Apple vs Asus vs Alienware

[Squilly]

I have an Alienware M17x r4, fully loaded; 16gb RAM, 500gb hard drive (kinda want to add an SSD), i7 3610m, 660m GT. I have an Asus ZenBook Prime UX31A-AB71 I'm looking to sell just because it doesn't meet my standards. I'm looking to get a rMBP and replace it with my ZenBook, Alienware, or both. I game sometimes, do some work in PhotoShop, and use it for class. Suggestions?

[dXTC]

The below is my humble opinion; take with as many grains of salt as desired...

Since you've stated that the Asus doesn't meet your standards, why keep it? Sell it for what you can and get the rMBP.

Admittedly, you could get more money by selling the Alienware, but that may not be a good idea as you say you do some gaming.

[Squilly]

Originally Posted by dXTC

The below is my humble opinion; take with as many grains of salt as desired...

Since you've stated that the Asus doesn't meet your standards, why keep it? Sell it for what you can and get the rMBP.

Admittedly, you could get more money by selling the Alienware, but that may not be a good idea as you say you do some gaming.

From what I hear, the rMBP is almost (or just) as good as the Alienware for gaming. I've had trouble with selling the Asus though, and I'm tempted to wait for them to unveil the next rMBP with no IR problems.

[Akuratyde]

You could always sell both PC's and just install Windows on your Mac for gaming. Then you only have one machine, makes things easier.

[Squilly]

Originally Posted by Akuratyde

You could always sell both PC's and just install Windows on your Mac for gaming. Then you only have one machine, makes things easier.

That's what I was thinking. But OS X gets obsolete so damn quick these days.

[gnasher729]

Originally Posted by Squilly

That's what I was thinking. But OS X gets obsolete so damn quick these days.

Unlike Windows, where many still consider Windows XP the best Windows version ever

[Yebubbleman]

Originally Posted by Squilly

I have an Alienware M17x r4, fully loaded; 16gb RAM, 500gb hard drive (kinda want to add an SSD), i7 3610m, 660m GT. I have an Asus ZenBook Prime UX31A-AB71 I'm looking to sell just because it doesn't meet my standards. I'm looking to get a rMBP and replace it with my ZenBook, Alienware, or both. I game sometimes, do some work in PhotoShop, and use it for class. Suggestions?

If you game, don't get a Mac unless the games you want to be playing are games that you know both (a) exists for Mac and (b) will run on your prospective Mac to your liking. The Zenbook Prime sounds like it will serve for light portable use. An rMBP won't beat your Alienware in graphics, though given it's SSD-only nature, it will beat it in terms of storage speed. Take what you will from that.

Personally, I find the retina screen to more be a burden than a boon given that many things (Windows 7 and 8 included) aren't yet optimized to take advantage of it. To be fair, Windows (both 7 and 8) will scale its DPI to half of what the screen has, which is better than nothing. But it's still not perfect. Also, I know of no Windows apps that been optimized for retina. Given that Apple is the only one out there with a "PC" with a retina display, I imagine it'll be a while before we see that kind of support in Windows.

I'd say stick with what you have. Photoshop is identical on Windows as it is on OS X and gaming is only better in Windows than on OS X.

[dmw16]

Originally Posted by Squilly

That's what I was thinking. But OS X gets obsolete so damn quick these days.

Not sure I understand this. How does OS X get obsolete so quickly?

And even if there are updates once a year they are $29 instead of $100-$200 for Windows.

[teknikal90]

OS X does get obsolete but the updates are $29 each. On the other hand, windows are less frequently updated, but each update costs $100+. On top of that, on the hardware side, Windows PCs tend to want hardware upgrades sooner, they get slow.
By contrast my dad's Macbook Pro is the 2008 pre unibody model, and is running mountain lion with no hiccups whatsoever.

[makaveli559m]

Originally Posted by Akuratyde

You could always sell both PC's and just install Windows on your Mac for gaming. Then you only have one machine, makes things easier.

I did that I bought a 2010 macbook pro and put Windows to play games and it plays a lot of games pretty well

[Penn Jennings]

Originally Posted by Squilly

From what I hear, the rMBP is almost (or just) as good as the Alienware for gaming. I've had trouble with selling the Asus though, and I'm tempted to wait for them to unveil the next rMBP with no IR problems.

The rMBP has an integrated Intel 4000 HD GPU and a dual core i5. It is going to plain and simply suck ass at any remotely serious games. As a matter of fact, I have a 2012 mini with the same GPU. Guild Wars 2 won't even start with that GPU!

The rMBP is like a sexy red Ferrari body with a Prius engine under the hood.

[skate71290]

I'm confused, you want to sell either your ASUS or Alienware? Sell both and get the 15" RMBP with 512GB storage, I have no issues running games (admittedly not at full spec for BF3 or Crysis 2) but as long as it beats console graphics I'm happy (Crysis 2 runs at 1080p with graphics set on High, or 720P on Ultra, also use Razer's free game booster in Windows for that extra kick) Regards, skate71290

[Vampire5003]

Originally Posted by Penn Jennings

The rMBP has an integrated Intel 4000 HD GPU and a dual core i5. It is going to plain and simply suck ass at any remotely serious games. As a matter of fact, I have a 2012 mini with the same GPU. Guild Wars 2 won't even start with that GPU!

The rMBP is like a sexy red Ferrari body with a Prius engine under the hood.

That's BS, a 15 inch RMBP will run most games well. The Alienware M14X has a frickin GTX650M just like the RMBP! So don't start talking schiit, when you have NEVER owned a RMBP.

[Squilly]

I love my Alienware, it's just huge. Twice as heavy, but it has LIGHTS

[Penn Jennings]

Originally Posted by Vampire5003

That's BS, a 15 inch RMBP will run most games well. The Alienware M14X has a frickin GTX650M just like the RMBP! So don't start talking schiit, when you have NEVER owned a RMBP.

You know, I realized that I left the 13 part off of the rMBP. So to be clear, the I was previously referring to the 13 rMBP since rMBP was mentioned but not size. The 13 rMBP blows yet a surprising number of people expect it to do amazing things performance wise, the 15 rMBP is decent. Sorry for the confusion there.

However, he stated that Alienware has a 660m. The 660m does outperform the 650m about 20% in various benchmarks so it would still be a step backwards. If you are correct and the OP is wrong then yes, they are the same.

[Squilly]

Originally Posted by Penn Jennings

You know, I realized that I left the 13 part off of the rMBP. So to be clear, the I was previously referring to the 13 rMBP since rMBP was mentioned but not size. The 13 rMBP blows yet a surprising number of people expect it to do amazing things performance wise, the 15 rMBP is decent. Sorry for the confusion there.

However, he stated that Alienware has a 660m. The 660m does outperform the 650m about 20% in various benchmarks so it would still be a step backwards. If you are correct and the OP is wrong then yes, they are the same.

I haven't overclocked my Alienware's GPU, might be less than 20% of a decrease (hopefully). I dunno though :/

[coolfactor]

Originally Posted by Squilly

That's what I was thinking. But OS X gets obsolete so damn quick these days.

OS X gets obsolete? That's your justification? Each new version builds on the previous version. There is nothing going obsolete at the OS level, only refinements and sometimes some new ways that things are done.

If you're referring to the cost of upgrading to the next level, bear in mind that what used to be $200 is now only $20. Hardly a big setback to move to the latest.

----------

Originally Posted by Penn Jennings

The rMBP has an integrated Intel 4000 HD GPU and a dual core i5. It is going to plain and simply suck ass at any remotely serious games. As a matter of fact, I have a 2012 mini with the same GPU. Guild Wars 2 won't even start with that GPU!

The rMBP is like a sexy red Ferrari body with a Prius engine under the hood.

You're correct that the 13" version only has Intel 4000 HD graphics, but the 15" has that plus a dedicated graphics card, as Vampire5003 so elegantly put.