Are Apples Worth It?

They always love it when it's shiny and new.

 

The Alienware M14x with a 900p screen got an 84% for display quality from NotebookCheck.net, a perfectly reasonable, midrange score. Not high-end but not "cheap" and certainly above "decent."

Review Alienware M14x Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

If it's this screen with a matte finish (the Alienware is gloss, of course, which drew NBC's ire), maybe that wouldn't be good enough for photo editors but it sounds good for the rest of us.

 

How do you handle the different keyboard? I can't seem to get past it.

 

Newer employees at my company are getting models similar to this. They're pretty thick looking in person and seem quite heavy.

 

I don't deny that they're thick and heavy; but I don't think that means a design can't be sexy or elegant. Aston Martin, for example: much heavier than a Corvette yet also more sexy and elegant.

I think an Elitebook is a gorgeously-designed mobile workstation. I think a Thinkpad W-series is a dull-designed mobile workstation. I don't think you need to go Apple and shave a quarter-inch of thickness to find elegance.

 

Apples are only worth it if you like the small things that are included with them, such as iLife, superior trackpads, decent displays, 16:10 ratio, great design, great durability, etc. or if you just like Mac OS X.

I was more of the former when I decided to buy my MacBook Pro. I just couldn't find a computer that was great design, great battery life, decent resolution, decent GPU, great CPU, etc. at the time (The Samsung Series 9 and Sony Vaio SE came close, but both had their quirks). Plus I get an honest 6.5-7.5 hours of battery life doing normal stuff on my Pro.

I am currently sticking with Snow Leopard, however, because I refuse to accept Lion and Mountain Lion's changes... I have tried both and do not like where OS X is going.

I think the only real no brainer with going for an Apple system is the iMac. I have not seen an all-in-one yet that compares to it, even with price.

 

Remap the eject button to forward delete. In Windows, remap the Command key to Ctrl so the cut & paste shortcuts are the same in both operating systems. You're stuck with the Fn button being where Ctrl would be, but that's relatively easy to get used to.

 

How do you do this?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I'm guessing Autohotkey?

 

If you only need to remap individual keys, you can edit the key map in the Windows registry yourself or use one of several little utilities for it. I suggest SharpKeys. If you need more flexibility to deal with key combinations or want to execute macros via keystroke, then use Autohotkey. The downside is that Autohotkey is another startup program that has to run.

To map eject to forward delete in OS X, use KeyRemap4Macbook. A notable limitation is that the eject button on a MacBook doesn't auto-repeat in OS X. But the F12 (eject) button on a MacBook Air does.

 

Thanks dmk2.

 

I think Apple's are worth it if you aren't shopping on a tight budget. If you are trying to maximize your performance to price ratio in the sense of power of CPU/GPU to computer, obviously your in the wrong place.

If you like the form factor, the power built into that form factor, the track pad, the display, the unibody construction and everything else, well nobody really builds a computer like that. At least when I bought my Mac nobody built something like that. And when people try to emulate it, like Razer for example, they ended up charging more then a similarly priced MBP. You are overpaying, I wouldn't deny that. When I was looking for a computer I was looking for a thin, powerful laptop with a lot of battery life, a good GPU and metal construction. I also wanted top notch Customer Service. Apple, really kind of leads the game there. I use my computer every day for several hours. So because of that I didn't mind the extra price. But if your on a tighter budge or your computer is your most used possession (I probably only use my bed more), then MBP might not be the right choice.

This analogy is used a lot but an Apple is sort of like a Lexus. It isn't a super fast car, or a super powerful truck but it had convenience features and things that are well built such as the track pad that you don't "need" but you do "want". And like with the Lexus, you are going to overpay for what you get. But if you use your computer enough that you don't mind spending the extra cash, then those features may be worth it. Obviously if your rolling in the dough and don't care about the cash thats another story as well.

Also I think Apple has flat out the best customer service, I've told this story many times, but they straight up replaced my computer because I had a white spot (a few MM) on the display to the new years model because they couldn't fix it in five days. It took more then five days for Microsoft to send me the box for my 360 and receive it.

 

Well, Razer is a crap laptop anyway . For those points that you laid out in your second paragraph (except Unibody), I would imagine that business laptops would stand a fair chance against the MBP.

I basically had what amounted to an unlimited budget when I was on the market for a new laptop (eventually got the W520), and while I don't actually use computers for intensive things much these days (grew tired of most games ), I still went with a Wintel despite having the capability of getting a maxed out 17" MBP (which, with the 1200p display, would have been lovely for sure). Ignoring the OS differences, I noticed that AppleCare doesn't protect against accidental damage (something that may/may not be important to a buyer or OP) and Apple seems not to offer in-your-home service (Apple stores are hard to find in this neck of the woods haha).

If Apple is a Lexus, then are business laptops the equivalent to a Toyota Avalon? Mom and I test drove both (as well as American lux cars) and ended up with a maxed Avalon Limited, which is basically like a mid-range Lexus.

However, I'd FREAKING LOVE to own a Lexus LFA

 

Well if Apple = Lexus, what laptops equate to the finer German and Italian counterparts?

 

Clevo X7200?

 

Although Apple doesn't offer accidental damage coverage with their warranties, there are third party warranties that will. I also think that is something that Apple may change in the future as AppleCare for both the iPhone and iPad offer accidental damage coverage (it's $100 for the warranty and $50 for a new device replacement if it is accidentally damaged, you can exchange it twice under the warranty). I wouldn't be surprised if Apple starts offering something similar with the MacBook series.

Also, people traditionally equate price with Apple. Although I find that to be true for the MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, and Mac Pro line of computers, the iMac and MacBook Air are competitively priced (along with the iPhone and iPad). The top end 13" MBA with a 256GB SSD is around the same price as other ultrabooks from Dell and HP (with similar build quality, I'm not talking about the cheap plastic 1280X800 13" ultrabooks or other systems that are the same size as full notebooks but carry the ultrabook name). The same thing hold true for the iMac. Granted, other all-in-one desktops may offer a touch screen interface or blu-ray drive but the iMacs often still have a few features over them (mainly display size and/or resolution).

Either way, I think the question has been answered quite extensively by Apple supporters, Apple haters, and a bunch of in-between people.

 

Lexus = MacBook Pro: good but not class-leading performance, profoundly "pleasant," superb customer service.

Mercedes-Benz = Precision/Elitebook/Thinkpad: maybe not youthful or sexy or ultralight, but built like bank vaults and all business.

BMW = Clevos and Alienwares. Class-leading performance so long as you don't worry about being associated with people who do burnouts and donuts in school zones.

 

lol thats more like a tank

Don't know if I'd agree with these comparisons...but there won't be a perfect comparison for cars to laptops haha. I'm just looking at a MBP (new, i think?) or a Precision/Elitebook/Thinkpad (don't really see much of any upgrades in the new models, so I guess an old one)

 

New line of workstations will receive IB processors and nVidia's Kelper GPUs (Quadros). Not sure if AMD plans on updating their FirePro line yet.