Two weeks ago, Apple announced its new Retina MacBook Pro. It was just about everything I wanted: a powerful processor, a beefy GPU, and a thin-and-light body. In fact, I even told you how I was planning on buying one after the first revision was made by Apple.
But here I am today, writing another post about my future laptop purchase. This time, though, it’s not about which laptop I’m picking; it’s about why I may not choose another Mac.
I’m going to start out by telling my story and saying that Macs are really great machines. I use two: my 13-inch MacBook Pro and a Mac mini. I don’t hesitate whatsoever to say that I do love OS X, but Windows 7 and Windows 8 are leaps and bounds better than XP and Vista – the two operating systems that made me despise Microsoft’s biggest money-maker.
So, as I’ve said before, I made my switch to OS X in 2008, with a 13-inch MacBook. This was when Apple debuted its unibody Mac designs, and at the time, there just weren’t any other products that matched the Mac’s build quality and – frankly – its looks. I made my purchase, went through a couple of replacements, and now it’s today, when I’ve got a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro with a dying hard drive.
When Apple showed off its 0.71-inch thick retina MacBook Pro, I was obviously lusting over it. It managed to sport a svelte profile while packing a quad-core Ivy Bridge chip and dedicated graphics. Unfortunately, and like I’ve already said, the unibody Mac design was introduced in 2008. It’s 2012 now, and even though the new MacBook Pro is a fifth smaller than the old, it’s still a unibody design and it’s still distinguishably a Mac.
It’s not that the aesthetic of the design is bad – it’s just bad. My Mac creaks constantly. The aluminum bottom in particular is rather loud, which makes the whole computer feel less premium and more like a cheap laptop. The problem is that it wasn’t cheap; even as a base model, this MacBook Pro rang up at $1,199.
The new retina MacBook Pro starts at $2,199. That gets you some relatively nice specs, sure; but again, it’s the same unibody display that I’ve honestly come to dislike.
As I am wont to do when I am not pleased with something, I set off on an internet journey to find something better – in this case, to look at some PC OEM hardware. Keeping in mind the provisions I had set in place for my next laptop, I went to a variety of manufacturers’ websites looking for a light – yet powerful - notebook computer.
What I found was that almost every PC maker had what I was looking for. At first, this was surprising to me. But then I figured that it was so surprising because I had never really taken a look at any computers other than Macs.
As I delved deeper into each OEM’s website, I found laptops of all shapes and sizes, laptops that could literally fit me best. 15-inch laptops with a thin body and incredibly powerful innards; I might as well have died and gone to heaven based on the heavenly machines I was finding.
Prices were also much better compared to Apple’s: I could find similarly-equipped 15-inchers, oftentimes for $1,000 less. I can’t speak to the build quality of these laptops, but I’m positive that $1,500 from any OEM should be of better quality than what I’m currently lugging around.
At this point, I’m going to continue to learn about the ups and downs of each particular OEM so I can pick the absolute best laptop when I’m ready. Right now, that will probably be the same “next year” target that I was already planning on with my MacBook Pro. If something happens with my current mobile computer, then I’ll obviously use whatever knowledge I have to pick something at that point. Hopefully, it doesn’t come to that.
If you have any PC recommendations please let me know in the comments. I’m not interested in the Microsoft Surface for a variety of reasons, but any other >1.25-inch thick 15-inch computer with dedicated graphics and a quad-core processor is up for consideration.
Looks like the new retina MBPs have issues on the software side, due to – you guessed it – the high-density retina display. To make text readable on the new retina display, the letters must be made “larger” pixel-wise. While this leads to sharper-looking text in some native Mac applications, such as Safari and Mail, be prepared to deal with pixelated (scaled-up) raster graphics on the web and in applications that have not been updated to work property on the retina display. Moreover, in third-party applications, such as MS Office and Google Chrome, the text is pixelated too:
http://www.ixbt.com/td/macbook-pro-retina/screenshot/7.png
http://www.ixbt.com/td/macbook-pro-retina/screenshot/9.png
It is reported that iWork suffers from this too. For comparison, here is a screenshot of Mail:
http://www.ixbt.com/td/macbook-pro-retina/screenshot/5.png
Hi, Calob
Although OSX has some fine characteristics (for me, a good UNIX under the hood), I don’t buy Apple products anymore. Why? Because they start with that AppStore thing, or a golden cage if you prefer. I find unacceptable any software installing restriction of a product that I HAVE BOUGHT. For instance, that old tale of prohibiting pr0n because pr0n offends female public is a wonderful symbol of a company that doesn’t respect its customers. I vote with my credit card and I don’t buy any Apple product… unless they change that involutionary policy.
I really love the end of your post, when you said that “What I found was that almost every PC maker had what I was looking for. At first, this was surprising to me. But then I figured that it was so surprising because I had never really taken a look at any computers other than Macs.”. The switching movement has had an impoverishing effect in the perception of technology. For all switchers, there is nothing but Apple.
For a switcher, there are no more hardware providers than Apple, although the rest of the makers offers a huge variety of models which surely fit more exactly to a particular user’s needings. Wanna quality? go for high models of Sony, for instance (not only them). Wanna a special size, weight, equipment? For sure you are going to find it. Wanna, ehm, save money? You can buy a perfectly decent laptop for less than half what is going to cost any Apple product.
And it happens the same about OS. Some old time switchers continue to talk about BSOD or old Ms Paint, although 7 is at least as stable as OSX. And, of course, every PC (including Apple’s) can run different OS, not only windows but a huge variety of Linux distros and BSD flavors.
I still find astonishing how people enjoy restrictions. It’s like if a huge bunch of people decided by themselves that dressing exactly in the same way (a mao dress, for instance) it’s the best thing they can do. If this is plain ridiculous, I just don’t get how such a big group of users like to digitally restrict themselves
dell xps 15- pro: cheap, good performance even for graphic extensive games, great screen with great audio that includes subwoofers, not so premium built, but works and is quiet rugged. con: battery life is so 2010, you’ll be happy if you can get 4 hours out of this machines. but then again i will always trade power, great screen and speakers for battery that quickly deteriorates after a year like my old 15′ macbook pro 2008. selling point was portability, power and battery life after two years less than 1 hour battery, fan is so loud you would need an earplug to use it, and heat heat heat. Power and portability in a mac is always compromised by bad exhaust and for the same reason fried my cpu only after two years of use. So yes my dell is not year at the two years mark but it is holding up extremely well. Will recommend any dell xps laptops since they are far more practical in their pricing and engineering choices.
Has to be of great build quality. And honestly, not a fan of Dell’s design at the moment. I’m sure they are great laptops, though I’m looking at Sonys and Asus’s and am more attracted to them.
Asus makes a great laptop. I just purchased the Asus 17.3″ LED Notebook – Intel Core i7 last month for $899.99 on sale. This includes a dedicated Nvidia 1 Gb Graphics card and 8 Gb of RAM. I use this unit as a desktop replacement. I’ve had great luck with Dell XPS series, Toshiba, Acer, Sony and Lenovo. I’m in IT so many of my clients have various models and configurations. MBP’s are too expensive in my opinion. You can get better specs for less money in a PC. If you don’t like Windows try Linux. There are various flavors out there and it’s easy to install and get acquainted with. I’m currently using Ubuntu 12.04 on a Sony VGN-N150P. This is my travel unit. This Laptop is 6 years old with an Intel 1.6 Ghz Duo with 2 Gb of RAM. It runs great with Linux on it.
I would suggest the vaio sa. I have the late 2011 sa390, which gives me 2640m i7, 8GB ram, 13 inches screen with 1600×900 resolution and (!) 6630m amd graphics. Result is super fast system that kills the 13inch macbook pro and costs 700 less. In addition I exchanged the cd drive with ssd, result is 17 seconds complete boot up time.
Now the downsize is that the touchpad although huge is not the best and the screen colors are a bit on the low end side, but the new sa490 fixes the touchpad problem with even bigger synaptics touchpad. The screen is the same, but you get 3rd gen i7 and twice as fast nvidia gpu. I can play Battlefield 3 on medium settings, this thing can maybe pull of highest details. All in sexy (very sexy) 13 inch laptop with 6 hours of battery life. Simply amazing, and imo completely killing the 13 inches macbook.
15-inch with full HD (1920×1080) is the sweet spot for me. I currently own a 13-inch MBP and it’s just too small.
ASUS’ new Zenbook Primes with 1080p displays look superb imo, total Air killer at a couple hundred cheaper.