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For the sake of Comparison, New MBP v. Windows Competitors

The thing is no PC exist with that kind of specs in such a small form factor, let alone with a screen that good.

Of course you could say "This PC almost has the same specs and is cheaper" but that won't change the fact that it's not as good.

Apple's plan was to make the best notebook, not the one with the best value, although I think its value is pretty damn good if you were shopping for a 2k$ laptop in the first place.

The new Alienware M14x can be configured with the exact same specs (screen aside) for a cheaper price, but let's consider the fact that it's over twice the thickness (0.71" vs 1.49"), considerably heavier despite that it's a 14", and has a smaller battery (63Wh vs 95Wh) even though Windows is more battery intensive. And that's not even considering the MBP's unibody aluminium body, elegant design, awesome trackpad, resale value, OS X, etc...

You could make compromises to get a cheaper PC laptop that's pretty good, but fact is, you won't find any with that kind of specs in such a portable form factor, even if you don't consider the screen that's also miles ahead of the competition (the M14x has a 1366x768 screen with 1600x900 in option), and the super large battery that powers this beast.
 
I think this post should be revised:

New MBP
15.4' Retina Display
intel i7 2.3ghz
8gb RAM
256gb SSD
1gb Nvidia gpu
Superdrive (i added it because most competitors have it)
$2278
Cost of servicing when memory stick goes bad after 1 year
$1500
Cost of replacing onboard storage
$500
Depreciation after 2 years
$500
Total cost of ownership
$4778

The closest competitor out there is the sony vaio Z
13.1' 1080p display
intel i7 2.1ghz
8gb RAM
256gb SSD
1gb AMD GPU (note: the gpu for this computer is located in a docking station that must be plugged in along with the cd/dvd drive)
Cd/dvd drive
$2249
Cost of servicing when memory stick goes bad after 1 year
$100
Cost of replacing storage
$200 (max)
Depreciation after 2 years
$2000
Total cost of ownership
$4549


The next two computers are not direct to competitors to the new mbp but they are the closest thing their respective companies make:

Dell Alienware M14x
14' 768p (same resolution as old 13' mbp)
intel i7 2.3ghz
1gb Nvidia GPU
8gb RAM
256gb SSD
DVD/CD drive
$1749
Cost of servicing when memory stick goes bad after 1 year
$100
Cost of replacing storage
$200 (max)
Depreciation after 2 years
$1500
Total cost of ownership
$4249

Hp ENVY 15
15.6' 1080P display
intel i7 2.3ghz
8gb RAM
1gb AMD GPU
256gb SSD
$1799
Cost of servicing when memory stick goes bad after 1 year
$100
Cost of replacing storage
$200 (max)
Depreciation after 2 years
$1300
Total cost of ownership
$3399
 
A Mac is a PC. Boot Camp.

I've looked at various PC notebooks, but I just don't see the point in giving up OS X to get Windows when I can have both.
 
eba said:
A Mac is a PC. Boot Camp.

I've looked at various PC notebooks, but I just don't see the point in giving up OS X to get Windows when I can have both.
Click to expand...

Price and features. If the MacBook satisfies your needs in both departments, then there is 0 reason to buy anything else.
 
AppleCare here in NZ is $550 for these machines. Either way, the lost productivity is far greater that the retina machine or even a MBA carries too much risk (and having a second machine standby isn't an option for cost reasons).

I can always go and buy new RAM or a new 2.5" SSD for the upgradable machines - and considering those are the things most likely to fail, it mitigates the risk involved a lot.

Also - with the price comparison, the only reason why the old style pro comes out behind is Apple's ridiculous pricing on the SSD upgrades. Buy that from newegg or crucial.com and it comes out a lot cheaper than the retina MBP, plus you have a 500GB HDD you can use or sell on ebay.
 
eba said:
A Mac is a PC. Boot Camp.

I've looked at various PC notebooks, but I just don't see the point in giving up OS X to get Windows when I can have both.
Click to expand...

Long story short: Apple doesn't have anything comparable to the highish end of PC laptops for video performance or expandability. There are no Apple laptops which can take two hard drives, for instance, and there are no longer any that can take something like expresscard, except maybe with Thunderbolt adapters. And since Thunderbolt is not (yet) splittable, while it's true that you can get ethernet, or firewire, or expresscard, slots through it (eventually), you can't have all three at once... (Unless you get something like the 27" thunderbolt monitor, but that's a little bulky for a backpack.)

The thing people are comparing here isn't OS X vs. Windows, it's Mac hardware vs. PC hardware. Apple's focus is on making things that Look Pretty. Some Windows vendors do that, others focus on performance.
 
Krazy Bill said:
No offense but every time I run across sentiments like this It makes me yearn for my PC days again. :(
Click to expand...

People that buy good looking cars are stupid

People that buy stylish clothes are stupid

People that buy well designed phones are stupid

People that date good looking people are stupid

Just borrowing your logic for a second. The person you were replying to was probably joking in the first place, but even if they were serious, there's nothing wrong buying something that catches your eye
 
Soulweaponry said:
People that buy good looking cars are stupid

People that buy stylish clothes are stupid

People that buy well designed phones are stupid

People that date good looking people are stupid

Just borrowing your logic for a second.
Click to expand...

Not quite.

Try "people who buy a pretty car that costs 2x as much and doesn't run as well are stupid". Well, from the point of view of someone who thinks a car is a tool for moving from one place to another? Yeah. Similarly, try "people that buy a phone that's absolutely gorgeous to look at but can't run any apps and has less than an hour of talk time are stupid".

It's not stupid to like things to look good. It is stupid to care so much about how they look that you react with scorn and derision to any consideration of how well they work.

The person you were replying to was probably joking in the first place, but even if they were serious, there's nothing wrong buying something that catches your eye
Click to expand...

Caring only how it looks, not how it works, is... well, maybe it's reasonable for clothes bought to look fashionable, but when it comes to things that are supposed to have a functional purpose, it's pretty dumb. If all you want is pretty, Apple could make something which has the guts of a Leap Pad in it but looks REALLY REALLY AMAZING and sell that for $3.5k and the people who just want something pretty could go buy that and the Mac line could go back to being awesome, highly functional, computers.
 
Soulweaponry said:
People that buy good looking cars are rich

People that buy stylish clothes are vain

People that buy well designed phones are opinionated

People that date good looking people are shallow

Just borrowing your logic for a second. The person you were replying to was probably joking in the first place, but even if they were serious, there's nothing wrong buying something that catches your eye
Click to expand...

fixed that for ya
 
pflau said:
I think this post should be revised:

New MBP
15.4' Retina Display
intel i7 2.3ghz
8gb RAM
256gb SSD
1gb Nvidia gpu
Superdrive (i added it because most competitors have it)
$2278
Cost of servicing when memory stick goes bad after 1 year
$1500
Cost of replacing onboard storage
$500
Depreciation after 2 years
$500
Total cost of ownership
$4778

The closest competitor out there is the sony vaio Z
13.1' 1080p display
intel i7 2.1ghz
8gb RAM
256gb SSD
1gb AMD GPU (note: the gpu for this computer is located in a docking station that must be plugged in along with the cd/dvd drive)
Cd/dvd drive
$2249
Cost of servicing when memory stick goes bad after 1 year
$100
Cost of replacing storage
$200 (max)
Depreciation after 2 years
$2000
Total cost of ownership
$4549


The next two computers are not direct to competitors to the new mbp but they are the closest thing their respective companies make:

Dell Alienware M14x
14' 768p (same resolution as old 13' mbp)
intel i7 2.3ghz
1gb Nvidia GPU
8gb RAM
256gb SSD
DVD/CD drive
$1749
Cost of servicing when memory stick goes bad after 1 year
$100
Cost of replacing storage
$200 (max)
Depreciation after 2 years
$1500
Total cost of ownership
$4249

Hp ENVY 15
15.6' 1080P display
intel i7 2.3ghz
8gb RAM
1gb AMD GPU
256gb SSD
$1799
Cost of servicing when memory stick goes bad after 1 year
$100
Cost of replacing storage
$200 (max)
Depreciation after 2 years
$1300
Total cost of ownership
$3399
Click to expand...

Coupons?

I don't agree with you on depreciation. If a computer cost me $1500 to buy and then it breaks 3 years later the computer cost me $1500 in total, not $3000. Depreciation is not taking anything out of my pocket, especially if I am not going to sell my computer.

I mean you don;t factor in depreciation when buying a car to look at the total cost of ownership if you are not going to ever sell the car, rather the car cost you X amount of money and if you sell it after 7 years then in total it cost you X MINUS whatever price you sold it for.

The total cost of the MBP should be X minus whatever it sells for after a set amount of time, same for the windows laptops.

Personally I think it would be really stupid to sell an expensive laptop for a fraction of its price in only two years. Most people plan to keep their computer for at least 3. And really almost and $1500 laptop is high end, is it really not going to be enough in a couple years?
 
therealseebs said:
Not quite.

Try "people who buy a pretty car that costs 2x as much and doesn't run as well are stupid". Well, from the point of view of someone who thinks a car is a tool for moving from one place to another? Yeah. Similarly, try "people that buy a phone that's absolutely gorgeous to look at but can't run any apps and has less than an hour of talk time are stupid".

It's not stupid to like things to look good. It is stupid to care so much about how they look that you react with scorn and derision to any consideration of how well they work.



Caring only how it looks, not how it works, is... well, maybe it's reasonable for clothes bought to look fashionable, but when it comes to things that are supposed to have a functional purpose, it's pretty dumb. If all you want is pretty, Apple could make something which has the guts of a Leap Pad in it but looks REALLY REALLY AMAZING and sell that for $3.5k and the people who just want something pretty could go buy that and the Mac line could go back to being awesome, highly functional, computers.
Click to expand...

You're pretty judgmental. Can we audit your life so we can make sure you're not being hypocritical about anything? Anyway, i find it easier to let people be different than me. Have their own wants, needs, likes. If i let little things like "This person likes to buy stuff that looks good. BLASPHEMY!" bother me, i'd never get to sleep.

This part...oh man this part....

therealseebs said:
Not quite.

Try "people who buy a pretty car that costs 2x as much and doesn't run as well are stupid".
Click to expand...

Macbook pros, at any price, run just fine. We can't set rules for other people that they can only like things and buy things that look good as long as they're cheap. If it's expensive and they have more money than you, so what? Let them. If someone has a different income and they have say, $3,000 in spending money every month and they already have everything else they want, should they buy a cheapo windows laptop just because? It's freewill. Some people buy a macbook pro, a more expensive laptop that's better used for video editing/artist work, for redditing or going on youtube. Does that offend you too?

I don't know man. I just feel like there are so many great examples in the world of truly stupid people that looking at someone that "likes to buy things that are pretty" with a harsh judgmental eye is a waste of time. But hey. Don't let me stop you. There might be someone at safeway paying too much for cheese too just because it tastes slightly better
 
Obviously the consumer as a whole can't be trusted to make good judgement decisions on spending or we wouldn't be in the current economic predicament we are in with millions of people getting option A loans for homes they couldn't afford.

So basing an argument on whether people should buy an Apple product because it is a good decision is beside the point. They are a luxury item like buying a nice car like a Jaguar. The Jag may not perform as well as say a Nissan 350z, but people are willing to pay 100k on it because of what it is. Same goes for Apple. No matter if it is worth it compared to other products or not, people will buy it for the status or because they have some personal reason for wanting it.
 
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