Thinking about getting a Macbook...

Tute

Tute

Tute

Soldato
Joined
24 Jul 2004
Posts
22,593
Location
Devon, UK
Hey all.

Just wanted some opinions really. I recently acquired some funds to spend on a new laptop. As i've been a PC user all my life, i've been looking at giving a Macbook a go in order to learn to use MacOS X.

I'm planning on waiting until the 18th to see what happens with the new models, but in the meantime I have some questions.

Now, first thing I notice is the price. It's not a problem as I have a budget of about £1k, but I don't want to waste money unnecessarily. I was wondering what sets a Macbook apart from, say, a normal PC laptop at about half the price.

Obviously it's a Mac, but what about build quality, support, and the like? Is the extra cost justified?

And also, what are the Macbooks like to game on? It'll be primarily used for work, but I want to be able to do some light gaming on it as well. Is the integrated chip any good with older games like WC3, RA2, etc and will I be able to play these games on a Mac without too much hassle?

Thanks.
 
Hi There,

When comparing Apple laptops with more generic machines, you have to be quite careful exactly what you're comparing. For example the differences between the likes of Dell are massive. But then again you would expect it to be. But to be fair, I think you need to compare with the better quality manufacturers like Toshiba, Sony etc.

The primary difference between a mac and a generic laptop to me is the OS and the benefits associated with it. The difference in build quality with the likes of Toshiba is minimal. Dell is a different case, but then again you get what you pay for. Support with Apple is excellent, I have had a couple of problems and they have been resolved quickly and efficiently. You will always hear of horror stories, but in general support is an area where Apple excel.

As for gaming, the macbook GPU is very underpowered. You should be fine with older games, but this is certainly an area that many owners are unhappy with.

Only you can decide if the extra cost is worth it, as it depends on your needs and is subjective. For me being able to use OSX, good support and build quality justify the difference.
 
peter_hutson said:
Hi There,
Click to expand...

Gibbo? :p

When comparing Apple laptops with more generic machines, you have to be quite careful exactly what you're comparing. For example the differences between the likes of Dell are massive. But then again you would expect it to be. But to be fair, I think you need to compare with the better quality manufacturers like Toshiba, Sony etc.
Click to expand...

So you would consider Apple to be up there with the "big" players in terms of build quality then?

The primary difference between a mac and a generic laptop to me is the OS and the benefits associated with it. The difference in build quality with the likes of Toshiba is minimal. Dell is a different case, but then again you get what you pay for. Support with Apple is excellent, I have had a couple of problems and they have been resolved quickly and efficiently. You will always hear of horror stories, but in general support is an area where Apple excel.
Click to expand...

Well obviously there's MacOS, but I wanted something more than that to justify the price. I don't mind spending extra if it means the laptop will stand the test of time more. I've had normal laptops before and all sorts has gone wrong with them.

As for gaming, the macbook GPU is very underpowered. You should be fine with older games, but this is certainly an area that many owners are unhappy with.
Click to expand...

Fair enough, i've heard that there might be a dedicated GPU appearing in the high end Macbooks with the refresh, so i'll wait and see what happens. If not, i'll have to re-evaluate if it's worth going to the Pro.

Only you can decide if the extra cost is worth it, as it depends on your needs and is subjective. For me being able to use OSX, good support and build quality justify the difference.
Click to expand...

Fair enough.

Thanks. :)
 
Tute said:
Now, first thing I notice is the price. It's not a problem as I have a budget of about £1k, but I don't want to waste money unnecessarily. I was wondering what sets a Macbook apart from, say, a normal PC laptop at about half the price.
Click to expand...

Although not a MacBook, I've posted a comparison between the MacBook Pro and the Dell XPS M1530 here :p
 
With the macbook you're paying a premium for the OS and the brand.

Is it worth it? that's debateable.
As above the build quality is on par with higher end manufacturers. The Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic and even the newer Samsungs.
In terms of features, it lacks in some areas for the price but is better in others. I find for the price of a new macbook you can get a better specced gaming laptop. The macbook trackpads are nice though and the two finger scroll isn't found on others (i think). In terms of size and weight it's somewhere in the middle, there are smaller/lighter laptops of similar spec.
One point i think, it's a bit cheek to have to pay for an adapter just to use an external monitor. It's standard to have a DVI/VGA port on most other notebooks.

Ease of use, out of the box OSX probably edges it for the new user. Though if you've been brought up on a windows environment that might be different.

It all comes down to the OS and OSX is rather nice. Whether it justifies the premium is as others have mentioned up to you. I only picked up a macbook because of a good promotional deal when needing something. Having used it i find OS fairly easy to use, very clean in terms of design and functionality and things generally work without too many problems. It still crashes, some things still seem unintuitive and you are locked into the Apple way of doing things a bit more.

Another thing that has been mentioned is the service which is good, having high street stores where you can walk in and receive help is extremely useful. By in large they know what they are doing as well.

Would i buy one again, yes but not at the price they are charging for it!
 
peter_hutson said:
When comparing Apple laptops with more generic machines, you have to be quite careful exactly what you're comparing. For example the differences between the likes of Dell are massive. But then again you would expect it to be. But to be fair, I think you need to compare with the better quality manufacturers like Toshiba, Sony etc.
Click to expand...

It's not really fair to write-off Dell as a cheap brand; they do systems to cater for all budgets. You've got the cheap, plastic Vostros and Inspirons for lower budgets, the Studios for medium budgets and the XPS M1330 and M1530 at the upper end. The build quality and feature set of the M1330 certainly competes well with the MacBook, having been in a position to be choosing between the two machines, as well as physically comparing them.
 
Tute said:
So you would consider Apple to be up there with the "big" players in terms of build quality then?
Click to expand...

Yes, without a doubt. I have a 4 year old ibook that is still going strong and my 2 year old macbook pro is as good as the day I bought it. A mac mini I picked up 2 years ago had a faulty CD drive at the time of purchase, this was fixed quickly and is still going strong. My parents 2 year old macbook is also as good as new.


Tute said:
Well obviously there's MacOS, but I wanted something more than that to justify the price. I don't mind spending extra if it means the laptop will stand the test of time more. I've had normal laptops before and all sorts has gone wrong with them.
Click to expand...

I don't think I can over emphasise the benefits of OSX. Infact, I would not buy a macbook without it ( I know you can't anyway, but you see what I mean). But other unique benefits include

1) A lovely track pad, with smooth two finger scrolling
2) Mag safe power connector. This has saved my laptop twice from being smashed to bits
3) User replaceable hard drive (not sure if this is now a common feature on laptops now)
4) Excellent software intergration, iphoto, iweb, mail etc
5) A magnetic latch on the lid (again I'm not sure if this is now common)

Tute said:
Fair enough, i've heard that there might be a dedicated GPU appearing in the high end Macbooks with the refresh, so i'll wait and see what happens. If not, i'll have to re-evaluate if it's worth going to the Pro..
Click to expand...

It looks like there will be a refresh of the laptop lineup quite soon, maybe on the 14th October. It is expected that Apple will move over to dedicated nvidia GPU, which would give the machines quite a bump and is well worth waiting for. As for the basic or pro option, it depends on what you are using it for. I bought the pro simply to get a 15" screen, as I find the macbook screens too small. But I picked mine up in Singapore where they are quite a bit cheaper.
 
TheVoice said:
It's not really fair to write-off Dell as a cheap brand; they do systems to cater for all budgets. You've got the cheap, plastic Vostros and Inspirons for lower budgets, the Studios for medium budgets and the XPS M1330 and M1530 at the upper end. The build quality and feature set of the M1330 certainly competes well with the MacBook, having been in a position to be choosing between the two machines, as well as physically comparing them.
Click to expand...

You're right, Dell do make some nice machines. It's just that in my experience people comparing them to Macs are normally referring to the cheap'o machines, which are a pile of poop. I've never actually done a comparison with their higher end models, it would be interesting to hear what you're conclusions were.
 
Prime said:
Would i buy one again, yes but not at the price they are charging for it!
Click to expand...

Well this is confusing. You're saying how great the Macbook is, but you're then saying you wouldn't pay the price Apple are asking! :p
 
These are the sort of problems caused by discounts and regional price variations. Once someone knows there is a way to get a product cheaper, it will often stop them purchasing. I would certainly pay the price again, 1 ibook, 2 macbooks, 1 macbook pro, 1 24" imac and a mac mini to prove it (most were gifts).
 
I definitely think they are worth the price. Also they have a better re-sale value and seem to last for longer. I don't know what it is with windows laptops but they seem to slow down over time. On the other hand i know people with old ibooks that still run quickly.
 
Depends on how you look at it.

I have a MBP, I felt that if I was to go for a macbook I may as well get a normal sony/toshiba/panasonic laptop as it will be a higher spec for the price.

Good thing about the macs is 3 year warranty with HE discount. If you do not get this not too sure if its worth the extra costs.

I find itunes to be faster and OSX generally more stable and no memory bleed problems that are common with windows. It does not get bloated out and need reinstalling every 6-12 months like windows does to keep the speed sensible.

You can get boot camp on MBP, but I thought someone said it was not available/extra cost for the macbooks which limits gaming. Although more and more games are now becoming available on macs.

If price/performance is what you are after I would suggest something else, as I feel the macbooks are about £50-100 too much for what they are.
 
Tute said:
Well this is confusing. You're saying how great the Macbook is, but you're then saying you wouldn't pay the price Apple are asking! :p
Click to expand...

As someone commented above, what Apple are charging without discount is far too much imo. I can make do with one of the others, better specced for about 20% less. If you can get one on a HE discount, older stock sale, second hand or abroad then definitely.

Now it may be the supposed new models next week will really add value to the price in which case it will be more attractive price point.

As for lasting longer, if the quality of the build/components is good then they last about the same. I had a 7 year old Toshiba that was still running fine on XP before i sold it.

One point to note, Apple generally release an OS update every 18-24 months (ish). You'll have to pay for that, Snow Leopard is due next year, when who knows between Jan - June.

As for bootcamp it's free on the macbook. Part of Leopard, otherwise you have to pay.

I like the Mac, i can find things equally at fault with other laptops/OS. If you have money to burn go for it. If not have a look around first at what you are getting and decide.
 
peter_hutson said:
You're right, Dell do make some nice machines. It's just that in my experience people comparing them to Macs are normally referring to the cheap'o machines, which are a pile of poop. I've never actually done a comparison with their higher end models, it would be interesting to hear what you're conclusions were.
Click to expand...

At the time (early this year), I was looking at getting a new notebook, something smaller, lighter and faster that I could easily take to uni most days to get work done. I had my eye on the M1330 because they were dropping in price dramatically at the time, at which point I also considered a MacBook because it was in the same sort of price range. I quite liked the idea of having a MacBook, and a new OS to play with and get to know.

In the end though, I went with the M1330, for a few reasons. The M1330 was a much better overall spec for less money; for £550 I got a Core 2 Duo 1.73GHz, 2GB of RAM, 160GB HDD and an LED backlit display, plus a nice little bundle including a Dell slipcase, a leather wallet for the discs and manuals, and a set of Creative EP630 earphones. The MacBook at the time was £600 and had a faster CPU (1.8 or 2GHz I think), less RAM, a smaller HDD, normal CCFL backlit display and no DVD Writer. Everything else was equal (wireless, Bluetooth, slot-loading drive), although the Dell also came with a remote which Apple started charging for.

The other reason was that Office 2008 for Mac at that point, which was something I would have desperately needed for my dissertation and other work. I'd have ended up using the MacBook under Vista for the majority of the time so I could use Office 2007 etc, which really defied the point of getting a Mac in the first place.

It certainly would have been cool to have a different OS to play with and use, but in the end it was a combination of it not being right for me at the time (due to Office), and the simple act of Dell slashing their prices; something Apple never do.

I can fully understand that a normal Mac user could have easily justified the cost of the MacBook in this case, but in my view it was Apple's job to try to convince me to buy a MacBook. They failed by not being competitive enough.
 
The things I have been most impressed about my now 2 year old MacBook are:

The battery. Very good and is only just starting to loose charge faster.

The screen. Although its not LED backlit its very very sharp and colour is excellent.

The keyboard. Very easy to use and looks great (I see many other manufacturers are copying it these days *cough* Sony)

Magsafe. A stroke of genius and has saved my MacBook many times after tripping over the lead.

Airport. The way OS X handles wireless networks is so simple yet always works. No faffing around with settings, just turn it on and pick your network.

Whether you would find these things on a PC based laptop for the same price I don't know. However I will never buy a PC laptop now. Like people have said its the OS that is the main reason macs are so enjoyable. Take a dive go for it.
 
I purchased a refurb MacBook Pro in November 2006, costing £1100 at the time.

I upgraded the RAM to 3GB and thats how the machine still sits with me today, nearly 2 years later.

The build quality is still fantastic (bar a couple marks and dings that were my fault), the machine is not noticably slower than the day I bought it. In all honesty unless we have a major shift (like PowerPC to Intel kinda jump) then I don't forsee me replacing my MBP until it breaks.

I have a colleague who still does monstrous Photoshop work on his 4 year old G4 Powerbook, running leopard.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom