Would you recommend a MacBook Pro?

[bluntmachetti]

if it hasn't been said before: you can buy the macbook, try out Mac OS, and if you don't like it: buy a windows 7 package (or get it free with educational bonusses ^^), boot up, hold option (alt), and format the entire drive for windows in the windows 7 installation.

Install drivers from the Snow Leopard DVD and there!
Coolest laptop with your preferred OS

Or just dual-boot. I have windows on my bootcamp partition but never actually run windows, I have VMware run the OS just so i can load Microsoft Onenote and Visio.

 

[grahamnp]

I think the superiority of OSX is greatest when performing tasks like those you mentioned. IMO, it is a far superior everyday computer. Are you looking at the 13" or 15" MBP? I think the 13" MBP is not worth the premium over the MB unless you must have FW800.

 

[ethyleneguy2003]

I'm ambivalent about recommending any Apple computer. While the design is great as is OS X the Achilles heal is reliability (and price).

Myself and everyone I know who has purchased new Macs over the past 4-5 years has had major problems (usually (multiple) failed logic boards, displays, hard drive cables, optical drives and other assorted issues).

As a long time Mac user even I'm close to giving up.

For the uses you describe there are plenty of Win 7 laptops that cost hundreds less for similar hardware that will do the job just fine.

 

[orfeas0]

ha, yeah.. that does suck.. i've been trying to get used to ⌘↑ & ↓ for vlc volume but i'd rather just use the trackpad.. but then i end up doing what you're talking about.

well if your gonna use the keyboard instead of the trackpad just use f11-f12 ;-)

For the uses you describe there are plenty of Win 7 laptops that cost hundreds less for similar hardware that will do the job just fine.

i don't think there are laptops with similar hardware ( i mean externally) as the macbooks. but with ±800 euros you can buy a laptop with double (or more) the specs of the macbooks (better cpu-ram-gpu-hdd capacity).
I say go ahead and buy the white macbook, and if you don't like mac OSX, make a boot camp partition with 80% of the drive's capacity and use windows. It will still be better than windows laptops running windows xD

 

[Blu101]

Thing is, I really want a MacBook Pro but I am just afraid that I might regret it after a while.

I was a pc user for 21 years - no regrets. Once you get used to OS X, you'll realize just how much Windows sucks balls.

Go for the 13" MBP - you'll love the lighted keyboard at night.

Myself and everyone I know who has purchased new Macs over the past 4-5 years has had major problems (usually (multiple) failed logic boards, displays, hard drive cables, optical drives and other assorted issues).

Not the typical scenario that my friends have experienced over the years, quite the opposite. But things do fail, and apple doesn't make every part themselves (HDDs for example). It comes with a one year warranty and you can get a 3 year applecare extended warranty. Apple consistently rates #1 in customer satisfaction for a reason - try saying that about any pc maker.

For the uses you describe there are plenty of Win 7 laptops that cost hundreds less for similar hardware that will do the job just fine.

No, they won't. They'll freeze, crash, catch viruses, throw a million pop ups at you, active x controls gallore, BS wtf moments, make you take an hour to do a 5min task, irritate the everloving crap out of your soul and never work when you actually need it to. Just like the OP's Vaio is doing now.

 

[Verix]

That makes a lot of sense.

Does Windows 7 run well on a Macbook Pro?

I personally have a macbook pro 13'' with an Intel SSD installed and a mac mini, both with just windows 7 per OS, since I'm so used to using windows.

There are zero driver related problems, everything works like a normal windows pc works. On the laptop all button hotkeys (brightness, keyboard brightness, ...) work flawlessly.

Things I noticed though:
-Booting is slowed down by 5 seconds or something (white EFI bootloader)
-Intel SSDs cause problems with the 13 macbook pro 2010 when using windows
-When brightness is lowered to 0 with the hotkeys, the screen still flickers a tiny little bit now and then (this stops after 2 mins when the screen turns off as configured in the power settings)
-the backlit keyboard brightness is adjusted automatically with the light sensor in the macbook pro, when you use the backlit keyboard hotkeys though, this automatic lighting can't be turned back on unless you log off & log in, or reboot

Great things:
-Esthetically awesome
-Battery is way better compared to other windows laptops (undervolted (look up undervolting) I achieve something like 4-5 hours with music, movies and wireless internet and low screen brightness; 6.5 hours without internet and with higher screen brightness)

Note though:
-Windows 7 laptops with better specs can be bought for less money..
-With the new Sandy Bridge CPU's the next macbook pro will have even better battery efficiency
-Windows 7 laptops with Sandy Bridge CPU's will probably last as long as the CURRENT macbooks battery wise
-Apple's own SSD's aren't as good Intel,OWC,OCZ,...

 

[DirtySocks85]

I think the superiority of OSX is greatest when performing tasks like those you mentioned. IMO, it is a far superior everyday computer. Are you looking at the 13" or 15" MBP? I think the 13" MBP is not worth the premium over the MB unless you must have FW800.

You're forgetting the aluminum unibody, the backlit keyboard, the SD card slot and the ability to go up to 8GB of RAM if you so desire (a nice "cheap" future upgrade). Those are all the reasons that I bought a 13" MBP, and I'm glad I got it instead of the 13" MacBook. The differences are small, but so is the price difference (IMO of course). My mother got a 17" MBP, and she probably would have been fine with a regular 13" MacBook, and she regrets getting the 17" MBP not only for what she paid, but because the thing is a behemoth. Basically in her case she bought a computer that was way above her needs. Personally, I think the 13" is perfect, and the only reason I think I'd rather have the 15" is to get the extra processing power for the occasional FPS gaming on Steam. If the 13" had the same processor options as the 15" I'd get a 13" even if it was the same price. Portability is a bigger factor to me than screen size.

 

[icon57]

Well this is pretty much what I use my PC for;


Google Chrome - Browsing the internet, watching video's on YouTube & Facebook

Football Manager 2011 - (Steam works on Apple as of this year right?)

MSN - Keeping in contact with friends, family abroad and work colleagues. (Is there a Mac equivalent for WLM? & Can I do video calls with people using WLM on a PC)

Mail - Sending, receiving from desktop as opposed to the actual website. Managing work & personal email in one.

Media - Watching films, tv shows from my HD, Organising my photo's & playing music (iTunes as standard on Mac)

Microsoft Office - Word processing, spreadsheets etc.



That is pretty much all I do with my PC but I am on it quite a lot so I would like a very adequate computer as it is where I spend most of my time.



Basically, is a MacBook Pro worth the money or do I not really need it?

you can do all of the above with a 350.00 laptop from walmart

 

[SwedishBassist]

I've been using Windows and OS X parallel at home and at school respectively, and I always find myself wishing my PC was Mac. Vista makes me wanna tear my hair, OS X regrows it

 

[ugahairydawgs]

That makes a lot of sense.

Does Windows 7 run well on a Macbook Pro?

Yep

 

[mikeo007]

Nobody will be able to determine if you will regret it after a while
You might try using one at an Apple Store to get the feel for it
Or use a friends' MBP for a bit

The OS is different, and there things you will have to get used to

You can't cut/paste FILES in the Finder natively
You can't selectively delete files in the trash natively
You can't resize windows except from the bottom right corner

"Most" who switch love it
"Some" don't adjust well and go back

There is no way to tell which you will be

I just had to quote this post. So much truth in this. Really, try it out and see. Some like it, some don't.

I really disliked OSX at first. I found it to be sub-optimal for a lot of tasks, and all the "fluff" really got in the way of getting things done. The pixel-perfect accuracy that you need to click on things, the rare but oh-so-annoying beachballs, the convoluted file structure that rivals the Windows registry, and the bugs that have existed for 5 years (folder size bug...really Apple?)

After several months, I've gotten used to OSX. I still find it sub-optimal, and the stuff that annoyed me STILL annoys me, but I have found some things to like about it. I don't think there is any "best" OS out there, especially for someone like my who does it all, but I find OSX to be tolerable.

Hardware wise, you won't find Macbook Pro build quality in any laptop below the ~$1200 range, that's something I really respect about this computer.

If you do decide to buy, remember: you can turn around 6 months from now, sell the computer, and get most of your money back. Good luck!

 

[ethyleneguy2003]

Todays Macs are not like the machines of the past which were very reliable.

Apple makes no hardware, Foxconn etc does everything.

Here is a short rundown of my recent Mac reliability;

iBook G3-Failed trackpad

iBook G4- Failed USB ports, airport antenna and battery

iMac G5 iSight - 2 failed logic boards and failed display

MacBook Pro 15" - 2 failed batteries and failed logic board

iMac 24" Core 2 - random freezing and graphics distortion pointing to failing graphics chip or logic board

iMac 27" i3 - failed DVD drive

Among Friends;

iBook G4 - multiple logic board failures

iBook G4 - multiple logic board failures and battery failure

iMac G5 - power supply failure and hard drive failure

MacBook Pro 15" - Logic board failure

MacBook Pro 15" - Logic board failure and battery failure

MacBook - hard drive failure

MacBook Pro 13"- hard drive cable failure

 

[Blu101]

you can do all of the above with a 350.00 laptop from walmart

You can also go from any point A to any point B in a Prius, but not everyone likes to cruise around in a bare minimum tin can

 

[Blu101]

Todays Macs are not like the machines of the past which were very reliable.

Apple makes no hardware, Foxconn etc does everything.

Here is a short rundown of my recent Mac reliability;

iBook G3-Failed trackpad

iBook G4- Failed USB ports, airport antenna and battery

iMac G5 iSight - 2 failed logic boards and failed display

MacBook Pro 15" - 2 failed batteries and failed logic board

iMac 24" Core 2 - random freezing and graphics distortion pointing to failing graphics chip or logic board

iMac 27" i3 - failed DVD drive

Among Friends;

iBook G4 - multiple logic board failures

iBook G4 - multiple logic board failures and battery failure

iMac G5 - power supply failure and hard drive failure

MacBook Pro 15" - Logic board failure

MacBook Pro 15" - Logic board failure and battery failure

MacBook - hard drive failure

MacBook Pro 13"- hard drive cable failure

Pales in comparison to me and my friends' total downtime with PCs. The sad part? You still have downtime with PCs with or without a hardware failure - most are software failures, which you do not have with OS X (for the most part, nothing's perfect).

 

[ethyleneguy2003]

It doesn't really pale in comparison at all to anything. PC's for one cost significantly less for machines with the same specs. I currently have two Macs in the shop for repairs since Monday and they won't be back to me before Friday at the earliest. Not to mention the Applecare rep on my last call got me to wipe my system, then reinstall OS X despite my insistence that it was a hardware issue (I was right). Complete waste of time. When I go to pick up those two machines I have another that I'll be taking in for repair at the same time.

I've had other machines in for service that took two weeks before the repairs were completed.

And don't even get me started on the calls to Applecare trying to get them to repair out of warranty machines with common defects. Apple is often very reluctant to stand behind their products when your Applecare is up.

 

[Blu101]

It doesn't really pale in comparison at all to anything.

Oh really? You have a two week downtime for a hardware failure. Yes, I understand that blows, I'd feel the same way. But what I'm saying is that when your mac works - well, maybe not YOUR mac, as you seem to have a bit of a lemon, but you know what I mean - when your mac works, it typically works 90-99% of the time, which is about 10x more than our windows experience, where every 4 hours of on time you tend to rack up about 30-60mins of downtime (freezes, crashes, etc. mostly software related downtime). Spread this out over years of ownership, and I'll take your 2 week downtime window anytime over the ridiculous total amount of downtime our pcs have "gifted" us, courtesy of the POS OS. I realize every experience is different, and I'm sorry yours hasn't been as positive, but *usually* the amount of downtime is always more with a pc.

PC's for one cost significantly less for machines with the same specs.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - specs on paper (typically hardware) are nearly useless when comparing two different OSs. A mac with inferior hardware specs will still run better (and faster) than a pc with higher hardware specs. Example - my friend's 3 year old macbook ran better and faster than my cousin's 3 year old vista pc desktop (yes, a desktop - no match for a tiny macbook, how sad is that?).

I currently have two Macs in the shop for repairs since Monday and they won't be back to me before Friday at the earliest. Not to mention the Applecare rep on my last call got me to wipe my system, then reinstall OS X despite my insistence that it was a hardware issue (I was right). Complete waste of time. When I go to pick up those two machines I have another that I'll be taking in for repair at the same time.

I've had other machines in for service that took two weeks before the repairs were completed.

These types of experience will vary from region to region and store to store, you must realize that. Blaming it all on "apple" in general isn't fair. Many can say the same things about other pc manufacturers with regards to their local stores/repair facilities. Have you tried to find a better place in your area or perhaps just a bit outside your area?

And don't even get me started on the calls to Applecare trying to get them to repair out of warranty machines with common defects. Apple is often very reluctant to stand behind their products when your Applecare is up.

I don't even know what to say here...except that nobody I know of repairs anything after warranty for free (which is what you're implying?), so I'm not really sure what you expect...why don't you try to have Ford replace the engine on your 10 year old out of warranty car to see how hard they'll laugh? Or maybe call Best Buy to come and replace your 5 year old tv that only came with a one year warranty? Out of warranty repairs = out of pocket repairs, just about everyone on the planet knows that. In fact, if you want to see a good show, hang out at a Mercedes-Benz dealership and watch owners' reactions at the repair bill when their MBs are out of warranty...(and no, MB doesn't do out of warranty repairs for free either). Every product has common defects (especially cars!) - don't wait until your warranty runs out to address them. Some only come out after the warranty runs out...not much you can do here unless the manufacturer extends a limited warranty (for only that problem) - apple has some extended warranties for common problems/known issues - check to see if any apply to you and good luck.

 

[flat five]

well if your gonna use the keyboard instead of the trackpad just use f11-f12 ;-)

oh, vlc has a gain.. like you can turn your video up to 11 if need be
good for airplanes or other noisy spots or videos that have low audio levels etc..

 

[thejadedmonkey]

For what you want a computer for, any MacBook or MacBook pro would be great and really, better than a PC for those purposes. A Mac does browsing, music, email & media playback much easier and effortlessly than a PC. You'll find it so much more pleasant to do those things on a Mac you'll wonder why you used a PC for those things for so long. I personally keep a i3 Windows 7 laptop around to only use for business applications that don't run on a Mac, for everything else including the simple day to day things you do, I only use my MacBook.

Here are some examples to illustrate what I mean.

Browsing on a Mac: Simple, clean, fast, no worries of adware/malware/viruses, no annoyances of IE like constant security or active x popups.

Email on a Mac: Again it's simple, clean interface, fast, easier to use Mail than Outlook, which you can only get Outlook if you buy Office Pro.

Media playbac on a Mac: For things that don't run in Quicktime, I use VLC player and it works great. I find on a PC I have to do a lot of codec downloading and managing but with VLC on the Mac it plays everything.

One key of all these apps is they are integrated into the OS and with each other much better than Windows.

Another thing where Mac shines for simple and constant daily use is you don't have to shut them down, wait for startup, things to load in the background. Just close the lid and open later. You don't need to constantly shut down a Mac and when you open it, its ready for use immediately and the wifi is connected within 2-3 seconds. Try doing that with a Wintel laptop. It's sluggish at best when doing that.

This is called the "cult of mac" for a reason. By using Chrome, you have no active-x pop ups.

Email on a Mac: Again, it's like Mail on a PC. Outlook is a business class program, I don't understand why you'd compare unless you're trying to create bias...

Media playback on a mac: You need to install VLC because not everything works out of the box. It's no different from CCCP for the PC.

And like a mac, a PC features suspend. Windows resumes just as fast as a mac does.

What you'll find is that, people used Windows because they had no other option. Once they left Windows, they were wowed. And because of this, they will flame Windows at any opportunity. If you don't like the PC world, get a mac. But be aware it's just as complex as Windows 7 anymore, you're just switching from one OS to another, and if you like PC's (and you buy nice PC's, not $300 Compaq's), you won't find anything in OS X that makes it all that amazing.

 

[mikeo007]

Oh really? You have a two week downtime for a hardware failure. Yes, I understand that blows, I'd feel the same way. But what I'm saying is that when your mac works - well, maybe not YOUR mac, as you seem to have a bit of a lemon, but you know what I mean - when your mac works, it typically works 90-99% of the time, which is about 10x more than our windows experience, where every 4 hours of on time you tend to rack up about 30-60mins of downtime (freezes, crashes, etc. mostly software related downtime). Spread this out over years of ownership, and I'll take your 2 week downtime window anytime over the ridiculous total amount of downtime our pcs have "gifted" us, courtesy of the POS OS. I realize every experience is different, and I'm sorry yours hasn't been as positive, but *usually* the amount of downtime is always more with a pc.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - specs on paper (typically hardware) are nearly useless when comparing two different OSs. A mac with inferior hardware specs will still run better (and faster) than a pc with higher hardware specs. Example - my friend's 3 year old macbook ran better and faster than my cousin's 3 year old vista pc desktop (yes, a desktop - no match for a tiny macbook, how sad is that?).

90% of statistics are made up. This looks like pure grade A mule dung. Seriously...1 hour of downtime for 4 hours of use...80% uptime in other words. I'm pretty sure windows wouldn't be in use on close to 90% of computers if this were the case.

Coming from a tech support background, I've seen all manner of problems with both OSX and Windows computers. Despite what some people would have others believe, the average user really can't destroy a windows 7 system that quickly. If someone set out to intentionally wreck their system, either could be done with what...1 terminal command?

I'm not taking sides, as I mentioned earlier, but stop spouting out complete nonsense. At least state facts to help the OP rather than just random mac-cult BS.

Windows is windows, OSX is OSX. They're both operating systems. They're both a jack of all trades, master of none. Each is better in certain respects. For example OSX is inherently more secure, and thus is much less likely to get some sort of malware infection (though it's not unheard of.) Windows is infinitely better when it comes to gaming, or in a more general sense, typically allows for more robust and integrated applications (due to the vast array of APIs available to programmers compared to OSX.)

 

[ethyleneguy2003]

Re "out of warranty repairs". Companies do in fact routinely cover out of warranty work when the defects are widespread. Sometime they do it because it's right for the customer (an ultimately for the company) and sometimes they are forced to due to a lawsuit etc. Apple has on occasion done just this for various wide spread issues (iBook G4 logic boards as just one example) but failed to do so in many other cases. They are inscrutably inconsistent in customer care.

As for the Win 7 comments I really have to take exception (even as a Mac guy). The one reliable piece of hardware we do have here is a ThinkPad with Win 7 Pro. Now it is far from perfect but Win 7 is generally reliable and solid. No I don't enjoy using it as much as OS X but to put it down like that is unfair. Besides the computer itself has been very reliable (it's 3 years old now the same age as my dead MacBook Pro which Apple refuses to cover despite the widespread logic board failures on that series).

 

[Aatos.1]

Would I ? Absolutely, in a flash.

My new 2010 MBP is excellent.

Whenever Apple decides to redesign it I'd sure like them to give serious, and I mean really serious consideration to thermal management.

That's the only characteristic I don't like when I'm doing heavy resource intensive work. It just gets too warm, and sometimes outright HOT!

Allow just a little more space inside the case, give it some proper vents and a good fan / cooling system.

Then it would run as cool and quiet as my fantastic new ThinkPad workstation class laptop.

Personally as good as the ThinkPad is, I still prefer my Macs

I always have, and hope that Apple doesn't blow it going forward by dumbing them down with the iOS influence.

Hello Apple? iOS is for Mobile

OS X and it's successor is for the desktop.

You should know...

 

[Mangos86]

Everyone that I know that owns one says how much they love them and highly recommends them. Hence the reason I will be purchasing my first when the new model arrives.

 

[Aatos.1]

Todays Macs are not like the machines of the past which were very reliable.

Apple makes no hardware, Foxconn etc does everything.

Here is a short rundown of my recent Mac reliability;

iBook G3-Failed trackpad

iBook G4- Failed USB ports, airport antenna and battery

iMac G5 iSight - 2 failed logic boards and failed display

MacBook Pro 15" - 2 failed batteries and failed logic board

iMac 24" Core 2 - random freezing and graphics distortion pointing to failing graphics chip or logic board

iMac 27" i3 - failed DVD drive

Among Friends;

iBook G4 - multiple logic board failures

iBook G4 - multiple logic board failures and battery failure

iMac G5 - power supply failure and hard drive failure

MacBook Pro 15" - Logic board failure

MacBook Pro 15" - Logic board failure and battery failure

MacBook - hard drive failure

MacBook Pro 13"- hard drive cable failure

Sorry to hear of the litany of issues, but I know from years of experience this is very rare if it's true. Remember every machine today is mass produced. They cannot all be perfect.

Pales in comparison to me and my friends' total downtime with PCs. The sad part? You still have downtime with PCs with or without a hardware failure - most are software failures, which you do not have with OS X (for the most part, nothing's perfect).

PC's are far more reliable that you are portraying, someone simply doesn't know how to take care of a computer, PC or Mac.

 

[nospeed411]

Here's an example....My daughter was a died in the wool windows fangirl. Her 8 yr old IBM thinkpad finally kicked the bucket. She had no money so I reluctantly bought her a perfect used A1181 white macbook on ebay. It has now been a month and she is hooked. She works on PC's all day at her office and tells me how "old news" they feel now. Needless to say she already has eyes on my 13"MBP that she wants when I get my 15" refresh as soon as they launch. She even named it "FLUFFY"....LOL She just bought a speck case for it, a new STM bag, gelaskin keyboard cover and a graphite colored overlay for the palm wrest.

It does't take long to get sucked into the 'cult of mac". I will say it is quite a fun place to be. Even my daughter has noticed how when she's at Starbucks and she has the MacBook other Mac people will deliberately sit near her and start a conversation.

 

[mikeo007]

Here's an example....My daughter was a died in the wool windows fangirl. Her 8 yr old IBM thinkpad finally kicked the bucket. She had no money so I reluctantly bought her a perfect used A1181 white macbook on ebay. It has now been a month and she is hooked. She works on PC's all day at her office and tells me how "old news" they feel now. Needless to say she already has eyes on my 13"MBP that she wants when I get my 15" refresh as soon as they launch. She even named it "FLUFFY"....LOL She just bought a speck case for it, a new STM bag, gelaskin keyboard cover and a graphite colored overlay for the palm wrest.

It does't take long to get sucked into the 'cult of mac". I will say it is quite a fun place to be. Even my daughter has noticed how when she's at Starbucks and she has the MacBook other Mac people will deliberately sit near her and start a conversation.

Is this for real, or a joke? If someone did that to me in Starbucks, I'd punch them in the mouth. I own a computer, it doesn't make me part of any "cult".