Mac or this HP Pc?

I

ibodybuild

New Member
Well I currently have a very old Toshiba computer and NEED to get a new laptop ASAP. I am in between getting a 15 inch Macbook Pro or a 15 inch HP pc.

This is the HP computer that I am looking at and for $800 it seems pretty good. http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/prodd...S10132264&catid=28239&atab=3&logon=&langid=EN What does everyone think about this one?

The thing about a Mac is that I will be mostly using PC programs which I know I can run on a Mac, but I'm not sure if it makes sense to get a Mac when I'm pretty much ONLY using Pc programs...

Thoughts please :)

Thanks in advance!
 
it really depends on what programs you are going to be using..

it could also come down to a personal preference, me personally i dont like mac's so i would go the HP because i own one myself

but that is decent for that price
 
Macs can run any application, including Windows apps. I do it all the time on my Mac, and heck my Mac runs IE.

Now, that being said it will come down to personal computing preference, but in my opinion Apple does make the best laptops you can buy.
 
ajh-93 said:
it really depends on what programs you are going to be using..

it could also come down to a personal preference, me personally i dont like mac's so i would go the HP because i own one myself

but that is decent for that price
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it really does depend on what you want if you are gonna do video and picture stuff then the mac is best if you are just doing normal things then the hp is fine
 
Well I bought that Samsung today and have been playing around with it. It's pretty crap. The keyboard on it is a pain in the *** to type on! Its strange where the "enter" key is situated as you have to lift your hand and actually look where it is or you will most definitely press another key. I was looking at the HP computers and to be honest the quality on them also look like crap. The keys on most of those HP notebooks had glossy / shiny plastic keys that a) did not feel good when typing b) look like they will break soon. This Samsung that I bought today says it came with 320GB, but after looking at it it only had 240GB in it. As well it says it has 4GB, when it only has 3GB. On top of it I don't see anything special AT ALL about Windows 7 (I am currently a XP user).

So where does this leave me, well I know everytime I look at the PC notebooks at the bestbuy and futureshop's I feel like yes I am paying a small price, but I keep asking myself if I'm getting a quality product.

This leads me to thinking that I should get a Macbook Pro. The keyboard is beautiful to type on. The quality is definitely there although you are most definitely paying for it. The battery life is amazing, screen is amazing, etc... it has everything going for it except that for me the majority of programs that I'm running are PC. I know I can run PC programs on a Mac and I'm feeling that I could switch to Mac programs like iWork instead of Microsoft word, excel, etc... Everyone I talk to says they love their Mac and own several. I think I might just have to go for a Mac because of how turned off I am by this Samsung notebook I bought today.

So what are everyone's thoughts?
 
This is just my opinion....

I have owned, serviced, and supported every major brand of laptop professionally for the last 10 years. Apple makes the best laptop you can buy on the market. The quality is top notch, the features are super awesome (SMS, multi-touch track pad, back lit keyboard, ambient light sensor) and it can run anything you want it to. It can run any Windows app via cross-over or running boot camp.

People will try to argue with me that they can get twice the hardware cheaper, but we all know there is a reason why a Honda is a better buy than a KIA. Sure the KIA is several thousand dollars cheaper than the Honda, and they have the same specs and they both go 80MPH and get you from point A to point B, but the Honda is a better engineered machine.

If you look at total cost of ownership, Macs are cheaper by far, and their quality is top notch. That does not mean Apple products don't have problems, because they do. Every piece of technology has issues. Spec for spec you can't get a PC cheaper in reality, because PCs don't offer the same specs, and when you look at total cost of ownership the Macbook Pro is one of the best laptops out there for the price.

I do think samsung make great products, but I only own cell phones and LCD displays made by them. If I were to buy a PC laptop I would personally look at Asus or Lenovo.
 
tlarkin said:
People will try to argue with me that they can get twice the hardware cheaper, but we all know there is a reason why a Honda is a better buy than a KIA. Sure the KIA is several thousand dollars cheaper than the Honda, and they have the same specs and they both go 80MPH and get you from point A to point B, but the Honda is a better engineered machine.
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Basically that, though Kia's have gotten really good in the last few years. :D
I still think macs are a little bit overpriced, but they're definitely very solid machines.

There are a few brands that rival them, though. IBM/Lenovo in particular. Thinkpads have a reputation for being virtually indestructible. (and for having good speakers)

This one in particular is on sale and has better specs(IMO) than a comparably priced macbook pro.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834146613
edit: It's not a thinkpad, though, so it won't be quite as indestructible, but it'll still have great build quality.
 
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There are PC companies that make great laptops, but part for part and spec for spec they do not compare. Apple does only put high end parts in their machines. Native resolution on a MBP is 1440 x 900 on a 15" screen.

I am not saying Lenovo or Asus make bad laptops, but what I am saying is that they don't make any high end laptops that quite compare to what a Mac has out of the box.

That Asus for a 16" screen has a lower resolution, and that Lenovo has a kind of crappy resolution for it's screen size. All Apple laptops have the mini display port, which is pretty much becoming the new standard for HDMI and audio output from higher end devices. Apple licenses that technology out to anyone for free, and it is catching on rather quickly.

How do you justify the costs in screen differences? $200? $400? So, really they aren't better specs.
 
Like I said, screen resolutions have gone to crap in the last year. My 3 year old Dell 15.4" had a 1440x900, and my now 1 year old Acer's 16" screen is 1920x1080, which I couldn't do without now on a laptop this size(cause holy crap is it nice). The new Acer's on the same line have either a 1360x768 screen or at best a 1600x960 screen. Pretty pathetic if you ask me.

Now this is what I'm talking about. These ones do one better than the 15" macbook screen

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834117932

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220639
 
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I like that Asus better. Sony has gone to crap in the last few years in my opinion. The only thing I don't like about those two laptops is that they are 7 pounds or just over 7 pounds. That to me is a feature, as I like my laptops to be in the 5 pound range. It makes a difference when you gotta haul them around all day every day.
 
I'm a new member but I couldn't help but register just to say those pc's are thick and ugly. Sorry but come on look at the lines of this laptop Link

The PC's got to be at least 1.4" thick or more and one thing I noticed about the apple laptops vs the PC's are that their SMC sensors are crap. I noticed on a sony that if you play a video game it gets all hot and the fans speed up and the following day just browsing the internet the laptop stays hot and fans still spin. It's probably because of their cheap plastic enclosure but the MacBook Pro feels so sturdy and reliable and the metal distributes the heat evenly and only goes hot when playing 3d games and not browsing. Plus the 7 hour battery I.E 3.4Hours while watching youtube is good. Also the Nvidia GeForce 9400M on the system has built in H.264 1080p decoding judging by a test over the 9600M. BTW I'm typing off a 13" MacBook Pro 2.53GHz 4GB 1066MHz, 500GB HDD I just got a couple of days ago. "Little Rant over"
 
The macbook pro is far from the coolest running laptop. My Acer stays fairly cool even during games.
Yes, the macbook has straight lines, but it also makes it look boring.
 
speedyink said:
The macbook pro is far from the coolest running laptop. My Acer stays fairly cool even during games.
Yes, the macbook has straight lines, but it also makes it look boring.
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Boring (MacBook) or ugly (Average Plastic PC or those eye distracting sonys). I don't know I like having no design interferences like imagine if you had an acer ferrari or a asus lamborghini you wouldn't get any work done lol
 
Ok, well I like choice. There are so many laptops out there that, in my opinion, look much nicer than the macbook. It just looks way too simplified, which is good because that's what apple is going for, but it's not me.
 
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