Why is PCs laptops the display screen is inferior to Apple laptops?

[Bubble99]

Why is PCs laptops the display screen is inferior to Apple laptops?

I notice lot of PCs laptops today only have 1920 by 1080 display screen where has Apple laptops are all Retina display like 2.5 K and 3K. Why is that?

Well sure there are some PCs laptops with 3K display but not many and well price over $1,000.

 

[QuarterSwede]

Apple controls the hardware and likes HiDPI/PPI displays with wide color gamuts (ability to reproduce a lot more colors than standard displays). They also have more competition since they’re smaller in the market so they do these things to be as competitive as possible.

 

[pshufd]

Why is PCs laptops the display screen is inferior to Apple laptops?

I notice lot of PCs laptops today only have 1920 by 1080 display screen where has Apple laptops are all Retina display like 2.5 K and 3K. Why is that?

Well sure there are some PCs laptops with 3K display but not many and well price over $1,000.

My Lenovo Yoga 14 has a 4K OLED display. It cost less than a comparably equipped MacBook Air.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

Yeah this is only true at the lower end--and only since the Neo honestly.

My Lenovo Legion Pro 7 has a 16" OLED 1600p screen that can't be matched by Apple in my opinion.

But at the lower end? Yeah. That Neo screen surprised me. A lot better than the crap from Windows in the same price range.

 

[Boppi]

I have an Asus Vivobook something or other, and it's probably 4 or 5 years old now, with an OLED screen. It's think it's 2.5K res and cost around $800 then. Even though the pixel density isn't that of a MacBook, the OLED factor makes it a superior screen in my eyes. The bright popping colors against perfect jet blacks is so easy on the eyes.

I'm looking forward to a MacBook with OLED as Apple has some catching up to do in that department.

 

[maflynn]

I can't answer as to whether all laptop makers are inferior to Apple's. I felt at the time, my Thinkpad X1 Extreme has a screen that was superior, but since that laptop.

The one thing that windows does better hands down is resolution scaling, macos' scaling is not as expansive, and often producing poor results particularly is you go outside of the limited presets.

 

[pshufd]

The one thing that windows does better hands down is resolution scaling, macos' scaling is not as expansive, and often producing poor results particularly is you go outside of the limited presets.

I find Mac scaling is quite good if you have a 27 inch 5k monitor.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

I find Mac scaling is quite good if you have a 27 inch 5k monitor.

Yeah it’s everything else that you would find lacking—$1000 monitors aside.

 

[Steve Adams]

There are many windows laptops that have displays that are just as good as apple now. Many of them lower cost than the air. Any Asus or lenovo with an OLED display are going to be better than the air.

 

[throAU]

Because PC vendors are generally in a race to the bottom and cut everywhere except for a few numerical stats that end users think are important.

Apple is the only vendor for macOS machines, so they don't do that.

 

[maflynn]

Apple is the only vendor for macOS machines, so they don't do that.

*Ahem*

The Neo

This is Apple's laptop that cut many features, lower quality screen (still excellent just not as good as the MBP), no backlighting, less ports, no magsafe, less ram, using a phone processor, no force touch, etc

 

[eltoslightfoot]

Because PC vendors are generally in a race to the bottom and cut everywhere except for a few numerical stats that end users think are important.

Apple is the only vendor for macOS machines, so they don't do that.

Uh, what do you call....and I present.....The Macbook Neo?

Lesser screen, lesser keyboard, lesser trackpad, lesser everything.

And, like has already been said, you get to flagship (and even mid-range) windows devices and superior to Mac screen options either come as default or an option.

 

[Bubble99]

I thought the Macbook Neo has a Retina display and better than most PCs under $1,000

 

[maflynn]

I thought the Macbook Neo has a Retina display and better than most PCs under $1,000

Retina display is an apple marketing term stating that pixel density is such, that you cannot see the individual pixels. First introduced in the iphone, and later extended to the mac.

there are 14 inch laptops that are 4k and they cost less then a 1,000

 

[throAU]

Uh, what do you call....and I present.....The Macbook Neo?

Lesser screen, lesser keyboard, lesser trackpad, lesser everything.

And, like has already been said, you get to flagship (and even mid-range) windows devices and superior to Mad screen options either come as default or an option.

Really?

It is a low spec (RAM only really, the CPU and storage dumps on any PC for similar cost) BUT

quality trackpad
quality keyboard
decent quality screen (500 nits, high dpi)
current WIFI spec
good battery life
study enclosure

i.e., the bits you touch, look at, hear and interactive are much better than a PC anywhere near the same price.

The fact that you're talking about flagship windows devices when we were talking about PC laptops under $1000 (per the OP) is desperate, desperate cope.

Yes, you can buy a PC with good specs. That isn't what we're talking about here. We're talking about PC vendors picking components at the low end that have good on paper spec for the headline numbers that the uninformed know about and racing to the bottom on *everything* else in the machine to meet a price point.

Take your $500 laptop PC and try to use it for a week without external mouse, monitor and keyboard. Built in peripherals only.

There's a reason the PC market is concerned. They know what this represents, seems that a lot of people here do not.

 

[throAU]

*Ahem*

The Neo

This is Apple's laptop that cut many features, lower quality screen (still excellent just not as good as the MBP), no backlighting, less ports, no magsafe, less ram, using a phone processor, no force touch, etc

Yup. Features cut that don't matter for the price point/intended market.

The things that do matter are quality items.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

Really?

It is a low spec (RAM only really, the CPU and storage dumps on any PC for similar cost) BUT

quality trackpad
quality keyboard
decent quality screen (500 nits, high dpi)
current WIFI spec
good battery life
study enclosure

i.e., the bits you touch, look at, hear and interactive are much better than a PC anywhere near the same price.

The fact that you're talking about flagship windows devices when we were talking about PC laptops under $1000 (per the OP) is desperate, desperate cope.

Yes, you can buy a PC with good specs. That isn't what we're talking about here. We're talking about PC vendors picking components at the low end that have good on paper spec for the headline numbers that the uninformed know about and racing to the bottom on *everything* else in the machine to meet a price point.

Take your $500 laptop PC and try to use it for a week without external mouse, monitor and keyboard. Built in peripherals only.

There's a reason the PC market is concerned. They know what this represents, seems that a lot of people here do not.

Not arguing, but it is lesser.

 

[Steve Adams]

At this point I buy for software. Not hardware. Well, I want the ports I want. But most systems will do most things. There is only a fringe minority needing powerful systems these days. Gamers and Creatives. Everyone else can grab any pc off the shelf today and use it without issue.

I bought my mother 2 acer laptops from walmart for 297.00 each. She wanted two because she plays silly games on farcebook alot and get her machine infected with crap. So she bought a second one to do her work on. If the gaming system gets borked, I reinstall windows and away she goes again. Ha ha.

But these machines are plenty fast for everyday work, they are decent build quality and both were less than the price of the neo here.

 

[maflynn]

Yup. Features cut that don't matter for the price point/intended market.

The things that do matter are quality items.

But that's not what you said.
you said the PC market was cutting features and apple wouldn't do that.

 

[maflynn]

At this point I buy for software. Not hardware

PC and MAcs generally have similar quality. There's some low cost/low quality PCs to be sure but by and large if you want a laptop that is similar to that of a Mac you can find one.

And yes, it boils down to your experience with software. It seems right now both Microsoft and Apple have had their missteps with thier respective operating systems. MS' missteps have been occurring over years but they seem to see the light. Apple's is with Liquid Glass and now putting in ads in their iwork suite promoting their sub.

 

[Steve Adams]

PC and MAcs generally have similar quality. There's some low cost/low quality PCs to be sure but by and large if you want a laptop that is similar to that of a Mac you can find one.

And yes, it boils down to your experience with software. It seems right now both Microsoft and Apple have had their missteps with thier respective operating systems. MS' missteps have been occurring over years but they seem to see the light. Apple's is with Liquid Glass and now putting in ads in their iwork suite promoting their sub.

Never thought I would see Apple putting ads in. WOW. MS is righting the ship. THANKFULLY! I was losing hope for it, but as I mentioned, I think they reigned in Mr. Cloud/Ai and have his leash shortened considerably.

As for the hardware. There is no windows based system thats 14 inches and has a full sized SD reader anymore. Very dumb considering I use this regularly with all my cameras.

 

[pshufd]

At this point I buy for software. Not hardware. Well, I want the ports I want. But most systems will do most things. There is only a fringe minority needing powerful systems these days. Gamers and Creatives. Everyone else can grab any pc off the shelf today and use it without issue.

I bought my mother 2 acer laptops from walmart for 297.00 each. She wanted two because she plays silly games on farcebook alot and get her machine infected with crap. So she bought a second one to do her work on. If the gaming system gets borked, I reinstall windows and away she goes again. Ha ha.

But these machines are plenty fast for everyday work, they are decent build quality and both were less than the price of the neo here.

That's where I am today.

I have a program that doesn't run well on Apple Silicon because it's through WINE and Rosetta 2. Rosetta 2 goes away in 2027. I have another program which has been reported to have problems on Tahoe. So I'm on Sequoia until it's fixed. The thing is that both of these programs run just fine on Windows.

My compute needs are generally in the area of an M1 Max CPU. M2, M3, M4, M5 would be nice but not strictly needed. PCs often perform around the level of M1 - M3 these days and that's enough for the vast majority of users. I run into people using 2010-2020 Intel Macs on Reddit frequently. Some are thinking of upgrading but some are proud of what they're using.

If your software doesn't run on macOS/Apple Silicon/M5, then it's not an option. At least for now.

 

[throAU]

But that's not what you said.
you said the PC market was cutting features and apple wouldn't do that.

No, i said

Because PC vendors are generally in a race to the bottom and cut everywhere except for a few numerical stats that end users think are important.

Apple is the only vendor for macOS machines, so they don't do that.

By which i mean apple don’t cut everywhere, only where it is not so important.

I did not say apple won’t cut anything. I said they don’t cut everywhere in a race to the bottom.

Of course they will cut spec to meet a price point. But not on things that matter outside of performance.

The mac Neo is the finest $500 computing experience that money can buy

 

[eltoslightfoot]

PC and MAcs generally have similar quality. There's some low cost/low quality PCs to be sure but by and large if you want a laptop that is similar to that of a Mac you can find one.

And yes, it boils down to your experience with software. It seems right now both Microsoft and Apple have had their missteps with thier respective operating systems. MS' missteps have been occurring over years but they seem to see the light. Apple's is with Liquid Glass and now putting in ads in their iwork suite promoting their sub.

Yeah the ads in iWork is incredibly annoying. I think we also give iOS and iPadOS way too much of a pass for the ads and offers in the settings app. EVERY TIME I BUY A NEW APPLE DEVICE IT'S THERE EVERY TIME. I don't need all of these services from Apple. How many times do I have to tell you NO.

It's not a good trend. They are really starting to see their software and services as a cash cow waiting to be exploited. That's why I think the Neo is priced so aggressively. They plan on making it back on services and software. It used to be the opposite and it was a pure arrangement. We pay more for the hardware for Apple, but we get a superior software experience for no additional cost and definitely no ads. Here we are now.

 

[pshufd]

Yeah the ads in iWork is incredibly annoying. I think we also give iOS and iPadOS way too much of a pass for the ads and offers in the settings app. EVERY TIME I BUY A NEW APPLE DEVICE IT'S THERE EVERY TIME. I don't need all of these services from Apple. How many times do I have to tell you NO.

It's not a good trend. They are really starting to see their software and services as a cash cow waiting to be exploited. That's why I think the Neo is priced so aggressively. They plan on making it back on services and software. It used to be the opposite and it was a pure arrangement. We pay more for the hardware for Apple, but we get a superior software experience for no additional cost and definitely no ads. Here we are now.

I think that part of the reason for the Neo is that they plan price hikes for their other models and need more coverage overall. I expect them to sell a ton of Neos but product margins will be low. I don't know the level of paid services at the low-end. I certainly don't subscribe to any services myself.