Persuade me not to buy a powerful and cheap PC

Doesn't matter how much hardware they pack into a machine with terrible battery life if the software that runs it blows.

If you're looking to play games or something, that machine will probably run just fine, but you're WAY better off building a desktop PC of your own.

If you're not looking for games and stuff, you'd be much better off with a macbook air.

Don't let the specs fool you, especially with a cheap price tag. It'll suck to buy a laptop only to have it run for 35 minutes on battery power.

Buy the best tool to use for your needs - simple.

If you're having trouble spending over 2k for a MBP and a cheaper laptop will fit your needs then buy it.

Only you can make this decision as its your money.

If bad battery life, weight and probably fan noise wont be a problem for you then theres no reason not to get it. It will very much be a portable desktop rather than a laptop tho.

Windows can always be altered to make it more OSX like in whatever way you want, I'm sure you'd adapt to that fine.

kruspe said:

Hey, guys! I've been a Mac user for 3,5 years. My current system is MacBook Pro 13" Mid 2009 and I want something with a bigger display and more powerful. Of course I'd prefer Mac in any other conditions but I found a very interesting PC laptop at the one of the local shops.

This PC is Clevo P150EM branded as DNS Extreme (the name of this local company which sells these computers is DNS). It has following config:

-Intel Core i7 3610QM (Quad-Core and HyperTreading)
-AMD 7970 GPU with 2 GB of RAM
-16 GB DDR3 1333 MHz RAM (4x4 GB)
-500 GB hybrid HDD
-Matte Full HD 15.6" display

And the most important thing about this laptop is it's price - about $1300. For example, the minimum rMBP 15" costs here about $2650.

I'm an Apple fan. No doubt. But I'm not as wealthy as I want and because of that I'm thinking about price of the computer.

Can you persuade me not to buy this PC (it's hard to fight this sneaky feeling alone).

Thank you!

PS: Probably better to fix my PS3 and buy something like Air?

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The only thing bad about this computer is the Hybrid Harddrive .

kruspe said:

I understand this but I want to have an advice from "the other side". From people who don't share my amazement of significant characteristics =) One part of my mind knows that OS X is much more comfortable environment but the other part thinks that I can live with Windows and even enjoy the power =)))

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While I'm not fan of win8, I have found windows 7 to be a great, fast and stable OS and you can't gor wrong with that. I've heard some good things and some not so good things with win8 but to be honest, an operating system's job is to run programs so if you have windows only programs to run and you don't want to spend the $$ on a apple computer then go for the inexpensive one.

What do you want more power for? Do you run some application that uses a lot of CPU and/or GPU? Your sig says you have a 5400RPM HDD. If you just want a general performance increase that you will actually notice while using your machine, then just buy a SSD and install it in your MacBook Pro and you will notice a world of a difference. You'd be stuck with the 13" screen, but maybe an external monitor could help with that?

Personally, I think spending over $1000 on a laptop that is not a Mac is a waste of money. Remember, Macs keep their value much longer. Look into how much you can get if you try to sell your MBP, maybe that will inform your decision. Also look at refurbs on Apple's site, maybe a refurb 15" uMBP could be affordable combined with selling your 13" MBP.

Do try to get a SSD in any case, but avoid buying it from Apple, and instead get a 3rd party drive and install it yourself (BTW use Trim Enabler to enable TRIM). The MBA is fantastic, but do note that if you need a lot of storage space (e.g. 512GB), the SSD options get expensive, and you have no choice but to get the SSD from Apple (well, there are 3rd party options, but they don't save you money).

maflynn said:

While I'm not fan of win8, I have found windows 7 to be a great, fast and stable OS and you can't gor wrong with that. I've heard some good things and some not so good things with win8 but to be honest, an operating system's job is to run programs so if you have windows only programs to run and you don't want to spend the $$ on a apple computer then go for the inexpensive one.

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Agreed....Windows 7 has given me fewer headaches than Lion ever did (sadly). One of the bigger ones would be keymappings. There are many good Windows machines if you avoid the low end ones. The OP had a budget around $1300. If he really wants a Mac, some of the refurbished cMBP models come out around there. I'm curious what has bothered you about windows 8. I've heard complaints, yet I've never personally tried it. I expect if adoption rates are poor, Windows 7 support will be around for a very long time. It's an extremely solid OS. If SL could get the latest OpenGL and the level of support seen by older Windows OS revisions, I would would be on that for years.

Windows 8? (for the OP's challenge)

As another poster said, powerful PC's are like trucks. They're bulky and aren't as smooth. But as I pointed out to them, sometimes you need the power of a truck, not the handling of a porche.

thejadedmonkey said:

As another poster said, powerful PC's are like trucks. They're bulky and aren't as smooth. But as I pointed out to them, sometimes you need the power of a truck, not the handling of a porche.

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Windows PCs. Cuz sometimes your friends need help moving their big ass couch.

I'll pretty much back up everything everyone else in this thread has said. If you end up buying a good computer, you'll likely end up about as happy as you would a Mac. I use both on a regular basis, and while I find Macs and OSX give you a better...er...holistic experience compared to Windows, they're both equally as good when it comes to getting the job done. Depending on what you're doing, Windows can be a better choice at times.

Though there are a few things to keep in mind when buying a Windows laptop.

First, crapware. The bane of Windows. I hear Clevo/Sager machines are fairly good on this front, but I'd still recommend researching to see what pointless software they'll try and stuff down your throat. There are times when the crapware can and will compromise the stability of the entire OS.

Cuz, you know, the basic controls for brightness and volume settings that come with Windows aren't good enough. Oh no. You need a setup with pointless flashy animations and giant icons that eats up a full gig of ram. God, I hate that.

Secondly, Windows PCs are usually less expensive than Macs, but don't settle for cheap. 99.9% of people griping about how crappy Windows is are usually doing so because they bought a $300 laptop from Wal-Mart. Remember, lower cost doesn't necessarily equate to cheap. Do your research.

To me, the one biggest barrier to getting a Windows PC vs. a Mac is you know the Mac is going to be good 99% of the time, whereas the Windows machine may not be. Windows covers everything from complete crap no one in their right mind should buy to high end quality machines that'll last you 20 years without a hitch. It requires a little bit of digging and knowledge to get the most for your money. If this seems like a little too daunting, get the Air and fix your PS3. If you want a great machine for a good bit less than a Mac at the cost of having to spend a couple days trolling the internet to see what you're getting into, go with the PC.

kruspe said:

Can you persuade me not to buy this PC (it's hard to fight this sneaky feeling alone).

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Here is exactly the reason you should not buy that machine: you are here begging us to convince you not to buy it. Clearly you don't want to.

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