[Closed] Talk me out of buying an Apple Laptop

Nope. I love mine. Do it, do it now.

Nothing comes close, just buy it.

They're overpriced fashion accessories bought by vain wannabees.

Any good ?

I have a windows laptop - I want an apple one, software works, fantastic battery life ...........

Not sure I'm helping!

Posting from my macbook, quirky t start with after years of windows use but bloody good.....

Moved from Windows to Mac just over a year ago, no complaints, would never go back.
Disclaimer - I own no other apple products and would never have am iPhone over android.
Mac plays brilliantly with everything on house, sonos and Android and chromecast, better than my windows laptop ever did.
Other than the price there is no reason not too.

Di2 doesnt play with Mac OS, yet.

That's it, really.

Ok I get the message Apple it is. John Lewis or Apple Store?

Apple store, there's very little difference in price I think. It's registered to you there and then with zero faff.

I've owned mine for a couple of years and it still baffles me.
To take a screen shot I have to google how to do it. It says press this ,that and shift key. WTF is the shift key?
So I have to google that.
Why not just right click and choose an option?
I wish the man who invented the iPad would wave his clever wand over the laptops.
Also what's the deal with Photo, iPhoto and pictures? Why not just have one?
I'm not a computer person and even looking stuff up frazzles my mind.
There's too much willy waving by computer people. Just make it so normal can use it without needing a ****ing degree in Star Trek.

Currys for me.

I'm glad it's not just me that finds the above... 🙂

but the pro notebooks don't seem to have obvious rivals - provided you can afford it..

No. The retina MacBook Pros are ideal machines.

Get as much RAM and storage as you can afford though. Well, depending on your file sizes.

Check out [url= http://buyersguide.macrumors.com ]Mac Rumors Buyer's Guide[/url] and consider delaying purchase until the release of El Capitan as it's possible Apple might release revised machines to go with it.

If you don't get a discount through where you work (worth checking), or through being in education then John Lewis. The price will be the same as the Apple Store. You'll get the [url= http://www.johnlewis.com/electricals/apple/c600002903?rdr=1 ]John Lewis 3 year guarantee[/url] in addition to Apple's very good general care, your statutory rights, and the additional protection you'll get when you buy using a credit card.

Having had both several times over I'm afraid the only downside to an Apple is the price.

John Lewis are offering a free 3 year guarantee at the mo so i would go with them.

@zippykona keyboard shortcuts are so neat though. I still remember the days with wired keyboards that had numeric pads at the right side for data entry. alt + ascii code would produce those hard to get symbols.

On the mac shift + command + 3 takes a screenshot. shift + command + 4 lets you select what you want to capture.

the only downside to an Apple is the price

C'mon, Apple, Mac's. Pads, Phones... shirley all end up with this...

[img] ?w=580[/img]

I'm a fanbouy, MacAir ... here.. It's most excellent.

On the mac shift + command + 3 takes a screenshot. shift + command + 4 lets you select what you want to capture.

Curry's are offering 10% cashback on MacBook so worth asking John Lewis to price match

@zippykona ah, does yours have ?(up arrow) on it? The traditional shift symbol. My current machine has 'shift' written on it (2015 model).

I have a MacBook Pro, bought in 2006 and still going. It's a bit slow when running Photoshop/Illustrator or CAD packages, so it's getting replaced soon, but it could still do a job for most people, which is pretty impressive for a nearly 9 year old laptop.

EDIT: Its had one replacement battery in that time.

Last Apple laptop I had, a small circuit board failed (the separate power board) - just outside warranty, so Apple wanted £650 to fix it.

Sold it as broken on eBay, got a ridiculous amount of money for it, bought a Windows laptop with the profit.

My gripes are probably aimed at all computers.I've spent 2 days trying to get a picture onto a poster.
One of our ladies in the shop used to do IT for Sotherbys and she can't work out how to do it!
Is there a handy print out for these short cuts and some sort of keyboard map?

[i]I have a windows laptop - I want an apple one, software works, fantastic battery life ...........[/i]

Maybe you should've bought a better Windows one, at half the price of an Apple laptop?

Would it really be so difficult to write SHIFT on the shift button?

If you don't know which is the SHIFT button on a keyboard should you be using a computer!? 😀

Do you get in a car and wonder how to drive it because the steering wheel doesn't have 'STEERING WHEEL' written on it.

as a long time windows user, ive recently converted to an imac, had it for 2 months now.
i can honestly say, none of the windows machines ive used have worked this well, even when new.
admittedly, none of the windows machines ive used cost as much to buy.
i wont go back.
still have an android phone that i use as a pure music device in the car, and an android tablet which now hardly gets used.
im not saying apple is perfect, but it is better imo.

If I had the money to not only afford one but not care that I'd be paying over the odds for what I'm getting I'd probably get a MacBook Pro myself, in the meantime I can manage perfectly fine with my Windows laptop and desktop

If you don't know which is the SHIFT button on a keyboard should you be using a computer!?

Nice pieces of kit, well built and extremely desirable. I understand they are reliable and most people claim to still be running theirs for years.

They are overpriced and overrated. I dont have an axe to grind I would have one tomorrow over the laptop I am writing this on however I wouldn't pay 3 times the price.

If you are flush with cash and like shiny things then go ahead. Dont expect it to perform any better than a good Windows laptop, just different. and if you Google "apple mac problems" you will get 43 million hits so just like Windows you will experience software problems. You pays your money and makes your choice.

I really don't see the point in spending double and getting the same functionality of everything else... the APIs are pointedly bad as a tactic to encourage selling (i.e. you're being fooled into overspend on an apple laptop because itunes doesn't work properly on non-apple kit..)

(FWIW I've had both)

allthepies - Member
They're overpriced fashion accessories bought by vain wannabees.

Any good ?

This.

I was a Mac user before it was cool, and to this day the main family computer is an iMac. In fact, I am writing this on a work-supplied iPad, and my iPhone 5 is in my pocket, so I am still immersed in the Apple world.

That said, I would never ever spend money of my own on a Apple product again. I mean, they're flipping TOOLS, not lifestyle accessories. If a person's life is improved by having a Mac, then they must not have had much of a life the first place.

I would get the cheapest thing that does the job you need doing and say to hell with the brand.

Would it really be so difficult to write SHIFT on the shift button?
I don't use a computer for a hobby

My current work laptop has Shift written on the keyboard, it even has backspace and return written on those keys! I dont think ive ever seen it written down since my old 486 keyboard. All my previous personal and work laptops and keyboards have never had anything other than the symbols.

definitely go for the mac.

i know they cost 2 or 3 times the price of a pc but the improvements to your facebooking will be life changing.

Would it really be so difficult to write SHIFT on the shift button?

iPad keyboards don't have "Shift" written on the shift button, yet...

No one taught me how to use an Ipad I just figured it out.

Back to the OP, if you are already absorbed in Apple infrastructure with iPads and iPhones there is a definite advantage in getting a Macbook too. A lot of what Apple do now is based around the user experience of having multiple devices with shared content.

That said, Apple make fabulous hardware but they are far from leaders when it comes to software. Their very intentional move to the consumer rather than pro market over the years has resulted in dumbed down software. It obviously suits people since they're hugely successful, but anyone who claims it all works perfectly 100% of the time and without frustration is either very lucky, not using it beyond the very very basics or deluded 🙂

Nothing wrong with wanting something because it looks nice, even at a significant premium. Just be sure it does what you want by giving it a trial run.

I would get the cheapest thing that does the job you need doing and say to hell with the brand.

careful! don't say that kind of thing on a STW car thread. or a watch thread. or... 😉

personally i'm a macbook user. i wouldn't call myself a fanbuoy, but i do think it's worth an extra £50 a year over the cost of a PC to never have to digest and act upon a sentence like this (from the Windows thread) :

You might find there's some form of ACPI / power management driver for it. Check with the PC / motherboard / chipset manufacturers. BIOS update might not hurt either.

And anyway - YMMV, but when i first switched to Mac around 2007 i discovered that if i placed any kind of monetary value on my time, the time savings in technical issues (i'm not a mega techy person) actually meant the Macbook worked out cheaper. So as I was self employed at the time, it was well worth it...

Hardware refresh due in chrispy towers.
always had self build windows desktops but going macbookpro this time as they are so preddy and shiny. the plan is to tap up a mate and get the full educational discount

Quite literally overpriced PCs in pretty cases. Just as well, as like many already do, you might end up running Windows on them anyway for compatibility or reliability reasons.

What sold me on a mac?

When I leave the office at 5pm I know I won't have to use Windows until 9am the next morning. Sheer bliss

That and I look like a complete boss sat in the local artisan coffee shop.... (jk). 😆

Seriously, I do not for a second regret switching from PC to Mac back in 2011. It just works, no faff.

I've got a Macbook Pro from 2010 and it's still my go to computer despite a nice shiny work laptop and a few tablets at home.

Works, looks and feels like it's 6 months old.

I do understand that a lot of people aren't always "computer experts." But the Shift key? Really? It's not exactly Apple being obscure.

[img] [/img]

It'll be the "Any" key next. (-:

Any Key 🙂

OP if budget is really a factor buy a Mac Mini or a used MacBook Pro / iMac or find a student to buy it through to save 10%

Based on your requirements do you really need a laptop/MacBook ?

As for Apple software they are so far ahead of the diabolical Microsoft dirge that most of us where stuck with for 20+ years, maybe it isn't the best but it's damn good and the updates are free and easy to do making sure you have the latest features without having to buy a new computer every few years. My 2009 Mini is still going strong

I do understand that a lot of people aren't always "computer experts." But the Shift key? Really? It's not exactly Apple being obscure.

heh. it made me chuckle for a second, although it's a useful reminder of the range of computer literacy that UI designers need to take into account. And in general, I find Apple to be much more hospitable to the complete novice than many PC developers.

But also (having stared out of the window and daydreamed for a second) it's quite interesting to see the development of 'the screenshot'. 10 or 15 years ago it didn't matter that you had to do CMD Shift 3 or whatever to do a screenshot; it was a reasonably niche function, and the kind of people who would want to use it would probably also be fairly technically literate.

But now in the phone/social media generation, people use screenshots all the time to share stuff on twitter/instagram, and since Apple made it so easy on the iphone, suddenly having a 3-key combo feels dated and unfriendly. Funny how things pan out 🙂

Get a PC with Win 10 as it is quality by all accounts a really good photo app built in.

Weird its just a computer if you want to pay over the odds for a brand fine, but don't tell me the 'just work'. Spent an entire day with a work colleague as his MacBook Pro fell over repeated, it ending in us swapping over to my Lenovo ThinkPad on Win7 which didn't.

I'd not talk anyone out of a purchase they wanted to make, but having got onto an SSD laptop at work I tried using my home latop and wanted to throw it in the bin.

Just bought a Lenovo yoga 2, 16gig of RAM, 256gig SSD, I7 chipset for £650 with a £100 cashback offer from Lenovo. It's been really nice to use to far and it's cool to be able to touch the screen as well as the keyboard if you want to.

A lot of people raving about Apple (but not everyone) are comparing their machines to Windows of several years ago.

the updates are free and easy to do making sure you have the latest features without having to buy a new computer every few years

Like Jambalaya here for instance. Talking out of his arse now but doesn't realise it 🙂

Windows is a lot better now, as are Windows PCs. Guy at work has a new slimline Lenovo and it's really very very nice indeed.

All the people saying PCs are "cheaper for the same thing" - can you give an example? Pic a current mac and comparable (spec & quality) pc?

I agree you can't get cheap macs (or very high end macs), but similarly high quality PCs are more money/no cheaper.

I'm in the market for a new machine, and seriously considered a PC but saving money isn't the reason, indeed I couldn't seem to for the sort of spec I'm after (fast-ish, 512Gb SSD, hiDPI screen).

(i know I know, I shouldn't feed the trolls)

All the people saying PCs are "cheaper for the same thing" - can you give an example?

Not quite the same remit but, how about http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/gaming-pc-1#post-7119520 - that's sub-£350 if you exclude the 'gaming' graphics card.

What's the cheapest Mac money can buy these days?

Lenovo Yoga's look really nice, with some really good features like touchscreen and dedicated number pads.

All the people saying PCs are "cheaper for the same thing" - can you give an example? Pic a current mac and comparable (spec & quality) pc?

What's the cheapest Mac money can buy these days?

well actually...

£358 for the bottom range Mac Mini with educational discount. Although by all accounts they're not that amazing, and i imagine the specs on that thing you quoted would comfortably beat it. Then again if you add the cost of getting someone to build it for you.... 😉

My wife recently got the mid-level Mac Mini though, was about £500, and finds it very good for her purposes (mainly photoshop / design)

£358 for the bottom range Mac Mini with educational discount.

And the fair high st price?

£399

Get a 2nd hand mac

Build a hackintosh, that's how I made the transition.

#geek

8)

Curry's are offering 10% cashback on MacBook so worth asking John Lewis to price match

They won't. Asked last week.

typing this on my 3 month old macbook. LOVE IT. 3rd mac laptop in 10 years, last one I had from 2008. this thing is so small and light it makes my wife's macbook air look clunky. buy buy buy!

My iMac wouldn't recognise my iPod Photo (but my windows machine would), the CPU was rendered redundant three months after I bought it and is not supported (no OSX), and the power adapter failed - a known fault. It was the last mac computer I bought. This from someone who paid £1300 for a macINTOSH computer when nobody wanted one.

Reconditioned Lenovo laptops for me now. Fantastic build quality for very little money. Fine tools for a job, as opposed to a "statement". And I'm impressed with Windows 10 - in fact everything since 7 has been fine.

A lot of people raving about Apple (but not everyone) are comparing their machines to Windows of several years ago.

A fair point. Luckily there's a Windows 10 thread to support getting a Mac. 😆