Why buy a Windows laptop when Macbook runs Windows?

[Young Grasshopper]

I'm working from home now and plan on getting 3 1440p Dell displays soon to connect to my laptop(Dell e7240). I'm also in the process of getting a personal notebook and was wondering what the benefit is of getting a Windows laptop over a Mac if the Mac can run Windows? Also a skylake Macbook Pro 13(when it comes out) should easily be able to power 3 1440p displays right? Would it be able to power them in Windows mode?

Sorry for sounding ignorant, but with this crummy laptop now I have 2 DVI and a USB adapter powering my monitors and it sucks bad. Would like to be able to use Displayport, HDMI or some other technology.

Thanks

 

[Zodiark1593]

Depends on what is important to you. Arguably, in the 1k-2k price range, Macs are the best balanced of laptops out there offering good (not great) performance, solid battery life, light weight, nice design, great display, and an ok (not great) choice of ports. On top of that is Mac OS if that is your favored OS as well as Windows.

Weak points are relatively few and quite niche. GPU performance and limited expandability seem to top the list here.

 

[Aikouka]

As mentioned, it depends on your goals. If you want to play games, MacOS X has never been a great OS for that (lack of developer support), but the laptops aren't exactly stellar in that area either. Although, I think I've always heard complaints that a Mac laptop running Windows in Bootcamp isn't that great compared to the same laptop running OS X, because it just doesn't have tight power controls, so the battery life really suffers.

 

[KeithP]

Although, I think I've always heard complaints that a Mac laptop running Windows in Bootcamp isn't that great compared to the same laptop running OS X, because it just doesn't have tight power controls, so the battery life really suffers.

This. Apple's bootcamp drivers are serviceable but not great. For instance, you won't get near the battery life under Windows that you do under OS X. Of course, depending on your needs, bootcamp might not be necessary. You could always run Windows under a virtual machine.

If Apple provides a machine that meets your hardware needs then they may be a great choice. The problem is they offer so little variety chances are you will have to compromise on your want/need list in regards to hardware when you buy an Apple machine.

Do you want to be able to swap out storage yourself relatively easily? Do you want a dedicated GPU? (for a reasonable price) Maybe a 17" screen? The list is endless. There are things you just can't get with Apple hardware.

If you do want Apple hardware, make sure you check out this buying guide first:
http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#Mac

When buying Apple hardware timing is key. You never want to purchase hardware shortly before Apple releases new a new model of what you are buying. It is an imperfect guessing game trying to time it, but I would never buy Apple hardware that is due to be replaced with a newer model.

..and FYI, this is coming from someone that has been using an Apple computer (currently MacBook Pro 15") as my primary computer for a lot of years.

-KeithP

 

[drquest]

Another point is the resale value on Apple hardware is pretty high compared to your run of the mill Windows hardware. You can buy it, use it for a year and upgrade for a modest sum.

 

[Young Grasshopper]

Thanks for the replies. I may just wait to get a Macbook Pro then.

 

[Beer4Me]

If you do get a MBP, dont ever use Bootcamp. Just buy Vmware Fusion or Parallels and run Windows in VM, ridiculously fast and easy. I dont understand why people buy Macs and try to run Windows as primary with Bootcamp. Thats not what theyre designed to do.

 

[Spicedaddy]

If you do get a MBP, dont ever use Bootcamp. Just buy Vmware Fusion or Parallels and run Windows in VM, ridiculously fast and easy. I dont understand why people buy Macs and try to run Windows as primary with Bootcamp. Thats not what theyre designed to do.

Virtualizing is good for quick access, but it doesn't run as quickly as running natively, and you have more issues with peripherals. If you just need Windows for a program or two, go with a VM, but if you're going to work in Windows a good portion of the time, then BootCamp all the way.

 

[Beer4Me]

Virtualizing is good for quick access, but it doesn't run as quickly as running natively, and you have more issues with peripherals. If you just need Windows for a program or two, go with a VM, but if you're going to work in Windows a good portion of the time, then BootCamp all the way.

Yea, but if Windows is your primary OS, you shouldnt be buying a Mac. It's akin to trying to install Android OS on an iPhone.

 

[Spicedaddy]

Yea, but if Windows is your primary OS, you shouldnt be buying a Mac. It's akin to trying to install Android OS on an iPhone.

Not even close, since BootCamp is supported by Apple. Don't use Windows if you don't want/need it, but some people do and it's nice to have the option.

 

[KeithP]

Virtualizing is good for quick access, but it doesn't run as quickly as running natively, and you have more issues with peripherals. If you just need Windows for a program or two, go with a VM, but if you're going to work in Windows a good portion of the time, then BootCamp all the way.

It should be noted that both Parallels and VMware Fusion will let you use your bootcamp partition as your virtual machine. This allows you to use one Windows installation for a VM and bootcamp, going back and forth as you see fit.

-KeithP

 

[Dacalo]

I was a Windows user past 25+ years until I picked up a Macbook Pro Retina this past summer. I am in love with my MBP! I had Windows 10 with Bootcamp but got rid of it a couple of months ago as I wasn't even using it and it was taking up valuable space. Scrolling is so smooth in MacOS; I tried scrolling in Windows 10 but it was so stiff and didn't feel right, even with suggested tweaks.

 

[gsethi]

I have a 13" Macbook Pro retina. I use bootcamp (windows 10) for work and OS X for general surfing/home use/movies etc.

Its much easier to just maintain one device and everything works perfectly fine in bootcamp. Yes, battery life takes a hit but I still get ~5 hours in windows.

I have looked at several comparable laptops, but the macbook always comes ahead when looking at the complete package. The trackpad (in OS X) is awesome. Currently, I have my eyes on the XPS 13 and the new Samsung Notebook 9 (announced today), but I have a feeling that I will just keep my macbook.

Rebooting into bootcamp is a small annoyance, but takes less than a min.

 

[slugg]

Windows on a Mac is not a good experience. You can do it, but it's really only for compatibility purposes. The three biggest issues are bad keyboard support (Mac keyboard layouts are not Windows friendly, and vice-versa), bad mouse support (Windows and Mac have wildly different mouse movement, so the hardware is tweaked differently), and high power consumption (basically no optimization).

Mac OSX on a Mac, however, is a great experience. For example, Apple's trackpad is phenomenal in Mac OS X, but a pile of doo-doo in Windows. So if you buy a Mac just to throw Windows on it, you may as well be fitting a square peg in a round hole.

 

[paperwastage]

Also a skylake Macbook Pro 13(when it comes out) should easily be able to power 3 1440p displays right?

think you're limited to 2 external displays + 1 internal. You can always use a USB->DVI, but that uses your CPU, not GPU.

dont think you can use thunderbolt daisychaining to bypass limit

http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/specs-retina/

Dual display and video mirroring: Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 3840 by 2160 pixels on up to two external displays, both at millions of colors.

the dell latitude have docks, that allow for 3 external displays

http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/04/SLN115952/en

 

[holden j caufield]

I have the same e7240, great little notebooks. Best of all upgradealbe ssd and 16gb ram max. I run a mac osx vm in my e7240 and it runs perfectly fine. It helps with a samsung pr crucial ssd and 16gb ram.

 

[v-600]

In response to the OP why I have windows laptops. 17" matt screen. 2TB of storage. Touch screen. A GTX980m (I plumped for the 965 as it sat best in the value for money scale at the time but I had options). The ability to right (zoom) and left (shoot) click at the same time in games but you can plug a normal mouse in a macbook. DVD drive built in.

 

[amyklai]

Expandability is a pretty important thing to me. If you buy a Macbook and the RAM / HD gets too small after a few years, you have to sell your old notebook, buy a new one and move all you applications and data.
With PC notebooks, you often can just pop in some more RAM or a different / another SSD.

And if you buy the larger SSD / RAM options from Apple, you pay through yourr nose. Going from an MBA with 4/128 GB to 8/512GB is about 750€ over here.
Buying a 512GB SSD and 8 GB RAM for a PC notebook costs you about 200€.

That difference is just crazy.

 

[vbuggy]

1. Because nursemaiding two OS's on one thing is a problem you don't need.

2. Because the OS that you actually do the heavy lifting on should be the one that's actually natively supported by the vendor. Boot Camp is only 'dev-grade' when it comes to stability, compatibility and usability.

3. Because Macs are diverging from what's actually current in Windows. While 10 may have put less emphasis on pure tablets and more on convertibles / 80-20 devices, it's an important new part of the OS that has actual benefits. The Macs are last-gen devices.