Thinking of getting a Macbook Pro: any alternatives?

ssia

it costs $1,200


(this thread is really for my sister, so please educate her on what's better than Macbook Pro [plus cheaper])

Thread makes no sense.

Either you want to work in OSX and use software for the platform, in which case you either want a Macbook Pro or a Macbook.

Or you want to work in Windows or Linux and use software for those platforms, in which case you probably want something else.

LoneSage said:

ssia

it costs $1,200


(this thread is really for my sister, so please educate her on what's better than Macbook Pro [plus cheaper])

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My place of employment gave me a Dell Latitude. Nice machines as far as windows go.

She should just get a mac if she wants one. Thing is, even if the alternatives are better, the mac delivers a unique enough experience that won't be emulated on the alternatives. [wizkid hat]This goes deeper than, "Ignorance is bliss." The idea is that if you want a certain thing, your happiness will not be fulfilled until you obtain that thing. Even if the item is frivolous, inferior, or simply not as good as an alternative. Expectations are cast and if they aren't met then happiness declines. I studied under Richard Easterlin. Look him up. O'Canada.[/wizkid hat]

That felt weird...

I like coding/general computing better on OS X, fyi.


My Macbook 2.4 GHz is about two years old now, will sell by next year, replace with the equivalent current model.

Really all she's going to do on it is Word for homework and internet. That's it. She has no idea what differences are between operating systems. She has no idea what an OS is, actually.

Funny, i'm looking to get a Macbook Pro as well. The one i'm getting is $2100 and it has what I need for video editing (I need Final Cut Pro if i'm going into television, etc.). I'm also looking to do dual booting on it so I can run Steam and play L4D2.

Edit: Answered as soon as I did. :P

Rade said:

My place of employment gave me a Dell Latitude. Nice machines as far as windows go.

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Dells aren't bad machines at all. A bit big and bulky for my tastes, but they do a good power laptop. My company shifted to Dell a few years ago exclusively for our work laptops. I didn't really like the size/battery life of the ones we could order... Mind you, we had a specific set configured for us. This year I decided to order myself a Lenovo x200s to replace my older x61s workhorse. I easily get 10 hours of battery life out of it (usually more if I'm misering WiFi), but I opted for a solid state drive which really helps. Total cost of it was around $1200 when all was said and done, but it's a killer laptop. I pretty much swear by Lenovo.

Rade said:

I like coding/general computing better on OS X, fyi.


My Macbook 2.4 GHz is about two years old now, will sell by next year, replace with the equivalent current model.

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Ditto..

I interact with a lot of various environments with my employment, and almost all are Solaris/UNIX. It's so nice to simply VPN where I need to go and SSH to one of the devices and already be in a *nix environment. I laugh when I watch my coworkers all trying to setup their putty clients, Cygwin, or the like. They don't seem to grasp that there is a very accessible and well supported *nix flavor out there.

brentsg said:

Ditto..

I interact with a lot of various environments with my employment, and almost all are Solaris/UNIX. It's so nice to simply VPN where I need to go and SSH to one of the devices and already be in a *nix environment. I laugh when I watch my coworkers all trying to setup their putty clients, Cygwin, or the like. They don't seem to grasp that there is a very accessible and well supported *nix flavor out there.

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Yeah, Debian.

I got my first Mac earlier this year when I got my 13.3" MacBook Pro. It's a great computer, and I'm using it as my main computer with an external monitor, keyboard and of course mouse. I was very set in my Windows ways, so there were some transitional issues for me, but I imagine those matters won't bother you if you're almost illiterate with regards to computers. In that case, I definitely think that Mac OS is the better choice. Word/Excel works great in Mac OS; of course you have to buy a special version that runs on Macs.

One thing I find curious about those 'unibody' Pros are the weight. Mine's certainly smaller than most 'regular' laptops, but it certainly isn't light! If you're going for ultimate portability, consider the MacBook Air.

My sister's definitely not going to need something with a killer rig. I imagine she'll use most memory for photos and her iTunes. And I'm thinking, goddamn, isn't there something that can do that just as well as a Macbook for something less than $1,200.

She could do everything she needs to do on a netbook if she wanted to (not that I'm suggesting that). You really don't need to spend more than a couple hundred bucks for what she needs, however Macbook sure are nice.

nruva said:

Yeah, Debian.

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I've tried about every Linux distro, even compiling my own at one time. But I never really found the complete package. Fugly fonts, rough edges, etc.. And I love the OSX iLife apps. They are quite well done. Lots of others I love too, especially the Omni apps.

LoneSage said:

My sister's definitely not going to need something with a killer rig. I imagine she'll use most memory for photos and her iTunes. And I'm thinking, goddamn, isn't there something that can do that just as well as a Macbook for something less than $1,200.

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If nothing else, save a bit by buying from Apple's refurb store. There's absolutely nothing to be afraid of there, and sometimes you get free upgrades.

ive had no problems with my asus laptop. id highly recommend it but its about 2 years old now.

if shes just gonna be typing up some shit and using the internet a netbook would be fine.

definitely no need to get a pro.

apples hardware is really overpriced but their laptops are generally less so than most of their other products.

still you cant get anywhere near high end graphics with an apple laptop but then its not like your sister needs that.


id look at warranties, cost of extended ones, and post warranty support. dells warranty support is great but as soon as it runs out you cant even call tech support without paying per minute.



i also have no problem interacting with linux environments from windows. its not hard to use putty or cygwin. i even have gtk installed and can and have made c based linux gui apps on windows.

Nice Batman&Robin gif btw - shit game with incredible, albeit repetitive, graphics.

LoneSage said:

My sister's definitely not going to need something with a killer rig. I imagine she'll use most memory for photos and her iTunes. And I'm thinking, goddamn, isn't there something that can do that just as well as a Macbook for something less than $1,200.

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Not quite the way Mac OS does things. It's very different from Windows, and I have a feeling that a computer illiterate will have a much easier time with a Mac. The Mac laptops are also vastly superior to most any other brand in terms of build quality. They may be on the heavy side, but my guess is there's a reason for that. I've had Toshiba and Fujitsu-Siemens laptops myself, as well as extensive experience with Acer (little sister's had two) and Dell (10-ish classmates in high school) laptops, and they just don't come close.

Have to say, if she doesn't care either way on what operating system to get, avoid Apple computers... you can get a computer that oes anything she'd want for less than half the price. She can use that savings to take care of w/e she needs to.

EDIT: Forgot to add in, if the PC is just literally for surfing & some light docs or photo/music storage, get a netbook. Me & my wife each have one and it's all the computer we need, seriously. If it's not a PC for school, it's totally worth it AND they are a third of the cost of the Mac. PLUS if you want you can get Ubuntu 10.4 Netbook or EasyPeasy for the computer to gain the security of Linux over Windows, so she doesn't kill it opening a bad email or something.

Another pro-apple comment:

My Macbook has a cracked case and they are going to replace the casing free of charge, outside of the warranty.

not sonic said:

i also have no problem interacting with linux environments from windows. its not hard to use putty or cygwin. i even have gtk installed and can and have made c based linux gui apps on windows.

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Didn't say it was a problem to interact, but it's another layer of BS.

Last client I was working with had a secure shell on everything, where I had to SSH in as some idiotic permissions level.. using a secure token at every turn. Then had to su to root, oracle, whatever.. Any additional simplicity I could grant on my end made it a lot easier doing file transfers to/from, etc. You can just run into some pretty weird stuff in the wild and adding one more layer of stuff to deal with on your own terminal is unnecessary.

I end up using putty quite a lot anyways, as I only have 1 OSX box and the rest of my stuff is generally windows. But I often find that simply going *nix to *nix greatly reduces the headaches in a number of situations. That was my point.

Anyways this is clearly beyond the sister's scope anyways, it would seem.

Even though there are way better things to get, the kids nowadays get macbooks to "fit in" or seem cool. It's pretty irritating, especially when most of them just use it to take photos and update their social networking sites.

nruva said:

She should just get a mac if she wants one. Thing is, even if the alternatives are better, the mac delivers a unique enough experience that won't be emulated on the alternatives. [wizkid hat]This goes deeper than, "Ignorance is bliss." The idea is that if you want a certain thing, your happiness will not be fulfilled until you obtain that thing. Even if the item is frivolous, inferior, or simply not as good as an alternative. Expectations are cast and if they aren't met then happiness declines. I studied under Richard Easterlin. Look him up. O'Canada.[/wizkid hat]

That felt weird...

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lol, that was fun to read. We should go get ceviche and margaritas.

brentsg said:

Or you want to work in Windows or Linux and use software for those platforms, in which case you probably want something else.

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Actually, Linux on an Apple is really nice. OSX is what makes the machine suck.

not sonic said:

i also have no problem interacting with linux environments from windows. its not hard to use putty or cygwin. i even have gtk installed and can and have made c based linux gui apps on windows.

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Worst sentence ever. "can and have made c based linux gui apps" - fail. Clearly it's not a "Linux GUI App" if it's inteded for multiplatform use. Dumbest shit ever. It's like saying SSFIV was a "360 app you can run on PS3."

Cygwin is absolutely not a replacement for a real shell. You're always having to patch paths, Ctrl+Z won't work, the font is all jacked up and it's awkward to use console apps (which is all it's good for, anyway). It doesn't help that I'm forced to use this at work because "we don't support Linux on the desktop."

So back on topic....

Netbook - Cheap, great battery life, "fun" and you can get them in pink.

PC Laptop - Cheap, great specs compared to the last-years-Crapple stuff for the price, prone to bad-juju for early users. MS's new security essentials is actually a lot better than Defender and all that crap in the past, so maybe she'll do just fine if she stays away from the torrents.

Macbook - If you have money to blow, it usually is really nice hardware. They're trendy and the interface has a lot of pretty things. I personally don't believe there are any real advantages over any of the above for casual users.

On a side note - most people that say, "Should I get a Mac or a PC?" have already decided on the Mac and are looking for someone to help justify the purchase. If she's at that point, just bite the bullet and get what she wants. nruva beat me to saying this already.

Xian Xi said:

Even though there are way better things to get, the kids nowadays get macbooks to "fit in" or seem cool. It's pretty irritating, especially when most of them just use it to take photos and update their social networking sites.

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In what way are there way better things to get? Which terms of reference do you use for making such a statement? Remember that other people don't have the same needs from a computer as you do. I can assure you that not all MacBooks are sold to satisfy some sort of Apple fetish.