For a college student: Retina MBP 13 or Lenovo Yoga Pro 2?

[therimgreaper]

I'm a college student whose had the Late 2008 Unibody MacBook since it came out and am in need of an upgrade.

As a student, I'll need it mostly for word processing and web browsing, but am also into photography so some basic Photoshop and Lightroom as well.

I think that the rMBP 13 and Lenovo's Yoga 2 Pro are the greatest suited for my needs. I already know a lot about the Macbooks, but does anyone have any insight into the Yoga 2 Pro? There are a few reviews but no real comparisons between the two.

If anyone can help, that'd be great.

 

[velocityg4]

The battery life isn't as good. The display is vastly superior. The low to high end CPU options are better. Although it uses an SSD it is a much slower SSD than in the Air.

It's got a high DPI screen. Which I've read mixed reviews on how well Windows 8 handles it. Although 8.1 has improved it. Many apps can have blurry fonts without tweaking. As a bonus you can easily turn off scaling for tons of screen real estate if you have eagle grade vision.

Like the Air you should max out the RAM for the longest useful life. As it is soldered. The SSD is mSATA so you can easily find off the shelf upgrades.

As for the touch screen and tablet mode you may or may not use it. Last I checked there are few useful apps for the Metro interface. As the bulk of software for Windows is Desktop mode only the touchscreen may be little more than a gimmick. Since the Windows desktop is certainly not touch friendly.

 

[kelon111]

I'm a college student whose had the Late 2008 Unibody MacBook since it came out and am in need of an upgrade.

As a student, I'll need it mostly for word processing and web browsing, but am also into photography so some basic Photoshop and Lightroom as well.

I think that the rMBP 13 and Lenovo's Yoga 2 Pro are the greatest suited for my needs. I already know a lot about the Macbooks, but does anyone have any insight into the Yoga 2 Pro? There are a few reviews but no real comparisons between the two.

If anyone can help, that'd be great.

Between the two , the Retina MBP 13 offers a better experience.

If you buy a Lenovo , only buy ThinkPads. The Yoga 2 Pro is an IdeaPad so the warranty isn't going to be as good as Apple's in you need to use it.

 

[velocityg4]

Between the two , the Retina MBP 13 offers a better experience.

If you buy a Lenovo , only buy ThinkPads. The Yoga 2 Pro is an IdeaPad so the warranty isn't going to be as good as Apple's in you need to use it.

For some reason I got focused on the Macbook Air. I suppose since that is the direct competitor.

The only difference would be that the Macbook Pro has the superior CPU. Otherwise everything else remains the same. The battery life is closer but the Macbook still has better battery life as it is rated for light use while the Lenovo is rated for sitting idle.

 

[therimgreaper]

Okay, it seems that sticking with the rMBP is the way to go. (But I should expect that.. on a mac forum )

Is 8gb of RAM good enough for the 13 inch Macbook? Ideally I would max out to 16gb but that becomes way too expensive for me..

 

[adam9c1]

I work in a public high school.

At my old job I worked with more Mac gear but still majority Lenovo.

Right now it's pretty much all Lenovo and little Dell which is being phased out.

I worked with Helix running W8. Horrible.
It looks like to this day Win machines slow down and build up crap over time.

Pick out Air unless you need more oumph and go with Pro.
Now I must say Apple isn't perfect. I slowly think after SL their R&D is going downhill. They are pressured to release gear and software too soon.

Last thing I will say is go to your cores.
Do you want something that just works or something you need to maintain 24/7

I have worked with so many different operating systems. Not writing code but maintaining machines from Win 95-8 to system 7-9 then a long pause starting with Leo.

I saw so many extension errors with OS 9 9 (at work) and then when I got to work again with 10.4 with faster machines (emacs) and 10.5 I gained more respect...
Then when SL was out I knew I wanted that at home.
Something that works.

So far Win7 is no Vista but it will still slow down and crap down over time.
Plus deal with all of the spyware viruses etc...

I worked with Helix and Tablet2. Helix is OK but tries to be too many things.
Tablet2 is a joke of a device.

GL.

At home I have 2008 MB which I upgraded to 6GB RAM and SSD and 4,1 Pro (recently upgraded from 3,1).

I'm still waiting for more patches to Mav to come out before I upgrade, but overall usability is much more stable vs Win.

 

[kelon111]

I work in a public high school.

At my old job I worked with more Mac gear but still majority Lenovo.

Right now it's pretty much all Lenovo and little Dell which is being phased out.

I worked with Helix running W8. Horrible.
It looks like to this day Win machines slow down and build up crap over time.

Pick out Air unless you need more oumph and go with Pro.
Now I must say Apple isn't perfect. I slowly think after SL their R&D is going downhill. They are pressured to release gear and software too soon.

Last thing I will say is go to your cores.
Do you want something that just works or something you need to maintain 24/7

I have worked with so many different operating systems. Not writing code but maintaining machines from Win 95-8 to system 7-9 then a long pause starting with Leo.

I saw so many extension errors with OS 9 9 (at work) and then when I got to work again with 10.4 with faster machines (emacs) and 10.5 I gained more respect...
Then when SL was out I knew I wanted that at home.
Something that works.

So far Win7 is no Vista but it will still slow down and crap down over time.
Plus deal with all of the spyware viruses etc...

I worked with Helix and Tablet2. Helix is OK but tries to be too many things.
Tablet2 is a joke of a device.

GL.

At home I have 2008 MB which I upgraded to 6GB RAM and SSD and 4,1 Pro (recently upgraded from 3,1).

I'm still waiting for more patches to Mav to come out before I upgrade, but overall usability is much more stable vs Win.

Windows 7 is quite stable if you know what you are doing. I run some of my Windows based computers 24/7 as multipurpose servers. I find it convenient to offload work to another computer on the network sometimes but you have to know what you are doing.

----------

Okay, it seems that sticking with the rMBP is the way to go. (But I should expect that.. on a mac forum )

Is 8gb of RAM good enough for the 13 inch Macbook? Ideally I would max out to 16gb but that becomes way too expensive for me..

8 GB of RAM is enough for most people.

 

[phrehdd]

I am not sure if this matters to you but Lenevo is a Chinese company that has stated that it wishes to take over entirely the desktop/laptop world and has used some tactics that well...are shades of days gone by with product flooding in the market. While many American products are made in China, more dollars remain in the USA than from buying from Chinese companies. For some, they don't care and for some, like myself I try when possible, to buy American or European.

 

[glenthompson]

A lot depends on whether you need particular software for your major. Some majors, like Engineering, run Windows only CAD and modeling software so a Mac is not the best choice. If you're an English major, it doesn't matter.

Most of my experience is with Thinkpads at work. Solid reliable machines. Not familiar with the Yoga. If I needed a Windows only laptop, Thinkpads would definitely be on my short list. However, the chances of my buying a PC anytime soon is slim.

 

[notjustjay]

Oh man.

Have a look at my recent post history and you'll read about my nightmare experience with the Yoga 11S, which is a cousin of the Yoga 2 Pro. The Yoga 2 Pro probably has a few advantages over the 11S (screen resolution and battery life) but my experience with Windows 8 (granted, not 8.1) was pretty disappointing, to say the least.

I really like the Yoga concept, and if my initiation into Windows 8 wasn't so shaky, I might have kept it. In the end however I decided that the 13" MacBook Pro had virtually the same footprint and had much better specs. (Actually what happened was I had decided to return the Yoga out of sheer frustration, and when I was there I saw a 13" MacBook Pro model open-box for $200 off. It seemed like fate had intervened...)

I will probably still give Win8.1 another chance, but with something smaller and more inexpensive. I'm thinking Dell Venue 8 Pro.

Keep in mind that if you do need to run Windows software, you can always install a VMware/Boot Camp image and run it off the Mac.

 

[dustbuny]

Rmbp hands down!!!!!

 

[kelon111]

Rmbp hands down!!!!!

Since the OP is considering an IdeaPad , I would have to agree.

There are only a few lines of laptops that could have a better warranty than what Apple offers and the IdeaPad line is not one of them.

 

[dustbuny]

im still saying rmbp! this machine is a beast! the clarity of the screen is amazing.. especially watching 1080P videos !

 

[carjakester]

definetly a macbook, otherwise you won't blend in.

 

[zuluboy]

After sale support is key

I'm a college student whose had the Late 2008 Unibody MacBook since it came out and am in need of an upgrade.

As a student, I'll need it mostly for word processing and web browsing, but am also into photography so some basic Photoshop and Lightroom as well.

I think that the rMBP 13 and Lenovo's Yoga 2 Pro are the greatest suited for my needs. I already know a lot about the Macbooks, but does anyone have any insight into the Yoga 2 Pro? There are a few reviews but no real comparisons between the two.

If anyone can help, that'd be great.

Not sure what Lenovo support is like but my BIL (in Canada) had problems with his new MacBook Pro (and it's replacement) and Apple changed both even though it was past the 14 day period second time. Not sure you'll get that from other PC manufacturers. Certainly not Sony their after sales support in the UK is, based on experience, shocking.

 

[Crosscreek]

The advantage of Apple support and all the different forums to seek help are a great advantage of staying with a Mac. Window quality machines are OK but can you get immediate support for if you need it?

 

[kelon111]

The advantage of Apple support and all the different forums to seek help are a great advantage of staying with a Mac. Window quality machines are OK but can you get immediate support for if you need it?

Don't compare budget class Windows based machines to business/professional class machines.

I can get immediate support if I need it but that rarely happens since I can do lots of stuff on my own and the hardware in professional class Windows based machines is among the best on the market.
And yes , I speak to English speaking Americans as well. For hardware replacement I normally have to wait one business day but that's normally the longest I have to wait unless there are no replacement parts available when I call. And the other good part of having premium business/professional class warranty is that I don't even have to leave my work place or house , the technician visits me instead.

 

[Cubytus]

The advantage of Apple support and all the different forums to seek help are a great advantage of staying with a Mac. Window quality machines are OK but can you get immediate support for if you need it?

Microsoft famously provides exactly zero support for their OS. So if anything doesn't work right, such as Windows' PDF viewer (replaces hyperlinks with a large black square when printed), don't count on them.

Don't compare budget class Windows based machines to business/professional class machines.

I can get immediate support if I need it but that rarely happens since I can do lots of stuff on my own and the hardware in professional class Windows based machines is among the best on the market.
And yes , I speak to English speaking Americans as well. For hardware replacement I normally have to wait one business day but that's normally the longest I have to wait unless there are no replacement parts available when I call. And the other good part of having premium business/professional class warranty is that I don't even have to leave my work place or house , the technician visits me instead.

The OP being a student, I doubt he will be able to access such good service, unless he buys through college's channels, and even then, in order to cut costs, they typically don't provide enterprise-class support to students, only "normalized" machines, easier four their in-house IT staff to tackle common issues.

 

[Crosscreek]

Don't compare budget class Windows based machines to business/professional class machines.

I can get immediate support if I need it but that rarely happens since I can do lots of stuff on my own and the hardware in professional class Windows based machines is among the best on the market.
And yes , I speak to English speaking Americans as well. For hardware replacement I normally have to wait one business day but that's normally the longest I have to wait unless there are no replacement parts available when I call. And the other good part of having premium business/professional class warranty is that I don't even have to leave my work place or house , the technician visits me instead.

I wasn't bad mouthing quality Windows machines. Being in a business environment and getting support is a lot easier than a college student calling for support. I did not say any thing about english speaking support. I worked on Windows CAD workstations since Windows came out. To many bugs and viruses and updates come every day. Now that I'm retired I use only Apple products because I just want something that works.