I love my MBP but...

[deosaa7]

So I made the switch recently and I've more or less fallen in love with my MBP - I love how clever and useable the OS is, the design is beautiful, and I thought that even though it was expensive, the beautiful build quality justified the cost. I knew I could get more performance from another maker but I wanted to learn OSX so I bought the MBP.

I don't have any regrets but a few minutes ago I did customize a HP ENVY 14 and found $1525 (I paid $1426 for my MBP corei5, 4gb ram, 128gb SSD) I could get a quad core corei7, 1gb ATi dedicated GPU, 8gb RAM, 256gb SSD, High resolution screen, and a free xbox 360 (I already have one but free something to put on eBay). Those are incredible good specs for something that's $100 more!

Since I am within 2 weeks of purchasing the MBP and could give it back I am a little bit considering it. I do have a moral issue of sending back something I purchased that has no defects, it's not fair to Apple. Also my needs..I am generally a full on Xbox 360 gamer so I know I don't need the power of the ENVY but for nearly the same price it would be nice to have it and maybe I would play Battlefield 3 with it.

Other than moral issues what makes me want to stay with the Mac is the build quality - the reviews say that Apple's is still superior. And also the touch pad and upcoming Lion promises to be an excellent OS. Plus it would be a huge pain to send this back to Apple and wait for the new laptop to come. As I write this I am mostly - 90% certain I will stay with the Mac although it does tempt me to switch over for the 2x (if not more) increase in power and better display (I am a stickler for a good display).

I don't have any real intention as to why I am posting this here, perhaps just to hear some of the commentary or thoughts of people here..maybe what you would do in the same situation?

Lastly I want to say that I am NOT complaining about the price of the MBP, I have no complaints regarding that they are pricey but you are paying for a great OS, design, and hardware.

 

[agreen182]

Here's the way I look at it:

sure, for 100 bucks more you could get an HP with better specs. But you'd still have an HP. You could sell your MBP in 2 years for a very good return, you'd struggle to sell that HP for 400 bucks in the same time period.

Also: You'd have to use windows. That alone is worth the $ in my opinion

 

[escogido]

So I made the switch recently and I've more or less fallen in love with my MBP - I love how clever and useable the OS is, the design is beautiful, and I thought that even though it was expensive, the beautiful build quality justified the cost. I knew I could get more performance from another maker but I wanted to learn OSX so I bought the MBP.

I don't have any regrets but a few minutes ago I did customize a HP ENVY 14 and found $1525 (I paid $1426 for my MBP corei5, 4gb ram, 128gb SSD) I could get a quad core corei7, 1gb ATi dedicated GPU, 8gb RAM, 256gb SSD, High resolution screen, and a free xbox 360 (I already have one but free something to put on eBay). Those are incredible good specs for something that's $100 more!

Since I am within 2 weeks of purchasing the MBP and could give it back I am a little bit considering it. I do have a moral issue of sending back something I purchased that has no defects, it's not fair to Apple. Also my needs..I am generally a full on Xbox 360 gamer so I know I don't need the power of the ENVY but for nearly the same price it would be nice to have it and maybe I would play Battlefield 3 with it.

Other than moral issues what makes me want to stay with the Mac is the build quality - the reviews say that Apple's is still superior. And also the touch pad and upcoming Lion promises to be an excellent OS. Plus it would be a huge pain to send this back to Apple and wait for the new laptop to come. As I write this I am mostly - 90% certain I will stay with the Mac although it does tempt me to switch over for the 2x (if not more) increase in power and better display (I am a stickler for a good display).

I don't have any real intention as to why I am posting this here, perhaps just to hear some of the commentary or thoughts of people here..maybe what you would do in the same situation?

Lastly I want to say that I am NOT complaining about the price of the MBP, I have no complaints regarding that they are pricey but you are paying for a great OS, design, and hardware.

HA! I'm sure Apple wouldn't mind the return, so your morale can rest at ease, because of the simple fact that you have to pay something like 15% or 30% restocking fee if you did end up returning it... lol

 

[Surely]

No Mac, no OSX*. That's the real reason to justify the higher price. Specs shmecs.

*unless of course you're Skilled enough to build a hackintosh.

 

[palpatine]

it's simple.

you will always be able to find a pc with better specs for less money than any apple product you purchase. this is not news. that has been the case in the past. it will be the case in the future. know thyself. if you are looking for the best buy, apple is not for you.

apple has things like os x, excellent design, applecare, apple service, apps, and other features that pcs lack. if these appeal to you, then you can justify the price difference this way.

in the end, you can spend more for what you want or less for what you don't want. if you plan on being reincarnated to have fun in your next life, then this is a great strategy

 

[mobilehaathi]

Since you are posting on MacRumors, I have a feeling that you want to keep your MBP and are simply looking for others to tell you to do so (or that they would in your situation).

I'd keep the MBP. I think you should keep the MBP.

Hope that helps you kick the buyer's remorse...

Enjoy!

 

[cirus]

sure, for 100 bucks more you could get an HP with better specs. But you'd still have an HP. You could sell your MBP in 2 years for a very good return, you'd struggle to sell that HP for 400 bucks in the same time period.

Also: You'd have to use windows. That alone is worth the $ in my opinion

No Mac, no OSX*. That's the real reason to justify the higher price. Specs shmecs.

*unless of course you're Skilled enough to build a hackintosh.

Always hear these two points. "It's not a mac" and "It can't run OSX" The only reason that it can't run OSX is because apple does not allow it to run OSX. It's not a problem with the laptop but rather with Apple. And yes it is a good business decision as it causes many people to think that something is wrong with the windows laptop. What microsoft should do is cut out mac support for windows 8, bet that would have apple's market share. "You want to dick around with us? Fine. We'll dick around with you. And guess what, it'll hurt you far more if we do than you can hurt us." But microsoft does not do this because, in a way, they don't want to use sticks and stones to beat the consumer into buying their products. In that way, are they a better company? I'll leave you to decide but I already know what you will say.

Can we have a little better reasons here?

Windows 7 is really quite good and if you could look past the hate you would see that too.

 

[Surely]

Always hear these two points. "It's not a mac" and "It can't run OSX" The only reason that it can't run OSX is because apple does not allow it to run OSX. It's not a problem with the laptop but rather with Apple. And yes it is a good business decision as it causes many people to think that something is wrong with the windows laptop. What microsoft should do is cut out mac support for windows 8, bet that would have apple's market share. "You want to dick around with us? Fine. We'll dick around with you. And guess what, it'll hurt you far more if we do than you can hurt us." But microsoft does not do this because, in a way, they don't want to use sticks and stones to beat the consumer into buying their products. In that way, are they a better company? I'll leave you to decide but I already know what you will say.

Can we have a little better reasons here?

Windows 7 is really quite good and if you could look past the hate you would see that too.

That makes no sense. Why would Microsoft want PCs to be able to run OSX? They don't build the PCs, they provide the OS. If people were able to run OSX on any computer, they probably would, and less people would be using Windows.

I don't have hate for Windows, I just prefer OSX.

 

[gorskiegangsta]

Let me give you a word of advice.
As a former HP owner (I must've owned at least 6 HP laptops) I have to say that their products have nice designs and their specs look very good, but when you start using the product you begin to notice lack of quality right away. I have had numerous battery, heat/noise, broken display hinges, broken CD/DVD drive trays, burned out wireless cards, etc.. As always with HP, if it's not one thing, it's the other. Even HP printers have spotty quality. The weirdest thing is when my Mac is able to print perfectly to my HP Photosmart, while the HP laptops cannot because of driver issues

Since I've switched to Mac I have noticed the difference in quality right away. The build quality and reliability is miles ahead, the battery life and longevity is light years ahead, the OS is more robust and applications are better designed and more powerful.

As an HP runaway, I'd advise you not to do it. Worst case scenario, get Lenovo, or Acer or Sony but do not get HP.

 

[Zumino]

Always hear these two points. "It's not a mac" and "It can't run OSX" The only reason that it can't run OSX is because apple does not allow it to run OSX. It's not a problem with the laptop but rather with Apple. And yes it is a good business decision as it causes many people to think that something is wrong with the windows laptop. What microsoft should do is cut out mac support for windows 8, bet that would have apple's market share. "You want to dick around with us? Fine. We'll dick around with you. And guess what, it'll hurt you far more if we do than you can hurt us." But microsoft does not do this because, in a way, they don't want to use sticks and stones to beat the consumer into buying their products. In that way, are they a better company? I'll leave you to decide but I already know what you will say.

Can we have a little better reasons here?

Windows 7 is really quite good and if you could look past the hate you would see that too.

I'll agree, Win7 is pretty good, and I use both.

But to be fair, one of the reasons OSX is so nice, is because it's so restricted hardware wise. Most of the stability/performance issues that plague windows even into Win7 are, at their heart, driver conflicts. And Apple being so very specific about the hardware they support, they avoid the driver conflicts.

That said, you will always be able to build a "faster" computer for a little less (usually less then $100, though that depends), but they won't run OSX. They "might" have driver support for Linux, they might not.

If you honestly think Microsoft "removing mac support for OSX" would do anything, you don't know how that works.

Apples uses standard hardware, Microsoft couldn't remove Apple support if they wanted to. Apple writes the drivers that allow Mac's to run Win7, Bootcamp modifies the way OSX boots, which allows it to dual boot Win7, and is written by Apple.

I think you misunderstand the relationship. Microsoft might as well not even talk to Apple. Apple is the one creating compatability with Win7, not the other way round.

 

[Mak47]

Always hear these two points. "It's not a mac" and "It can't run OSX" The only reason that it can't run OSX is because apple does not allow it to run OSX. It's not a problem with the laptop but rather with Apple. And yes it is a good business decision as it causes many people to think that something is wrong with the windows laptop. What microsoft should do is cut out mac support for windows 8, bet that would have apple's market share. "You want to dick around with us? Fine. We'll dick around with you. And guess what, it'll hurt you far more if we do than you can hurt us." But microsoft does not do this because, in a way, they don't want to use sticks and stones to beat the consumer into buying their products. In that way, are they a better company? I'll leave you to decide but I already know what you will say.

Can we have a little better reasons here?

Windows 7 is really quite good and if you could look past the hate you would see that too.

First, Microsoft doesn't make computers, they make software. Therefore, when Mac users buy Windows to run in Bootcamp or MS Office for Mac, Microsoft makes money. They are also taking in retail prices for those products when Mac users buy them. When their software is bundled onto stock PC's they don't get that much. If Microsoft were to pull support for Mac, it would be a dumb business decision. Would it break them? Certainly not, but it wouldn't help them either, millions of Mac users buy MS products.

I agree with you that Windows 7 isn't a bad OS. It's much, much better than anything MS has done so far, but it's still not as user friendly as OS X.

Here are some reasons for the OP:

1. Yes, the OS is better. It's easier to use and provides lots of excellent apps right out of the box.

2. There is value in the design. Some people don't think so, but I do. I don't like looking at ugly stuff, and I'm willing to pay extra to not have to do so.

3. Build quality. Your Mac feels solid because it is. No mass produced product is perfect, nor will it ever be, but Apple does a very good job with what they make.

4. Specs are just specs. The Mac OS is built differently than Windows. In my experience running "low spec" Macs, I get better performance than I do running "high spec" PC's. I'm not talking about geekbench stats or any of that BS. I'm talking about my experience as the end user.

5. Inherent support for iOS. You may or may not be an iOS user, but if you are, or are thinking about it, the benefits are great. This will be particularly true with iCloud. While PC users will see many of these benefits as well, they will surely not be as seamless.

6. Support. Apple's reputation for customer support is well known. Good luck finding that with any PC Manufacturer. That doesn't mean their products are bad, it just means their support options aren't as good.

At the end of the day, it's about what's important to you. If you're going to be running mostly PC programs, then the HP might be better for you. If you're going to be taking advantage of what the Mac has to offer, then you will be quite satisfied.

It's hard to look at the Mac in comparison with other commercial PC's. With Mac, the value is in the total experience, not just with the product specs.

 

[thermodynamic]

sure, for 100 bucks more you could get an HP with better specs. But you'd still have an HP. You could sell your MBP in 2 years for a very good return, you'd struggle to sell that HP for 400 bucks in the same time period.

Also: You'd have to use windows. That alone is worth the $ in my opinion

Agreed. I've gotten 50% return on a 18-month 2009 MBP. For Windows systems, that's a pipe dream (33% being the norm for a 12-month unit, often less.)

For what I need and want, Macs are the best.

I just bought a Gateway i5 at a big box computer store to set up as a 64-bit Ubuntu host for three server VMs (Server 2008, SQL, Sharepoint, etc) - build quality is nowhere near as professional as my Mac Pro desktop. (The Dell Precision, a PC I support at work, has a nice build, but it's still not as well-designed as the Mac Pro...) Never mind the lack of OS X... And Ubuntu 11.04, nice as it is, is nowhere near as good as OS X.

 

[hcho3]

If you want most money for your buck, then Macs are not for you...

Why do you need 1-2GB video graphic card? Unless you are gaming.

If you care about specs with hard core gaming, go somewhere else.

Xbox 360 isn't being given to everyone. It's only for students with EDU email address. Are you one of them?

 

[gakuran hitori]

I'd keep it.

 

[aristobrat]

Those are incredible good specs for something that's $100 more!

Better specs don't mean you'll be happier with the machine.

 

[deosaa7]

Thanks for all the replies, very good debate and I'm very grateful to hear all your opinions. I will keep it 100% I think I had a wee bit of buyers remorse but I got over that really fast

Especially considering my needs..right now I'm sitting on my ass but in the future especially in the fall when grad school starts I will be super busy and only using my computer for work purposes so I need a reliable machine more than a speedy one. Just had to realize my priorities and not be greedy

 

[saberahul]

HA! I'm sure Apple wouldn't mind the return, so your morale can rest at ease, because of the simple fact that you have to pay something like 15% or 30% restocking fee if you did end up returning it... lol

Apple stopped charging restocking fees after christmas 2010. Purchased mine yesterday and was told that there are no restocking fees.

 

[Kentochan]

I read somewhere that when you buy a Mac, you're not just buying hardware, but software as well. I had to agree. Obviously the Mac OS X comes with the purchase, but apps like Mail, iLife etc are included too. Also, upgrading the OS is much cheaper on a Mac, $30 retail/Mac App Store for Snow Leopard/Lion vs. $120 retail for Win 7 and probably Win 8. And MacBooks hold better resale value than most PCs. If you consider the long run, I think the MBP is the better choice

 

[ThirtyThr33]

So I made the switch recently and I've more or less fallen in love with my MBP - I love how clever and useable the OS is, the design is beautiful, and I thought that even though it was expensive, the beautiful build quality justified the cost. I knew I could get more performance from another maker but I wanted to learn OSX so I bought the MBP.

I don't have any regrets but a few minutes ago I did customize a HP ENVY 14 and found $1525 (I paid $1426 for my MBP corei5, 4gb ram, 128gb SSD) I could get a quad core corei7, 1gb ATi dedicated GPU, 8gb RAM, 256gb SSD, High resolution screen, and a free xbox 360 (I already have one but free something to put on eBay). Those are incredible good specs for something that's $100 more!

Since I am within 2 weeks of purchasing the MBP and could give it back I am a little bit considering it. I do have a moral issue of sending back something I purchased that has no defects, it's not fair to Apple. Also my needs..I am generally a full on Xbox 360 gamer so I know I don't need the power of the ENVY but for nearly the same price it would be nice to have it and maybe I would play Battlefield 3 with it.

Other than moral issues what makes me want to stay with the Mac is the build quality - the reviews say that Apple's is still superior. And also the touch pad and upcoming Lion promises to be an excellent OS. Plus it would be a huge pain to send this back to Apple and wait for the new laptop to come. As I write this I am mostly - 90% certain I will stay with the Mac although it does tempt me to switch over for the 2x (if not more) increase in power and better display (I am a stickler for a good display).

I don't have any real intention as to why I am posting this here, perhaps just to hear some of the commentary or thoughts of people here..maybe what you would do in the same situation?

Lastly I want to say that I am NOT complaining about the price of the MBP, I have no complaints regarding that they are pricey but you are paying for a great OS, design, and hardware.

I was in the opposite situation of you, I started out customizing and planning to buy an HP with sick specs like youndescribed (my best friend from college's dad works for HP and offered to give me a 30% discount) however I was "converted" when I googled HP Envy Vs MBP and I saw how much everyone loved their macs. That HP would be fast, but I doubt you would love it. After a while it would just be a souped up version of everyone else's computer. I have never had a Mac but I'm planning on getting one soon, but from the sounds of it EVERYONE loves their Mac. If anyone would like to back me on this feel free.

 

[nunes013]

I was in the opposite situation of you, I started out customizing and planning to buy an HP with sick specs like youndescribed (my best friend from college's dad works for HP and offered to give me a 30% discount) however I was "converted" when I googled HP Envy Vs MBP and I saw how much everyone loved their macs. That HP would be fast, but I doubt you would love it. After a while it would just be a souped up version of everyone else's computer. I have never had a Mac but I'm planning on getting one soon, but from the sounds of it EVERYONE loves their Mac. If anyone would like to back me on this feel free.

you dont understand the number of non struggles i have had with my mac compared to windows. and also how many times my mac has saved the day. here is a quick flashback. i was band president a few years back. i was the "tech" person so i was going to take a slideshow and project it for a banquet we were having. i didnt make the slideshow but some parent did. they put all the pictures into a 150 slide powerpoint full of pictures lol. i tried to open on a couple of windows pcs and none could do it. they all froze however, my mac opened it in 2 minutes with keynote like it was a breeze.

as people have said you can buy a sooped up pc. it could be running the latest and greatest. its still not running os x. macs are solid. they are clean and they are stable. os x makes the mac. yes apple is not perfect and there are many things they need to look into and fix but overall the quality is there. also which company has had the best satisfaction for how many years.

in the end you dont buy a mac to buy the most powerful computer. you buy it for the experience, quality and because you dont have to adjust to your mac. it is made to work the way you want it.

 

[th3goob]

just think your paying for the aluminum case+backlit keys+awesome screen+hd camera+all the hardware+the os which pretty much equals out to the price of the mbp, and after its old you can still get a decent chunk of money for it

 

[yusukeaoki]

Selling a Mac and buying a HP is like selling a Ferrari and buying a smart car.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

just think your paying for the aluminum case+backlit keys+awesome screen+hd camera+all the hardware+the os which pretty much equals out to the price of the mbp, and after its old you can still get a decent chunk of money for it

Now that is a bad way of looking at it, as I JUST got a Dell with a metal external case + backlit keyboard + anti-glare screen + webcam + dedicated graphics card + hardware?? + os?? for... the same price as a white macbook. and it came with a 2 year, next day on site service warranty.

 

[MacsOnAnabolics]

HA! I'm sure Apple wouldn't mind the return, so your morale can rest at ease, because of the simple fact that you have to pay something like 15% or 30% restocking fee if you did end up returning it... lol

Actually Apple no long charges you a restocking fee. I would know. I just returned my 15" MBP today because I was at the end of my 14-day return policy and I wanted to hold out until the B2S promo. Why not right?

 

[leftywamumonkey]

If you keep your MBP, you will have the large generous trackpad along with Lion soon which will take even greater advantage of it.
The HP on the other hand will come with a bunch of crapware installed on it.

If you really don't need the extra performance, and the MBP does everything you want it to do and are happy with the OS, keep it.