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

Please stop me from buying a MacBook Pro

X

xxray

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jul 27, 2013
3,138
9,494
So I needed a new laptop this year. I decided to go with the XPS 15 since it had the best value for the specs, along with a great design and quality. What I really wanted was the MacBook Pro, but I couldn’t justify spending $1000 more for the equivalent specs of my XPS. Well, my XPS has been great, but I’m regretting it now honestly.

I’ve been getting back into creative software, and I’m majorly missing Final Cut Pro and Logic. I’ve been trying to get used to Adobe Premiere Pro and Ableton, but it’s just nowhere near as intuitive for me. There are so many apps that I use or would like to use on my iPad and iPhone that sync, but only have Mac apps, so my XPS is left out. Not to mention, I’m missing having iMessages and (a much better implemented) iCloud on my XPS too.

I’m really thinking about selling my XPS and getting a MacBook Pro, but I would lose so much money. The XPS was $1000 cheaper than the equivalent MBP when I bought it, but I’ll be lucky to have the difference be $1500 after selling the XPS. Help :(
 
Just stick with the XPS 15 because your post contains lots of value for spec which Macbook is not known for.
 
If your preference is Apple's software solutions then you have little choice. Windows is not for everyone, I too switched, equally W10 and apps works far better for me professionally, so much so I can live with Microsoft's haphazard GUI.

It takes time to get comfortable with an OS and it's workings, I struggled myself for close to a year, having not literally touched a Windows PC since the launch of W8. Today I'm more productive due to superior stability and stronger hardware on W10. Depending on usage you also need to consider the ongoing MBP keyboard issues, which are still present.

If you want to return to OSX I would recommend waiting on the 2018 model, given Apple may have got it's act together and finally resolved the auto fail keyboard, picking up a 2016/2017 MBP makes little sense currently.

Q-6
 
  • Like
Reactions: AndyMacAndMic, thekev, SteveJUAE and 1 other person
leman said:
These chips do not solve the GPU problem on the 13" front... they still come with the low-end graphics.
Click to expand...

They are not all the chips - just the ones that leaked. At least that is my understanding....so like....wait whatever one plans to buy
 
Last edited:
Queen6 said:
If your preference is Apple's software solutions then you have little choice.
Click to expand...

This is true. Really...at the end of the day, it’s about what software you want to use in my opinion. Hardware is important, but what is the hardware for? To make the OS run. What is an OS for? To run apps and software.

So that basically should answer your question. If you run Apple software you are stuck with Apple hardware. The choice is yours.
 
leman said:
These chips do not solve the GPU problem on the 13" front... they still come with the low-end graphics.
Click to expand...

No they come with the best integrated graphics currently available (that will change when intel releases integrated AMD chips on its CPUs but currently is the case) and there is only 1 solution for a slim light good battery life 13 inch machine with dGPU and that’s the surface book.

It’s a great machine but only has a 15 watt cpu and is hampered by the 2in 1 solution, unless you go for the 15 inch, and then that’s matched by the 15 inch MacBook Pro that also has a quad core and a tablet so big as to be a little silly.
 
xxray said:
I’m really thinking about selling my XPS and getting a MacBook Pro, but I would lose so much money. The XPS was $1000 cheaper than the equivalent MBP when I bought it, but I’ll be lucky to have the difference be $1500 after selling the XPS. Help :(
Click to expand...

What about buying a used MBP? The MBP is very expensive, and the 2016/2017 seems to have a significant issue with the keyboard failing. Tbh, I would have recommend sticking with the XPS, had it not been your needs to run OS X software. Why not wait a year or two, that will give you more time to save up
 
  • Like
Reactions: SteveJUAE, The Mercurian and Queen6
senttoschool said:
Sell your XPS. Buy a used 2015 Macbook Pro off craigslist. Get one that still has warranty or Apple care. You can usually find one for $800-$900.
Click to expand...
Again: no, you can't. The 2015 model is at this point more expensive than the 2016, both new and used. You can get a brand-new 15" 2016 MBP for $1,799 (B&H) while Apple still charges $1,999 for a brand-new 2015 iGPU model. You can get a 13" for $800-$900 for sure but as far as I understood OP is looking for a 15". Those sell for between $1,200 (used, iGPU, no warranty) and $2,000 (used, dGPU, with warranty).
 
I like my 2016 13 inch as light enough to take with me anywhere while still providing retina screen, good battery power, fast transfer over usb and decent battery. I bought some cheap dongles (amazon) and keep them on my external drives with a spare in my bag. I splurged on a long lightning to usb c cord. Battery power means I usually don’t bring the charger for a days work as long as I keep an eye out so no runaway processes or webpages soak juice ( last week msft office wanted to update and drained my battery until I did).

That said I wouldn’t buy the 2016 without AppleCare. My x key failed a year in and Apple replaced it with the 2017 keyboard attached to new battery.

I also had some gift cards so I got the 2016 at a decent discount although I had to buy the base model which means I need externals more than I would like.
 
In a time where the only distinguishing difference between various laptops basically boils down to minute software differences, I still can't understand why Apple chose to further the gap in pricing between their offering and a top-specced Windows machine.
 
nStyle said:
I still can't understand why Apple chose to further the gap in pricing between their offering and a top-specced Windows machine.
Click to expand...

They haven't.

Surface Pro i7/1TB/16GB: £2699
Macbook Pro 13" i7/1TB/16GB: £2799

OK the Apple is £100 more expensive, not exactly day and night.
 
eddjedi said:
They haven't.

Surface Pro i7/1TB/16GB: £2699
Macbook Pro 13" i7/1TB/16GB: £2799

OK the Apple is £100 more expensive, not exactly day and night.
Click to expand...

Okay? I never said the Surface Pro was a good value either, but at least you do get an up-to-date form factor with the ability to use it as a tablet. The XPS 15 with i7/16GB/512GB is $1,499 which is a full $1K cheaper for the same specs of the comparable 15" MBP which is what this thread is pointing out and is most definitely night and day.
 
The $1499 XPS doesn't have a touch bar and it only has a 1080p screen, so not really a fair comparison to be honest.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: HenryDJP
Well I think that's a bit irrelevant for most people (a 512GB SSD is very generous), but if you really needed to then you could just buy a 1TB, swap out, and sell the old one yourself. In the name of saving $1K+, it's probably not such a big deal to most people (and you're still saving that much even if you don't sell the SSD the XPS comes with).

[EDIT] - You originally stated that you can't get a 1TB SSD in the Dell, but changed your post to talk about the screen and touch bar instead.

Actually, you can get the 4K touch screen for $1,599 on Amazon right now (also was on sale recently at Microsoft store for $1,499).

https://www.amazon.com/Dell-XPS9560...ie=UTF8&qid=1516630302&sr=1-3&keywords=XPS+15

So the fact that the MBP doesn't have a touch screen and the Dell doesn't have a touch bar basically cancels each other out (and anyone can argue the usability of either).

I'm not knocking the Mac. It still offers a superior experience IMO. But for the extreme difference in price, I don't think most people these days are going to care. And of course the 13" is slightly more competitive in price for what you get.
 
Last edited:
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
xxray said:
So I needed a new laptop this year. I decided to go with the XPS 15 since it had the best value for the specs, ....

I’m really thinking about selling my XPS and getting a MacBook Pro, but I would lose so much money. ...
Click to expand...
FWIW, one mantra to which I've been subscribing is,

"Spend your money on the good stuff that you know you really want. If you cheap out with a lesser product, in six months you won't remember what you did with the money you saved, but you'll be looking at the thing every day and wonder why you just didn't buy the better one in the first place."

(that's a little long for a "mantra", but hey...)

I started thinking this way when I was buying parts to build my bicycle. I was shopping around for shifters and was trying to decide whether to go with the least-expensive 10-speed set or get the top-range model. My decision was made much easier by a local shop going out of business and liquidating their inventory (including the top-range shifters I wanted), but even at that price, they were still more expensive than even the MSRP of the entry-level model. HOWEVER, I'm now confident that these will work flawlessly for a couple decades or more, while I couldn't say the same about the cheaper one.

I can't talk you out of a new computer. But I'm saying that you shouldn't feel guilt or nervousness about getting it.
 
Yeah sorry I thought you were trying to compare the price of the 512GB Dell to the 1TB MBP, but then I re-read your post. Apologies.

Dell make decent business laptops but they are not a premium brand like Apple, so comparing them really isn't fair. I know a lot of people don't care about things like materials, but I do and it's one of the main reasons I buy Apple products. Nothing else comes close including "supposed" premium laptops like HP's Spectre, it feels like a cheap knock off.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HenryDJP
xxray said:
So I needed a new laptop this year. I decided to go with the XPS 15 since it had the best value for the specs, along with a great design and quality. What I really wanted was the MacBook Pro, but I couldn’t justify spending $1000 more for the equivalent specs of my XPS. Well, my XPS has been great, but I’m regretting it now honestly.

I’ve been getting back into creative software, and I’m majorly missing Final Cut Pro and Logic. I’ve been trying to get used to Adobe Premiere Pro and Ableton, but it’s just nowhere near as intuitive for me. There are so many apps that I use or would like to use on my iPad and iPhone that sync, but only have Mac apps, so my XPS is left out. Not to mention, I’m missing having iMessages and (a much better implemented) iCloud on my XPS too.

I’m really thinking about selling my XPS and getting a MacBook Pro, but I would lose so much money. The XPS was $1000 cheaper than the equivalent MBP when I bought it, but I’ll be lucky to have the difference be $1500 after selling the XPS. Help :(
Click to expand...


You might want to take a serious look at the Lenovo Thinkpad T-470.
Especially outfit it with a 12 cell battery (you can actually buy as many as you want to).
That thing is a beast that runs all day easy.
I find Thinkpad less annoying than Dell in the sense that they don't put any of their own junk on the machines. Just the OS and you're done.
[doublepost=1516638535][/doublepost]
eddjedi said:
The $1499 XPS doesn't have a touch bar and it only has a 1080p screen, so not really a fair comparison to be honest.
Click to expand...


I think the 4k version WITH touch screen starts at 1999.

Not bad.
 
Queen6 said:
If your preference is Apple's software solutions then you have little choice. Windows is not for everyone, I too switched, equally W10 and apps works far better for me professionally, so much so I can live with Microsoft's haphazard GUI.

It takes time to get comfortable with an OS and it's workings, I struggled myself for close to a year, having not literally touched a Windows PC since the launch of W8. Today I'm more productive due to superior stability and stronger hardware on W10. Depending on usage you also need to consider the ongoing MBP keyboard issues, which are still present.

If you want to return to OSX I would recommend waiting on the 2018 model, given Apple may have got it's act together and finally resolved the auto fail keyboard, picking up a 2016/2017 MBP makes little sense currently.

Q-6
Click to expand...
Meh I wouldn't go so far to call it an auto fail keyboard. Have my 2017 15 inch for 6 months now and it's fine.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HenryDJP
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back