I don't quite understand the Mac notebook lineup anymore

I am atcually shocked and embarrassed for Apple to produce a silly MBP I have been waiting for so long for a new one to buy for my wife this xmas but I think i am in 2 minds.

She is nagging me for one omg i am so tired of hearing I want a mac and she is turning into the fanboy type.

At this rate i am going to divorce her so i could find a PC wife.


Started off with one BMP now an iMAC but now she wants the new MBP for herself. The darn thing doesnt even play her large collection of BLURAY Dvds but she just wants one.

 

Try convincing her that the PC is cooler. Just watch those PC ads for a while and it will grow on her.

 

Hmm...Please explain how wanting a certain product over a competitors product, makes one a "fanboy"?

Also, if I'm wrong, are you using "fanboy" as an insult?

I work with both Wintel and Apple/Mac machines. The hardware in both platforms is nearly the same, and costs less in a Wintel machine for similar power configurations. Pretty much no other manufacturer of computers puts as much effort in design or high end build materials in their CPUs or laptops like Apple does. Yes, that costs money and thus a hardware "equivalent" machine costs more on a Mac product.

In addition to that the BEST thing about Apple Mac computers is that they run the Max OS. For me, I prefer the Max OS to any OS from Windows.
Vista is pretty decent, but a far cry from being as elegant as the Max OS.

So, many of us who prefer the Mac systems like the fact that Apple puts serious work and effort into how they build their machines, the materials they use, and the hardware they spec. Higher quality tends to cost more even if another similar product has similar or better "specs".
You can pay more for an Audi A4 turbo that will get spanked in some performance numbers by a lower cost Dodge Charger. However, there are things the Charger can't offer and doesn't offer in terms of how the overall car works, and the quality of materials used. So it goes with buying a Mac.

Still, for me, the Mac runs the Mac OS, and that puts it out front of a Wintel machine, and I'm willing to pay more for the build quality and for the OS.
Oh, and for those of us who have to work on dual OS platforms, the ONLY computer that will do that job is the Intel Mac
That too is worth some extra cost to me.
When you put all the things together, the Mac seems worth it's price.

 

Well I don't want to get in an OS argument with you here, I just can't agree with you here because it seems that you are implying that Mac makes sense in general in a business sense...but correct me if I am interpreting this wrong.

Because really if Mac systems made sense in a business atmosphere then more businesses would use them right? Instead, counter to your argument the business world (besides some small niches) have decided conclusively to use Windows...

 

Do IBM or Unisys use Macs in their systems?

 

Get her a blu-ray player, such as a PS3 and a nice new flat panel TV to watch them on

 

talking bout quality....then...it should have less problems...sorry...but im still finding cracking cases or hardware failures on macs all over the internet..
you call that quality?

well at least premium laptops like fujitsu never had such case...

 

Of course, there's no problems at all with Windows hardware and casing..

 

Never is the most dangerous term you could've used. When it comes to mass production in the scale of millions, it is impossible to not have a single defect. Its human error, machine error, one way or another, there will be defects in the batch.

I'm sure there are MacBooks with cracked cases or hardware failures, but they do not represent the majority of notebooks out there. They most likely are on par with all manufacturers out there, probably under 1%. But when you sell millions of notebooks, 1% means well over 10'000 notebooks, and when those customers complain, that's where you get the feeling of "Wow, everyone has this issue", but really its because the satisfied customers are too busy doing their thing to...not complain .

 

i never mentioned windows..you said dat....heheheheh

well...for such a 'hi-quality' laptop like mb/mbps...they should have checked more often to see if there are any defects...

lets say..those fake china mobiles..when they broke down..we said..ah..its not a problem..they're cheap anyways...nobody blames coz its not popular,cheap,and not-so-many-people bragged about their quality

but when you paid so much for a laptop that people believe it is high quality materials..blah blah blah..and you expect it to perform well as others...
when it broke down...people will try to find every single defect and said "who said..hi quality?"
hahahahah

 

You are missing the point. Even if they do multiple tests within those test there will be human/machine error. It might not occur much but when done millions of times those number adds up. In any case Apple care support are well known for the customer support and will probably replace it if it's a manufacturing error.

 

And you save money

 

Do you believe that Apple is alone here? Do you think Fujitsu has no defects? Do you think Lenovo Thinkpads have no defects? All human-created products have defects. Obviously there are defect Macs, and thankfully, Apple support is good about repairing and replacing them. Other manufacturers with terrible customer service sometimes refuse to acknowledge defects, that's even worse.

My point is, sure, Apple has defect Macs. I'm not sure what percentage of the total Macs produced are defects. But you are very wrong if you believe that only Apple does it.

Heck, there are defect Rolls Royce cars, if you're trying to say "high quality shouldn't have defects".

 

NO, what I was getting at is that for me, I find the Mac OS more stable and more intuitive. It's always been designed with non-techy users in mind.
I work for a university and we use mostly Wintel machines and Macs.
Even by percentage we experience a LOT more Wintel problems compared to the Macs.

In terms of what is better for business, it depends what business you are in.
That was much more true before Apple switched to Intel processors. With that switch Macs are now able to run both Mac OS and Windows. So, to me, it makes more business sense to a platform that can run the 2 most widely used operating systems compared to a Wintel machine that can only run Windows (the other esoteric OS's not with standing of course).

As far as why Windows machines out selling Mac's, and Windows machines being used by most buinesses, that's because most business's are more concerned with cost. Wintel machines can get the basic job done for most business's, so there is no need to spend extra for the Mac. However, that's because most business's don't do a total "over the lifetime" cost analysis to determine how much down time costs when Windows OS needs a specialist to repair, or how long it takes for a company like Dell, HP, Sony, etc... to respond to OS problems. Mac's cost more up front, but require less support.
That's what we've found. Yet, it's still a cost issue and low cost Wintel machines have the advantage when you're on a 3-4 year replacement cycle.

For me, as I said, I prefer the Mac as it realistically gives me 2 OS capabilities in one machine. What I can't run on one OS, I can run on the other natively. That's a very important benefit, for me.

 

Any product is prone to certain problems. I've owned BMW and now Audi. Both make outstanding products that most acknowledge are of premium quality in materials and workmanship. However, look at those cars forums and you'll find they too have trouble areas and problems, just any other car maker.

Not having any problems is a very unrealistic expectation. Also, most forums tend to have users who post when they have problems, very few post, "I'm not having any issues", unless it's in response to a thread about a problem.

So, yes, you'll read that Apple computers have problems too. The real question is, how likely are you to have problems. And, in the computer world, the other bigger question is, how stable and solid is the OS.
Mac OS is more stable, less prone to lock up, less prone to ancillary equipment incompatibility, less prone to setup problems such as driver issues, and MUCH less prone to virus's and worms, due to how the OS differs to Windows. Windows still have the issue of OS on top of BIOS.
The business world has simply come to accept that "computers are like that".
Well, that's not all true. Windows OS is like that much more so than Mac OS.
There is productivity loss and lots of money spent on keeping Windows platforms running due to their architecture.
The biggest example I can cite is the Y2K bug. Over a TRILLION dollars was spent worldwide to fix and become Y2K compliant. It put the business world in panic, and citizens even built "fall out' shelters, and stock piled food and water. All caused by Windows OS. Mac OS didn't have that problem.
It's an example of how the basis of Windows OS is faulty, and it's been an going band aid by Microsoft to keep it running.
I like Vista. XP wasn't bad after numerous and continual fixes to get it right.

 

I don't believe now is a great time to buy a MBP. Especially if you already have a previous gen MBP.

I think the right time will be quad core MBP's running snow leopard next year. I think the current MBP design is apple simply testing out the new form factor in anticipation of the new intel cpu architecture next year and the release of snow leopard.

 

Intel Nehalem should be ready by the time Snow Leopard's out, that will be a great upgrade!