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MBP 15" but using windows 90% of the time?

C

CEF5

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 5, 2010
6
0
Hi all,

I'm looking for a new laptop that is portable and has a long battery life. I was solely looking at windows machines and came across sony vaio z. However, I don't want to spend 2K on a laptop, as I'm a little tight on budget.

I couldn't find a laptop that is a perfect match for my criteria, so I looked back from where I started at macs. I already do have a 15" MBP but only use it for " leisure." Most of my work is done on my desktop. However now I have to travel a lot.

Is buying a MBP worth it considering I will be using windows most of the time? I will be using it for many mathematical programs and 3-D simulations, and some of the time photoshop. In addition, MS Office.

I know the battery life would be different while using windows, but is it worth getting the 15"? Or should I look at other laptops?

PS: Should I also consider the 13" 2.66 ?

Thanks,
 
Its fine to use a MBP with windows most of the time. There's nothing wrong with that. The only issue is that, is it worth it paying the premium to use something that a cheaper laptop could?

I use Windows ~50% of my time, but mostly due using VMware Fusion because the main program I use is IE and Visual Studio. However, sometimes after I game, I leave the system under Windows for days sometimes until I decide to reboot back to OS X.

If you were to get the 13", just get the 2.53GHz. The price difference for a 2.66GHz boost is not worth it, really.
 
One thought to consider about battery life:

I have the new base model 13" 2.4GHz. In Mac OS I regularly get 8-9 hours (10+ if I'm gentle on it), but in Windows Vista (yeah, I know...) I only get 4-5 hours. And with the 15", you'd be running the dedicated graphics all the time in Windows... not sure how bad that would hurt, but I know it most definitely WOULD hurt.
 
Computers are tools, and it sounds like the tool you need is one that runs windows programs. If you really need to be running 3d modeling and mathematical software natively in windows, then you will be able to do it faster and cheaper on a windows box. If you can get the software you need on a mac then a mac laptop is a good option. They're definitely nice machines and you have the option of running windows simultaneously. Best of both worlds.
 
Wait till the end of the month. The New HP ENVY laptops will be coming out. You might find a good Windows laptop in an ENVY and a bit cheaper than the MBPs too, all while being better speced....

So might be worth the wait.
 
I would definitely advise buying an HP (or whatever your preference is). There is no point to getting a Mac when you are just going to run windows on it. Sure, it would work, but you would also be paying quite a bit more than necessary. You would be buying an already more expensive computer, plus I am assuming you would have to buy a copy of windows for it, which is way expensive in itself, and you would not even touch the advertised battery life. I have win7 on mine, and I get half the advertised time if I am lucky with windows, where I can get pretty close when using OSX. For primarily using windows, there really is no benefit to spending the ton of extra cash on a MBP, especially if you already have one.
 
Thanks guys for your replies, looks like I might just look into the envy series :(
 
My favorite windows laptop is the Asus U30Jc-1A, but that is a 13. It has a Mac-like keyboard and excellent battery life! In a 15, I would lean towards one of the Sony's in the $700-$800 range because I think they are made reasonably well and I like the keyboards.

HP creeps me out with its declining reliability and customer service ratings. My personal customer service experiences with HP have also been horrible. YMMV.

Good luck!
 
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