[de_monies]

(Original post by LilcompT)
Not a fan of apple products but still brought a MBP under student discount and to be honest its working pretty well. If you have the funds dont think twice, just buy it!

Your username is so ironic now. I can't see why the hell you'd get a MBP, when there are better laptops at half the price

[de_monies]

(Original post by mike101)
You can buy something, like suggested, that at first glance appears better than a MBP at half the price, but you won't be still using it when you graduate.

An genuinely equivalent windows laptop generally costs about the same as the mac stuff. The whole apple range is not expensive when compared fairly, they just don't make low end products.

You make the claim. You provide proof. Show me an equivalent laptop that costs about the same

[Jacoustic]

(Original post by WelshBluebird)
Not if you are a student.
If you buy from the educational store, the warranty is 3 years.



And for those people who value weight and portability, a lot would think the 1kg saved is worth it.



Not true at all.



More risky? Bullcrap.

It's simple logic buddy, it's more risky as it costs more. If you have a ton of cash then the risk is less. Get what I'm saying?

[Isometrix]

Had my macbook for almost 3 years now. I think i'll be selling it this summer because the specs are slightly behind, and ever since I installed Lion it has slightly slowed down.

Anyway I'll probably use the money (should get around £400) to buy a windows laptop, simply because for the same level of specs you're getting a cheaper machine. Don't get me wrong, the mac interface and user customisation is fantastic. It really is a "different experience", but when you really think about it it's just a massive hype.

P.S. don't have anything against apple, still have an iphone which won't be going anywhere

[zara55]

(Original post by Joseppea)


It's annoying when people criticise you for owning a Mac, it's your money, so it's your decision/fault what happens to it!

[1] I say '99%' but yeah, I didn't come across any statistical analysis of MacBook returns, and my 'research' consisted of mostly Googling and being persuaded by, perhaps biased, friends who also own MacBooks.

There seems to be a "thing" on TSR of being against MacBook owners on the grounds that they are "spoilt rich", "stupid and misled" or "victims of Apple hype". None of these stereotypes are accurate. For sure, some students who have MacBooks have them as gifts from well-off parents or have seen ads, but there are loads more who have done a job and earned the money, done without something else, etc and there are loads who have carefully looked into it, read a lot about the different options and chosen it carefully.

[LilcompT]

(Original post by de_monies)
Your username is so ironic now. I can't see why the hell you'd get a MBP, when there are better laptops at half the price

Yet you fail to realise that even when there are laptops at half the price Macbook (Pro & air) will continue to sell regardless. I brought a mac so that I could use applicatons such as Logic Pro, even then I don't use OSX that much instead use windows which of course I have installed via bootcamp.

And to reduce your irony i'm more into desktop, hence having built my own PC and several others. The OP wanted a recommendation, and I gave my recommendation, the final choice is the OP's.

[alexs2602]

(Original post by zara55)
There seems to be a "thing" on TSR of being against MacBook owners on the grounds that they are "spoilt rich", "stupid and misled" or "victims of Apple hype". None of these stereotypes are accurate. For sure, some students who have MacBooks have them as gifts from well-off parents or have seen ads, but there are loads more who have done a job and earned the money, done without something else, etc and there are loads who have carefully looked into it, read a lot about the different options and chosen it carefully.

No, no, no, the 'stereotypes' are accurate. Very few people know much about computers and that includes most people who own macbooks. Accept it and get over it. I know plenty of people with macbook pros and I don't think not one of them actually properly looked into it, off the top of my head. Most people who know something about computers think there's very few reasons to choose a macbook pro and I can bet you that a significant portion of actual owners don't fit into this category.

Want to prove me wrong? Then tell me why you got it.


Edit: I'm going to add to this. £138 for a total of 8GB of RAM(on top of the cost they've already built into the price for 4GB alone, so £138 for 4Gb additional RAM in other words)? Are you kidding me? It cost me £100 less than that for 8GB of RAM by itself. There's only one hard drive option that's only kinda... semi... not really realistic. The rest cost way more than they are individually in the shops.


You're welcome.

[de_monies]

(Original post by LilcompT)
Yet you fail to realise that even when there are laptops at half the price Macbook (Pro & air) will continue to sell regardless.

Um, I realise that, and perhaps people purchasing those realise that they're getting better value for money than spending money on Apple products

(Original post by LilcompT)
I brought a mac so that I could use applicatons such as Logic Pro, even then I don't use OSX that much instead use windows which of course I have installed via bootcamp.

That is a legitimate use for a Macintosh, but apart from compatible software, Macs don't really have any thing over other computers

(Original post by LilcompT)
And to reduce your irony i'm more into desktop, hence having built my own PC and several others. The OP wanted a recommendation, and I gave my recommendation, the final choice is the OP's.

Then why not recommend a PC?

(Original post by zara55)
There seems to be a "thing" on TSR of being against MacBook owners on the grounds that they are "spoilt rich"

I have nothing against people having money, but when someone asks on a forum whether a Macbook is worth it, I'll tell them that largely it isn't, unless you can get it stupidly discounted. For the majority, they're overpriced

(Original post by zara55)
, "stupid and misled" or "victims of Apple hype".
None of these stereotypes are accurate.

Seems to be the case for most of the Mac users that I meet. There are some that genuinely need a Mac ie: art students etc....

(Original post by zara55)
For sure, some students who have MacBooks have them as gifts from well-off parents or have seen ads, but there are loads more who have done a job and earned the money, done without something else, etc

That still doesn't mean that they are worth the money

(Original post by zara55)
and there are loads who have carefully looked into it, read a lot about the different options and chosen it carefully.

I doubt it, when they tend to be overpriced for what they offer. I've never found a person who really knows about computers, and who then owns a Mac

[de_monies]

(Original post by alexs2602)
No, no, no, the 'stereotypes' are accurate. Very few people know much about computers and that includes most people who own macbooks. Accept it and get over it. I know plenty of people with macbook pros and I don't think not one of them actually properly looked into it, off the top of my head. Most people who know something about computers think there's very few reasons to choose a macbook pro and I can bet you that a significant portion of actual owners don't fit into this category.

Want to prove me wrong? Then tell me why you got it.

This. Most computer users will simply go in to the store, find something that's within their budget and see "Oh this looks shiny, and looks nice so this is better" I've seen it happen before in the shops ie: someone has seen a £500 laptop, which happened to look better and they were contemplating buying it, and there was a £430 laptop next to it with better or the same specs, and they were genuinely discussing buying the £500 laptop over the £430 one

IIRC, they were both quality brands, so it wasn't like comparing Asus to emachines etc... it was more like comparing Samsung to HP. I can't quite remember the brand name

It's also annoying having to prove things to people who don't know computers ie: my relatives. They got a desktop PC, with a monitor for £80 which was a bargain. They decided that they didn't want it after around 2 weeks and I said fine I'll sell the monitor for you. So I sell the monitor and get around £25-£30 after eBay take some fees, knowing full well that 17" monitors like that one go for around £45-£50 on eBay now and if you sell it you've got to post it, pay fees etc...

I also knew that the desktop should go for around £160. I sold the monitor, and they were outraged, where they said that "the monitor is like an engine of the car. If you take away the engine, the rest of the car doesn't function" when in reality it would be more like driving a car blind, but being able to control it remotely

This particular relative has a habit of "He who shouts loudest, wins"

That PC is now just decreasing in value day by day, and I had to cancel the sale and basically be really polite to the buyer and hope that they didn't give me bad feedback (they didn't)), and I didn't send the monitor in the end. Now the whole lot stays with them. I mean if they listened to me, they would have made some money on the desktop as well

tl;dr. People think they know about computers, when in reality most people do not

[alexs2602]

(Original post by de_monies)
This. Most computer users will simply go in to the store, find something that's within their budget and see "Oh this looks shiny, and looks nice so this is better" I've seen it happen before in the shops ie: someone has seen a £500 laptop, which happened to look better and they were contemplating buying it, and there was a £430 laptop next to it with better or the same specs, and they were genuinely discussing buying the £500 laptop over the £430 one

IIRC, they were both quality brands, so it wasn't like comparing Asus to emachines etc... it was more like comparing Samsung to HP. I can't quite remember the brand name

I also added more to that post after popping on to the apple site. My God, it's a ripoff.

Speaking as someone who remembers being clueless about computers, I remember looking at computers in shops and just being absolutely befuddled. There used to be all these strings of numbers and it used to mean nothing to me. And until you spend time on a computer forum you're unlikely to understand it. This is most people. They don't know about generations of processors, manufacturers, speeds, RAM, storage, anything really. It's just like looking at some unknown language and thinking vaguely, "Well, this sounds/looks good, lets get it."

[de_monies]

(Original post by alexs2602)
I also added more to that post after popping on to the apple site. My God, it's a ripoff.

Speaking as someone who remembers being clueless about computers, I remember looking at computers in shops and just being absolutely befuddled. There used to be all these strings of numbers and it used to mean nothing to me. And until you spend time on a computer forum you're unlikely to understand it. This is most people. They don't know about generations of processors, manufacturers, speeds, RAM, storage, anything really. It's just like looking at some unknown language and thinking vaguely, "Well, this sounds/looks good, lets get it."

Indeed, and speaking for myself, I know absolutely nothing about cars, and if I list my requirements, I'm likely to get ripped off if I went and bought a car myself, but if I asked people who know about cars and who then tell me what to get based on reliability, looks, mpg, fuel costs, insurance costs, other costs etc.. and then someone who says "Get this particular model of BMW because it looks nice and shiny" - nothing against BMW's. It's just the first thing that came in my head, where the majority are saying "Get this Lexus" or words to that effect because of x,y and z then it's highly likely that the Lexus is going to be better based on users opinions

Again, I don't really know about either brands. They're two brands that came in to my head first

[alexs2602]

(Original post by de_monies)
Indeed, and speaking for myself, I know absolutely nothing about cars, and if I list my requirements, I'm likely to get ripped off if I went and bought a car myself, but if I asked people who know about cars and who then tell me what to get based on reliability, looks, mpg, fuel costs, insurance costs, other costs etc.. and then someone who says "Get this particular model of BMW because it looks nice and shiny" - nothing against BMW's. It's just the first thing that came in my head, where the majority are saying "Get this Lexus" or words to that effect because of x,y and z then it's highly likely that the Lexus is going to be better based on users opinions

Again, I don't really know about either brands. They're two brands that came in to my head first

Maybe the housing/case is good, and maybe the OS is intuitive and good for some things but unless the price is a drop in the ocean for you or the OS is something you need for video editing, artsy stuff, music then there's no point in getting it. But is it really worth several hundred quid for those two things? For most people?

I looked at a iMac on there. It cost £1800 give or take and I know people who can, and have, made computers just as good or better for about £1000 I'd say, maybe less. I haven't had the need to keep up with component pricings for 3 months so may be a bit outdated.

Edit: Sorry, knew I missed something out here. Changes in italics.

[JAlexander91]

Get the dell xps 15z. Similar build quality. Ebay has new ones for 1000. Better specs.

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my GT-I9100

[alexs2602]

(Original post by de_monies)
It's also annoying having to prove things to people who don't know computers ie: my relatives. They got a desktop PC, with a monitor for £80 which was a bargain. They decided that they didn't want it after around 2 weeks and I said fine I'll sell the monitor for you. So I sell the monitor and get around £25-£30 after eBay take some fees, knowing full well that 17" monitors like that one go for around £45-£50 on eBay now and if you sell it you've got to post it, pay fees etc...

I also knew that the desktop should go for around £160. I sold the monitor, and they were outraged, where they said that "the monitor is like an engine of the car. If you take away the engine, the rest of the car doesn't function" when in reality it would be more like driving a car blind, but being able to control it remotely

This particular relative has a habit of "He who shouts loudest, wins"

That PC is now just decreasing in value day by day, and I had to cancel the sale and basically be really polite to the buyer and hope that they didn't give me bad feedback (they didn't)), and I didn't send the monitor in the end. Now the whole lot stays with them. I mean if they listened to me, they would have made some money on the desktop as well

tl;dr. People think they know about computers, when in reality most people do not

Oh, I hate those people. I've got one person in mind in particular when I think about that. It's not quite the same but this person couldnt even install a printer by themselves and tried to make out I knew less than them another time when we were talking about iphones, I think it was, or perhaps macbook pros. And it was definitely a case of he(or she) who shouts loudest wins.

[Joseppea]

(Original post by alexs2602)
No, no, no, the 'stereotypes' are accurate. Very few people know much about computers and that includes most people who own macbooks. Accept it and get over it. I know plenty of people with macbook pros and I don't think not one of them actually properly looked into it, off the top of my head. Most people who know something about computers think there's very few reasons to choose a macbook pro and I can bet you that a significant portion of actual owners don't fit into this category.

Want to prove me wrong? Then tell me why you got it.


Edit: I'm going to add to this. £138 for a total of 8GB of RAM(on top of the cost they've already built into the price for 4GB alone, so £138 for 4Gb additional RAM in other words)? Are you kidding me? It cost me £100 less than that for 8GB of RAM by itself. There's only one hard drive option that's only kinda... semi... not really realistic. The rest cost way more than they are individually in the shops.


You're welcome.

I understand why people are so against buying them at RRP from the Apple store, hence why I shopped around alot before getting mine.

Anyway I bought mine because:
- it is portable (like every 13" laptop is)
- it's robust but lightweight at the same time (eliminating some of those bricks of laptops that are still around in places)
- has amazing battery life without size, memory or processor being compromised.
- my last pc died almost instantly when bought brand new, whilst this isn't representative of all PCs (I've always used PCs) it is a bit annoying.
- depreciation is much less significant than PCs, so in the long term I'll be able to regain some of the money I spent, rather than trying to flog a write-off PC 4 years down the line.
- the processor intel core i5 was pretty impressive compared to similarly priced and or specced computers, with regards to battery life and portability.
- in my spare time I do graphic design/illustration, whilst my (hand-built) PC can handle this, it doesn't rival the capabilities of my MacBook for it.
- the OS is just nicer to use, I know, a very poor argument for it, but it makes using it and doing work on it much more enjoyable.
- not having to install drivers for my oldish phone and printer is pretty handy.
- I can always upgrade the RAM to 8GB if need be, though this isn't necessary unless I'm planning on running a ridiculous number of programmes.
- the graphics card is capable enough for my gaming needs, anything particularly graphics intensive I just get for the PS3 instead.
- the whole 'fewer' viruses thing is, whilst a non-argument when free virus scanners such as AVG for windows exist, another bonus.
- it boots up much quicker than my PC (which has 3Ghz processor and other fairly decent specs) which is handy for writing stuff up in short breaks.
- and it has/does anything else windows can, e.g. Decent webcam, touchpad, backlit keyboard.

Ooh and it cost me £600 for a (pretty much brand new) 2011 Feb model.

Dont get me wrong, it's incredibly expensive to buy it from Apple directly, and even I wind up my friend about it who bought one from them. But having a go at and saying that MacBook owners are essentially a bit dim is pretty irritating, but I think anyone would struggle to find a better or equivalent PC (with the same criteria wrt battery life, portability etc.) that will outlive a MacBook pro for £600. (Well, £630 but they refunded me the £30 for the charger as it needed a slight fix).

[alexs2602]

(Original post by Joseppea)


I understand why people are so against buying them at RRP from the Apple store, hence why I shopped around alot before getting mine.

Anyway I bought mine because:
- it is portable (like every 13" laptop is)
- it's robust but lightweight at the same time (eliminating some of those bricks of laptops that are still around in places)
- has amazing battery life without size, memory or processor being compromised.
- my last pc died almost instantly when bought brand new, whilst this isn't representative of all PCs (I've always used PCs) it is a bit annoying.
- depreciation is much less significant than PCs, so in the long term I'll be able to regain some of the money I spent, rather than trying to flog a write-off PC 4 years down the line.
- the processor intel core i5 was pretty impressive compared to similarly priced and or specked computers, with regards to battery life and portability.
- in my spare time I do graphic design/illustration, whilst my (hand-built) PC can handle this, it doesn't rival the capabilities of my MacBook for it.
- the OS is just nicer to use, I know, a very poor argument for it, but it make using it an doing work on it much more enjoyable.
- not having to install drivers for my pretty old phone and printer is pretty handy.
- I can always upgrade the RAM to 8GB if need be, though this isn't necessary unless I'm planning on running a ridiculous number of programmes.
- the graphics card is capable enough for my gaming needs, anything particularly graphics intensive I just get for the PS3 instead.
- the whole 'fewer' viruses thing is, whilst a non-argument when free virus scanners such as AVG for windows exist, another bonus.
- it boots up much quicker than my PC (which has 3Ghz processor and top specs) which is handy for writing stuff up in short breaks.
- and it has/does anything else windows can, e.g. Decent webcam, touchpad, backlit keyboard.

Ooh and it cost me £600 for a (pretty much brand new) 2011 Feb model.

Dont get me wrong, it's incredibly expensive to buy it from Apple directly, and even I wind up my friend about it who bought it from them. But having a go and saying that MacBook owners are essentially a bit dim is pretty irritating, but I think anyone would struggle to find a better or equivalent PC (with the same criteria wrt battery life, portability etc.) that will outlive a MacBook pro for £600. (Well, £630 but they refunded me the money for the charger as it needed a slight fix).

Hey, you did the research and didn't pay the full price. I've nothing against you but most people aren't you, I'm sure you'll agree.

Seems a relatively good list of reasons but at the same time that might not be for everyone or there are other computers/laptops that do the same job. I'm curious about whether yours has a SSD. SSDs can make a huge difference, so if you had one it'd make sense. I do have some issues with your list but nothing major. To be honest none of them would sway me personally into getting one if i had the money really. Well, not unless I had a bit of cash to spare and I needed a laptop and found it at a good price. But that's unlikely for the next 4 years lets say. If I needed something portable I could always pick up a netbook for the mean time.

[LilcompT]

(Original post by de_monies)

Then why not recommend a PC?

Well since the OP is thinking about getting a MBP for uni i'm assuming the OP has the necessary funds to buy a MBP, and tbh why not? Its light, looks nice its specification are good (though a laptop half the price could destory the MBP in terms of specs) it still performs the way it should. Given that yes its farily expensive its still worth buying.

Hey, i'm just giving my recommendation i'm not a fanboy or anything like that. I've had the MBP for almost year is so far its serving me good, hence my recommendation.

[de_monies]

(Original post by alexs2602)
Oh, I hate those people. I've got one person in mind in particular when I think about that. It's not quite the same but this person couldnt even install a printer by themselves and tried to make out I knew less than them another time when we were talking about iphones, I think it was, or perhaps macbook pros. And it was definitely a case of he(or she) who shouts loudest wins.

Well, I suppose with this particular relative, I "won" in the end, because I didn't sell their desktop for them - they wanted me to sell every part of the system - desktop, monitor,keyboards and speaker and I offered to sell it on a no commission basis, so they've lost out in the long run; not me

[alexs2602]

(Original post by de_monies)
Well, I suppose with this particular relative, I "won" in the end, because I didn't sell their desktop for them - they wanted me to sell every part of the system - desktop, monitor,keyboards and speaker and I offered to sell it on a no commission basis, so they've lost out in the long run; not me

True, true. Some people will never learn.

[Joseppea]

(Original post by alexs2602)
Hey, you did the research and didn't pay the full price. I've nothing against you but most people aren't you, I'm sure you'll agree.

Seems a relatively good list of reasons but at the same time that might not be for everyone or there are other computers/laptops that do the same job. I'm curious about whether yours has a SSD. SSDs can make a huge difference, so if you had one it'd make sense. I do have some issues with your list but nothing major. To be honest none of them would sway me personally into getting one if i had the money really. Well, not unless I had a bit of cash to spare and I needed a laptop and found it at a good price. But that's unlikely for the next 4 years lets say. If I needed something portable I could always pick up a netbook for the mean time.

Pssh, just felt the need to make my point :L
Nah it doesn't have a(n) SSD, they're pretty awesome but I'm satisfied with my archaic little spinning disk. :P when I do end up getting a new laptop in many years time (after saving up again!) then SSDs will be even more advanced and I'll definitely get a laptop containing one, whether that's an apple one or not...

It annoys me how much people care about it though, ultimately - windows, mac, Linux - they're laptops, they all do the same thing, providing you're not wasting insane amounts of money on something -just- for the brand then I have no qualms about what people buy. People who don't research and buy MacBooks for silly money annoy me, equally as much as those who claim PCs are the best and only option. :P