I've never used a MacBook before but am considering giving one a try now but wondering if I'm being silly? Reading various reviews of the MacBook pro's seem to state that it's overpriced with a bad keyboard but built well otherwise and so should I hold off for now?
Essentially I've had a new baby and my wife and I are now taking lots of photos (mostly iphone / some dslr) which we'd like to be able to sync easily and edit which is the primary driving in my thinking as I know macs have a good reputation for that. I'd also need to run some spreadsheets but assume I can do that in Numbers (but haven't tried it outside of briefly on my phone). I want a laptop as I'm getting less time to spend on my desktop now but I don't really want to re-buy MS office / photoshop if I can avoid it as I've already got old versions of them on my pc but would be willing to if required.
Basically I'm wondering if getting a MacBook will give me a better experience than using a windows laptop? I wouldn't say I'm wedded to the Apple eco system but I do also have the latest ipad (not pro) which is nice but I don't use it for anything other than movies / browsing web etc. Any thoughts much appreciated!
I didn't like the idea of such a short travel keyboard at first... but it grew on me very quickly... it's actually a pleasure to type on, one of the best laptop keyboards I've used & it still feels nice and solid.
There were some issues with dirt getting under the keys on the previous generation, but they have fixed it in the newest model - so perhaps that is the complaint you heard of?
For the specification & when comparing to similar spec windows laptops on the market, yes, they certainly do appear overpriced.
I had one for work a couple of generations ago & loved it... tried some of the best Windows laptops around and kept wanting to come back to the MBP... both for build quality and how the OS just seems to work near-flawlessly with none of the annoying bugs that plague Windows 10. One of the benefits of a closed ecosystem hardware-wise too.
Last time I had one for work, it was used 5 days a week for 3 years & even though I'm good at taking care of my kit, other pro-grade Win laptops have shown their age after that type of use... the MBP was still solid, with no issues, strong battery life & ended up being handed off to another member of the team when I left because it was still going strong, where normally they automatically replace laptops after 3 years.
For the use you want... good for photos with well integrated cloud sync... there isn't any real competition in the market for something that already works out of the box with no real user intervention & works well.
As for spreadsheets, depends how in-depth you need to go... I find excel better for the more complex things, but Numbers is good for low-mid level complexity work, which would be more than enough for the vast majority of users. If not, there is a MacOS version of Excel that you can install from an Office 365 subscription if you have one.
Depending on which version of photoshop you have, you might be able to install it through creative cloud, otherwise contact Adobe support and they might move your license for you.
For DSLR (imagine you could import iPotato photos too), I like the Lightroom with storage subscription... because it gives a second layer of cloud sync protection for piece of mind and isn't expensive.
I'm a power user... but like using a MBP for my work and photos because it's nice to have something reliable that just works, compared to the plague of Windows 10.
