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How to convince my brother that a MacBook pro is worth it?

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xriderx11

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 26, 2010
133
0
Ok so I have a "apple hater" brother and he is telling my mom who is matching my 600$ for the laptop that apple rips people off and for 1200$ I can build a monster pc laptop... My brother compared the specs with her and she's starting to agree .... what do I do?!!! Now I might not get a MacBook!!! how do I now convince my mom that apple is still better?!?


Edit: I mean the title to say mother not brother lol

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xriderx11 said:
Ok so I have a "apple hater" brother and he is telling my mom who is matching my 600$ for the laptop that apple rips people off and for 1200$ I can build a monster pc laptop... My brother compared the specs with her and she's starting to agree .... what do I do?!!! Now I might not get a MacBook!!! how do I now convince my mom that apple is still better?!?
Click to expand...

Live on your feet, not on your knees.

Get the cash yourself and you will not have to beg.
 
Will the 1200 USD suffice for purchasing a MacBook Pro fulfilling your computational needs? Why need a monster laptop when this one will suffice?
Do you need the battery time? Maybe that is convincing enough?

To edit your thread title, just click on the
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If she's matching your $600 in this situation, why does it matter what she thinks, just go buy your Mac?

Or is this like, "I won't match it unless I agree with the purchase."

If it's like the latter, I just recommend bringing them to an Apple store and showing them the product itself in person. That thoroughly convinced my "Apple hater" mother and girlfriend. Both of which are now waiting for BTS to both buy 13" MBPs.
 
If she's just matching your $600 dollars, why does she get to decide what computer you want to spend your money on? Yes you could possibly get a better specked PC, but like what has been said on these forums all the time, there's always more to a computer than specks alone. Many other factors need to come into play when purchasing these.
 
I have the money but my parents don't want me spending most of it... So they want to pay for half... Since my brother is telling them that it is bad and a rip off and I'm paying for stuff that's 600$ in the first place she is like " let's go to bestbuy and see if u like the pcs their coz he's right" and now I'm PISSSSEDDD coz I want a Mac NOT a pc


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getz76 said:
I am pretty sure she is under no obligation to match the $600.

Do you need a MacBook Pro? What are you planning to do with it?
Click to expand...

Going on Internet and go on the Mac app store and Download some games and go on email and travel .. ( to my family's store and back home)


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Way I see it, you have $600. If you really want a Mac, then save the rest up. The real question is, why do you need a Mac? Will a PC laptop not suffice your needs? In a way your brother is right, you can get a cheaper PC for less. I hope its not just an image thing, you should consider what you will be using it for, your not going to win the price arguement with you brother, so think why you need os x? If you convience you need OS X then your half way there. If its just to do the browse the net, play music etc etc well I can see you mums point of trying to save money.

If you brother by chance into computers and gaming?? In that case I think you have little hope, he will be spec focused.
 
The question to ask yourself is this. What car does your mom drive? If it is a Lexus, BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Acura, or some other premium\luxury brand your in good shape. If its a Kia, Hyundai, Daihatsu, Suzuki or some other lower priced and\or cheaper brand you've got no chance. If she's in a Ford, Chevy, Honda, Nissan, Toyota or some other main stream brand you can try arguing.

My point is that some people see only price when they are buying. Others can rationalize that there's some benefit to spending more than the minimum amount of money for style, performance, reliability, safety and convenience.

Besides, the advice you were given above is true. You should live on your feet, not on your knees. Go get a job. :)
 
Hey

I was in the same boat as you for a while. I needed my mum to pay for me to get a mac and she wouldn't because others told her it wasn't the best computer etc. Now that I'm older, I know the difference between why I wanted a mac back then and why I want one now.
Back then
-It was pretty
-I wanted to be cool

Now -
-Video editing
-Audio editing
-OSX

I'm not trying to be patronising but there are alot of good PC's out there which are much cheaper than macs, and depending on what you plan on doing might be better. So here is my point: If you want your mum to listen to you you need to do your own research. Find the programs you want to use and their windows equivalents - compare them, figure out the exact cost. Figure out everything so you can come back with a well formulated argument. Otherwise your probably arguing a lost cause in a very high pitched voice just like I was.
 
DustinT said:
The question to ask yourself is this. What car does your mom drive? If it is a Lexus, BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Acura, or some other premium\luxury brand your in good shape. If its a Kia, Hyundai, Daihatsu, Suzuki or some other lower priced and\or cheaper brand you've got no chance. If she's in a Ford, Chevy, Honda, Nissan, Toyota or some other main stream brand you can try arguing.

My point is that some people see only price when they are buying. Others can rationalize that there's some benefit to spending more than the minimum amount of money for style, performance, reliability, safety and convenience.

Besides, the advice you were given above is true. You should live on your feet, not on your knees. Go get a job. :)
Click to expand...

thats actually true, my mom drives a Mercedes and my dad used to drive a Cadilac... but my brother says they are rip offs too and he drives a Honda Element (I call it the toaster lol!) but yaa I actually said somthing like this but i was comparring watches (such as Rollex to somthing like a store brand's watch, they both do the samthing but one has more luxury)... I actually JUST said somthing like this to my mom and she kind of agrees... shes going to ask her sister (her sister still has a Emac that still works and is 9 years) so she is starting to think macs last longer.....
 
I hate to say this but...if you really need a MBP...it shouldn't be hard for you to find a counter argument?
My point is, if you have trouble justifying your MBP purchase, then your brother is probably right in some way...after all you mom is paying half and you should respect her decision
 
Ultimately it comes down to personal preference. Sure you could get a better spec'ed PC for the same price, but the end-user experience has a lot more involved than just the specs. I personally prefer Macs and have no problem if someone prefers a PC. If you're certain that you want a Mac over a PC then explain that to your mother, and for your uses the specs of the computer don't matter much at all. I also see no reason why you would need a MacBook Pro, the regular MacBook or the MacBook Air would suit your purposes just right for a lower price.

EDIT: And from what I'm reading your mother is just mentioning that you should consider other options and should go to Best Buy to see what else is out there. If you're so set on getting a MBP that you're against going to the store and seeing the other options then your brother being an "Apple-hater" isn't the issue. When making any purchase (especially one of such great value) you should always consider all options. For all you know you could really like one of the PCs that they have and save some of your (and your parent's) money.
 
Bring them into the Apple store and let them have a go at the systems. Then let them compare it with other stores with all the PCs.

You can influence them, but understand and appreciate that they are the decision-makers.

The refurbished systems offer good value too.
 
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DustinT said:
The question to ask yourself is this. What car does your mom drive? If it is a Lexus, BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Acura, or some other premium\luxury brand your in good shape. If its a Kia, Hyundai, Daihatsu, Suzuki or some other lower priced and\or cheaper brand you've got no chance. If she's in a Ford, Chevy, Honda, Nissan, Toyota or some other main stream brand you can try arguing.

My point is that some people see only price when they are buying. Others can rationalize that there's some benefit to spending more than the minimum amount of money for style, performance, reliability, safety and convenience.

Besides, the advice you were given above is true. You should live on your feet, not on your knees. Go get a job. :)
Click to expand...

Lexus =/= Audi, BMW
Lexus = cheap asian copycat

But good example your car comparison.
More horsepower doesn't mean you are buying a better car. There is more to a laptop than just specs. More important, Mac OS for example + having the possibility of running windows as well.
 
You have two very good choices.

1) Be grateful that you are being given a large sum of money by your mother and get a Windows 7 laptop. They're really excellent and will demonstrate you're being adult about it. Wake up and look around you, loads of students are doing very well with them.

2) Go get a job and learn what it means to save enough, to buy the Mac for yourself. There's a lot of satisfaction in growing up.

It's a simple as that. If you don't think so, the only one you're fooling is yourself.

Welcome to life.
 
xriderx11 said:
thats actually true, my mom drives a Mercedes and my dad used to drive a Cadilac... but my brother says they are rip offs too and he drives a Honda Element (I call it the toaster lol!) but yaa I actually said somthing like this but i was comparring watches (such as Rollex to somthing like a store brand's watch, they both do the samthing but one has more luxury)... I actually JUST said somthing like this to my mom and she kind of agrees... shes going to ask her sister (her sister still has a Emac that still works and is 9 years) so she is starting to think macs last longer.....
Click to expand...

hmmmmm Don't feel bad, but there is not way I would get my child a rolex, the more I read this thread I think you just want a MBP for the image. Do you have any actual reasons other then the cool factor to own a MBP? Have you even used OS X? Don't worry I was the same when I was young, my Macs and Rolex's came much later.
 
xriderx11 said:
Ok so I have a "apple hater" brother and he is telling my mom who is matching my 600$ for the laptop that apple rips people off and for 1200$ I can build a monster pc laptop... My brother compared the specs with her and she's starting to agree .... what do I do?!!! Now I might not get a MacBook!!! how do I now convince my mom that apple is still better?!?


Edit: I mean the title to say mother not brother lol

Sent from my iPhone4 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

tell your brother he is right. pcs are less expensive. they probably will last as long as any mac, depending on how well you treat it. however, macs have their own os, which also allows for windows, so you can become familiar with both operating systems-always a good thing for future employment. macs have a good reputation for customer service, and you'll have a difficult time with that if you build a pc notebook. to be honest, i have never seen anyone build a pc notebook before, and i am wondering what it will look like. does your brother plan to cobble together some kind of frankenstein creation, or did he mean a custom machine ordered from hp, dell, or some other manufacturer?

if you go with the base 13, it is roughly equivalent to pc competitors in terms of pricing, so perhaps you can explain the gap with the os and customer service points above.
 
Tell her they are much more secure and you won't need to pay extra for security software etc. Security is big deal at the moment.
 
xriderx11 said:
Ok so I have a "apple hater" brother and he is telling my mom who is matching my 600$ for the laptop that apple rips people off and for 1200$ I can build a monster pc laptop... My brother compared the specs with her and she's starting to agree .... what do I do?!!! Now I might not get a MacBook!!! how do I now convince my mom that apple is still better?!?


Edit: I mean the title to say mother not brother lol

Sent from my iPhone4 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Hi if its for College a Mac will last you all four years the pc will not. You can prob spend half the money and get another comp 2 years down the road but its prob still won't work as well as the mac a couple months later.

I switched to MACs in College because my roommates had one and when I procrastinated and waited to do my paper 1-2 hours before it was due the stupid server would make me update my computer every fing day for at least 30 minutes.

Sadly my brother wanted to get me an ibook at the time and I didn't want one(he was paying for it) I decided to get a Sony Vaio with a 22 inch screen and a monster video card to play video games with. Bad choice. I changed my mind 6 months into school and sold my Sony for half what he paid a couple months earlier and had to use all my work money to buy the better computer.

Its really you get what you pay for.
 
xriderx11 said:
thats actually true, my mom drives a Mercedes and my dad used to drive a Cadilac... but my brother says they are rip offs too and he drives a Honda Element (I call it the toaster lol!) but yaa I actually said somthing like this but i was comparring watches (such as Rollex to somthing like a store brand's watch, they both do the samthing but one has more luxury)... I actually JUST said somthing like this to my mom and she kind of agrees... shes going to ask her sister (her sister still has a Emac that still works and is 9 years) so she is starting to think macs last longer.....
Click to expand...

Life is an interesting place. Some people think Mercedes, Cadillac and Lexus are ripoffs. Some people think Honda Elements are ripoffs and buy Kias. Something Kias are a rip off and buy old Yugos.

I think if you explain to you mom that you are getting something else for your money besides specs she'll understand. After all, I'm sure there are cars out there that offered more horsepower or room than her Mercedes, probably even for less money. Why did she want the Benz anyway? Obviously something more than just the stats and specifications came into play.

If you have the means to afford a MacBook Pro I highly recommend it. They are choice.
 
xriderx11 said:
I have the money but my parents don't want me spending most of it... So they want to pay for half...
Click to expand...

If you can afford to pay for it then decline the matching offer and just buy what you want.

Be prepared to deal with "buyers remorse", however, when you think what you could've done with your extra $600.
 
everyone needs a 1200 laptop. i bought my son a 700 pc. 2yrs later, i gave my daughter 700 towards a macbook. pc lasted several years till son sold it. now he has a mbp. his money. daughter wants a mbp also. i am resisting that move though. she is broke.
 
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