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Why is the MacBook pro so good?

NewbieCanada said:
Even on high end Windows laptops you tend to get plastic cases, less than great screens, keyboards that flex and grossly inferior trackpads.

It's not that you couldn't build a Windowss laptop with equally good components. The problem is getting people to pay for one when on paper it wouldn't be any better than a machine costing less.
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Considering the number of hours I use my laptop, I am absolutely interested in paying a premium for "non tangible" features like increased trackpad quality, build quality, keyboard backlight/quality, etc.

I would agree though, most people purchasing Windows laptops are not interested in this, and most purchasing the "higher end" business laptops which would compete with Macs are businesses and they also are not interested in paying for them.
 
ender land said:
Considering the number of hours I use my laptop, I am absolutely interested in paying a premium for "non tangible" features like increased trackpad quality, build quality, keyboard backlight/quality, etc.
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Even if you wanted to buy one, and they existed in the marketplace, it would be hard for the typical consumer to find them out of the huge number of name brand and not-so-name-brand Windows laptops out there.

There's a lot to be said for lack of choice! It's easy to identify the differences between different Mac models and decide which is best suited to your needs.
 
WardC said:
Most external hard drives will work on a Mac if they are USB or FireWire. They will need to be reformatted to Mac OS X HFS+ Journaled or whatever Mac format you choose to use.

Some SSD PCIe (solid-state) storage card solutions will not work on the Mac, such as the RevoDrive and a few others. OWC (Mac Sales.com) has a new SSD PCIe that DOES work on the Mac Pro....the key is that the card has to have the correct drivers and firmware to interface with the Mac.
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If your on Snow Leopard any drive should just hook right up w/o formatting. I have two externals including a Toshiba 160GB from 4-5 years ago? Never formatted them, used them on Windows then when I got the MBP's just plugged them in no prob.
 
Went to my local apple store today to have a play around with the 13" pro
Woah is all I can say.
It's light years ahead, I didn't understand what you all meant by the trackpad but I do now!
 
Otumelty said:
Went to my local apple store today to have a play around with the 13" pro
Woah is all I can say.
It's light years ahead, I didn't understand what you all meant by the trackpad but I do now!
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Heh, this was my thought when I went and played with laptops at stores. Suddenly... I didn't hate the trackpad on laptops!
 
For me it's not just because of the hardware but the OS. OS X is incredibly intuitive, user-friendly, and for the most part everything just works. This isn't to say it is perfect and that I have never gotten the beach ball sign, but I have had no problems in the (just over a) year I've had my MBP. In all fairness, I should add that I'm a pretty careful downloader, so I didn't have issues with viruses or anything like that on my Windows PCs, but the user experience is far more enjoyable on the MBP. I feel like I spend my time on it being productive or doing what I want to be doing instead of worrying about 1395015810 updates that need to be installed and require my computer to be restarted. I use my computer daily for work and for pleasure.

I'd really start looking at videos or demos of OS X or, even better, get into a Best Buy or Apple store and play around on an MBP yourself.

The beautiful hardware doesn't hurt either. But it's the OS that makes it the complete package for me. When I use Windows at work, it's bearable but I do miss my Mac!
 
I have a 13" MBP and it's awesome. I gave my mom my Asus laptop; which was great as well. I just couldn't use it again after I got my MBP. Man, it really connects with you. The display is amazing, especially when watching Netflix, the trackpad is too good. I got used to the trackpad on the MBP that I tried doing the same 2 finger scroll on the Asus and well that didn't work. The battery life on the 13" is bar none, the best unless you own a netbook. I average around 7 hours on battery.

Honestly, what is there to not like about a MBP? That build quality also pretty much beats any Windows laptop. Fun factor, the lighted keyboard. ;)
 
Fit finish, size, portability ultimate performance balanced with battery life nothing can touch the MBP. I mean its amazing that not one windows box maker can machine a laptop from aluminum the way apple does. Instead we have laptops with aluminum tops and crapy black plastic back and sides. Bulky, plasticy cheesy most Windows laptops don't even look like there from the same generation as the MBP.

I would be perfectly happy with XP or 7 as an OS. While I have grown to prefer OSX especially with its tight support for gestures and the complete lack of viruses, most cross platform apps Word, PS etc. look pretty much the same regardless of OS

MBP's as a hardware device are just far and away better built laptops than their Windows counterparts by any metric you may want to use. The fact that OSX is the better OS is the cherry on the Sundae
 
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it's so stable it's laughable even with the upgraded RAM from factory. I installed 8gb from Crucial.

It goes from update to update with never being restarted and I use it 10hrs a day probably 7 days a week!

+1 for the screen. It's gorgeous to look at.
 
firemedicmark said:
Because 5 years after you buy it, it still works just like you took it out of the box.
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I'll halfway agree with that. I bought my white Macbook in Dec 2007, so 4.5 years ago. It works well enough, but it has definitely slowed down some and I have even upgraded my RAM to 4GB (maybe that's because I didn't get the MBP). I am definitely going to gut the new MBP or MBA this summer (haven't decided which). But still, nearly a 5 year lifespan is pretty good.

Although, one thing that kinda soured me is the fact that the 13" plastic macbook I bought was redesigned to the unibody aluminum within like a year, so now I've always been dying for the new one!! haha. So I want to be ahead of the curve and buy one after the (hopeful) upcoming mbp redesign!
 
fairy-dust-%5B2%5D-237-p.jpg


It's slightly dated clearly they used this type of dust when making the rainbow iMacs.
 
Not much to add, first post here. I just liked the overall "experience" with Macs. I was a die hard "PC" user for years and really just thought of the Macs as fringe products for artsy types since I had a girlfriend in the ad business MANY years ago and they all swore by them. Then I got moved into marketing with a large telecom company and we all had Macs...I had never been trained on one and it did not seem to matter...they just seemed intuitive. Then about 4 years ago my brother...major PC guy, got a Mac desktop and I tried that a bit. I was hooked, went out and got a Macbook Pro 13" and 6 months later dumped a full cup of Mocha on it at Borders...went out that week and got another one. Now I have a little keyboard condom!! I have a very nice Dell laptop for work and I can't believe how much I like the Macbook Pro. When our Dell home PC dies I'm going to try and talk my wife onto a Mac home computer...may not be easy though since she does NOT like change.
 
dallasmacbook said:
Not much to add, first post here. I just liked the overall "experience" with Macs. I was a die hard "PC" user for years and really just thought of the Macs as fringe products for artsy types since I had a girlfriend in the ad business MANY years ago and they all swore by them. Then I got moved into marketing with a large telecom company and we all had Macs...I had never been trained on one and it did not seem to matter...they just seemed intuitive. Then about 4 years ago my brother...major PC guy, got a Mac desktop and I tried that a bit. I was hooked, went out and got a Macbook Pro 13" and 6 months later dumped a full cup of Mocha on it at Borders...went out that week and got another one. Now I have a little keyboard condom!! I have a very nice Dell laptop for work and I can't believe how much I like the Macbook Pro. When our Dell home PC dies I'm going to try and talk my wife onto a Mac home computer...may not be easy though since she does NOT like change.
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I know what you mean. It's one thing playing around with one in store, but it's not quite the same as owning one for some reason is it? The 13" Macbook Pro for me is good since I wanted and needed more power than the Macbook Air. Teehee ^.^
 
Its good because it does everything i need it to do, i know its cliche as heck but it just works. the only bump I've had with it was when i installed windows on it, but other than that its been great
 
Hardware:
  • Solid build quality
  • Good looks
  • Clever and intuitive design
  • Thin
  • Good display
  • Excellent keyboard
  • Even better trackpad
  • Magsafe connector
  • Mini DisplayPort for high resolution monitors
  • Excellent battery life

Software:
  • Good looking
  • Innovative features
  • Free quality bundled software
  • Stable
  • Virus-free
  • Efficient
  • Bloatware-free
  • User-friendly
  • Good integration with other Apple devices and services
  • Good trackpad software
  • No compatibility issues with hardware
  • No driver-hunting
  • Fast booting
  • Not slowing down over time

Other:
  • Excellent resale value
  • Very good customer support
  • In-store service
  • Cool packaging
 
It runs OS X. Not only is it more secure and stable than Windows, but it also has better power management.
 
parish said:
A lot (though not all) of PC laptops are built down to a price, rather than up to a standard.

Both my daughters have 15" Dell Inspiron laptops, which on the surface are higher spec than my 2008 MBP, but when you dig deeper they come up lacking.

The Dells have no Firewire 800, no Bluetooth, only 100Mbps Ethernet, only 802.11g Wi-Fi and compared to my MBP the screens are cr@p - you only have to move a small angle away from looking straight at them for the image quality to drop off dramatically. Both have had problems with the power lead (need to hold it at a certain angle to make contact) whereas the MagSafe connector on Macs is brilliant.

As for OS X vs. Windows most of it has been covered but one thing that I've not seen mentioned is software updates. If OS X requires a reboot after installing an update it tells you before you do the update (and so does Ubuntu Linux) whereas even Windows 7 only says that you may have to reboot - you won't know for certain until you've installed the update.
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This is actually not a fair comparison. The Dell Inspiron line is the el-cheapo consumer line. A better comparison would be with the Dell Latitude line which is their business class line. The Latitudes actually have a better port selection than the macbook pros IMHO (e.g. hdmi, dual-link DVI so you don't need a stupid dongle to plug into a standard 27" or 30" monitor, etc.).

Don't get me wrong, I love the macbook pros, but I find the port decisions and port selection a little lacking over the last few years.
 
Pros:
1. very high build quality (good trackpad, keyboard, case, and screen)
2. good customer service (apple stores)
3. OSX + windows (bootcamp)

Cons:
1. Expensive
2. Apple cuts some corners (ex. 512 MB vram on an ati 6750...where the lowest it is suppose to have is 1024 MB; 4 GB of ram standard/no usb 3.0 in a $2000 computer)
 
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