Which one should I get the Macbook vs. Macbook Pro (2015)?

[Bigeric23]

I ran into a similar situation about a week ago. I decided on the new Lenovo LaVie Z 360 and before you jump on me, hear me out. I got OSX and Android running on it. It's lighter than the MacBook, is only 1.5mm thicker, it's as powerful as the MacBook Pro 13 as it has an i7 5500U CPU, 13.3" QHD, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 2 USB 3.0, HDMI and SD Card. Since it has the same functionality as a Yoga the keyboard flips around turning it into a tablet, that's where Android comes into play and it works quite well. It actually feels like a real tablet to because of how light and thin it is. OSX, I got the touchscreen to function and as far as I can see everything else is running perfectly as well. If you connected a monitor and a Mac Keyboard/mouse to the Lenovo LaVie and than hid it from site, anyone using it wouldn't be able to tell that they weren't using a Mac. This thing is absolutely incredible and frankly is a lot more revolutionary than Apple claims the MacBook to be as you actually have ports and a decent CPU. So now I have my iMac for home and while I'm out and about a Hackintoshed LaVie. Tablets, an iPad Air II and Nexus 9. So I'm definitely finished with computers for a while.

Anyway, good luck with your decision, just know that if you want to run OSX, a MacBook isn't your only option. Seriously, I can't tell the difference between my iMac and Lenovo, they both run OSX exactly the same.

I'm glad you're happy with this setup; however, at the end of the day, it's not a true Mac. And I'm betting the customer service and resale value will not come close to that of a Mac, either. . . . Just my two cents.

 

[Bifurcated]

I'm really torn between the two myself.

All I really do is surf on the web, download and watch a lot of movies, and use Microsoft word.

So I'm probably good with the MacBook but just worried

I would normally agree with the consensus that the MacBook is fine, but I've been running the preview release of Word, and at times it brings my quad core MBP to its knees. This may all get fixed before release, but just something to think about.

 

[Channan]

I'm glad you're happy with this setup; however, at the end of the day, it's not a true Mac. And I'm betting the customer service and resale value will not come close to that of a Mac, either. . . . Just my two cents.

Being a "true Mac" doesn't really mean much if the OS runs well enough, unless you're trying to use your computer as a status symbol. Having Apple's customer service is a pretty nice perk, but the resale value won't matter as much with the regular MacBook because the computer he bought will last longer than the retina MacBook, considering the specs. I'd personally go for a Pro, but I can see the appeal of wanting all three OS's on a touchscreen laptop/tablet hybrid.

 

[Illmusiq]

I don't want to hijack this thread, but can you pm me the details for how you got this configuration?

 

[anon(4698833)]

I would normally agree with the consensus that the MacBook is fine, but I've been running the preview release of Word, and at times it brings my quad core MBP to its knees. This may all get fixed before release, but just something to think about.

You've got a problem with your machine then...my sister is running a 2010 model core 2 duo MBP and word doesn't even make it break a sweat. 8GB of RAM and running an SSD...that's it.

I could probably run every office product while using the programs I normally do for work (photoshop, illustrator, pages, sketchbook, etc) at the same time on my '12 i7 and still not push the processor "to it's knees" as you so eloquently put it.

 

[Robster33]

I'm doing a lot of research on the new Macbook vs. the Macbook Pro (2015). I do a bit of graphics work (Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.), and am torn between the specs of the new Macbook vs the 13" Macbook Pro.

Both price-wise are identical. The SSD drive is double the size on the Macbook... However most other specs are beefier on the Macbook Pro. The only other pro of the new Macbook is the design and portability of the unit itself. It is just so slim, lightweight, and portable.

What are your thoughts on this? For the $, is the Macbook Pro still the way to go? I realize the MBP still has a lot of the inputs I'd probably need as well... just looking for some honest feedback here!

Thanks!

I sold my early 2013 15" MBPr base model and have been running with a 1.2/512gb rMB for 3 weeks, for re sale its best to sell around the 2 year mark, i got $1600 back new price was $2,200. So after selling fees and tax claimed cost me $600 for 2 years use. This will be my main machine until a 21" iMac retina comes maybe.
I wouldn't buy a Apple macbook again unless it had the same keyboard and force touchpad as the rMB. Hate using my wife's 13" MBPr seems so clunky and outdated.

 

[Bifurcated]

You've got a problem with your machine then...my sister is running a 2010 model core 2 duo MBP and word doesn't even make it break a sweat. 8GB of RAM and running an SSD...that's it.

And is your sister running the pre-release of Word 2016?

Word 2011 runs fine. Word 2016 is much, much more resource-intensive.

It may improve before release (it already has), but like I said, it's something to think about.

 

[anon(4698833)]

And is your sister running the pre-release of Word 2016?

Word 2011 runs fine. Word 2016 is much, much more resource-intensive.

It may improve before release (it already has), but like I said, it's something to think about.

It's an inefficient pre-release for god's sake...what do you expect?

Microsoft office '11 needed patches consistently when it first came out because of how lazily the programs were configured for OS X...had nothing to do with Apple's hardware being underpowered. Why would you imply that a person should keep such information in mind when considering one of these machines based on the performance of a pre-release piece of software running poorly?

 

[Bifurcated]

It's an inefficient pre-release for god's sake...what do you expect?

Sean, I'm going to be honest and say that over our various interactions on this forum, I have found you to be aggressive and rude. Maybe that's not you in real life, just how you come over in internet forums. So in the future, I'd appreciate it if you could try for a style that's a little less hostile.

In any case, I think it's a good bet that Office 2016 will be more resource intensive than Office 2011. Like I said in all of my posts above, performance may improve before release. But it's worth knowing that as of today, the performance of Word 2016 on a MBP is not great. It's just a datapoint. Data helps people make decisions.

 

[anon(4698833)]

Sean, I'm going to be honest and say that over our various interactions on this forum, I have found you to be aggressive and rude. Maybe that's not you in real life, just how you come over in internet forums. So in the future, I'd appreciate it if you could try for a style that's a little less hostile.

In any case, I think it's a good bet that Office 2016 will be more resource intensive than Office 2011. Like I said in all of my posts above, performance may improve before release. But it's worth knowing that as of today, the performance of Word 2016 on a MBP is not great. It's just a datapoint. Data helps people make decisions.

My advice to you would be to avoid taking things personally...other than that, I couldn't really care less if you find me hostile or not. If it bothers you so badly, block me.

In regards to your "data points", basing them on pre-release alphas or betas is just asinine. It does not represent the hardware fairly at all, and puts a skewed idea into the heads of a potential buyer because you're assigning early build software hiccups to final build hardware. If you can't see the absurdity in that, I don't know what else to tell you.