Macbook Pro: Consumer or Business

Would you consider the Macbook Pro as either a consumer notebook, or a business notebook?

Consumer being:
Dell's XPS
HP's Pavilion

Business being:
IBM's Thinkpad
HP's HP-Compaq business
Dell's Latitude

 

It's a high-end consumer class notebook.

 

I would put it somewhere in-between.

 

Superman, durr~~~!!

 

I'd say it's both, really...

 

Dude, in a notebook world, macbook pros are on their own separate category

Consumer, Business, Mac

 

Consumer me thinks

 

Just asking since I've seen a bunch of Macbook Pros in the film and television industry.

I guess it really does fall under a different category.

I like to think of it this way:

Consumer -
iMac -> Macbook

Business -
Mac Pro -> Macbook Pro

 

they get to do the cool creative business side of things, and are starting to become more prevalent in science, etc.

any creative business.

 

I'd think its prosumer.

 

According to Janet from Apple's store chat:

 

I bet if you asked her if it were a good computer, she would say yes. And then if you asked if you should buy one, no seven, she would also say yes.

 

Let's see you ask then.

 

Can be considered as business class notebook though its design towards consumer class. Macbook Pro comes with very fast C2D processor (2.2GHz and up), decent GPU and build quality also is thin and light.

 

Does it really matter? For years I suppose maybe it did, when business notebooks were better built. Lately however, I would say there is little difference in the build quality of a good consumer notebook versus a business notebook.

 

The real question here is: what qualities in a notebook are desired for an application in business?

I would say that depending on the business at hand, the macbook pro could fit in well.

Anything in the arts: such as film, photography, music.

I use my mac for engineering. All the software I use at the moment is cross platform and works perfectly in OSX. To be honest, I was a little surprised. I expected to have to use windows to get some things working properly. I'm clean so far. Anyway, the macbook pro is very sleek and professional looking and that was important to me due to the serious nature of the classes I take.

 

It's both for me. Consumer when I surf, play, whatever and Business when I work...

 

I'd say its in between. Its kind of like the iPhone...a really fashionable, media-oriented smartphone. The MBP is a really fashionable, media-oriented professional notebook. Not in the same degree as a Thinkpad or Dell Latitude, but kind of in between. You can use it as a consumer notebook, but at the same time you wouldn't be looked at awkwardly as if you brought in an iBook G3 into the meeting if you used it as a business notebook.

Here's the iBook G3, if anyone's wondering : http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Clamshell_iBook_G3.jpg

 

Haha what were they thinking with that iBook G3?

 

Ahhh the good ole toilet seat!

 

I agree. It is missing too many things to be considered a true business notebook such as an internal modem, standard minimum 1 year warranty and service, onsite service option, number pad on 17 inch, VGA port, spill-proof keyboard, and probably some other stuff.

 

No need to open up old wounds like the iBook! It pains me to look at it. There's no other way to describe it.. but as.... fugly.

 

Hey, at least the iBook G3 was innovative! The first notebook to have wireless networking.

 

its both. the reason i am buying one is really for design. I am a game designer. Not programmer. Macs seem to have a more designer feel to them. Honestly its both. Macs are great for creativity.

 

Like when you carry around a Thinkpad you feel all business-y?

 

Touché! .

 

...such as an internal WWAN option, fingerprint reader, docking port/station... more compact size.

I'd say the MBP is designed for creative professionals (graphic designers, etc.) and anyone else (consumers) who wants a high-end Mac laptop.

 

LOL. I never carried around one of those. But yeah i guess like that.

 

It's a consumer laptop. If you ever consider the cost of buying 200 and integrating them into existing infracture, you would definitely consider something with a more economical tech support package and cheaper for the same quality and hardware.

 

I'd agree that "professionals" probably would be suited to use the MBP, but a "business" notebook requires slightly higher standards that the MBP just doesn't meet. While a MBP certainly has nice battery life, is light, and good for many media creation industries, it lacks several features that have all become accepted as mainstays of business laptops: a sturdier chassis, WWAN, TPM, waterproof keyboard, docking station, fingerprint reader (eh), etc. The MBP has none of these features. Business laptops often offer an integrated graphics option and/or workstation graphic card options. The typical business lines - Latitude, Thinkpad, HP business laptops, etc. - all have these features.

On the other hand, I definitely wouldn't label it "consumer" class either - such as the Inspiron or HP consumer lines. Such labeling does the MBP a gross injustice since it is much more than that - just as one couldn't call a top-of-the-line Sony laptop a "consumer" laptop, or even the XPS line. A "high-end" consumer or "professional" notebook probably describes it best, but since it's rather unique at its market, I don't think people who buy it really even bother classifying it to any specific purpose.

 

I like the high-end consumer label. I like to call it the "luxury" class.

 

it is really heard to say if the macbook pro is either a business or consumer. i personally would say consumers because i dont think you would really the mac os in business. business' needs a os that can run under a linux or a windows based server. so i am pretty sure it can characterized as a consumers

 

Not exactly...it does depend on what business. I mean, Macs are pretty dominant in the entertainment industry and design industry, so that's where it dominates in business. In other areas, Macs usually don't show up. Also, Mac OS X Server is actually gaining a growing share of the server market.

 

yeah it is definitely not a traditional business notebook in the sense that traditional "business" notebooks are for nothing really but basic number crunching and boring things like that. and as already mentioned, these type of notebooks tend to have a pretty basic pricing standard as well.

but it is definitely a high end business and specific business type of machine, Apple does work with a lot of schools and businesses specifically for this reason.

all those little add ons that people are bringing up are pretty insignificant in my opinion, it is more about the main package.

business in the sense that some IT department is going to buy a massive amount for employees that aren't even significantly capable, no. but in the sense of smaller businesses that have individuals that have very specific needs and know what they want, absolutely.

sense the business world is one strongly influenced by Windows at this point, with Linux and Mac being used in specific instances, it is not unexpected.

but I guarantee you the business being done on Apple machines is much more interesting! ^_^

 

Well, I think the key things in a business notebook are portability (long battery life), ability to use a docking station, and good build quality.
They also tend to cut out extras, such as multimedia buttons and what not.

Just my thoughts on what business notebooks are to me. MBP is somewhat in there.

 

i agree with hollownail.