Spencer Posted 14 September 2011 Share Posted 14 September 2011 The time has come to get a new laptop, as mine currently overheats in 5 minutes... Went into the Apple shop earlier and was blown away by the look of the Macbooks, obviously pricey, but so gorgeous. My windows laptop has never done me wrong, however, except this overheating problem, but I'd just like people's thoughts on what I should opt for. Main things I do on my laptop are download HD movies, browse the net (obviously) and use Photoshop... Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anotherharboroughfox Posted 14 September 2011 Share Posted 14 September 2011 Laptops are certainly cheaper, usually for the same specs you'll look to pay £500 extra just because a Macbook has the apple logo on. Personal choice really! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marko Posted 14 September 2011 Share Posted 14 September 2011 I used to have a Sony Vaio which unfortunately got drowned by a drink. The insurance company agreed to a replacement and they said they'd replace it with a Macbook Pro if I wanted. In the end I decided to go for the Mac and I love it. I personally find it very easy to use and have CS5 on it and it's still very fast. I've got the Mac office software as well, it's cheaper than Microsoft and just as easy to use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yojoe36 Posted 14 September 2011 Share Posted 14 September 2011 PC for sure. Cheaper, and is compatible with waaaay more software. People only buy a Mac because of the design. Over-priced piece of s*** in my opinion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryn Posted 14 September 2011 Share Posted 14 September 2011 I'm not a big Apple fan to be honest. The hardware looks and feels great, don't get me wrong, they're very robust, technically excellent pieces of kit, but you can get A LOT of laptop for the same price from a different manufacturer, with a lot more compatibility. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdb Posted 14 September 2011 Share Posted 14 September 2011 Mac's are far better imo but very pricey. If money's not an issue, i'd go MacBook every day of the week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Doctor Posted 14 September 2011 Share Posted 14 September 2011 Windows laptop every-time - for the same price you can get a far better laptop than macbook. The amount you seemingly pay purely for the name with macbooks is ridiculous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christoph Posted 14 September 2011 Share Posted 14 September 2011 Windows if you have a clue about pc's and no how to keep them tidy and good. Mac if you like to pay for overpriced hardware and a sleak looking thing to bring out when your in starbucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christoph Posted 14 September 2011 Share Posted 14 September 2011 Windows if you have a clue about pc's and no how to keep them tidy and good. Mac if you like to pay for overpriced hardware and a sleak looking thing to bring out when your in starbucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spencer Posted 15 September 2011 Author Share Posted 15 September 2011 Cheers guys... any recommendations for windows laptops? Don't really have a budget, I'll happily take advantage of Currys buy now pay in 9 months scheme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillbert Posted 15 September 2011 Share Posted 15 September 2011 Just to balance out all the mac hate in this thread, I feel I should point out that if you are a student you can get the VAT off a new apple computer and you get three years warranty for £50. Apple's warranty is among the best in the business and has got to be worth a couple of hundred quid in its own right. I personally was faced with the same choice as you a few years ago and ended up buying a Dell for exactly the reasons people are pointing out in this thread - specification wise, I got literally twice the machine for the same amount of money as the mac. Fast forward to 6 months ago, and the Dell has been through three batteries, four power supplies, a DVD-Rom drive, a screen inverter, two new hinges, and a screen bezel - all but the first battery and power supply were outside the paltry 1 year warranty. It is next to worthless. Meanwhile, the mac I could have bought still has decent retail value judging by eBay. ...I think you know where this is going. I bought a Macbook Pro with educational discount for my last machine, and haven't looked back. I use all my windows applications (including games) either through bootcamp or using parallels, and everything works great. Windows 7 is a decent OS, but for my money OSX is king. There is no denying that you will pay more up front. But you know the saying: buy cheap, buy twice. Even if something *were* to go wrong with my Mac, I've got confidence that I won't have to pay to get it fixed. Not true of your bargain basement deal-of-the-week PC laptop. That said, I actually WOULDN'T buy a mac with your needs. There's nothing you want to do which would benefit from having even a mid range-pc. Apple doesn't really do low end, which is why people often think their stuff is expensive. With what you want to do, spending a lot would be a waste of money. Disclaimer: I use my computer for a living, so I demand a lot from it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueSi13 Posted 16 September 2011 Share Posted 16 September 2011 Ignore the anti-Apple crowd my friend...owned my black Macbook for over 5 years now...not a single issue, and its been put through serious hard labour! There's a reason Apple come out on top whenever there's a customer satisfaction survey Compatibility wise Macs are compatible with most pieces of software around, often having versions that are superior....but if your REALLY worried about Mac's not being able to run X piece of software...remember that they run Windows...so arguably a Mac runs every piece of software ever made I remember this piece caused a bit of a flame war when it came out.... http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/01/microsofts-rahul-sood-says-every-pc-industry-exec-should-use-a/ Not denying that they are expensive though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon the Hat Posted 16 September 2011 Share Posted 16 September 2011 If you can afford it there is no reason whatsoever not to get a MacBook. Don't believe the haters. You won't regret it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danny. Posted 19 September 2011 Share Posted 19 September 2011 Laptops are certainly cheaper, usually for the same specs you'll look to pay £500 extra just because a Macbook has the apple logo on. This is utter crap, people say this a lot - but if you compare the 'same specs' MacBooks are generally cheaper than a windows equivalent such as a VAIO which are often much more expensive and still lower spec. People compare some crappy plastic dell with a rubbish screen, awful trackpad and easy-to-break power plug with a batter that gives 2 hours and announce it's "£500 cheaper". Having said that I'd love to be proved wrong, can you back up your post and put up a link to a windows laptop that's; made from unibody aluminium, has a 7 hour battery, a magsafe power adapter, backlit keyboard, high def webcam, slot loading DVD-RW, large multitouch glass trackpad, IPS LED screen, decent speakers and the same spec as a base 15" macbook (2.0GHz quad-core i7, 4GB 1333MHz RAM, Radeon HD 6490M) for £1049? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anotherharboroughfox Posted 19 September 2011 Share Posted 19 September 2011 This is utter crap, people say this a lot - but if you compare the 'same specs' MacBooks are generally cheaper than a windows equivalent such as a VAIO which are often much more expensive and still lower spec. People compare some crappy plastic dell with a rubbish screen, awful trackpad and easy-to-break power plug with a batter that gives 2 hours and announce it's "£500 cheaper". Having said that I'd love to be proved wrong, can you back up your post and put up a link to a windows laptop that's; made from unibody aluminium, has a 7 hour battery, a magsafe power adapter, backlit keyboard, high def webcam, slot loading DVD-RW, large multitouch glass trackpad, IPS LED screen, decent speakers and the same spec as a base 15" macbook (2.0GHz quad-core i7, 4GB 1333MHz RAM, Radeon HD 6490M) for £1049? Mmmmm Windows I found another: Another Around the same spec more RAM, obviously some of those features you listed are specific to Apple but aren't really worth the extra price. While on the subject could you link me that Macbook as I was unable to find it. And for the record I'm getting an iMac because my college uses LogicPro which is only available on Mac Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danny. Posted 20 September 2011 Share Posted 20 September 2011 Mmmmm Windows I found another: Another Around the same spec more RAM, obviously some of those features you listed are specific to Apple but aren't really worth the extra price. While on the subject could you link me that Macbook as I was unable to find it. And for the record I'm getting an iMac because my college uses LogicPro which is only available on Mac Thanks for those! 1st one: Doesn't seem to have an LED IPS screen, just LCD? Also appears to be made of cheap plastic not aluminium? The networking isn't gigabit and the wireless isn't wireless N according to the specs? I couldn't see if the webcam was HD or not? It doesn't seem to have firewire or a backlit keyboard or magnetic/trip-safe power connector... 2nd one - only skimmed this: Again, looks plastic, no HD webcam, no multitouch large glass touchpad, no magnetic/trip-safe power connector... Your argument is pretty much saying a Rover 620 is just as good as a BWM 520 because they both have 4 wheels, a 2 litre engine and 5 seats. The MacBook is much higher spec than either of the windows laptops you linked. Saying "some of those features you listed are specific to Apple but aren't really worth the extra price" is also a matter of opinion, Just take one feature, I've seen at least 4 windows laptops broken by someone tripping on the power lead or dropping it, even just 2 feet down onto carpet, on the power lead side, and it smashes off the power connector on the motherboard inside and can't be fixed economically = throw the laptop away. If those laptops had a magsafe connector on they simply wouldn't have broken, so is that feature really not worth the extra money? The MacBook Pro is just on the apple site: http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_pro I also used to think macs were a complete waste of money and very overpriced, but if you take the complete spec into account, not just RAM/CPU/HD, you are actually getting a great bit of kit for a decent price. The extended warrantee (applecare) is also very good for the money and the service on applecare is brilliant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christoph Posted 20 September 2011 Share Posted 20 September 2011 If you don't need a laptop that massively then you can just build a desktop pc. You can make a good spec one for 500 quid and it'll be better than any laptop you could buy for that price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon the Hat Posted 20 September 2011 Share Posted 20 September 2011 I also used to think macs were a complete waste of money and very overpriced, but if you take the complete spec into account, not just RAM/CPU/HD, you are actually getting a great bit of kit for a decent price. The extended warrantee (applecare) is also very good for the money and the service on applecare is brilliant. This is very true. People don't understand the difference though. Let them keep on buying their PCs from PC world or Dell and not knowing there is a whole world of wonderful product design and customer service out there just waiting for those with the gumption to find it! Macs have also got much better value as their sales volumes have increased. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anotherharboroughfox Posted 20 September 2011 Share Posted 20 September 2011 Thanks for those! 1st one: Doesn't seem to have an LED IPS screen, just LCD? Also appears to be made of cheap plastic not aluminium? The networking isn't gigabit and the wireless isn't wireless N according to the specs? I couldn't see if the webcam was HD or not? It doesn't seem to have firewire or a backlit keyboard or magnetic/trip-safe power connector... 2nd one - only skimmed this: Again, looks plastic, no HD webcam, no multitouch large glass touchpad, no magnetic/trip-safe power connector... Your argument is pretty much saying a Rover 620 is just as good as a BWM 520 because they both have 4 wheels, a 2 litre engine and 5 seats. The MacBook is much higher spec than either of the windows laptops you linked. Saying "some of those features you listed are specific to Apple but aren't really worth the extra price" is also a matter of opinion, Just take one feature, I've seen at least 4 windows laptops broken by someone tripping on the power lead or dropping it, even just 2 feet down onto carpet, on the power lead side, and it smashes off the power connector on the motherboard inside and can't be fixed economically = throw the laptop away. If those laptops had a magsafe connector on they simply wouldn't have broken, so is that feature really not worth the extra money? The MacBook Pro is just on the apple site: http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_pro I also used to think macs were a complete waste of money and very overpriced, but if you take the complete spec into account, not just RAM/CPU/HD, you are actually getting a great bit of kit for a decent price. The extended warrantee (applecare) is also very good for the money and the service on applecare is brilliant. I agree their warranty is the best out their at the present time but personally I'm not bothered about those features, as you can get warranties that will replace the laptop and the net cost would still be less. Also the base model is a 13" with a dual core? To get the specs you listed you're looking at £1,549, please correct if I'm wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danny. Posted 20 September 2011 Share Posted 20 September 2011 Also the base model is a 13" with a dual core? To get the specs you listed you're looking at £1,549, please correct if I'm wrong. yes mate, £1549 for the 15" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anotherharboroughfox Posted 20 September 2011 Share Posted 20 September 2011 yes mate, £1549 for the 15" Just saying originally you said £1049 for the 15"... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danny. Posted 20 September 2011 Share Posted 20 September 2011 Just saying originally you said £1049 for the 15"... No you said an equivalent spec windows laptop is £500 less so 1549-500=1049 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miquel The Work Geordie Posted 21 September 2011 Share Posted 21 September 2011 I got a Macbook after years of not wanting to give into Apple, and can safely say it's worth every penny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anotherharboroughfox Posted 22 September 2011 Share Posted 22 September 2011 No you said an equivalent spec windows laptop is £500 less so 1549-500=1049 ah right, my bad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadeFalcon Posted 22 September 2011 Share Posted 22 September 2011 you could always fix your current laptop and save money... btw do you have a model number for your current laptop i will check see how easy it is to sort out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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