Hi!
If you need some reasons to get convinced, have a look here:
http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/why-mac.html 🙂
But seriously was in the same situation as you a couple of years back...
But after 3 broken dell laptops and an overpriced Compaq Workstation dying on me I thought it would be a good time for a switch.
I used to work a lot with linux tools and thought about switching away from windows for work.
I ended up buying a Mac instead of a Sun workstation... And now I switched away from windows for everything but video games!
I went through multiple Apple Laptops and now settled on the MBP. The hardware inside is good. But the big difference with a dell or lenovo is the computer and the system.
- The computer for a start is SOLID. It really deserves to be capitalized. Mine dropped from around 2m straight on the asphalt and survived with a bump on the side. It doesn't bend when you hold it with one hand contrarly to plastic or other "metal" laptops.
- The keyboard is really a pleasure to use (it took me some time to get used to it). It's backlit if you don't know your keys, and the system enables you to quickly type most foreign characters with the option key.
- The trackpad is simply the best I have ever used... It took me a couple of days to get used to it... But now impossible to go back.
- it is well equipped with a good display (you can see the difference with other laptops and computer screens), Mini-Display Port with audio (finally!), optical and analogue audio out and in, the audio jack accepts any headset with a mic and remote compatible with iPhone/iPod, it has a battery indicator on the side (no need to open the lid to check the battery level).
- The system is efficient, and the applications are made to be used, not maintained by the user. It takes just a couple of seconds to wake and standby.
- System updates don't cripple your computer. I mean it! I updated different macs with different versions of OS X and each time the performances were the same or better. When I updated the Macbook Air to snow leopard I even got 8GB back on the small HDD.
- If you are a student in computing it's the best choice. You have access to a POSIX system, if you know UNIX or have some work to do with UNIX you will be familiar with the command-line tools. You can develop for Windows, Windows mobile, Xbox, PS, linux, Mac OS X, iPhone, Android with only one computer!
- Applications: you can run linux applications by simply recompiling them. Or you can also run some windows software with Crossover or nearly all windows programs in a virtual machine.
- You can run windows in a virtual machine or natively from the same partition if you need it (so no need to install 2 copies of windows).
- Steam works fine on OSX and there are still some games coming out on the mac. There will probably be more and more in the future as OSX becomes mainstream.
- If you travel or stay abroad for a semester or two, your computer is covered in any country in which Apple Care exists, other brands require you to get a special extension for your warranty. You can have your mac repaired in any Apple store in the world... There are no Dell stores I'm aware of.
- Price, It's the same price or cheaper as any pro workstation I have owned.
There are numerous advantages to a MBP, but if you have always used window, it will take some time to get used to OSX.
If you need to work on MS Office documents with other people, get
MS Office for Mac. But wait for Office 2011 to be released in October.
Otherwise you should use iWork... It really is better than the current version of MS Office (for what I do on a daily basis at least) and much cheaper.
Anyway, you might find a better laptop elsewhere, better for your needs at least, just trust your guts.
Good luck!
