A Windows alternative to a Macbook Pro?

gee3000

gee3000

gee3000

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I bought a brand new top spec 2011 Macbook Pro 15" with i7 2.3ghz off eBay a few weeks ago for £1630. I basically HATED OSX, tried Windows 7 on it but got frustrated with the obvious key mismatching (windows, ctrl, alt and the delete keys mainly) so eventually sold the darn thing a week ago without much loss.

Now I'm looking for a high spec, full-featured 15" Windows laptop that can match the MBP on a few things that I did love about it, to be used for general browsing, emails and entertainment with some odd Photoshop/Illustrator/Corel work here and there but nothing intensive.

  • Space for 2 hard drives
    This is quite important. I would like to have a SSD + HDD combo in there for the performance and storage balance (this was possible in the MBP using an Optibay)
  • Power
    High enough to last me around 3 years. Rather get high-spec now than see it struggle after a year or 2. I won't be gaming on it.
  • Build quality and Design
    Simple, slick design, nothing crazy like those MSI gaming monsters. Chiclet/island backlit keyboard and a large multi-touch touchpad would be nice.
 
What brands are you considering? I would think about:

Dell - Good value, configurable. Overall still my favourite laptop brand.

Samsung - Good for quality of finish, although I have had one that has died (think it was the hard drive, not investigated).

Lenovo - Never had one, but I get the impression they're reasonably good.

Rgds
 
gee3000 said:
I bought a brand new top spec 2011 Macbook Pro 15" with i7 2.3ghz off eBay a few weeks ago for £1630. I basically HATED OSX, tried Windows 7 on it but got frustrated with the obvious key mismatching (windows, ctrl, alt and the delete keys mainly) so eventually sold the darn thing a week ago without much loss.
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Thats a shame, theres software out there which can swap keybindings. When I had Windows 7 on my macbook I had crl mapped to cmd, super mapped to ctrl, and some misc other ones e.g. prntscrn was ctrl(i.e. the cmd button)+alt+p. If you really like the macbook pro hardware and can't find an equivalent pc, you could post up a list of the Windows7 problems, and see if theres any fixes.
 
Lenovo ThinkPad. No contest.

The T and W series have a hot-swappable Ultrabay which will take a hard drive in a caddy or the usual optical drive. Other options like an additional battery are also available for it.

That said I use a MacBook at home, and a ThinkPad T420 at work. I don't have any problems swapping between the two.
 
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Keep an eye out for the Asus Ultra Book launching this month. Designed to compete directly with the Macbook Pro Series iirc.
 
I'm considering trading in my desktop for a laptop, and would be looking for something of similar description.

Criteria:
15" 1080p display
i7
8GB or more memory
SSD (not fussed about room for a second drive)
Would like to be able to play older Source games, not fussed about newer games - I'm a very irregular, casual gamer (maybe an hour or two a month - but I like to have the option)
Looking for the same thing in terms of design: Simple, slick design, nothing crazy like those MSI gaming monsters. Chiclet/island backlit keyboard and a large multi-touch touchpad would be nice.

Will be interested to see suggestions. So far the closest matches have been the Dell 15z - but it's too pricey for the kind of spec I'd want - and the Samsung Series 7 - but a) it's not available yet and b) they don't have a 1080p option).
 
Thanks for the suggestions, I've had a few in mind but none seem to do everything I need and I think the main problem is I want the best of both worlds. Netbooks offer sleek, modern looking designs (Samsung Series 9 and Toshiba Protege Z830, MSI X370) but don't allow for dual hard drives and I don't imagine they are very powerful, whereas Notebooks offer all the performance and storage but their designs are mostly uglier and chunkier (Dell XPS 15z).

The Samsung Series 7 is my current favourite, looks quite nice and has good performance. I'm not sure about the dual hard drives though. I really can't settle for just an SSD or just a Hard drive!
 
ng93 said:
Thats a shame, theres software out there which can swap keybindings. When I had Windows 7 on my macbook I had crl mapped to cmd, super mapped to ctrl, and some misc other ones e.g. prntscrn was ctrl(i.e. the cmd button)+alt+p. If you really like the macbook pro hardware and can't find an equivalent pc, you could post up a list of the Windows7 problems, and see if theres any fixes.
Click to expand...

The press mapping was fine ie.

Control = CTRL
Alt/Option = Alt
Apple = Windows

Just the physical positioning of the keys was crap ie they went:
| FN | CTRL | OPTION | APPLE |
instead of:
| CTRL | FN | APPLE | OPTION |
which would be more in keeping with the Windows layout. The lack of delete key was also a major nuisance.
 
gee3000 said:
which would be more in keeping with the Windows layout. The lack of delete key was also a major nuisance.
Click to expand...

It's an Apple layout. They've never followed the Dos/Windows keyboard conventions, and why should they? (rhetorical question, no need to answer!)

You can get delete by pressing Fn+Backspace.
 
Samsung Series 7 comes with that Hybrid HDD that contains 4gb SSD, it also has some quick boot features. I think it booted up in around 20seconds or so. Personally wait for the laptop to come out to get more info on it but so far it seems to be a great laptop and cheap, looks to have a great screen and a very nice build.

the 15z Ive heard quiet a few bad things about it, not really the best build quality, and some problems with closing the laptop lid properly. That being it does look to be a great looking laptop.
 
Loki said:
Keep an eye out for the Asus Ultra Book launching this month. Designed to compete directly with the Macbook Pro Series iirc.
Click to expand...

Surely it would compete more against the MacBook air.

With the Asus ux21/31 being as thin as the MacBook air, and they don't come with dedicated graphics like the MacBook pro 15inch.
 
Fallen god said:
Samsung Series 7 comes with that Hybrid HDD that contains 4gb SSD, it also has some quick boot features. I think it booted up in around 20seconds or so. Personally wait for the laptop to come out to get more info on it but so far it seems to be a great laptop and cheap, looks to have a great screen and a very nice build.
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I've read about the Seagate Hybrid SSD's and considered getting one at one point, so that's definitely interesting. This makes the Series 7 my first choice at the moment, but unsure where to go to get them! 2nd choice is the Series 9 which is considerably less powerful but looks so damn good ;/ 13" with an i7, intel 3000 graphics and 256gb ssd...

Bloody compromise, why can't someone magic up a 15" Series 9 with space for a SSD + HDD, i7 2.3ghz, 8gb ram and a 1650x1050 screen ;/

Fallen god said:
the 15z Ive heard quiet a few bad things about it, not really the best build quality, and some problems with closing the laptop lid properly. That being it does look to be a great looking laptop.
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I've heard similar about the 15z, noise etc, and not 100% fond of the design (rounded chiclet buttons, weird speaker vent pattern and general look)
 
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