What Am I Missing?

Phil1974

Phil1974

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At the risk of starting an Apple vs Windows PC/Laptop war, as per the title - what am I missing with Macs? I have included a link to PC World compare page looking at a couple of Macs and a windows laptop. The specs for the windows laptop seem to be a lot better for an equivalent priced Mac.
What are the benefits to me to spend the extra cash? I primarily use the machine for photo editing (no video) and am starting a degree course in October so want reliability and lots of storage. I love the look and feel of the Mac but cannot see what justification there is past the lovely facade?

Help!

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/s_action/compare/10118357-13730045-10132660.html
 
If i could afford it i'd buy a Mac just for editing.

I use my PC and 23 inch monitor for editing photos. i wouldn't ever use a laptop to do it as you only need to move the screen slightly and the photo looks totally different. Not sure if laptop screens have improved or not but that is how i've found it on most i;ve seen.
 
Absolutely nothing. Its like comparing a vw to a Skoda these days. Same thing under a slightly different wrapper.

Re screens, there are a few non apple laptops with IPS screens. However whichever way you look at it, laptop screens are a compromise for editing. E.g you have that gloss on macbooks (no anti glare matte option these days unfortunately) which introduces a false sense of contrast to images.
 
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Thanks chaps. Unfortunately a desktop is out of the question due to space otherwise I'd go with that.
So are we saying the HP laptop in the comparison is a good machine for the money?
 
I was anti-Apple for a long time, but a few years ago when looking for a new laptop the best option for price and features appeared to be a MacBook Pro. I'm on my second now (retina model) and can't see any reason to return to PC-based laptops. I still have a PC desktop though.
 
I really like Apple products and would have a Mac in a heartbeat but I can't see how the price is justified for the spec you get compared to a PC based laptop.
 
I thought so too, until I compared them and found there was maybe only a small premium. Apple use the same processors as Windows machines, so it's fairly easy to compare specs I think.

The extra money goes on things like the Retina screen, aluminium body, fantastic touchpad etc.
 
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But if you look at the link I put in the opening post there is a £200 difference for a world of difference in spec. Faster processor, bigger screen, more ram etc. That's a lot of money.
 
Phil1974 said:
But if you look at the link I put in the opening post there is a £200 difference for a world of difference in spec. Faster processor, bigger screen, more ram etc. That's a lot of money.
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You've answered your own question here.

Nobody who buys an apple product is going to tell you that they feel silly for paying a premium for the same thing so its a pointless question to ask. :)
 
julianhj said:
I thought so too, until I compared them and found there was maybe only a small premium. Apple use the same processors as Windows machines, so it's fairly easy to compare specs I think.

The extra money goes on things like the Retina screen, aluminium body, fantastic touchpad etc.
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the new force touch touchpad is horrid compared to the old style.

apple users love to compare their £1300 macbooks to £300 windows laptops and bang on about the build quality. compare it to my £1300 dell thats made from aluminium and carbon fibre and its a moot point (plus the dell can actually be upgraded down the line) :)
 
I don't think you are missing anything.

My own experience is generally you get more hardware bang for your buck with a PC rather than a Mac, but the differential gets smaller as you head up towards the more expensive models.

If you do go for Apple - never buy Apple memory - by the base model and upgrade yourself and save a packet.

Aesthetic wise, it comes down to a personal choice - generally the Apple stuff will be a little slicker, but that comes at the expense of being able to get inside and be able to replace your own components - eliminate the need top open up stuff, and you can make a nicer case to put it in!

As for the software experience, again it's choice. I personally like the OS X workflow, but that comes from years and years building and fixing PC's both at home an work - I made the move over to Macs at home back in 2002 and have not personally had a PC again. The kids all have PC's though for the value / hardware power ratio is all I can afford for their gaming, and my wife recently opted from a PC over a Mac as she wanted to get experience she could more directly transfer to work now she's back in the job market.

One last feedback from me, and again, while not entirely subjective - it's based on 13 years of having both Macs and PCs in the same house, it's not a scientific study either, but I find that Macs generally last longer between upgrades. I can typically get 5 years our of a Mac, whereas I only normally get the PC's to last around 3. I put that down to the OS managing itself better as much as anything.
 
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neil_g said:
except you cant install your own memory on a lot of models these days, ram is soldered on in macbook pros since 2013 model iirc.
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Ouch. I've been desktops only since my 2012 Macbook Pro.

If you're the kind of guy who likes to tweak the hardware, then really PC is now the only option then if that's the case.
 
I made the move to Mac five years ago after 30 years of pc's and I have never looked back. IMHO they just work
 
neil_g said:
the new force touch touchpad is horrid compared to the old style.

apple users love to compare their £1300 macbooks to £300 windows laptops and bang on about the build quality. compare it to my £1300 dell thats made from aluminium and carbon fibre and its a moot point (plus the dell can actually be upgraded down the line) :)
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I've not used the force touch pad, so can't comment on it. However the old trackpad makes every PC version I've tried feel like it was made by Fisher-Price in comparison.

I've owned and used plenty of cheap laptops, and I think you get what you pay for. I've not used a £1300 Dell recently, but when I was looking to upgrade my old Dell a few years ago, the equivalent just wasn't as nice to use as the contemporary MacBook (which cost me under £1k after I maxed out the RAM and put a decent SSD in). Each to their own, I certainly don't want to come across as an Apple evangelist! :D
 
neil_g said:
Absolutely nothing. Its like comparing a vw to a Skoda these days. Same thing under a slightly different wrapper.
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Phil, as Neil says. I have an iMac (previous had a MBP) and yes, I prefer the Mac to our Dell laptops but that doesn't make the Dells bad/poor.

For me on a Windows laptop I would just avoid the cheaper ones which will have a lower quality case and screen compared to spending a little more. This will probably annoy you more in the long run in comparison to a few m/s delay due to differences in processor speed.
 
I'm fairly computer agnostic - happy to use whatever as along as it works well. The old trackpad on the Macbook was the best available - not tried the new force version - unibody case is tough and long lasting, battery life is long and Time machine is a great backup solution. Those are the only advantages Apple have over an equivalent spec PC based laptop, and in every other area the PC will be equal or better.

I replaced my Macbook last year, having upgraded it several times. Recent design MBPs could not be upgraded, and one with a decent start spec would have cost £1500-£1800 as a refurb (£2100 full price IIRC). I bought a Dell XPS15 from the Dell outlet for £1000, and the aspects I mention above are the areas that it was weaker in. Dell also offered an on-site next business day warranty rather than RTB like Applecare, and for rather less. Just don't buy something with low spec and expect it to perform well - look for i5 quad core minimum and 8GB RAM.
 
ancient_mariner said:
I'm fairly computer agnostic - happy to use whatever as along as it works well. The old trackpad on the Macbook was the best available - not tried the new force version - unibody case is tough and long lasting, battery life is long and Time machine is a great backup solution. Those are the only advantages Apple have over an equivalent spec PC based laptop, and in every other area the PC will be equal or better.

I replaced my Macbook last year, having upgraded it several times. Recent design MBPs could not be upgraded, and one with a decent start spec would have cost £1500-£1800 as a refurb (£2100 full price IIRC). I bought a Dell XPS15 from the Dell outlet for £1000, and the aspects I mention above are the areas that it was weaker in. Dell also offered an on-site next business day warranty rather than RTB like Applecare, and for rather less. Just don't buy something with low spec and expect it to perform well - look for i5 quad core minimum and 8GB RAM.
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The HP I was looking at has an i7 processor and 12gb RAM for £700. An equivalent Mac would be £1500 - £2k!
 
Phil1974 said:
The HP I was looking at has an i7 processor and 12gb RAM for £700. An equivalent Mac would be £1500 - £2k!
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TBH I think that HP (the one in the comparison) is below spec for what you want, and not ideal. 2 things stand out immediately: the dual core processor and 1366X768 screen. A dual core i7 won't keep up with a quad core i5, and will be a bottleneck with lightroom etc. But much worse, that screen will be terrible, not having sufficient resolution and worst of all, not being IPS, so that tonal range and colour quality will vary according to the viewing angle.

Have a look on page 2 of this link, at the bottom: http://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/InventorySearch.aspx?c=uk&cs=ukdfb1&l=en&s=dfb&brandid=6

And have a look on page 2 and 3 of this link for alienware laptops with i7 quad core and 1920X1080 IPS screens: http://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/InventorySearch.aspx?c=uk&cs=ukdfh1&l=en&s=dfh&brandid=7
On that second link there was a 13" alienwear for £635+vat on the 3rd page.

HTH.

*edit*
This one would be great: 1TB HDD and 128GB SSD, quad core i7, 8GB RAM, 1920X1080 IPS screen. £735+VAT
http://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/....aspx?c=uk&l=en&s=dfh&cs=ukdfh1&puid=b9569dd1
 
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Like always in these kind of threads comparisons aren't being made truly like for like. Which is fine if you don't want that spec. A truly equivalent machine will approximately be the same cost or even more.
 
dejongj said:
Like always in these kind of threads comparisons aren't being made truly like for like. Which is fine if you don't want that spec. A truly equivalent machine will approximately be the same cost or even more.
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I think that's true at the higher end - certainly, when I bought the iMac 5K, it was close in price, but when we were looking at the cheaper end of the Macs versus a Dell, the difference wasn't insignificant - basically secondary stuff such as dedicated graphics, HD & RAM size, but at the lower end, these are by virtue of simple maths, a greater proportion of the cost.
 
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