Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Samtb

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 6, 2013
1,508
34
Can modern windows laptops compete with mbp in terms of performance, battery life and not becoming slow and laggy over time?
 
Can modern windows laptops compete with mbp in terms of performance, battery life and not becoming slow and laggy over time?
Generally, if it has the same hardware (especially an SSD) as a comparable Mac, it should be able to.

But in terms of battery life, not really. Windows is a power hog even on comparable hardware. I mean, just load up Boot Camp on a Mac and use the Balanced power plan, and you'll always get about 2 hours less than in OS X.
 
Can modern windows laptops compete with mbp in terms of performance, battery life and not becoming slow and laggy over time?
Too much of an open ended question. There are many laptops out there that are similar and even possibly exceeding the quality/design of the MBP.

A quick fix of a windows computer becoming laggy over time is to reload the OS.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Queen6
It seems unlikely to me. Performance wise, most of the Windows laptops that are anywhere near the dimensions and weight as the equivalent Macbook Pro use much less powerful processors (usually the U-series in ultrabooks which compete with the 13" model, for example). Most Windows laptops are still using conventional SSD's that are stuck on the SATA bus, so their speeds are considerably slower than the new MBP's. And Windows just isn't optimized for battery life, and it's only worse when it's not well integrated by the OEM. Even on my Surface Pro 3, which has the tightest integration between Windows and its underlying hardware that I've ever seen, I struggle to get more than 5.5-6 hours of battery life. On my Thinkpad T440s with a much larger battery, it's the same thing.

That Thinkpad (or now the new model, the T450s) is probably the closest thing you can get to a 13" MBP in the Windows world, and it's a nice computer. The keyboard is great - better than Apple's other than the poor backlight implementation. The trackpad is good for Windows, but poor compared to a Macbook. The screen isn't as good. The battery life isn't there, and the build quality doesn't compare.

Slow and laggy is possible on both operating systems, and for most people, that means a clean reinstall of the operating system. Windows may have been worse in this regard in the past, but it's generally pretty good today.
 
either battery or performance

MBP is not a beast in terms of performance, especially graphics, but has good, larger battery and optimization
XMG, Asus, MSI, Lenovo, Dell and so on.. have beasts to offer but have a poor battery(smaller), because they optimize them to outperform and more fps
 
Generally, if it has the same hardware (especially an SSD) as a comparable Mac, it should be able to.

But in terms of battery life, not really. Windows is a power hog even on comparable hardware. I mean, just load up Boot Camp on a Mac and use the Balanced power plan, and you'll always get about 2 hours less than in OS X.
Could windows 10 change this?
 
Could windows 10 change this?

Highly unlikely. The fundamental problem is that Windows continues to maintain full compatibility with all manner of legacy programs from before the era when efficiency was anywhere on the radar of the programmers. Microsoft is pigeon-holed into maintaining this compatibility for their corporate users, but at the same time, this means that there is no real motivation for developers to ever update or refine their code. So all sorts of code is free to consume as much power as it likes, with little ability for the end user to identify the offending programs in order to mitigate the issues. There are command-line tools in Windows 8 to help with this, but they are rather cryptic, and end up sending most users down the wrong path (ie. Chrome hogging your battery life may be returned as some cryptic process name or even tied to a USB string).

Microsoft has done what they can to improve this, and I'm sure that it will continue to get incrementally better in Win 10, but it's not going to fundamentally change.
 
The ONLY way for there to be finely-tuned efficiencies is for the manufacturer of the hardware to add their own software/drivers that make those energy efficiencies possible. Unfortunately, this also means adding bloat to the base software installation, and there doesn't seem to be a single Windows hardware vendor that isn't tempted by this to overtweak and make the whole solution break more things than it fixes.

That said, Apple COULD potentially add their own bootcamp drivers that permit some limited optimization. But that would only make Windows run better on their systems, and Apple has zero incentive to help out a competitor.
 
Can they compete? Yes...but you'll find you'll be spending almost the same amount on a WinDoze laptop as you would a Mac to get the same setup (i.e. same Intel processors, SSD, graphics, etc.). So it becomes an issue of...do you really NEED Windows? I've found that for every Windows app, there's usually a comparable Mac app with similar or better features.

As to Windows 10, I've been running it as a VM. It's a lot better than The Mess (Windows 8)....but...it's still Windows...which means you'll still need some sort of security suite/antivirus.
 
It seems unlikely to me. Performance wise, most of the Windows laptops that are anywhere near the dimensions and weight as the equivalent Macbook Pro use much less powerful processors (usually the U-series in ultrabooks which compete with the 13" model, for example). Most Windows laptops are still using conventional SSD's that are stuck on the SATA bus, so their speeds are considerably slower than the new MBP's. And Windows just isn't optimized for battery life, and it's only worse when it's not well integrated by the OEM. Even on my Surface Pro 3, which has the tightest integration between Windows and its underlying hardware that I've ever seen, I struggle to get more than 5.5-6 hours of battery life. On my Thinkpad T440s with a much larger battery, it's the same thing.

That Thinkpad (or now the new model, the T450s) is probably the closest thing you can get to a 13" MBP in the Windows world, and it's a nice computer. The keyboard is great - better than Apple's other than the poor backlight implementation. The trackpad is good for Windows, but poor compared to a Macbook. The screen isn't as good. The battery life isn't there, and the build quality doesn't compare.

Slow and laggy is possible on both operating systems, and for most people, that means a clean reinstall of the operating system. Windows may have been worse in this regard in the past, but it's generally pretty good today.
Actually many manufactures use the CPU comparable to the Macbook Air, the Macbook Pro 13" is one of the very few computers to utilizes the 25 watt CPU compared to the 15 watt CPU found on the Air as well as many other windows machines. The CPU on the 15" model is generally found on gaming laptops or a select number of workstation computers.
 
Actually many manufactures use the CPU comparable to the Macbook Air, the Macbook Pro 13" is one of the very few computers to utilizes the 25 watt CPU compared to the 15 watt CPU found on the Air as well as many other windows machines. The CPU on the 15" model is generally found on gaming laptops or a select number of workstation computers.

That was exactly the point I was trying to make. :) The 25w cpu's are quite uncommon on Windows laptops, especially those as thin and light as the MBP. Same with the 47w processors on the 15" model.
 
That was exactly the point I was trying to make. :) The 25w cpu's are quite uncommon on Windows laptops, especially those as thin and light as the MBP. Same with the 47w processors on the 15" model.
I'm actually quite surprised by this, would definitely explain why so many people can use their 13" for workstation activities unlike many other windows laptops in the same space.
 
As others have said; you can get some really nice laptops that aren't Apple; that being said the ones of a build quality similar to Apple's tend to be at the same price point of a Mac.

Somethings to be aware of; with Hi-Res screens on Windows; scaling does not work as well as OS X; really comes down to what you want to do with the machine.

If you want a proper gaming laptop or need the right tool for the job then you should get what laptop suits.
 
I have a top of the line late 14 15" MBP and Windows 7 "feels" snappier than either Mavericks or Yosemite on this computer. Maybe El Cap will fix that with metal.

I think that Windows 10 will still get laggy over time, but the new "reset" feature will make it easier to clean up and restore than previous versions.

I don't think you're going to be able to walk in to Best Buy and pick up a nice Windows laptop that would be on par with a mac - at least for performance tasks. If you start looking at workstation laptops from HP or Dell, they easily beat a MBP on performance (screen resolution, processor, amount of RAM and available HD space (since you have have 2 of them) - but the trade off is in the elegance of the machine - it'll be a 1" thick brick. And the price will be on par with Mac prices.
 
I have a top of the line late 14 15" MBP and Windows 7 "feels" snappier than either Mavericks or Yosemite on this computer. Maybe El Cap will fix that with metal.

I think that Windows 10 will still get laggy over time, but the new "reset" feature will make it easier to clean up and restore than previous versions.

I don't think you're going to be able to walk in to Best Buy and pick up a nice Windows laptop that would be on par with a mac - at least for performance tasks. If you start looking at workstation laptops from HP or Dell, they easily beat a MBP on performance (screen resolution, processor, amount of RAM and available HD space (since you have have 2 of them) - but the trade off is in the elegance of the machine - it'll be a 1" thick brick. And the price will be on par with Mac prices.
What about the dell xps line?
 
One thing I've definitely recently noticed with the windows laptops is they are now at MBP prices. Before the premium price for the premium materials and OSX was the main separating factor between windows laptops and mac laptops. I think it has something to do with more and more windows laptops literally copying the design and form factor of the macbook line (grey metal/plastic with black keys and black bezel). By raising the price point, to me a MBP is the obvious choice as you can dual boot both OS's and the MBP build quality is STILL better.
 
The replies on this thread are a bit silly.

To actually answer your question, the answer is yes, assuming you know what you're buying. It's either a Surface which doesn't have that crud in the first place or a Microsoft Signature PC which has that crap removed for you.

The efficency of programs running on the OS is down to the developer. OS X isn't any better geared to preventing an app with a while (1) { // do nothing } loop suck your battery than Windows is.

Many Windows laptops will give you higher performance at the expense of battery life (Razer series). And then there are gaming laptops which are absolute beats but are basically portable desktops with a built-in UPS. But those aren't competitors to what Apple sells.

Take a look at the HP Spectre 360, Razer Blade, Dell XPS 13, Surface Pro 3.

Every OS will build up cruft over time. Every OS has its issues. If you install crap, your computer will slow down. Nothing magical about it.
 
The replies on this thread are a bit silly.

To actually answer your question, the answer is yes, assuming you know what you're buying. It's either a Surface which doesn't have that crud in the first place or a Microsoft Signature PC which has that crap removed for you.

The efficency of programs running on the OS is down to the developer. OS X isn't any better geared to preventing an app with a while (1) { // do nothing } loop suck your battery than Windows is.

Many Windows laptops will give you higher performance at the expense of battery life (Razer series). And then there are gaming laptops which are absolute beats but are basically portable desktops with a built-in UPS. But those aren't competitors to what Apple sells.

Take a look at the HP Spectre 360, Razer Blade, Dell XPS 13, Surface Pro 3.

Every OS will build up cruft over time. Every OS has its issues. If you install crap, your computer will slow down. Nothing magical about it.

http://www.cnet.com/news/macbook-pro-declared-best-performing-windows-laptop/

The reason for this is most PC OEM's add a ton of bloatware programs with their window's installs whereas the bootcamp installs are just a bare windows install with no proprietary software.

I only run windows (8.1 currently) on my MBP. There is no clutter. There is no slowdown. It runs as smooth as it did in 2011. It all depends on how the user uses their laptop. I don't even run virus protection. Don't need it. Just don't visit sites with malware or run infected .exe programs. Windows will warn you every time a program tries to install and if you want to go ahead with it.

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i7-5500U-vs-Intel-Core-i5-2415M

My MBP 1st gen i5 processor (Jan 2011) compared to a 5th gen i7 (Jan 2015) $899 brand new dell inspiron

As you see, processor technology has not really improved that much and doesn't warrant the mark-up people are paying for. So, theoretically, my 4 year old MBP runs can comprable with current windows laptops in the $800-$1000 price range.
 
One thing I've definitely recently noticed with the windows laptops is they are now at MBP prices. Before the premium price for the premium materials and OSX was the main separating factor between windows laptops and mac laptops. I think it has something to do with more and more windows laptops literally copying the design and form factor of the macbook line (grey metal/plastic with black keys and black bezel). By raising the price point, to me a MBP is the obvious choice as you can dual boot both OS's and the MBP build quality is STILL better.
I think it's still the case that you can buy a windows pc with better specs for a lower cost on average though.
 
I think it's still the case that you can buy a windows pc with better specs for a lower cost on average though.

Yes you're definitely right. I think it comes down to competition. There are no other OSX competitors so Apple can charge any price they want whereas with Windows laptops the multiple competition drives the overall costs down.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.