Grad STudent Looking for Buying advice Mac vs Thinkpad

ranchodas_chanc · Aug 5, 2011

Hi All

I am about to start my MS EE in COming Fall. I am looking to buy a new Laptop for my studies. I have finalized down to two laptops MacBook Pro and Lenovo Thinkpad. But I am still confused on the final selection.

What are the various factors that I can consider. Please provide some pointers. I will be thankful for any suggestions.

MunkeyQ · Aug 5, 2011

The Thinkpad is a lot more business-oriented...more of a utility machine. Its battery can be easily swapped out for a fresh one, the optical drive can be hotswapped for a secondary battery or hard drive and it's generally much more flexible. Also, it's designed for corporate owners in mind, so most parts are replaceable in case of failure, unlike the Macbook where the LCD is a sealed module for example. Most home users don't need that flexibility, which is why the Macbook Pro takes design, looks and clean lines over it. Also, the Thinkpad's heatsinks tend to be much larger than the Macbook's, so it runs cooler at the expense of looking pretty and being near silent.

Windows will run well on both machines, but the Macbook can run OSX too. Depends if you really need OSX in my opinion. If you only need/want Windows, get the Thinkpad - it's a much more flexible machine IMO, which will last you a lot longer.

StMFA · Aug 5, 2011

MunkeyQ said:
The Thinkpad is a lot more business-oriented...more of a utility machine. Its battery can be easily swapped out for a fresh one, the optical drive can be hotswapped for a secondary battery or hard drive and it's generally much more flexible. Also, it's designed for corporate owners in mind, so most parts are replaceable in case of failure, unlike the Macbook where the LCD is a sealed module for example. Most home users don't need that flexibility, which is why the Macbook Pro takes design, looks and clean lines over it. Also, the Thinkpad's heatsinks tend to be much larger than the Macbook's, so it runs cooler at the expense of looking pretty and being near silent.

Windows will run well on both machines, but the Macbook can run OSX too. Depends if you really need OSX in my opinion. If you only need/want Windows, get the Thinkpad - it's a much more flexible machine IMO, which will last you a lot longer.

Couldn't have said it better myself

vansmith · Aug 5, 2011

If you're doing your MS in EE, you're probably going to need some speciality software. Thus, the first question you should be asking is whether or not all of the software you're going to need is available for the Mac. If an essential piece of software isn't, don't get a Mac. Honestly, if you're going to buy a Mac just to install Windows on it so that you can do your work, you'd be better off investing in a really good Windows machine.

What software will you need?

chscag · Aug 5, 2011

I agree with Van. But if you do buy a Thinkpad, stay away from the cheaper models which Lenovo advertises. A good Thinkpad as depicted above is going to cost around the same as a MBP, so choose wisely. And, buy the extended warranty.

Dysfunction · Aug 5, 2011

It's going to boil down to whether you want to run OS X or not. I have three laptops currently sitting on my desk. A 2008 macbook pro, a 2008 T61p and a 2011 Macbook pro. The Thinkpad and the 2008 are almost identical in terms of hardware specs, with the exception of the panel (the MBP blows away the thinkpad in that regard), they're very hard to discern a difference while running windows. That said, the cost was almost identical.

So, is a thinkpad a good laptop? You betcha, one of the best out there. That said, there are things I just flat out prefer (hardware wise) on the macbook pro. The panel is one, the trackpad is another. The fact that it weighs much less.. HUGE bonus in my book. Oh and the extended battery on the thinkpad's kind of a pain with laptop bags.

Grad STudent Looking for Buying advice Mac vs Thinkpad

ranchodas_chanc

MunkeyQ

StMFA

vansmith

Senior Member

chscag

Well-known member

Dysfunction

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