I've been in the process of researching the MacBook Pro for several months. I fully intend to buy a new MacBook Pro this semester for school however, before i made the decision, I wanted to do some research on it. I've asked on here, read articles, forums, talked to reps, and used them myself over the last 6 months in order to make an educated decision. The last laptop I bought I originally wanted a MacBook but ended up getting an Hp because it was half the price with only slightly less specs. So why did I want a MacBook before? I heard it was good. However I also heard HP was good and while it was better than my last laptop, it still wasn't what I wanted. It was heavy, the battery didn't last and it was pretty thick. The hardware also was wearing out early. I went through 4 chargers and a battery in 3 years. It ran ok. Similar to any windows pc at the time. My laptop before it as a dell and I also bought that because it also was supposed to be good... THAT was a mistake......
This time around I did tons of research. I could care less who makes a product as long as it works the way I want it. In much of the research, I found many responses from apple hatters about how your just paying for a name and you can get an equally sieved computer for so much less. Many of them went on to call apple computer buyers in educated or computer illiterate. Doing my research I know this is not the case but I was curious about pricing. Is it worth it?
We can go on and on about opinions and specs and features but in the end opinions don't matter, facts do.
I went on to look up hp, dell, asus, sony and lenova computers. (The supposed leading brands in pc's)
At first glance it's easy to see that equivalent basic specs on pc yeild cheaper PC's in most cases.
However lets move beyond processors memory and graphics. After all, computer manufactures use outside components for them! Let's look at ALL the specs.
I compared to the 15 i7 MacBook Pro
First I tried finding pc's that were thin like the MacBook Pro. This was a huge challenge and am still not sure if i could find a non-ultra book that's thin. Lenova had a thin performance laptop but I couldn't find the sizes (easier on go, dell and apple sites.) when I speced this laptop to be similar to the MacBook Pro it actual cost 2700. It did have a DVD drive and thumbprint reader but the processor was not as powerful as the MBP. This was the closest equivalent to a MacBook Pro I found. It had a backlit keyboard, flash storage and was supposedly thin and light. The resolution was HD
HP and dell did not seem to offer anything similar to the MBP. Their thin and light envy 15 was 1.1 inches thick. And I could not find one that offered flash storage. It also weighed 6 lb's for MBP equivalent basic specs.
All in all, my research showed that there was no true equivalent to a MBP. Most laptops are over an inch thick and between 5.5-6.5lb. Also many laptops still do not have backlit keyboards, magnetic charging cords, or accurate gesture pads (I tried several at best buy... Was not impressed).
The laptops I found or speced out cost around 1200 however they were thicker, heavier and not as solid feeling.
Lenova I did not see in person but was the only contender with both ratings and a similar product.
I have not taken the time to research this last part yet (but I'm sure you all can chime in)
I believe the following parts/features contribute to the high cost of the MacBook Pro
- size: it's .71 inches thick and about 4 and a half pounds yet it's got a unibody aluminum casing, and pretty good basic specs! There was definitely some engineering innovation in this design.
- flash memory: it's not cheap at all and the MacBook Pro I compared with had a 512gb SSD.
- backlit keyboard, small and simple magnetic charger, design: all these small things did contribute
- retina display: the display packs more pixels than and hd tv! It may not be as high of a ppi as iPads or galaxy phones but for a 15 laptop it's pretty damn good. It doesn't matter whether it's necessary or worth it to you as a price of technology, it's expensive.
Materials: the MacBook Pro uses a unibody aluminum design. This can cost more in manufacturing. Some other pc's did have this so I wouldn't contribute the cost of the pc too much more because of this but I'm sure it adds.
Lots of free software.: you can get office programs, picture editing, video editing, music editing and various PIM apps. All are good programs for most people. Comparatively windows has no free office. It's cheapest version is between 100-200 dollars. There are some free photo and video editing apps but you have to really look through them or buy a camera with them. PIM apps like outlook are available free as well but unless you have windows 8, they aren't that simple or streamlined. Also upgrades are possibly even free now which is awesome considering windows costs a lot to upgrade for just one pc!!
Now the important thing to remember is that ultimately it's what YOU find worthy. However with all the features specs, materials and design that goes into the MacBook Pro, I believe the price is fair for what you get. Not based on my opinion of how the system works (I don't own one yet!!) but on the actual hardware and software provided.
This time around I did tons of research. I could care less who makes a product as long as it works the way I want it. In much of the research, I found many responses from apple hatters about how your just paying for a name and you can get an equally sieved computer for so much less. Many of them went on to call apple computer buyers in educated or computer illiterate. Doing my research I know this is not the case but I was curious about pricing. Is it worth it?
We can go on and on about opinions and specs and features but in the end opinions don't matter, facts do.
I went on to look up hp, dell, asus, sony and lenova computers. (The supposed leading brands in pc's)
At first glance it's easy to see that equivalent basic specs on pc yeild cheaper PC's in most cases.
However lets move beyond processors memory and graphics. After all, computer manufactures use outside components for them! Let's look at ALL the specs.
I compared to the 15 i7 MacBook Pro
First I tried finding pc's that were thin like the MacBook Pro. This was a huge challenge and am still not sure if i could find a non-ultra book that's thin. Lenova had a thin performance laptop but I couldn't find the sizes (easier on go, dell and apple sites.) when I speced this laptop to be similar to the MacBook Pro it actual cost 2700. It did have a DVD drive and thumbprint reader but the processor was not as powerful as the MBP. This was the closest equivalent to a MacBook Pro I found. It had a backlit keyboard, flash storage and was supposedly thin and light. The resolution was HD
HP and dell did not seem to offer anything similar to the MBP. Their thin and light envy 15 was 1.1 inches thick. And I could not find one that offered flash storage. It also weighed 6 lb's for MBP equivalent basic specs.
All in all, my research showed that there was no true equivalent to a MBP. Most laptops are over an inch thick and between 5.5-6.5lb. Also many laptops still do not have backlit keyboards, magnetic charging cords, or accurate gesture pads (I tried several at best buy... Was not impressed).
The laptops I found or speced out cost around 1200 however they were thicker, heavier and not as solid feeling.
Lenova I did not see in person but was the only contender with both ratings and a similar product.
I have not taken the time to research this last part yet (but I'm sure you all can chime in)
I believe the following parts/features contribute to the high cost of the MacBook Pro
- size: it's .71 inches thick and about 4 and a half pounds yet it's got a unibody aluminum casing, and pretty good basic specs! There was definitely some engineering innovation in this design.
- flash memory: it's not cheap at all and the MacBook Pro I compared with had a 512gb SSD.
- backlit keyboard, small and simple magnetic charger, design: all these small things did contribute
- retina display: the display packs more pixels than and hd tv! It may not be as high of a ppi as iPads or galaxy phones but for a 15 laptop it's pretty damn good. It doesn't matter whether it's necessary or worth it to you as a price of technology, it's expensive.
Materials: the MacBook Pro uses a unibody aluminum design. This can cost more in manufacturing. Some other pc's did have this so I wouldn't contribute the cost of the pc too much more because of this but I'm sure it adds.
Lots of free software.: you can get office programs, picture editing, video editing, music editing and various PIM apps. All are good programs for most people. Comparatively windows has no free office. It's cheapest version is between 100-200 dollars. There are some free photo and video editing apps but you have to really look through them or buy a camera with them. PIM apps like outlook are available free as well but unless you have windows 8, they aren't that simple or streamlined. Also upgrades are possibly even free now which is awesome considering windows costs a lot to upgrade for just one pc!!
Now the important thing to remember is that ultimately it's what YOU find worthy. However with all the features specs, materials and design that goes into the MacBook Pro, I believe the price is fair for what you get. Not based on my opinion of how the system works (I don't own one yet!!) but on the actual hardware and software provided.
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