Should I switch to a Mac laptop?

[dbrunone]

So my laptop is getting old and I can use a newer one. I've been looking at something on the high end....thin and light, great battery life, Core i7, 512gb SSD, etc. It seems that the best laptop in this arena is the Macbook Pro. People say they are expensive but, every windows PC I've configured the same way comes out the same or more expensive than the Apple. I've looked at Lenovo, Dell, Samsung, Asus, etc.

I've been a Windows guy since Windows 3.0. I had an iPhone 3GS a while ago, it was okay but not great, I switched to Android and like that better. I went to Best Buy and spent 15 minutes with the Mac trying to get an icon onto the desktop....very frustrating.

So I'm torn between getting a nice Windows laptop with a touchscreen, or getting a Mac and taking the plunge and learning the OS. I think they would be about the same price. I'm not one to be swept up in the "Ohhh Ahhh" of Apple stuff, I tend to look at stuff from an "is this useful" perspective. Getting a Mac also means forgoing the touchscreen. What do you guys think?

 

[Big Shasta]

I LOVE my Dell XPS with the touch screen that flips around backwards to become a tablet. Absolutely don't get a windows 8.1 laptop without a touchscreen. Windows 8 should never have been made for a non touchscreen, it's frustrating without it.

Sorry, I know nothing about a Mac...... and unless you have a mac person close by, you'll likely be on your own if you have a question instead of asking almost everyone else that has a windows computer.

 

[Speedling]

What do you use the computer for?
Have you considered a tablet?
I build my pc's and buy my laptops.
I prefer pc with linux but i am a gamer so i have both linux and windows.
Just play with both at the store and choose what you like

 

[Seadeals]

I just had my wife convert to a MacBook Air? One of my girls tried to run across her power cord and trashed the charger and the power port on her old laptop. There are a few annoyances in the beginning (scrolling/copy/paste/stop light dots) but if you just learn the gestures and reprogram your brain over a couple days it is actually easier/better IMO. We also like the compatibility/sharing with iPhones, iPods and the iPads. Compatibility does not seem to be an issue at all anymore. There seems to be a simple solution for all the files we have historically worked with. Man is it thin, light and running the second you touch it (no moving hard drive).

 

[Big Shasta]

Good point Seadeals, the windows world finally got boot speeds reasonable.....from fully shut off my dell XPS boots in about 5 seconds...completely ready to go. MSATA hard drive (solid state). It came with a 256 but I changed it out to a 1tb MSATA.

 

[Kevin M]

I just switched from windows to Mac. Bought two Mac book airs. Love it! Best damn laptop ever and I am a tech geek. Of course it's going to matter what you are going to do with it but if Internet, email and that type of stuff your doing then it's great. If your looking at gaming, go with a windows platform. Coming from windows the Mac OS was easy to pick up. I think it's more intuitive then windows actually. The hardware is definitely better. IMO, of course.

 

[Bruce]

I was a Dell XPS or Latitude buyer for many years, typically buying a new one every year and giving the old one to family. I would run some form of Linux as the OS. I have been a Linux desktop user since 1999.

My wife is an art teacher and has been a MacBook user for about a decade. I would buy her a new macbook every few years.

In my work I process large amounts of data and documents. So I typically go for the highest resolution available. When Apple announced the 15 Retina I preordered a pretty loaded up example. It was delivered in June of 2012. I am typing on it right now and use it 90% of the time. A little over two years later I do not see any reason to upgrade. I have not found anything better.

Although I am buying a Mac Pro with a 4K monitor for my desk.

So I would agree with buying a Mac.

 

[dbrunone]

Thanks for all the input.

I am in business school at the moment getting my MBA, so I'd mostly use it for heavy-duty office stuff, I'd definitely install a Windows emulator to run a few special VBA scripts in Office that are Windows-only. I'm not much of a gamer anymore (occasionally I'll fire up Starcraft 2), so no worries there. My laptop now is Core i3, 4gb and it has gotten sluggish ever since installing Office 2013. Also it's a Lenovo which have legendary keyboards, I'm worried that the Apple would fall short there. I want at least a 14" screen in the smallest form factor possible, so I think tablet/convertible is out, most of them are 12".

Does anyone have any suggestions for worthy Macbook Pro 15 competitors??

 

[Bruce]

You can run Windows in VirtualBox or VMware.

In the last revision of my server environment I had 25 headless desktop PCs that ran Windows to perform scripted tasks. Now I buy OEM Windows licenses and boot them into virtual headless sessions on 8 core servers. The best part about it is that when a Windows session gets a virus, I delete it and restore to a previous image. Way faster than reinstalling.

 

[Nucem140]

I switched to a mac from windows PC a few years back and as others have said no need to upgrade and have had no issues. It runs the same today as it did when I first got it. It may be a little slower due to the added programs I have on it now compared to fresh out of the box but I never have issues common to windows PC's. I was replacing my windows PC every two years, no replacement planned for the mac any time soon. I love the dock, puts frequent programs at my fingertips. I like the track pad for most things and other things not so much. Copy and pasting large amounts of text requires me to use two hands. I wish I knew more about the Mac but I feel like I don't need to know more about what makes it work because it just does what I ask it to.

 

[woodard1983]

It'll take a lil while to get used 2 it, but once you do I would guess you'll feel like most of the people above...it's actually easier to use and makes more sense....

I've been thinking about upgrading recently, I'm currently typing on a 2009 macbook....runs perfectly and it has been through about everything you can imagine (including 6 months of heat/sand in afghanistan)....i'm almost 100% sure that there is not a windows based laptop out there that can make that claim!!!

 

[sysinu]

I have a Windows PC that I haven't turned on in over a year. It's awesome - never gets viruses... .. . I should probably sell it .

Then I have a iMac that I use for everything in my home office. I hang 4 network drives off time machines and airport extreme's throughout my house (for various reasons) and have 2 iPads, 2 iPhones, 2 MB Pro's, and 2 Apple TV's.

Everything in "iLife" just works together and with IOS8 and Yosemite that only gets even better. We'll have people over and I will share pictures and video's from iPhoto on my iMac through my iPad to my Apple TV, which ever display is the most convenient... and it just works.

 

[GiddYupJoe]

Thanks for all the input.

I am in business school at the moment getting my MBA, so I'd mostly use it for heavy-duty office stuff, I'd definitely install a Windows emulator to run a few special VBA scripts in Office that are Windows-only. I'm not much of a gamer anymore (occasionally I'll fire up Starcraft 2), so no worries there. My laptop now is Core i3, 4gb and it has gotten sluggish ever since installing Office 2013. Also it's a Lenovo which have legendary keyboards, I'm worried that the Apple would fall short there. I want at least a 14" screen in the smallest form factor possible, so I think tablet/convertible is out, most of them are 12".

Does anyone have any suggestions for worthy Macbook Pro 15 competitors??

Congrats on the MBA @dbrunone ! I'm finishing up my capstone myself right now. MBA = complete 3 dec.

I purchased my MacBook when I started the program and its been the best I have ever owned. Recently added a iMac to the family. l personally love the apple ecosystem.

Cheers.

 

[Murf'n'surf]

If you have the time and patience to learn a new OS and way of doing things, you will love a Mac. If you are stuck in your ways of navigating through a PC and don't want to tolerate change; stay with a windows machine.

Personally, I would stay away from a touchscreen laptop unless it folds into a tablet style. Lots of personal preferences here so go where you are comfortable.

 

[davel501]

I work for the company that makes Windows so no fruity stuff in my house.

My wife really wanted a Mac Book Air until she saw this: http://www.microsoftstore.com/store...-Signature-Edition-Laptop/productID.306261100. We bought the version with the i7 from a Microsoft store back in March. Spec-wise it is just a little bit better than the mb air and it cost less too. The clincher was the touch screen. A computer without a touchscreen is just unnecessary suffering now. It is like when the mouse came out - nobody thought they needed it and now nobody will do without it.

 

[davel501]

I should have added that if I was a buyer right now it would be a Surface Pro 3 with the i7. They are really hard to find but in my mind it is the best thing out there right now, regardless of platform.

 

[dbrunone]

I should have added that if I was a buyer right now it would be a Surface Pro 3 with the i7. They are really hard to find but in my mind it is the best thing out there right now, regardless of platform.

Yeah I looked at that, but I really need something with a solid keyboard and a screen bigger than 12".

How come its so hard to find a windows machine with 512gb ssd and 16gb ram in a 14 or 15" screen??? Does windows 8 really not need any more than 8gb nowadays??

 

[sysinu]

Personal opinion about SSD's... they are cheaper to buy on your own and install. A MBP with a 512GB SSD is going to be SO EXPENSIVE it's unreal, because Apple is going to charge you over 1K for that SSD when you could go out and buy a good 800GB (512GB usable) for 300$.

 

[davel501]

Yeah I looked at that, but I really need something with a solid keyboard and a screen bigger than 12".

How come its so hard to find a windows machine with 512gb ssd and 16gb ram in a 14 or 15" screen??? Does windows 8 really not need any more than 8gb nowadays??

You probably do not need much more than that these days. My favorite machines are the Microsoft signature machines at the Microsoft stores. If you have one near you it is worth checking out. The key point there is no bloatware.

My work (the company that makes Windows) issued laptop is an HP 8570w with a hybrid drive, 32GB of ram and an i7 because I have to be able to run 5-7 Hyper-V VMs (Windows 8+ does this natively) to do demos, etc. while I am teaching classes. The thing weighs so much that it actually hurt my back the first time I had to change gates with it at ORD and only used 1 strap on my backpack instead of both. It is only maybe 7-12lbs but you can feel it is server class. The thing is total overkill considering that in all but the most secure environments I can run everything from the cloud.

My home machine is one that I built years ago with the Intel Score with the Core training program. You watch some videos and they give you a mother board, CPU and SSD at a cheap price. I got into that when I worked at CDW...they told the vendors that they could not just offer deals like that to sales, it had to go for everyone. The machine was quick when I built it with Windows 7 (it had just come out ). I built the machine with 12GB of RAM and have not needed to add any and have never used all of it. I put Windows 8 on it and it got faster, then 8.1 and it slowed down a little - not quite to Windows 7 levels but slower. Since then the speed has come back with updates.

My kid's netbooks are probably the better story here. They have old ATOM machines that, quite frankly, were terrible. One came with XP that we upgraded to 7 and the other came with 7 installed. They are probably 5-10 years old now. When I was looking for a machine to test Windows 8 on I grabbed one of them from the bottom of my sons' closet where they had been buried under dirty clothes. I had to put the thing in high performance power mode to get it to pass the validation on CPU speed but I got it installed. The thing worked so well that my son stole it back and still uses it all the time. The only complaint is that the video drivers keep getting trampled by updates, breaking minecraft until I roll it back.

We already talked about my wife's machine above. That thing is just awesome. Mac people get a bit jealous when they see her using it, especially the touch screen and sync of settings and files across machines and her Windows phone (Nokia 822).

Windows hardware requirements peaked out at Vista and have been on the decline since. I have not seen anything on Windows 9 requirements yet but I assume it probably needs less than Windows 8 because everyone is racing toward affordability to capture developing markets where price is important. We should know more once "Threshold" (Windows 9 or whatever it will be called) is officially announced.

Obligatory disclaimer: These are all just my personal opinions.