laptop, so i -must- have windows on it. does the mbp have problems with windows 8/8.1?

here is your comparison.

yeah it has no SSD, but you can put that in yourself. and 3200x1800 is higher pixel density.
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store...Smart-14-k110nr-Sleekbook/productID.288325200

$800 + whatever an msata or sata SSD costs. the build quality on the envy line is pretty good, though its only about half aluminum, the bottom and back of screen are probably plastic. but the top of the main part is aluminum.

don't know if a macbook pro would have an issue with windows 8 , but my macbook pro 15 retina ivy bridge, seems to run 7 fine in parallels.

 

[Riceninja]

here is your comparison.

yeah it has no SSD, but you can put that in yourself. and 3200x1800 is higher pixel density.
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store...Smart-14-k110nr-Sleekbook/productID.288325200

$800 + whatever an msata or sata SSD costs. the build quality on the envy line is pretty good, though its only about half aluminum, the bottom and back of screen are probably plastic. but the top of the main part is aluminum.

don't know if a macbook pro would have an issue with windows 8 , but my macbook pro 15 retina ivy bridge, seems to run 7 fine in parallels.

at .87 inches and 4.66 lbs its not what i would call thin and light, and i will be needing to fly with it/bring it to numerous meetings outside the office.

also i have serious reservations about the quality of any hp laptop due to past experiences. id rather have a well designed, well built one that's presentable to clients and partners.

price isn't an issue as my company will be paying for it.

my concern with windows 7 on mbp is that, from what i understand, win 8 is much faster for boot and more power efficient?

 

[Commodus]

Oh really, you too?

*snip*

My points stand.

No, actually, they don't.

Your argument is that everyone should be seeing visible problems, and that any owner who reports long battery life is cherry-picking. Given that the majority of users haven't complained about the screen (including a few people here), and it's easy to prove you wrong on the battery life, it's hard to believe what you say. Yes, there are great Windows laptops out there, some of which are better for some people, but it's pretty audacious to claim that Macs are worse in ways that aren't borne out by the real-world consensus.

Your vitriolic tone and use of straw man arguments (Mac users who like their machines = ignorant creationists) don't help. We get it. You hate Macs. You desperately wish for the return of the near-total Microsoft monopoly in computing. That doesn't make you right. The 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro is a good machine -- end of story.

 

[Franco_Barba]

at .87 inches and 4.66 lbs its not what i would call thin and light, and i will be needing to fly with it/bring it to numerous meetings outside the office.

also i have serious reservations about the quality of any hp laptop due to past experiences. id rather have a well designed, well built one that's presentable to clients and partners.

price isn't an issue as my company will be paying for it.

my concern with windows 7 on mbp is that, from what i understand, win 8 is much faster for boot and more power efficient?

I have the MacBook Pro Retina 15'' with 1 TB Flash SSD, I use Windows 7 with boot camp, and when I start the machine on Windows it loads in 3 seconds, works perfect, I don't really know if Windows 8 is faster, but 7 on the Mac is very fast.

 

[alkemyst]

I find the build quality exceptional over many windows based laptops. I run Parallels with OSX Mavericks and Windows 7. It's seemless.

 

[s44]

so am i missing something here?

Yes. The MBP is half a pound heavier, you have to buy Windows separately, and you can swap in a SSD into any other laptop.

 

[hans007]

at .87 inches and 4.66 lbs its not what i would call thin and light, and i will be needing to fly with it/bring it to numerous meetings outside the office.

also i have serious reservations about the quality of any hp laptop due to past experiences. id rather have a well designed, well built one that's presentable to clients and partners.

price isn't an issue as my company will be paying for it.

my concern with windows 7 on mbp is that, from what i understand, win 8 is much faster for boot and more power efficient?

Well if its not your money get the macbook haha. My work pays for my macbookbtoo... But for my personal machine I'd rather keep the money

 

[Connoisseur]

here is your comparison.

yeah it has no SSD, but you can put that in yourself. and 3200x1800 is higher pixel density.
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store...Smart-14-k110nr-Sleekbook/productID.288325200

$800 + whatever an msata or sata SSD costs.

Bad Comparison. Even the cheapest model of the MBPr 13" has an i5-4258U which is a step up from the i5-4200u. The only advantage of the Envy is price, higher res display, and swappable drives. I'd really be curious to see if anyone can find a similarly spec-ed Windows machine as an equivalent MBPr for a price that's cheaper than an MBPr. This also must include form factor, comparable thickness and weight, AND build materials.

 

[vshah]

well, the x1 takes the same argument to a higher level. It's thinner/lighter than the mbpr, but more expensive.

 

[Connoisseur]

so am i missing something here? mbp seems the best value choice. my only problem is that this will be a business laptop, so i -must- have windows on it. does the mbp have problems with windows 8/8.1?

I wouldn't say you're missing much. While I would NOT call a MacBook the best value choice, you're correct in your general understanding of the prices (barring any discounts which you're more likely to see on Windows based products). Windows machines with comparable specs AND comparable or better build quality to the MBPr will cost as much as the MBPr. There's no getting around it. The Windows players want to get in on the high-margin game so you won't see steep discounts on these machines. If you want cheaper, you'll sacrifice SOMEWHERE on the machine (typically form factor, size, materials, screen etc.)

Also MacBooks give me that "i WANT IT" wow factor that very few PC vendors are able to replicate (some exceptions include Samsung, Razer and maybe Asus) but even they have SOME drawbacks to the system.

With all that said, any Apple device's biggest advantage is the ecosystem of software and other products that work with them relatively seamlessly. Devices like Airport Extreme/Time Capsule, Iphone/ITunes etc. are designed with the minimal amount of setup headache and actually look pretty when placed on a desk or near any of the other devices. Microsoft I think is working towards that with Windows but Apple will always have an advantage as long as they control the entire ecosystem.

 

[vbuggy]

Bad Comparison. Even the cheapest model of the MBPr 13" has an i5-4258U which is a step up from the i5-4200u. The only advantage of the Envy is price, higher res display, and swappable drives. I'd really be curious to see if anyone can find a similarly spec-ed Windows machine as an equivalent MBPr for a price that's cheaper than an MBPr. This also must include form factor, comparable thickness and weight, AND build materials.

The Yoga 2 Pro isn't an obvious contender? Given the kinda-useless state of Iris for things that a GPU might demand of it, I would personally say you're better off looking at either an Optimus setup or a 44/4600 isn't necessarily a downgrade in most situations.

 

[Connoisseur]

well, the x1 takes the same argument to a higher level. It's thinner/lighter than the mbpr, but more expensive.

The ONLY counter-argument against this is that Lenovo seems to give pretty steep corporate discounts. Yeah they'll charge $2k retail but will probably give it away for $1,400-$1,500 to the majority of their corporate clients. MBP's probably don't offer that level of discount

 

[vbuggy]

The ONLY counter-argument against this is that Lenovo seems to give pretty steep corporate discounts. Yeah they'll charge $2k retail but will probably give it away for $1,400-$1,500 to the majority of their corporate clients. MBP's probably don't offer that level of discount

5% is pretty typical for single-unit corporate purchases (Apple).

 

[vbuggy]

Your vitriolic tone and use of straw man arguments (Mac users who like their machines = ignorant creationists) don't help. We get it. You hate Macs. You desperately wish for the return of the near-total Microsoft monopoly in computing. That doesn't make you right. The 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro is a good machine -- end of story.

You just did it there. See, this is the problem. As I said, Creationists.

 

[Connoisseur]

The Yoga 2 Pro isn't an obvious contender? Given the kinda-useless state of Iris for things that a GPU might demand of it, I would personally say you're better off looking at either an Optimus setup or a 44/4600 isn't necessarily a downgrade in most situations.

Off the top of my head, I believe the MBPr has a SIGNIFICANTLY better battery life under OS X than the Yoga 2 Pro, the build quality isn't quite as good (hinges issues, trackpad isn't as good), and the MBPr screen comes with unmatched color calibration out of the factory. Hey it's actually important to some point.

I mean, listen, the Yoga 2 Pro is still a fairly attractive piece of tech but there's obviously a big market of people who still want Macs either for OS X, the ecosystem, or because it's pretty.

 

[Connoisseur]

5% is pretty typical for single-unit corporate purchases (Apple).

Yeah. I know that Lenovo typically offers up to a 27-30% employee discount off retail for their larger accounts. Assuming that the discounts for the X1 are even half of that, the price starts getting into the realm of believability.