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Evening all,

Following on from a previous thread, my laptop choices have moved on. I've gone from looking at spending circa £800 to thinking b****r it lets go for a MacBook Pro at almost twice the price. Hmmm. However before I do I really need help from people who know what they are on about (I am definitely not one of those people).

I'm currently looking at a 13" MacBook Pro, poss with touch bar. But also considering the surface pro 4. I'm a fan of apple, but have never used their laptops. All I am likely to use it for is photoshop, hence the jump as I know screen quality is the most important thing. I am aware of the dell xps series as well, if any one has experience of these.

All I need is some guidance before forking out more then my 1st car on a laptop. Which should I go for? I need to know I have spent my money wisely, so reliability, functionality & usability are the main factors other than screen quality.

Thank you for looking
 
I had the same thoughts as you a few weeks back. In the end I went with the MBP (13" non-touchbar). I've no real idea how it compares to the competition but what I do know is that it's a lovely bit of kit that feels really nice to carry and use. I'm pleased with mine!
 
neil_g said:
without getting into a x vs y debate, the high end Dell, Lenovo, HP, Fujitsu, Toshiba kit is comparable with the same spec apple kit.
Click to expand...

FTFY

The high end business laptops are geenrally better choice than consumer grade.
E.g. HP Elitebook rathter than HP Envy.

Some ranges will be built for maximum portability (ultramobile CPUs, smallest possible form factor). Others will prioritise desktop rivalling features such as:
  • Better build quality
  • Interchangeable components
  • Dual hard disks (SSD + HDD)
  • Dual batteries
4k/5k displays are usually an option - not universally fitted throughout a given range.

Couple of 13" Macbook Pros with Touchbar arrived here yesterday. There's a few variations in addition to thte touch bar between the models - slightly faster CPU, better sound, smaller battery.
 
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I've been a Mac user since 2009. I have had 2 MacBook Pro's and 2 iMacs. All of them top specs when I bought them. I must say however I would be hard pressed to justify the cost of the latest MacBook Pros with touch bar. I'm sorry I just can't dee the point. I use Lightroom Photoshop and Final Cut, and know the F keys that I use, so to be honest I'd opt for a non touchbar option. 13" is too small to do any photo editing, unless you plan to get an external monitor. 15" is OK(ish). I'm a big mac fan, but if you budget is £800 I'd have to agree with Neil that Dell would be a good option. Maybe something like the Inspiron range.
 
I'm struggling to justify the cost of a MBP but can't see much away from them. I might concede the 15" screen or maybe opt for an older 15" version. Quite torn really and might wait a bit.
 
In the press world the Dell XPS line is basically the PC alternative to a Mac. Excellent bits of kit. If you are shopping for Dell, always look at the Outlet store first. You can save up to 50%.
 
DELL Precision for me if I was looking for a new high end laptop
 
What I would do is google problems with windows 10. See what the big hitters are and if you can love with it. Then do same for the mac
 
Have they sorted 10 out yet? My works laptop is on 7 still but I have the 2012 Mac mini. Do prefer OS as a platform, far more responsive in general.
 
My 4 yr old Xps 15 upgraded to W10 faultlessly, no problems here, also fitted a ssd, big gains in boot time, opening apps.
 
Love all the generic "loads of issues with Windows 10" comments.

Lost count of the amount of 10 installs I've done now and all been fine. Only issue I have seen with 10 is the Xbox app crashing one of my games until it was uninstalled (the Xbox app)
 
Personally I would be looking at a second hand 2015 MBP (if I wanted mac) as I really find it hard to justify the price since the hikes and unless you are looking to play games (in which case why buy a laptop?) then they are more than powerful enough for anything.
 
Dell all the way also for a power laptop.
unless you actually have to have the last gasp in ultra portability.
 
Nawty said:
Personally I would be looking at a second hand 2015 MBP (if I wanted mac) as I really find it hard to justify the price since the hikes and unless you are looking to play games (in which case why buy a laptop?) then they are more than powerful enough for anything.
Click to expand...

Been looking at the refurb deals on the 2015 models. I've had an apple refurbed iPad before and was fas new so may just do that.
 
We have 3 different generations of XPS - the only issues I've seen have been around wireless drivers - when the laptop is put to sleep on one Wi-Fi network but woken up in the vicinity of a different trusted Wi-Fi network, the Wireless adapter has to be restarted before it will connect.

Otherwise, no issues at all.
 
Evening all, sorry for not replying to everyone sooner, 1st time I've been on in ages. I'm hoping to go into John Lewis at the weekend to have a play. Looking further, I really like the idea of the surface book pro, but I've read a few reports that the thing crashes a lot and could be a real super star, but.... type comments, really puts me off when spending this sort of money. I've seen the 15" mbp non touch bar i7 16gb for the same money as the 13" touch bar and although it is serious cash, I'm thinking the retina screen and (hopefully) apple reliability means I can justify it.
 
Just bought my other half an Asus Zenbook, i5, 8GB or RAM and 256GB SSD for £590.

I looked at the Macbook and just couldn't justify the price.

Sure build for build and spec for spec, I am sure the Macbook would be marginally better but double the price better? I doubt it and I own a Macbook.
 
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