I can pick up a dell Latitude for $704 that has higher specs than your $1499 MBP.
Oh good grief, are we ever going to stop equating price solely with
internal specs?
I just got a brand new HP laptop at work (EliteBook 6930p). What an undesirable little brick. There are 10 (yes,
10) glowing lights on this thing. Annoying. Especially when the room is dark, in which case the keyboard is not lit. Yes, everything else lights up but not the keys. Brilliant (in all the wrong ways). But hey, there is a cheesy little pop-out light mounted in the top bezel (I'm not making this up), though it feels like it will probably survive only a couple of dozen deployments. Fortunately I'll probably never use it, so problem solved! The trackpad is
tiny and the trackpad buttons feel spongy. The wrist rest area is small to make room for the mouse pointer nub and extra two buttons (does anyone really use those nubs anymore?). I'm sure this is why the trackpad is small as well. Nothing like trying to cater to
everyone while serving
no one particularly well (the design mantra for the PC world I suppose). The volume control along the top edge is touch sensitive (and doesn't work well anyway) so when you're in two-handed "arrow through a long list and delete a bunch of stuff" mode one of your fingers will inadvertently adjust the volume just by touching that area. The lid release latch is stiff and the release uses good old-fashioned catch prongs (classy!). Can't they just copy Apple's magnet idea already?
The crooked Intel and Energy Star stickers on the wrist rest are a nice touch - particularly since they don't want to come off (by design I'm sure) and are guaranteed to look even crummier over time. Also the old-fashioned drawer optical drive again - are slot loaders really all that much more expensive?
Oh, and this is
not a MacBook Pro-level display either.
It does have aluminum accents (lid and wrist rest) and I do like it better than my previous HP, but that's not saying much at all. And the "Tokyo At Night" device indicator lighting is a serious dislike compared to my old HP.
If I were buying this myself to use for the next 3 years (which is how long I will have this), I would
gladly pay the premium for a MacBook Pro. Let's see, 3 years * 45 hours per week * 50 weeks per year =
6750 hours. Are you going to argue that an extra $500 or even $1000 (much of which you'll get back at resale time anyway) isn't a small price to pay for 6750 hours of a better computing experience?
Unfortunately it's people with low expectations that have resulted in the lame PC hardware choices we have today.
. Although this shows you why you should read all the tiny print when installing something and why you shouldn't steal....
