Haswell MBP Alternatives or Competitors

[Apple Forex]

Hey, I'm fairly new to this forum, but I'm in the market for a new laptop. If this upcoming Haswell MBP doesn't meet my expectations, are there other laptops in the market similar to it? From what I been hearing, Samsung might have a new all aluminum unibody Haswell laptop. However, those rumors might just be speculations.

Also, anything from Dell, Asus, or Lenovo? I have been using only iOS devices, but in terms of computers, I have been a PC guy for many years and I have never used a Mac computer. If this new macbook pro can't meet my expectations, I might not make the switch to a mac.

I'm only hoping the base model 15in MBPr comes standard with 16gb ram, if not, that will be a definite deal breaker for me.

Any clues?

 

[sofianito]

Hey, I'm fairly new to this forum, but I'm in the market for a new laptop. If this upcoming Haswell MBP doesn't meet my expectations, are there other laptops in the market similar to it? From what I been hearing, Samsung might have a new all aluminum unibody Haswell laptop. However, those rumors might just be speculations.

Also, anything from Dell, Asus, or Lenovo? I have been using only iOS devices, but in terms of computers, I have been a PC guy for many years and I have never used a Mac computer. If this new macbook pro can't meet my expectations, I might not make the switch to a mac.

I'm only hoping the base model 15in MBPr comes standard with 16gb ram, if not, that will be a definite deal breaker for me.

Any clues?

Clevo hackintosh...

 

[swerve147]

I'm only hoping the base model 15in MBPr comes standard with 16gb ram, if not, that will be a definite deal breaker for me.

You should probably stop shopping for MacBook Pros now, as you won't get 16GB standard in the base model.

I don't think any of the closest alternatives will, either (Samsung ATIV 9 Plus, Razer Blade Pro). You're probably best off with a BTO Clevo/Sager, or an HP Elitebook if you want a good 16GB notebook.

 

[dusk007]

You will definitely not see 16GB as standard but the upgrade will probably be cheaper. Apple usually sets upgrade prices of RAM according to RAM prices at model release and then doesn't touch them for an eternity while RAM prices keep dropping and dropping. They are more reasonable at launch.

There are a few alternatives but none available yet.
In workstations there is the Dell Precision M3800.
Workstation graphics Quadro K1100M, 3200x1600 IGZO touch display.

More normal gaming the main competitors in the thin & powerful class are the Asus UX51VZ and the Samsung 770Z5E.
They have good quality 1080p displays. The Samsung uses an MVA panel afaik. Incredible battery life (better than the rMBP) and very high contrast ratio. The Asus is also available with 3200x1600 displays. No Haswell update yet.
The Samsung is especially quite cheap for the price but was released only recently so a Haswell update might still be a bit of time out.
I think both more than likely will come with dGPU and definitely not Iris Pro. If those companies use the Iris Pro they will start a new product. Like a Samsung Series 9 15-17" with high def screen.

If the form factor isn't such an issue, there tons of alternatives. But those are the only alternatives I know of that an go toe to toe with about the same design goals.

 

[Stetrain]

There aren't any competitors that have the exact features and form factors of the MBPs or rMBPs.

It depends on which features are important to you, since most competing laptops make very different tradeoffs than the MBPs.

Do you want something relatively thin and light with a really high res screen? Check out the Zenbook Infinity:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7035/...-with-the-most-beautiful-notebook-at-computex

Do you want something with a good GPU for gaming in a similar form factor to the MBP? Check out the Razer Blade:

http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-systems/razer-blade

Do you want something closer to a mobile workstation for high end 3D and video work? Check out the workstation notebook lines from Lenovo, Dell, and HP.

 

[borgqueens]

In geekbench it looks like the 15" rMBP will have 16 GB where do you have the information that it will not have 16 GB RAM ?

 

[dusk007]

There aren't any competitors that have the exact features and form factors of the MBPs or rMBPs.

There are. The ones I mentioned pretty much are the exact counterparts.
The op also seems to be interested in the 15" MBP and mentioning 13" ULV Macbook Air competitors is somewhat missing the target completely.
The Razer Blade with a 14" 16:9 display feels in real life about as big as 13" rMBP not a 15" 16:10 screen. It is fast but has a crappy display. In performance it is a competitor but in price and availability it is a joke. Most of the time you cannot even buy Razer notebooks if you did want to have one.

 

[Stetrain]

There are. The ones I mentioned pretty much are the exact counterparts.
The op also seems to be interested in the 15" MBP and mentioning 13" ULV Macbook Air competitors is somewhat missing the target completely.
The Razer Blade with a 14" 16:9 display feels in real life about as big as 13" rMBP not a 15" 16:10 screen. It is fast but has a crappy display. In performance it is a competitor but in price and availability it is a joke. Most of the time you cannot even buy Razer notebooks if you did want to have one.

The Zenbook Infinity is more of a Haswell 13" rMBP competitor than an Air competitor. I agree that it isn't really in the same class as the 15" rMBP but again it depends on which aspects of the rMBP you are interested in.

The Asus you linked to is probably the closest I've seen to a true 15" rMBP competitor with the optional high res screen (Edit: Actually, from some quick searching, it appears that Samsung is the one with the 3200x1800 screen option). I do wonder though if the stated 7 hour battery life still holds true with that optional screen.

The Asus also doesn't have dual Thunderbolt ports and probably doesn't have the trackpad quality of a MBP.

I'm not saying that there aren't fairly equivalent notebooks out there, but they make slightly different tradeoffs, so identifying which features of the rMBP are important to you is important when trying to decide what to compare it against.

 

[skaertus]

Hey, I'm fairly new to this forum, but I'm in the market for a new laptop. If this upcoming Haswell MBP doesn't meet my expectations, are there other laptops in the market similar to it? From what I been hearing, Samsung might have a new all aluminum unibody Haswell laptop. However, those rumors might just be speculations.

Also, anything from Dell, Asus, or Lenovo? I have been using only iOS devices, but in terms of computers, I have been a PC guy for many years and I have never used a Mac computer. If this new macbook pro can't meet my expectations, I might not make the switch to a mac.

I'm only hoping the base model 15in MBPr comes standard with 16gb ram, if not, that will be a definite deal breaker for me.

Any clues?

It will all depend on what your expectations are. What do you expect from a laptop? Is the retina screen a must-have? Do you need quad-core processors and dedicated video cards? Does it have to be thin and light? How much battery life do you need?

Don't expect the Haswell 15-inch rMPB to come with 16 GB RAM in the lower-end version. It will likely come with 8 GB.

 

[Apple Forex]

Yes, I would need to be on the higher end of the specs. With today's processors (even on the 13 MBPr), all would do well for my needs. However, I do very intensive 3D rendering and video editing. Along with the whole adobe suite from photoshop to dreamweaver, I also plan on running 3+ VMs (2 windows and 1 linux).

So 16gb of memory is a MUST. If anything, I really do hope their OEM ram upgrade wouldn't cost too much of an arm and a leg. Because paying $200-$300 less to get another PC laptop that does my job would be justifiable.

Anyone have an idea if the higher end will offer 32gb of memory as an option?