Macbook Pro worth it?

[gillsterhill]

Well, I want a Macbook Pro for a laptop, which i want for editing photos/video/music and i can play WoW also

but, my dad is like "blah blah blah, dont get a Macbook. blah blah blah Microsoft FTW!"

which annoyed me, so my question is-Is it worth the $2000 to get a Macbook Pro?

[tokenuser]

Originally Posted by gillsterhill

Well, I want a Macbook Pro for a laptop, which i want for editing photos/video/music and i can play WoW also

but, my dad is like "blah blah blah, dont get a Macbook. blah blah blah Microsoft FTW!"

which annoyed me, so my question is-Is it worth the $2000 to get a Macbook Pro?

You can do everything you want on a WinTel platform that is 2/3 the price. When people compare Apples to other machines, they always talk RETAIL prices. Noone EVER pays full retail on a WinTel machine - but (apart from Academic discounts - whic take $150 off the cost of a loaded MBP) Apple dont discount.

Editting photos? Gimp or Photoshop (it is the sam photoshop people use ont he Mac).
Video? iMovie/iDVD are great apps, but beyond that Adobe Premiere is awesome on both platforms (just get a laptop with a Firewire port - makes controlling a video camera for download much easier if thats your thing) ... and if you are just playing video, then MS has all the DRM features built in that are NEEDED to playback these days (and if not - because it is the dominant market, it is available pretty damn soon).
Music? itunes? WMP11?

dont get sucked in by the turtle neck sweater wearing Jobites. They make it sound like you are getting a deal, but REALLY compare machines and yo will find that for the cost of a MBP, you can get a well configured Dell or HP plus a 20" LCD monitor, plus a keyobard and mouse.

I don't think it's for everyone. I'm certainly not a fan of Apple hardware right now and given hindsight, I probably wouldn't have chosen to develop a rather crucial tool for me under OS X.

The Macbook Pro is one of the, if not the best looking laptops out there. And of course, it's the only premium laptop that runs OS X (without convoluted hacks). But build quality - the thing that the Apple Hordes pride themselves on - is suspect, and while the design is very, very good, the way it's been put together and thought out in terms of how it works is not so great. Simply put, it looks great but you end up slightly handicapped in how you can use it when compared with a premium Windows laptop of the same price.

If you rely on it to do the job or to be part of your life, it's nowhere near as good as a premium Windows laptop IMO. It can't take a beating like a Thinkpad or Latitude/Precision for example, and it isn't as versatile as them for power and connectivity options. And it's not as clever or truly high-end in terms of engineering as a Sony, and the build quality is lower than all of the above. Support options are also considerably poorer than a better-specced Dell of the same price.

But if you want a toy (especially as a second computer) or your work is non-critical (or of no consequence), it's a good option. I like iLife as a bundled, integrated tool. It's easy to grow out of and once you get beyond iLife either OSX or Windows has tools to manage media just as well, but iLife is just darned handy for all sorts of reasons. And the OS has plenty of nice 'look what it can do' touches, as do many apps that have the same sort of 'easy to pick up' touch. There are good reasons why Kevin Rose is such a embarrasingly drooling fanboy of their gear. (Although there are, of course, just as good reasons for Alex Albrecht to be curtly dismissive of the superficial superiority).

Is the Macbook Pro worth $2K? In terms of what's under the skin and how that really works in comparison to other good laptops + Applecare, hell no. But... what price design?

[rowlodge]

i may for the first time get me something else to render and do 3d images ive tried cinema 4d which works great but renders really slow, this old ibook just sucks in that department. i wonder what the fastest pc that renders graphics and make movies with, i mean for the consumer that is still cheap as hell. just to do work with. something i don't have to build i mean, besides a mac.

[phatlip12]

Originally Posted by ArmpitOfDeath

But build quality - the thing that the Apple Hordes pride themselves on - is suspect, and while the design is very, very good, the way it's been put together and thought out in terms of how it works is not so great. Simply put, it looks great but you end up slightly handicapped in how you can use it when compared with a premium Windows laptop of the same price.

Thats total BS. Do you have anything to back up such a claim? How are you "handicapped" by poor design?

Originally Posted by ArmpitOfDeath

It can't take a beating like a Thinkpad or Latitude/Precision for example

I beg the differ

Originally Posted by ArmpitOfDeath

And it's not as clever or truly high-end in terms of engineering as a Sony, and the build quality is lower than all of the above. Support options are also considerably poorer than a better-specced Dell of the same price.

Again, your making claims without backing them up. Whats wrong with the build quality of the Macbook Pro and how is it not a high-end laptop? There pretty powerful machines . And when you say support are you referring to technical support? If so, I find that to be pretty interesting considering Dell is pretty much KNOWN for having HORRIBLE technical support. The best customer service I ever experienced was at the Apple store. I had a small problem and it was fixed no questions asked.

[devduggit]

Okay. So to answer your question, is a $2000 MBP worth the money. Yes and no.

First let me point something out - a high end Windows-based laptop and a MBP will have approximately the same amount of horsepower. Of course this will vary.

So if they have approximately the same performance. Then there are only two aspects left to make your decision, software and design.

If OSX is something you must have and cannot live without, then the decision is already made, go out and buy your new MBP. Also, consider if you want to use any applications that are made specifically for OSX (Final Cut, Aperture, etc.) .

The last aspect you should consider is the design of apple products. Some people love the minimalist, brushed-aluminum design and some will hate it.

To answer your question, it is worth $2000 if you like OSX and brushed aluminum.

Originally Posted by phatlip12

Thats total BS. Do you have anything to back up such a claim? How are you "handicapped" by poor design?

Let's repeat what I said: "and while the design is very, very good, the way it's been put together and thought out in terms of how it works is not so great"

I said that the design was excellent. But the engineering is poor. Let's take the engineering that makes it the hottest laptop out there, with areas that are in close proximity to where your fingers are approaching and in some cases exceeding 50C. And that's even including that fact that Apple underclocks parts so that things don't catch fire. Let's take the engineering that causes the too-thin-for-how-it's-built chassis to warp after a while.

And let's not forget a whole host of minor but common issues. The Magsafe cable issue. The Magsafe connection issue. The screen backlighting issue. I could go on. You just don't see the same number of common issues with any other premium laptop. The latest issue for me: my 17" MBP which was bought just before the Santa Rosa refresh - the latest in a long line of minor to major defect-ridden MBP's - now unlatches itself if I press down on the lid. From what I've been reading and experiencing, the Macbook Pros certainly are the most (mostly minor, but nevertheless irritating) issue-plagued premium 'professional' laptop around today.

I beg the differ

A couple of isolated incidents with no direct correlation with how competing hardware would compare merely marks you out as a fanboy. I'd say the same thing to a Dell fanboy bringing up the oven incident.

Again, your making claims without backing them up. Whats wrong with the build quality of the Macbook Pro and how is it not a high-end laptop? There pretty powerful machines . And when you say support are you referring to technical support? If so, I find that to be pretty interesting considering Dell is pretty much KNOWN for having HORRIBLE technical support. The best customer service I ever experienced was at the Apple store. I had a small problem and it was fixed no questions asked.

The technical support that you're referring to is the no-frills sort shipped with a $500 laptop. We're talking $2K machines here, bubba. If you pay for it - like you're doing with Apple - many other manufacturers deliver service and support exceeding what Apple are capable of. Next-day, cross-shipped replacements. Onsite service. Accidental damage insurance. etc.

Let's take the latch issue above. To get this fixed, I either take advantage of Applecare - which despite paying a hefty amount simply extends the offsite warranty by 2 years. So I have to ship it and wait a week to get it back, or I waste half a day by going into an Apple Store with the Procare appointment I booked - which is, incidentally, an extra $100 per year. If I don't have Procare, I'd have to wait as a standby. Even if a similar issue occurs with one of my better engineered Dell Latitudes or Sony Vaio's, an engineer will be out to me the next day to fix it, on-site because I paid for it - and it still cost the same (or more usually notably less) than a competing Apple.


I don't always feel the need to back these things up in minute detail when making a comment, because if you actually know what you're talking about it's easy to check.

Get thee behind me, fanboy.

[tokenuser]

Originally Posted by ArmpitOfDeath

The technical support that you're referring to is the no-frills sort shipped with a $500 laptop. We're talking $2K machines here, bubba. If you pay for it - like you're doing with Apple - many other manufacturers deliver service and support exceeding what Apple are capable of. Next-day, cross-shipped replacements. Onsite service. Accidental damage insurance. etc.

Re: Dell Service Contract

A hard drive died on my wifes research server at University. Dell had a replacement drive out to her in less than 4 hours. Unplugged the old drive, dropped in the new one, and it added itself back into the RAID config. No data lost. No lost up time. FOUR HOURS TURN AROUND.

[masherscf]

Originally Posted by tokenuser

Re: Dell Service Contract

A hard drive died on my wifes research server at University. Dell had a replacement drive out to her in less than 4 hours. Unplugged the old drive, dropped in the new one, and it added itself back into the RAID config. No data lost. No lost up time. FOUR HOURS TURN AROUND.

My guess is that Dell is "known" for poor technical support among Mac users.

[-mk-]

I've experienced great tech support from Dell when working under a premium/corporate support contract, and not-so-hot support when calling personal tech assistance. But then again, I've had to call them less than 5 times in as many years.

To the original poster asking for advice, I say this: If you find that the whole Mac branding concept makes you feel good, and you're confident in your ability to adapt to OSX and the software, then I feel you're justified in spending the extra cash for a MacBook. People always get into comparing features, software, support, bla bla bla re: Macs and Wintels, but to me the two worlds are so completely apart that it doesn't make sense. The motivations for producing the very hardware by the companies are different, and that has a ripple effect from the hardware all the way down through the software, support, company, etc.

Therefore, I'd suggest first finding out what is MOST important to you when making a major purchase of ANY sort. If its having the style, design, and owning "what's in," then drop the cash on the Mac. If its saving money or simply being productive and gaming without any flair, you'll save a ton of money by going Wintel.

My personal experience is that if you're worried about the money (if you are) too much at this stage of the buying process, it's going to affect your overall satisfaction once you get the higher-priced product in your hands. You should honestly be completely at peace with forgetting about the money if you make the Mac decision and put that energy into what you paid for: the brand and design. Otherwise, you'll spend all your time thinking about how you could be doing the same thing with a laptop that was $1300 less.

Ok - I'm probably rambling at this stage. Again, most of that was introspective if anything...hope some of it helps. Good luck!