hi all. I was wondering of how many laptops actually offered similar specs to our MBPs in the PC world. I know the XPS M1530 is almost a practical copy of the MBP, spec-wise, and the T61p is also quite similar. Are there any others with similar specs? Size doesn't matter, just the specs. NOTE: SIMILAR specs, not MONSTER specs!!!
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
MacBook Pro equivalents (in term of specs) in the PC world.
- Thread starter raymondu999
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
If size doesn't matter Dell, Rock and Alienware offer beastly CPU and GPU performance. Rock offers a quad-core notebook with dual 8800GTX SLI graphics and dual hard drives in RAID-0 configuration and Blu-ray drive.
IMO, many PCs offer better hardware specs than Macs (Alienware, Dell, Sony, Toshiba, Lenovo, etc.) but performance is what matters in Macs
ooooh did I forget to mention sexiness? I know that there are many brands like Rock, Alienware, Voodoo that produce monster specs, but my question was more like "what's equal?"
price range?
Is it fair to compare something >2K with something <4k? I bet if you was rich, you could custom make your own laptop, better than Apple, but that will cost you. This is might be an utopian stuff, but look at 4 door Ferrari's and you will get the idea.
Is it fair to compare something >2K with something <4k? I bet if you was rich, you could custom make your own laptop, better than Apple, but that will cost you. This is might be an utopian stuff, but look at 4 door Ferrari's and you will get the idea.
I know alienware and the like, but these are all 10-15 lb laptops in the 17" range.
However, does anyone make a compelling 17" PC laptop with >2h battery life (without a battery that sticks out) in a package around 1" thick?
for the 15" MBP, the same question. I can only think of a few with the requisite battery life (without a stickout battery) in a similar package size.
However, does anyone make a compelling 17" PC laptop with >2h battery life (without a battery that sticks out) in a package around 1" thick?
for the 15" MBP, the same question. I can only think of a few with the requisite battery life (without a stickout battery) in a similar package size.
Yah, all these "super" laptops. Weight is terrible at the point they become room to room laptop, but not a laptop to carry around all the time. Besides all these laptops are made just for gaming. Also they tend to stuff everything with no selection. That makes laptops fatter and heavier. Apple had good point- stick to the necessities. Why there is no media card reader on MBP? Because there are just too many of them and they change in form factor, also there is some specification change once in some time and you might get stuck- if you put something, you will have to support it. So it is easier just to put Express card slot and let people choose their adaptor, or USB, firewire port will do for that matter too.
So I would say this- you have +1K, go for macbook, you have +2K, go for MBP. Everything in between or below that you can get covered with HP, Dell, Asus or whatever. If you have more than +3K, might be you will be better with a desktop, because what you paid +3K today will cost you less tomorrow and you might replace that part in a desktop, but with laptop you will be stuck. There is very little upgradeability in a laptop.
So I would say this- you have +1K, go for macbook, you have +2K, go for MBP. Everything in between or below that you can get covered with HP, Dell, Asus or whatever. If you have more than +3K, might be you will be better with a desktop, because what you paid +3K today will cost you less tomorrow and you might replace that part in a desktop, but with laptop you will be stuck. There is very little upgradeability in a laptop.
No matter what junk they put in the trunk, the PC notebooks will force you to run Windows Vista, which means you're about 5 more applications from being able to run anything without viruses or intrusions. I noticed the huge performance suck this did when switching from a very nice Dell laptop to a Ma Mini G4. This MacBook Pro is even more astounding.
Guys, thanks for the replies, but read my question more carefully. I was looking for similar spec, not monster spec.
This thread covers a comparison between the Macbook Pro and a Vista PC.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/488630/
Just before i brought a hi-res 17" mbp i went into pc world to try and find one with a similar quality display - the "high definition" 17" laptops there had the same screen resolution as the 15" MBP. When I asked the staff if they had any higher resolution laptops such like 1920x1200 they didn't believe that they existed. HP, paccard bell and the likes seem to have very low resolution displays compared to mbps.
PC side laptops tend to either throw in the kitchen sink at the expense of size/weight, or focus on size weight and cut back on performance.
Macbook Pro rides a fine line between fantastic performance but still focused on size/weight. Very few PC Laptops make the same tradeoffs.
I don't think a single PC laptop exists with the MBP performance in a case as thin/light as the MBP.
Macbook Pro rides a fine line between fantastic performance but still focused on size/weight. Very few PC Laptops make the same tradeoffs.
I don't think a single PC laptop exists with the MBP performance in a case as thin/light as the MBP.
I believe you've covered them, the Dell, the Thinkpad, and there's probably a Sony Vaio in the mix that's of the same specs.