Macbook Tips - which to buy pro/air/normal & UPGRADES

[Djay230]

Lol give me a break. Stop being a apple fanboy.

Any windows laptop at similar price point with macs have the same if not better battery life.

Low qualty speed? Wtf is low quality speed?

people are trying to help you save money, but since you are being an apple fanboy. Why are you even asking for opinions when you are already claiming only apple make "quality" products

Apple fanboy? I have owned 1 apple computer in the past but over 10 windows based pc's

The only fanboy here is you, I am not saying all windows pc's are bad, I am saying that a 300 dollar windows based pc will not be able to compare even the slightest bit with any apple laptop on the market today. That is plain facts.
Maybe a $1000 windows based PC will line up with a few macbook computers.

May I ask you this? Have you ever owned a macbook/imac purchased in the last 2-3 years? If the answer is no then you have proven yourself to be a fanboy.

I have bought a macbook pro last year (summer), 2 windows laptops christmas of 2010, and a gaming computer (windows) summer of 09'. I have first hand experience at both machines and plenty of variety at the windows based machines. I have been through many problems with the windows machines but none with the apple machine.

Why are you even asking for opinions when you are already claiming only apple make "quality" products

If you cared to use your head and read the original post you would see me clearly stating for NO fanboys (you) I simply asked about which apple computer to buy and what upgrades to get and what worth it.
I am very sorry if you have difficulty reading, please do not post on a thread if you cannot even read.

Apple is using the exact same component as other PC makers....

Same samsung ram
Same intel processors
Same toshiba/hitachi HDD
Same wifi/bluetooth chips
Same everything


The only difference is that it sells for 400$ more and have a more aesthetic aluminium casing.

When i see someone with an Apple computer i know instantly that this person does not shiet about computers.

Well after looking up and researching apple computers, opening up both windows computers and apple computers I can tell you that apple does not use low quality products, it is all the tip of the best. While other retailers use crappy ram, hard drives, motherboards that are all low quality and have good statistics on paper, apple does not use this marketing strategy. This is why it is said "apple computers are the most reliable". This does not apply to all windows based computers however every single windows computer I have bought does not provide the same experience as a macbook. I could build one myself but I'd rather not.

If there is a windows based computer retailer that can sell something with the top quality hardware that I so desire I wouldn't mind paying 2-3 thousand dollars for it either. However there are none that do that which is why I am going to be picking up a macbook pro.

Don't believe me?

1.
Boot windows computer with a SSD
Boot apple computer with a SSD

2.
Boot program with apple laptop
Boot program with windows laptop

3.
Run a movie (same one) see how long battery lasts on the macbook
Run a movie (same one) see how long battery lasts on the windows PC

These are just some of the few tests I have tried, all in favour of the macbook.
The hardware was quite similar too. Same processor, amount of ram, both SSD.
The bottom line is, apple uses higher quality hardware and thats what sells the product, if you want mediocre quality laptops go ahead and buy a windows computer, if you want the best then buy apple.

Its much like an mercedez and a mazda, they might both have the same horse power but one will always be better than the other. Not everything is based on the "CPU clock speed" or the "amount of RAM" Quality of the RAM and the CPU will make a big difference in the long run.
ex. Cache, Speed of ram, latency, south bridge speeds, northbridge speeds etc. these are the types of things that differs a windows based PC and a mac that are neglected.

I just want to let OP know that Mac OS X is also a UNIX-like OS...

Yes I understand how Unix is like OSX and DOS is like Windows.

[sexyj]

Not buying a brand make me a fanboy ?

LOL

Please elaborate this logic again.

May I ask you this? Have you ever owned a macbook/imac purchased in the last 2-3 years? If the answer is no then you have proven yourself to be a fanboy.

[daverobev]

Disclaimer:

Owned:

iBook
Mac Mini G4
Macbook

Windows self-built PCs
Toshiba, Dell laptops

I currently use for my daily work: Dell Vostro with 1.1GHz Celeron and 2Gb RAM. Backup is a quad core desktop for when this doesn't have enough power, gaming etc.

Guess what - this cheap laptop works just fine for me. I'm *very* careful with my posessions (touch wood) so hopefully it'll last me a few years.

As to what Macbook:

Air: light, few ports.

Pro: it's a normal laptop.

Anything current generation with integrated graphics will still play older games ok, and play videos and whatnot. Intel graphics are coming along nicely.

Win 7 is WAY slicker than XP. Miles better. The Mac OS is NOT perfect. It's fine, Finder is still a bit funky as I understand it.

If you're doing mostly internet - get whatever. Get a $400 Dell and buy stocks with the rest. Or spend a load on a Macbook knowing you should have a solid, well-built, relatively recyclable machine that should last you several years.

One + for Macs - higher screen resolution. The new 1360 * 768 drives me crazy (though since getting this Dell... I'm less frustrated than I was worried I'd be).

The Macs-don't-get-viruses thing is going out of date as everything is browser based.

Design is good, but if you slam it about it'll break like anything else - it's a delicate piece of electronic wizardry. Every laptop is *amazing* when you think about it.

If you just want to get a Mac to fit in, look cool then God help you

[Coz4k]

Well after looking up and researching apple computers, opening up both windows computers and apple computers I can tell you that apple does not use low quality products, it is all the tip of the best. While other retailers use crappy ram, hard drives, motherboards that are all low quality and have good statistics on paper, apple does not use this marketing strategy. This is why it is said "apple computers are the most reliable". This does not apply to all windows based computers however every single windows computer I have bought does not provide the same experience as a macbook. I could build one myself but I'd rather not.

If there is a windows based computer retailer that can sell something with the top quality hardware that I so desire I wouldn't mind paying 2-3 thousand dollars for it either. However there are none that do that which is why I am going to be picking up a macbook pro.

Don't believe me?

1.
Boot windows computer with a SSD
Boot apple computer with a SSD

2.
Boot program with apple laptop
Boot program with windows laptop

3.
Run a movie (same one) see how long battery lasts on the macbook
Run a movie (same one) see how long battery lasts on the windows PC

These are just some of the few tests I have tried, all in favour of the macbook.
The hardware was quite similar too. Same processor, amount of ram, both SSD.
The bottom line is, apple uses higher quality hardware and thats what sells the product, if you want mediocre quality laptops go ahead and buy a windows computer, if you want the best then buy apple.

Its much like an mercedez and a mazda, they might both have the same horse power but one will always be better than the other. Not everything is based on the "CPU clock speed" or the "amount of RAM" Quality of the RAM and the CPU will make a big difference in the long run.
ex. Cache, Speed of ram, latency, south bridge speeds, northbridge speeds etc. these are the types of things that differs a windows based PC and a mac that are neglected.

Software =/= hardware.

All your arguments are OS based.... Install windows or Mac OSX on both and you'll get the same results...

Why ? Because its the same hardware.

Whats the difference then ? --> You are paying your apple laptop 200-500$ more.


Quality of the ram and quality of the CPU ? ... seriously i am speechless.

To last news a Core i5 (I5-2415M) installed in a macbook was the same as Core i5 (I5-2415M) installed in a DELL. Same thing for all other component, because yes they are about the same (Apple is using the same exact hynix RAM as DELL/hp etc).


Also they are using cheaper 5400 rpm hard drives (Futjisu/seagate) in their laptop than most PC makers.

Again Apple is charging full premium price for their products.

it just comes down to which OS you prefer...

Still..

You can buy a Dell and install Mac OSX and save 200-500$.

Its as easy as using a torrent.


Only reason i see to buy a mac is to give a high value to the build quality or don't care about overpaying. To be aware that you are overpaying for it is a huge step (for fanboys at least lolol).

[samberkun]

it just comes down to which OS you prefer...

[Djay230]

Not buying a brand make me a fanboy ?

LOL

Please elaborate this logic again.

No its the fact that you're making statements about a product you have never tried.
If you haven't tried it don't knock it, simple as that, unless you're a fanboy of course then you'd obviously bash something that you've never tried.

Software =/= hardware.

All your arguments are OS based.... Install windows or Mac OSX on both and you'll get the same results...

Why ? Because its the same hardware.

Whats the difference then ? --> You are paying your apple laptop 200-500$ more.


Quality of the ram and quality of the CPU ? ... seriously i am speechless.

To last news a Core i5 (I5-2415M) installed in a macbook was the same as Core i5 (I5-2415M) installed in a DELL. Same thing for all other component, because yes they are about the same (Apple is using the same exact hynix RAM as DELL/hp etc).


Also they are using cheaper 5400 rpm hard drives (Futjisu/seagate) in their laptop than most PC makers.

Again Apple is charging full premium price for their products.




Still..

You can buy a Dell and install Mac OSX and save 200-500$.

Its as easy as using a torrent.


Only reason i see to buy a mac is to give a high value to the build quality or don't care about overpaying. To be aware that you are overpaying for it is a huge step (for fanboys at least lolol).

It has been proven and tested by myself when booting windows on a mac machine it runs smoother than on a PC with windows installed.

Therefore it must be the hardware?

Same OS, different results, take a hint?

[Coz4k]

No its the fact that you're making statements about a product you have never tried.
If you haven't tried it don't knock it, simple as that, unless you're a fanboy of course then you'd obviously bash something that you've never tried.




It has been proven and tested by myself when booting windows on a mac machine it runs smoother than on a PC with windows installed.

Therefore it must be the hardware?

Same OS, different results, take a hint?

Sure lololololol

Fanboy arguments at its best.

As i said, Core i5 (I5-2415M) installed in a macbook is the same as Core i5 (I5-2415M) installed in a DELL. Same thing for every other component.

[Zelig]

Run a movie (same one) see how long battery lasts on the macbook
Run a movie (same one) see how long battery lasts on the windows PC

This isn't really backed up by objective tests.

The Verge just did a review on using a MBA as a Windows Ultrabook, including some battery life tests:

MacBook Air (OS X Lion) 6:19
MacBook Air (Win 7, Boot Camp) 4:11
MacBook Air (Win 7, Parallels) 4:28
Asus Zenbook UX31 5:31
HP Folio 13 7:07
Lenovo IdeaPad U300s 5:33
Sony VAIO Z (2011) 5:27 / 10:34*
*With slice battery

[Djay230]

Sure lololololol

Fanboy arguments at its best.

As i said, Core i5 (I5-2415M) installed in a macbook is the same as Core i5 (I5-2415M) installed in a DELL. Same thing for every other component.

You obviously have little to no knowledge of how a computer works, the southbridge obviously is taken into account with speed. If you knew how a computer transfers information you would understand why the macbook performs better than most windows based computers. They use high quality hardware when other companies only use nice hardware that is normally placed on paper ex. CPU, RAM, HDD, everything else is cheaped out on and thats how they make money.

For example, my friend decided to buy a top of the line CPU and graphics card, he cheaped out on the motherboard and ram. Turns out my 2 year old computer with a slower CPU and graphics card performs better, faster, and smoothly than his computer. This is because I choose high quality hardware throughout the whole computer which gave it no bottleneck.

[Djay230]

This isn't really backed up by objective tests.

The Verge just did a review on using a MBA as a Windows Ultrabook, including some battery life tests:

MacBook Air (OS X Lion) 6:19
MacBook Air (Win 7, Boot Camp) 4:11
MacBook Air (Win 7, Parallels) 4:28
Asus Zenbook UX31 5:31
HP Folio 13 7:07
Lenovo IdeaPad U300s 5:33
Sony VAIO Z (2011) 5:27 / 10:34*
*With slice battery

As you can see the sony vaio z obviously does contain nice hardware similar to the macbooks.
You can see how it performs compared to other notebooks and the price is not 300-400 dollars.

My main point is, macbook's are not overpriced if you want good hardware, as any other high quality laptop it will be in the 2-3 thousand dollar price range.

[Zelig]

You obviously have little to no knowledge of how a computer works, the southbridge obviously is taken into account with speed. If you knew how a computer transfers information you would understand why the macbook performs better than most windows based computers. They use high quality hardware when other companies only use nice hardware that is normally placed on paper ex. CPU, RAM, HDD, everything else is cheaped out on and thats how they make money.

For example, my friend decided to buy a top of the line CPU and graphics card, he cheaped out on the motherboard and ram. Turns out my 2 year old computer with a slower CPU and graphics card performs better, faster, and smoothly than his computer. This is because I choose high quality hardware throughout the whole computer which gave it no bottleneck.

Post some benchmarks from a credible review site as evidence.

[Coz4k]

You obviously have little to no knowledge of how a computer works, the southbridge obviously is taken into account with speed. If you knew how a computer transfers information you would understand why the macbook performs better than most windows based computers. They use high quality hardware when other companies only use nice hardware that is normally placed on paper ex. CPU, RAM, HDD, everything else is cheaped out on and thats how they make money.

For example, my friend decided to buy a top of the line CPU and graphics card, he cheaped out on the motherboard and ram. Turns out my 2 year old computer with a slower CPU and graphics card performs better, faster, and smoothly than his computer. This is because I choose high quality hardware throughout the whole computer which gave it no bottleneck.

I know exactly how a computer works, dont worry about that. I'm pretty sure its the opposite.

Stop bringing the ''They use high quality hardware'' argument..... if you check the ifixit macbook pro 13.3 mid 2011 teardown you will see that they use the same hardware (same CPU, same RAM, same everything) as most other pc makers (plus apple use el cheapo 5400 rpm drives (samsung/toshiba and futjisu). So stop saying they use quality hardware, they use the same thing as everyone else and charges premium prices)


Also you have to explain to me how you can cheaped out a Core i5 (I5-2415M). Because obviously apple take the Core i5 (I5-2415M) and makes it better lolol.

Post some benchmarks from a credible review site as evidence.

forget it hes blinded by the fanboy syndrome

[Djay230]

Post some benchmarks from a credible review site as evidence.

try googling it, im sure its not that hard

I know exactly how a computer works, dont worry about that. I'm pretty sure its the opposite.

Stop bringing the ''They use high quality hardware'' argument..... if you check the ifixit macbook pro 13.3 mid 2011 teardown you will see that they use the same hardware (same CPU, same RAM, same everything) as most other pc makers (plus apple use el cheapo 5400 rpm drives (samsung/toshiba and futjisu). So stop saying they use quality hardware, they use the same thing as everyone else and charges premium prices)


Also you have to explain to me how you can cheaped out a Core i5 (I5-2415M). Because obviously apple take the Core i5 (I5-2415M) and makes it better lolol.




forget it hes blinded by the fanboy syndrome

Yea im blinded by a fanboy syndrome but i still build windows based PC's....such a fanboy! He likes both types of machines.

Its alright, i can see how a fanboy would be offended by my post but I have no interest with what you have to say you are biased and there is no point talking to you, obviously you have no idea how a computer works.
I am also sure you are 100% correct that apple does not use different hardware, its obviously magic that makes the machine run smoother with the windows operating system booted

[sexyj]

LOL, when somebody ask you to prove something. You tell them to google it.

LOL, when somebody call you a fanboy. You call them a fanboy back because they are not buying the brand that you love

I dont even know why you have this thread when you tuned to "apple is the best computer in the world, they offer "FAST QUALITY SPEED" compare to other computer manufacturer's "low quality speed"

More like you are the biased one here and don't know how a computer work, re-read all your posts.

kthxbai

try googling it, im sure its not that hard



Yea im blinded by a fanboy syndrome but i still build windows based PC's....such a fanboy! He likes both types of machines.

Its alright, i can see how a fanboy would be offended by my post but I have no interest with what you have to say you are biased and there is no point talking to you, obviously you have no idea how a computer works.
I am also sure you are 100% correct that apple does not use different hardware, its obviously magic that makes the machine run smoother with the windows operating system booted

[Djay230]

LOL, when somebody ask you to prove something. You tell them to google it.

LOL, when somebody call you a fanboy. You call them a fanboy back because they are not buying the brand that you love

I dont even know why you have this thread when you tuned to "apple is the best computer in the world, they offer "FAST QUALITY SPEED" compare to other computer manufacturer's "low quality speed"

More like you are the biased one here and don't know how a computer work, re-read all your posts.

kthxbai

Someone calls me a fanboy for sticking up for a reputable brand that they are bias against, I am calling him a fanboy for bashing a item he has NO first hand experience with, I have had experience with both machines, can i not say my review without being insulted?

As I have said in this thread plenty of times, apple computers have better hardware than MOST windows based computers. This is because manufacturers for windows machines use cheaper parts where consumers don't know about. Therefore lacking performance.

Enough of this trolling though, I have gotten the information I need and I can afford luxurious computers weather its made by apple, or another manufacture, the plain fact is you get what you pay for. A $2,000 computer is a $2,000 nothing is overpriced, sony sells $2,000 computers and they are high quality too running windows.

Only thing I said to defend apple was you cannot buy a 300-400 dollar dell machine that will compare to a macbook.
Its fine, you can stick to what you think, its just advice kid, no need to get offended