Help needed on Apple hardware

[Jimbeam3678]

I've got a dilemma which from a technology perspective is unusual

In our household we have a MacBook Pro 2015 13" (mine), iPad Air V1 and my wife's Dell 15" 5 year old XPS laptop.

My wife literally lives on her laptop as she watches her Taiwanese dramas on youtube, dailymotion, Facebook and web surfing. Everything was fine until you guessed it her Dell blew up and is beyond economic repair.

Here's the dilemma do I buy her a cheap as chips Windows laptop and end up with the same problem in 18 months. The other option is going down the Apple route for her be it give her my 2015 MacBook pro and for me to buy a new MacBook . Which model though ? 13" I know I want but touchbar non touchbar? Is 8 gig Ram still enough?

The other option is for me to keep the MacBook and buy her a new iPad Pro 10" which would fulfil her usage needs (?)

I'm leaning towards an Apple product because yes I am fan but also she looks after her "luxury" items but then the cost difference between £500, £750 (iPad) or £1,500 is quite huge!

I think this is the first time I'm genuinely undecided on a tech purchase, OCUK please give me some help!

 

[Deleted member 138126]

£339 for a brand new iPad, £439 for refurbished iPad Pro 9.7, or £1149 for a refurbished 2016 MBP 13" (no touch bar). In my opinion the touch bar is a gimmick, and makes the laptop a lot more expensive for little added value. I find that Apple's laptops only make economic sense at the low end (at which they are still expensive, but fantastic devices), unless your company is paying for it. There's quite a big difference between £339 and £1149, so it's a big decision. Also, if you went down the iPad road, she will probably still need a laptop for certain things. A cheap Dell won't cost more than a few hundred ££ and will easily last another 5 years (like the current one). Work it out on ££/year vs functionality. If you are just using this as an excuse to get yourself a new MBP, then fair enough. But if it's a genuine question about what the best solution is, then that's a bit more complex.

 

[Jimbeam3678]

I'm hearing you and agree with the Touchbar a lot of cash for not much function a part from looking "cool" My reasoning for leaning towards Apple is because the old Dell XPS was mine from 2010 which was 1.5K fell apart after a year albeit lasted another 6 years.

The iPad was my idea although she said she wants a PC after I suggested it. I thought new 10" one with a smart keyboard would be ideal but it doesn't look like its that simple! On top of all that in the back of my mind I'm conscious as you rightly said am I glossing it up so I can get a new shiny MacBook

Decisions, decisions.

 

[Hades]

I used to have a macbook pro 13 and have had many Windows laptops over the years. So I am agnostic as far as Apple vs Windows. I recently bought a refurbished Thinkpad T530 which is frankly a superb budget laptop, like new, a quad core powerhouse in a smallish chassis, amazingly upgradable/user servicable and and so strong and indestructable that I can't see any Apple device being as robust or lasting as long. I'm now considering something slightly lighter for portability and have been looking at various new ultrabooks. They obviously won't be as robust and I expected not to find anything approaching Apple quality at any price point. But if you're prepared to spend similar money to a Macbook I was genuinely surprised to find that the top end Windows devices nowadays do match and sometimes beat Macbooks in most respects (better battery life, higher resolution and better quality screens even than retina, replaceable batteries and SSD's, more ports, etc). Although a matter of preference I've found some devices with better keyboards and trackpads that, while not quite as good yet, are not far behind now. Many of the devices are genuine touchscreen and can flip and rotate into tablets in a 2-in-1 or yoga style. the MS Surface Pro and Surface Book range is extremely high quality with the similar aspect ratio screens (which seem better than Retina) and the Surface Book detatches from a genuine laptop into a genuine tablet with ditital pen. It's an amazing piece of kit, as are some of the convertibles such as the lenovo X1 Yoga, Yoga 910, HP Spectre X360, HP Specte X2, etc.

I'm not trying to start a Windows vs Apple debate. Most people prefer Apple and that's absolutely fine. My wife and two kids won't use anything other than ipads, Macbooks and iMacs because they are completely embedded in Apple's superb ecosystem. But my point is this; if you are buying on a budget then obviously Windows wins. But... if you are buying at the top end then the differentiation is no longer the hardware. It's now only about whether you are embedded into the Apple ecosystem and whether you prefer OSX over Windows. It's also about the sevice you may receive from the manufacturer and seller (and this varies based on the company rather than being specific to Windows for example).

Have you asked her which she prefers?
Does she want to get embedded into the whole Apple ecosystem?

The answes to these questions should give the pair of you a direction. If she's happy in the Windows world then I don't see the point in trying to get her embedded into Apple from which she'll forever feel the need to remain in.

Obviously if she's agnostic to either OS then it may be advantageous to let her use your Macbook for a few weeks and see how she feels. If it works out for her then you could get a new Macbook and giver her yours. You get new shiny and she gets a free Macbook (or cheap if you sell it to hetr for the same money she would have spent on a budget Windows laptop).