Well...that didn't work.

[mmarcus178]

I swore I was going to buy a windows laptop after the latest MBP's were announced. I posted about it. Grumbled about it to colleagues, etc.

And then I actually started shopping for my new unicorn. A durable, reliable, 14-15" windows notebook with mid-high range GPU and solid battery life.

It doesn't exist.

The Razer Blade was my first thought. But then I started reading about people's actual experiences with Razer QC and utter lack of support.

Then I looked at Dell. First, the XPS 15. The price is nice, but unless I'm mistaken it maxes out at a 960M GPU -- which isn't much different than the 460 in the MBP. Then the new Alienware 13. Interesting option: durable, great keyboard, 1060 GPU, ugly as all heck but affordable...but 4 hour battery life.

So the options appear to be save money with a XPS 15 or pay a (significant) premium to stick with the OS I much prefer.

It sucks to have options so limited, but at the end of the day I'm willing to pay for the experience I prefer. I just wish it didn't feel like so much of a compromise (mostly keyboard, somewhat port support, a little price) to be able to use OSX.

But the exercise served as a reminder that, like it or not, Apple has created a unique place for their notebooks in the market. Fairly capable machines that are built to last and have enough battery life to support mobility. There really isn't a lot of competition within that space.

So anyway, not that anyone should care...but I'm back and trying to figure the best way to order a new MBP 15. Reluctantly.

Now if they would only make an announcement about updating the Mac Mini...

 

[hj576]

Welcome to reality
Ok I am being a complete Apple Fan boy lately and bit doucy lately (Being bored brings out the worse in me ).
Anyways i went through the same thing before ordering the new Macbook Pro 13inch w/o touch bar base line (dont have the cash to go higher xD ).
I have been a windows user all my life. I was leaning towards Mac OS because I like the Unix based functionality it offers which will help me with my work/education (I dual boot with Linux on my current Laptop to get the functionality). I have pushed back an upgrade of Laptop since march, because i was waiting for the new mac. Once the announcement was made i was actually disheartened and the first thing i did was head to dell's website.
1) Dell has seriously the ********* website on the planet (specially the Netherlands Version). I tried selecting two models and comparing them, clicking on compare led me to the home page.....
I decided to check out the 13inch XPS 13 with 8GB ram and bumped up the SSD to 256 GB, it showed 1200 Euro, great its like 400 EURO cheaper than the base line Macbook Pro 13 inch, perfect, decided to go till the payment page, guess what they added an additional 300 Euro in tax and the final price goes up to 1500 Euro. So you are telling me I have to pay 1500 Euro for a laptop that has a lower res screen (FHD), slower SSD, has had track pad issues in past, has **** customer support (I did a little research, people have awful complaints) and battery life that seems to drop with in 6 months. Not to mention the coil whine issue Dell XPS has suffered from... Seriously can even imagine, apple's laptop making a constant buzzing noise, the **** storm it would have cause here ?
Looked at HP Specter, costs 1400 EURO with FHD and same specs
Razor Blade Stealth though a good alternative and priced quite well, wasn't available for sale in Netherlands, its only available in Germany, France and UK, so either I travel to one of these countries, or ask some one to post them to me hence raising the cost again similar to Macbook Pro.

So, actually looking into it in detail, Macbook Pro seemed like the best option, and I wont have to switch OS every time I have to work, or when I just want to use it for normal use.
So yah, I havn't gotten my Macbook yet, and honestly I have no experience with them so cant say what i will get, But based on friends who moved over to apple and are glad they did, I so far think it will be a good experience, but even if its not, the 14 day return policy is there

 

[motime]

Why not just pick up the one from last year which is way cheaper and still awesome?

 

[iizmoo]

I swore I was going to buy a windows laptop after the latest MBP's were announced. I posted about it. Grumbled about it to colleagues, etc.

And then I actually started shopping for my new unicorn. A durable, reliable, 14-15" windows notebook with mid-high range GPU and solid battery life.

It doesn't exist.

The Razer Blade was my first thought. But then I started reading about people's actual experiences with Razer QC and utter lack of support.

Then I looked at Dell. First, the XPS 15. The price is nice, but unless I'm mistaken it maxes out at a 960M GPU -- which isn't much different than the 460 in the MBP. Then the new Alienware 13. Interesting option: durable, great keyboard, 1060 GPU, ugly as all heck but affordable...but 4 hour battery life.

So the options appear to be save money with a XPS 15 or pay a (significant) premium to stick with the OS I much prefer.

It sucks to have options so limited, but at the end of the day I'm willing to pay for the experience I prefer. I just wish it didn't feel like so much of a compromise (mostly keyboard, somewhat port support, a little price) to be able to use OSX.

But the exercise served as a reminder that, like it or not, Apple has created a unique place for their notebooks in the market. Fairly capable machines that are built to last and have enough battery life to support mobility. There really isn't a lot of competition within that space.

So anyway, not that anyone should care...but I'm back and trying to figure the best way to order a new MBP 15. Reluctantly.

Now if they would only make an announcement about updating the Mac Mini...

You could wait for the next revision, get it $200 cheaper and 5% faster

 

[tongefactor40]

Might want to check out originpc: https://www.originpc.com/gaming/laptops/evo15-s/

Good performance and solid battery

 

[hj576]

Might want to check out originpc: https://www.originpc.com/gaming/laptops/evo15-s/

Good performance and solid battery

"With up to 4 hours of battery life "
Am I missing something here ?

 

[xb2003]

Might want to check out originpc: https://www.originpc.com/gaming/laptops/evo15-s/

Good performance and solid battery

"Up to 4 hours" is considered good? Heck, the XPS 13 has "up to 18 hours," and mine gets around 6 surfing the web at 40% brightness.

 

[zhenya]

Might want to check out originpc: https://www.originpc.com/gaming/laptops/evo15-s/

Good performance and solid battery

Sweet. Up to 4 hours battery! That means 2 hours in the real world once the Windows Battery FactorTM has been applied.

 

[arbitrage]

I also went and researched all the alternatives after I preordered on the 27th. Just to make sure I was still buying the right laptop for the next 4years. After all that research, I have kept my order and am waiting patiently for my 2016 rMBP to arrive.

 

[happyslayer]

This has been my experience as well when trying to find a mostly equal Windows laptop (spec-wise) compared to any of the MacBooks--Pro or 12". There is always something that gets compromised. Usually battery time or hard drive speed. Yes the new Pro is missing some often-used ports but otherwise it seems pretty decent. I'm considering selling (or giving to the wife) my rMB and upgrading to the rMBP with TB. I really like the idea of the Touch Bar and it seems a good compromise to get some more touch functionality without getting grease & prints on my screen.

 

[tubeexperience]

"Up to 4 hours" is considered good? Heck, the XPS 13 has "up to 18 hours," and mine gets around 6 surfing the web at 40% brightness.

You were probably using garbage browser, Chrome.

 

[zokstar]

Exactly what i done. As soon as i saw the new pricing on MBP's i was "wtf too much"

Started looking around at the SP4, SurfaceBook, XPS's, Zenbook's etc but they were just as expensive, specs so so or ugly (bulky/plasticy etc).

 

[raqball]

I was looking for something for home use and did the same.. I had better results that you did though OP.. My needs are pretty simple though.

I got a Lenovo Yoga 910 on sale for $1049.. Better overall specs except for screen (1080p is fine for me) and SSD speed.. To make up for those the Yoga has a few things the Macbook does not.. Price wise it was hard to pass up. $1049 -v- $1499 for the base Macbook..

Good luck to you and I hope you find what you are looking for.

 

[David58117]

"Up to 4 hours" is considered good? Heck, the XPS 13 has "up to 18 hours," and mine gets around 6 surfing the web at 40% brightness.

I got around 10-11 hours...

Did you do the BIOS update which helped improve battery life?

Also not using Chrome (as already suggested), and check if background processes are running rampant, just like you do in MacOS.

Anyway OP - if you're interested in the dGPU, the XPS15 is due for a refresh early next year. The model you're looking at is nearly a year old...I don't know why you'd expect a new dGPU in a laptop that came out after the computer did...

 

[xb2003]

You were probably using garbage browser, Chrome.

Definitely have a point there.

 

[raqball]

I got around 10-11 hours...

Did you do the BIOS update which helped improve battery life?

Also not using Chrome (as already suggested), and check if background processes are running rampant, just like you do in MacOS.

Anyway OP - if you're interested in the dGPU, the XPS15 is due for a refresh early next year. The model you're looking at is nearly a year old...I don't know why you'd expect a new dGPU in a laptop that came out after the computer did...

Plenty of scare tactics in this thread... Windows these days is fine.. My 2013 rMBP was sent back to Apple 3 times for repairs. Every brand has some issues and every OS has bugs and problems..