I guess that's the problem we're faced with. At least I am. I'd rather run OS X and Apple still (for now) produces nice looking and feeling hardware which is what we pay a premium for. It's just now that premium is for old technology and it makes people want to consider other options.
Now that I need a larger screen on the go, I'm looking at 15 inchers, but unfortunately, Apple doesn't seem to keep up with these things like the do with the iPhone/iPad. I mean Apple has launched 3 (THREE!) versions of the iPad within a year. Their laptops? They can't be bothered.
I would have stayed with Apple (since 2008), but I'm not confident in their ability to keep up to date on laptop hardware anymore. I just can't bring myself to shell out $2500 (or $2119 refurbished) for a 1 year old laptop with a 2014 CPU in it. I just can't...especially with the Dell XPS 15 out there with Skylake's faster clocks, faster RAM, double the SSD storage and a dedicated GPU out of the box for $500 less.
I'm going to try to hold on until June then make my decision then. Even then, the Dell still comes out cheaper (2016 rMBP w/Apple care and tax would be $2975; Dell w/ Microsoft Warranty is $2325. Apple has to come with something amazing to justify the $650 price premium).
Even as I look around now, it's disappointing that a refurbished rMBP 2015 still costs more than the newest Dell XPS (specs: 512GB SSD, 16GB RAM, dedicated GPU).
In the end, either laptop will connected to a Dell 24" monitor. I was just going get another iMac, but Apple has seriously gimped the iMac by not including a dedicated GPU. I've used iMac's and MBP's for years, and now it seems Apple is all about profits and margins and won't make the machines with decent specs for the price.
Apple has officially priced me out of the 21.5" iMacs. I guess this is what they intended since Macs only makes 1/10th of their revenue so why bother updating the specs every 6 months. I know with Dell/Microsoft, this is their bread and butter so I'm much more confident they will keep up with technology and at least drop their prices when they can't (unlike Apple selling refurbished 2013 rMBP's for $2k).
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