2 questions about Mac and PC specs

[tyonna]

I'm in the market for a new computer, now correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the following the 15" 2.66 MacBook Pro specs?
Processor - One 2.66 GHz Intel core 2 duo
System memory (ram) - 4GB of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM
Hard Disk - 320GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA
Optical device - 8x DL Superdrive
Sound card - Intel HD Audio
Graphic Adapter - NVIDIA GeForce 9400M and NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT graphics processor with 256MB of GDDR3 memory
Firewire - one firewire 800 port
Video out ports - DVI external display port
card expansion slot - one expresscard/34

Does anyone know of a PC that has similar or better specs than the above Mac

 

[Consultant]

You forgot the following specs

<1" thick
Magsafe
Multi-touch trackpad
Built in optical input / output
Industry leading support
Virus Free

 

[kate-willbury]

are you looking for a pc desktop or laptop? for whatever amount you're going to spend on a mbp, you can easily get a pc with MUCH better specs for probably only half the price.

 

[Umbongo]

Most companies have products with better specs. If you want a notebook go to somewhere like the notebookreview forums, if you are looking for a desktop then pretty much any quad core system will have better specs.

 

[Winni]

Industry leading support

Maybe. But unfortunately for us Apple customers, Apple leads the way to the lower end of the spectrum.

In my experience, if you want good support, you have to buy Dell.

About the original Mac vs PC spec question: A Mac is a PC in a designer case with a pre-installed proprietary operating system that is not Windows. Nothing more and nothing less. The only difference to a real PC is that depending on your Mac model and thanks to Apple half-assed efforts it is harder to install 64-Bit Windows on it than it would be with a regular PC.

 

[J&JPolangin]

...coming to a site like this for this type of advise, you'll have haters and fanboi's...

Do you're own research on places like cnet and consumer reports, go look at machines and then decide what is right for your wallet.

I was determined to stay as far away from winVista as possible and so far my iMac and whitebook have been good purchases for my choices.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[neiltc13]

I'm in the market for a new computer, now correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the following the 15" 2.66 MacBook Pro specs?
Processor - One 2.66 GHz Intel core 2 duo
System memory (ram) - 4GB of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM
Hard Disk - 320GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA
Optical device - 8x DL Superdrive
Sound card - Intel HD Audio
Graphic Adapter - NVIDIA GeForce 9400M and NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT graphics processor with 256MB of GDDR3 memory
Firewire - one firewire 800 port
Video out ports - DVI external display port
card expansion slot - one expresscard/34

Does anyone know of a PC that has similar or better specs than the above Mac

Many other manufacturers are now shipping computers with Intel's new Core i7 mobile processors, which are hugely faster than Core 2 Duo. Apple's machines are now very far behind and are massively overpriced at the current time.

 

[windowpain]

Does anyone know of a PC that has similar or better specs than the above Mac

The alienware M17x has better specs than the macbook pro.

Its also 11.6 pounds, and comes with windows.
On the good side it can have a quad core processor and dual hard drives.

It all depends why you want to buy a laptop?
Is it for mobility, for gaming, for work, for enjoyment, for a hasslefree life..?

The specs aren't the only factors that you should base your decision on.

 

[seb-opp]

its hard to really compare JUST on specs, there's much more to consider than that, like build quality, support etc.

Macs look expensive when compared to the average windows laptop, but they should be compared to other premium laptops like Sony Vaio, which should have a similar, hard wearing case design, as opposed to the cheap and flimsy ones you get with the average windows laptop.

Also, for the average user, macs have a longer working life than a windows machine because they are easier to look after. Windows needs frequent HDD defragging and yearly OS re-installs to keep it running well, while this is not necessary.

Finally, don't forget to factor in the cost of yearly subscriptions for anti-virus on a windows machine, and don't forget that this is a background task which takes up processing power, so while you may get more power in a windows laptop, that extra power might be used up by anti-virus software

 

[Darth.Titan]

In my experience, if you want good support, you have to buy Dell.

Thanks. I needed a good laugh.

 

[Andrew Henry]

Thanks. I needed a good laugh.

Hopefully you're laughing at Apple because I've never had anything but outstanding support from Dell, better than I've ever had through Apple so keep laughing.

 

[wfoster]

Hey, hey.. be nice to each other.

 

[RetepNamenots]

Thanks. I needed a good laugh.

The backlight on my Dell monitor died; a free call to them was all it took to get it sorted - the very next day a new monitor arrived, and the same courier took the old one back.

Apple have always messed me around (my first MBP was screwing up, but they refused to replace it until they had tried repairing it four times).

 

[mgridgaway]

So, just to sum everything up:

Yes, you can find a laptop with those similar specs, and probably for cheaper.

However, you will not get a sexy looking, well designed laptop with a superior OS.

Personally, I hate the fact that I could build a quality PC for far less than a mac. But since I use my computer every day, my vote goes to the OS I prefer.

 

[neiltc13]

So, just to sum everything up:

Yes, you can find a laptop with those similar specs, and probably for cheaper.

However, you will not get a sexy looking, well designed laptop with a superior OS.

Personally, I hate the fact that I could build a quality PC for far less than a mac. But since I use my computer every day, my vote goes to the OS I prefer.

You may prefer the OS, but that does not make it "superior". In my experience over just the past two weeks, I have seen three kernel panics which required me to do a hard reboot of my Mac, while in the same time I have used both Windows 7 and Windows XP and have had no problems whatsoever.

As for "sexy looking" I dispute that too. The current MacBook Pros are in my opinion a huge step backwards - the old all-silver machines looked far better and didn't have ridiculous black plastic everywhere. I'll agree that the design of the computer is good and the build quality is excellent but these aren't things that I think are worth spending double or triple the money on.

 

[bartzilla]

Also, for the average user, macs have a longer working life than a windows machine because they are easier to look after. Windows needs frequent HDD defragging

It does? Not in my experience. I've defragged my windows machines only slightly more often than I've defragged my macs, and some of those defrags were only because I was writing an article on defrag tools (conclusion: they suck and aren't usually needed).

and yearly OS re-installs to keep it running well, while this is not necessary.

It does? Not in my experience. I've actually re-installed OSX more often than Windows if anything, if you count operating system upgrades.

Finally, don't forget to factor in the cost of yearly subscriptions for anti-virus on a windows machine, and don't forget that this is a background task which takes up processing power, so while you may get more power in a windows laptop, that extra power might be used up by anti-virus software

Not all the "extra" power in a modern computer will go to running the AV software, and as for cost, a value concious home user can install free AV software that will run better than some of the "for cost" stuff.

It's a shame you have to talk about why you believe Windows is bad instead of why OS X is good in its own right. Even worse when you're wrong (or at least exaggerating) some of your points anyway.

Time machine; that's a reason why OSX is worth more than the alternatives.

The ability to legally run all the major operating systems as opposed to "major operating systems less OS X"; there's a reason why Mac Hardware is worth it.

See, it isn't difficult to talk why OSX is good in a positive way.

 

[brendu]

don't forget to factor in the cost of yearly subscriptions for anti-virus on a windows machine, and don't forget that this is a background task which takes up processing power, so while you may get more power in a windows laptop, that extra power might be used up by anti-virus software

Look im a serious mac user and always have been, with that said, while using windows, as long as the user knows what they are doing and doesnt click on every link they see, they are not going to need all that software, i have no antivirus software installed on any of my pc's and none of them have viruses because I know how to use them and maintain them properly.

to the OP, there are some equally or better equipped PC's, the difference is personal preference on OS mostly. If you are really interested check out the new HP Envy 15. its pretty much a windows version of the macbook pro.

 

[brendu]

You may prefer the OS, but that does not make it "superior". In my experience over just the past two weeks, I have seen three kernel panics which required me to do a hard reboot of my Mac, while in the same time I have used both Windows 7 and Windows XP and have had no problems whatsoever.

As for "sexy looking" I dispute that too. The current MacBook Pros are in my opinion a huge step backwards - the old all-silver machines looked far better and didn't have ridiculous black plastic everywhere. I'll agree that the design of the computer is good and the build quality is excellent but these aren't things that I think are worth spending double or triple the money on.

i believe the OS is superior but not without its errors... none will ever be 100% perfect. There are too many things that can go wrong with so many users doing so many different things. And I love the new uMBP design, it is really sleek and is so solid. Finally, your not paying "double or tripple" when you put it against something like the HP Envy which is a comprable machine, the prices are pretty competitive.

 

[neiltc13]

i believe the OS is superior but not without its errors... none will ever be 100% perfect. There are too many things that can go wrong with so many users doing so many different things. And I love the new uMBP design, it is really sleek and is so solid. Finally, your not paying "double or tripple" when you put it against something like the HP Envy which is a comprable machine, the prices are pretty competitive.

In other topics we have seen that Apple is charging double the rate for a Core 2 Duo machine as other manufacturers are for a laptop with Core i7 (far superior Intel chip). The prices are not competitive, at all.

Also - "sleek and solid" is right. The machine is thin and it is well made. However, it looks horrible compared to the previous generation machines in my opinion. They were far better because they were all silver and were really distinctive. Apple's machines look like any other manufacturer's these days, and with the black chicklet keyboard they're looking like Sony's from several years ago.

 

[kevingaffney]

I'm many years using pc's at home but more importantly at work. I still use pc's for running hardware like a wide format printer and cnc router.
However, even though they are decent specs, there is no comparison with my macbook pro.
The software integrates so well. Illustrator and photoshop work far better on mac.

 

[bartzilla]

Also - "sleek and solid" is right. The machine is thin and it is well made. However, it looks horrible compared to the previous generation machines in my opinion.

Well I <3 my Alu 15" MBP... and therein lies the rub, its down to personal preference. If the OP buys carefully from any of the top hardware vendors including Apple, they'll have pretty damn good hardware, possibly at a premium price, but this will hopefully be reflected in the quality of the hardware over its lifetime. The question is then simply a matter of taste.

 

[ChrisA]

In other topics we have seen that Apple is charging double the rate for a Core 2 Duo machine as other manufacturers are for a laptop with Core i7 (far superior Intel chip). The prices are not competitive, at all.

Here is how to run the test: Put a copy of Aperture of Logic on each machine an see how long it takes you to get a job done.

You find out pretty quick that the PC, now matter how fast the cheap simply can't run those programs. If you need those programs you simply can't use the faster ther cheaper PC.

But if you just want to run a web browser and read email the Apple computer is a waste. You'd pay the premium price and then just run generic software. For that kind of usage your best bet is Ubuntu Linux.

If you are into games, buy an Xbox

If you work in a office and everyone else has a PC and uses MS Office, then you might need a Windows PC. I can't think of to many other reasons to have one, except to match what co-workers have.


The only reason to buy a Mac is to run Mac-only software.

 

[brendu]

In other topics we have seen that Apple is charging double the rate for a Core 2 Duo machine as other manufacturers are for a laptop with Core i7 (far superior Intel chip). The prices are not competitive, at all.

Also - "sleek and solid" is right. The machine is thin and it is well made. However, it looks horrible compared to the previous generation machines in my opinion. They were far better because they were all silver and were really distinctive. Apple's machines look like any other manufacturer's these days, and with the black chicklet keyboard they're looking like Sony's from several years ago.

You are right about the processor, i forgot to mention that earler and i do agree that they overcharge for the processor they are using, they also charge way more than they should for extra ram and larger hdd's but so do the other companies when they are making high end laptops.

and everyone has their own opinions regarding style so someone should get on manufacturing silver chicklet keys to replace the black ones, then get the matte screen (which should have an option in the 13") and then you have your ideal looking MBP.

 

[Darth.Titan]

Hopefully you're laughing at Apple because I've never had anything but outstanding support from Dell, better than I've ever had through Apple so keep laughing.

Your experience is the exact opposite of mine. To each his own though.

 

[MythicFrost]

Let me put it this way:

You can generally get the same components in a Mac in a PC and it will be cheaper.
I don't mind so much, I'd pay $1000 JUST to have OSX. I use it for Home, and Work - I could never go back to Windows indefinitely.

I'd use Apple forever, I'm not a Microsoft fan, but I dual boot Windows 7