Originally Posted by fatimaa

if laptops went to highschool:

macs would be the cool, slightly artsy kids.

no. not anymore. they sell in the middle of the malls now.

If you want to anthropomorphize a macbook, it would be the girl in highschool who wore leggings a northface coat and drank starbucks coffee, and dropped off at school in an suv.

how pretty much the biggest corporation in the world still stays 'arty' is some damn marketing genius.

Value wise, I would never recommend getting a Macbook just because I think they are very much overpriced for what you get? Better battery life? I would hope so if you are paying $1000 more vs. a regular laptop. More responsive? Again buy a higher end Windows and it will be faster.

I have both a laptop + gaming desktop that can run anything flawlessly for less than what I would pay for a Macbook Pro, so unless you don't mind spending a large amount of extra money to get a better battery life plus a different interface, I wouldn't say it is worth it

Originally Posted by lilrush

This study analyzed Windows 8 versus Chrome OS versus Mac OSX Mavericks (still in beta at the time).
The test included a total of 20 laptops.
Similar results can be found elsewhere; and not saying that macs are an end all. Just saying that, especially in newer software, they have taken many measures to conserve battery life, and likely when considered against other laptops in their class (and especially in their *weight* class...) they will outperform most.

Almost all of these favor apple due to bias in the choice of laptop. In general what I see with these tests are three things:
1) lack of decent brands (Advent..seriously)
2) price range (look below)
3) computer category. CNET compared the pro to a a netbook and a 17 inch gaming laptop. Seriously?

For this let us analyze the results:

Macbook Pro:
$1,349.00 - $2,649.00
Premium Laptop, 13inch

Acer Aspire M5-58iT:
$649.99
Budget Brand, Budget Laptop
15.6 inch "ultrabook"


Samsung Series 3 ChromeBook
$299
Ultra-budget (competes with iPad Mini but is cheaper)
Chromebook

Advent T2000
Ultra-budget with extreme low rating...


Now lets look at some decent competitors. Similar price. Similar part performance laptop, part ultra book.

Samsung ATIV Book 9 Ultrabook 13.3
$1199 - $1700
Performance/Ultrabook hybrid
3200 x 1800 px screen (higher than Retina)
7.5 hours
(note 15.6 inch version gets 14 hours)

Lenovo T440s
$1000-2000
High Performance Thin Laptop (14inch)
Note significantly higher performance than macbook pro (under $1800 models), especially in terms of graphics.
7 hours (small battery)
15 hours (upgraded battery)
30+ hours (slice extended battery+the upgraded battery)



Are the Samsung and Lenovo better than the Pro? Yes and No. They are competitive. I tried to find 2 laptops that are similar to the Pro both in form factor and in price. The Samsung is thinner and has the same build quality and better display. The Lenovo is of similar form factor, is much, much sturdier but has a plastic build (despite being the best in industry).

ALSO:
The winner for battery life this year does not got to Apple, or Samsung or Lenovo or any other PC Manufacturer. It goes to Intel and their new Haswell Chips that significantly increased battery life across all intel 4th gen laptops. This is the reason all these newer laptops (including the newer MBP) have terrific battery life.

It all depends on what you need. The macbook was a no-brainer for me. Yes it cost me $2200 but I could not find a comparable laptop. Its powerful, portable and has amazing battery life. Not to mention the screen on the retina display is georgeous.

It is worth it if you take the time to learn everything and play with the settings. There are people who own MacBooks and take advantage of less than 10% of all the features. The overall layout of OS X and thee applications included with it as amazing and useable by the average person.

Overall you will also have a lot less problems with OS X on average than with Windows.

If you want specific about anything feel free to ask.

Lenovo T440s
$1000-2000
High Performance Thin Laptop (14inch)
Note significantly higher performance than macbook pro (under $1800 models), especially in terms of graphics.
7 hours (small battery)
15 hours (upgraded battery)
30+ hours (slice extended battery+the upgraded battery)

I believe the graphics on the T440's are similar to that of the 13in.

Originally Posted by ooburii

And if you're the type to download third party programs or obtain your programs in less than legal ways, they're often not available for macs.

Spoken like a person who's never used a Mac on a daily basis. I'd argue that it's waaaaaay easier to pirate on OS X than Windows.

Originally Posted by Afzal

Spoken like a person who's never used a Mac on a daily basis. I'd argue that it's waaaaaay easier to pirate on OS X than Windows.

+ 1

90% of Mac Software does not require a complicated crack, most just required the key given.

Although all OS Upgrades for Mac's are Free, as well as their entire productive suite is Free. So there isn't much need to pirate anything unless you require specific software. Unless you require power user features of Word/Excel, pages is just as capable for everything and it can output your files as docx as well

Also don't forget your Macbook can run windows if needed.

It's because they're very well built, both from a hardware and software perspective.

I got a MacBook Pro Retina back in November after deciding to finally upgrade from my Lenovo x120e. I wanted a laptop with a very high resolution screen and solid battery life. At the time, all the laptops with those specs that weren't MacBooks were essentially designed for Windows 8. That meant they included extra bullshit I didn't want, such as a capacitive touch screen, which takes a heavy tole on the battery.

I wouldn't ever use Windows 8, since it's overall a piece of shit for software development (along with pretty much all the other iterations of Windows) and am normally a Linux user.

The initial plan was to install Linux on my MacBook, but I instead tried out OS X and actually really like it. It's a Unix-like off-shoot, meaning I get a significant amount of the functionality Linux has, and for the most part everything just works. Battery life is also phenomenal.

Unless you frequently use programs that only run on Windows, I wouldn't ever recommend any laptop other than a Macbook.

I have both a Y580 and just recently purchased a 13inch MBPwR.

I got it because honestly, I am fed up with dealing with Windows 8, Windows 8 ruined the windows experience for me. So far this has been one of the best computer experiences I have had so far, and I have always been quite against Macs on principle but I have to admit that I prejudged the entire platform. The price is not even much higher considering the product you get, the laptop is both powerful in what I need, aka cpu performance, very light with an amazing battery life (I spend close to 10hrs on campus 3 days a week and I never worry about needing to bring my charger or running out of battery.

On the topic of software, considering the fact I use a very large amount of third party software (Igor Pro, MatLab, Lyx, and Maple are just some of them) and I have had zero issues with installation and running the programs. And for the less than legal method of acquiring software there was no issue for cracks not working or anything, it was seamless.

The education pricing also helps bring the cost down to levels comparable to other ultra-portable computers (because I feel the 13in MBPwR is basically a ultrabook) so it is only 50$ or 100$ more than a comparable product.

At the end of the day, what matters is what you want and what you ok with dealing with. For gaming windows PC's are definitely the way to go but for a completely work orientated portable computer (though some games like Dota, Heartstone, Kerbal Space Program and Civ V work) I would have to recommend the macbook.

Thanks for sharing your opinions on this.
I really appreciate it.

I guess Macbook is the way to go!

Originally Posted by onedayy

Thanks for sharing your opinions on this.
I really appreciate it.

I guess Macbook is the way to go!

Just make sure to get the educational pricing.

Originally Posted by chrisA

Just make sure to get the educational pricing.

Oh yes, thank you
Not sure whether to get a 8GB RAM or a 16GB RAM lol..

Originally Posted by chrisA

Just make sure to get the educational pricing.

Also, check out the Apple refurb store http://store.apple.com/ca/browse/home/specialdeals/mac

You can get a 2013 Retina Macbook Pro for about $1150 which is better than any educational pricing. Apple replaces the casing and and batteries for all refurbs and gives the same one year warranty as new macs (with Apple Care), it's basically the same as a new Mac.

Originally Posted by onedayy

Oh yes, thank you
Not sure whether to get a 8GB RAM or a 16GB RAM lol..

For most people 4GB will suffice. If you really need it then 8GB will be more than enough for basic day to day tasks.

FYI ppl you always buy windows every other version. WIndows 8 was not the one to get. Following the trend it's next one

Originally Posted by Leeoku

FYI ppl you always buy windows every other version. WIndows 8 was not the one to get. Following the trend it's next one

While I agree Windows 7 was miles ahead of Vista and an excellent OS, it is near impossible to buy a new computer with Windows 7. And in order to upgrade to the Next windows OS would cost upwards of $100

Apple has the advantage by being able to give out OS updates because their profits come from the hardware itself. But I do hope Microsoft is able to bring the price of their OS's down at least marginally.