Why Choose A Mac Over Any Other Notebook Brand?

[NanoBite]

The current line on Macs are in fact Premium Personal Computers, regardless of the name brand.

 

[Colin Key]

You have asked a very open question.

There are two points to consider here.

Let me begin with the first one, which is the Hardware. An Apple Laptop will bring you these "pluspoints":

- A beautiful design
- Illuminated Keyboard
- Built-In Camera
- MagSafe power cord
- A brilliant screen (which you may find similarly on Sony Vaio systems)
- A really fast processor.

The other part is OS X. There are a million reasons to use OS X over Windows, but there are also a lot of reasons why OS X may not be the optimum choice for you.

I suggest you spend some time at X vs XP and see Windows in comparison on many points. It will let you get a feel of OS X's concept as well, and will help you understand why this choice is so important.

I bought a 20" iMac about a month ago and, although it has been a struggle, I am gradually becoming more and more attached to it (aesthetically it is beautiful and gone now are all the bits and pieces, wires and cables, and everything else that was needed for my "built" tower system - me desk is now free of clutter).

I have retained my Sony Vaio laptop with its 17" X-Black screen which I still believe is not just on a par with, but much better than, my iMac screen. I have max resolution on the iMac screen and calibrated it but it is just not as "crisp" as the Vaio LCD.

When the laptop needs replacing (within a year) I am not sure what I will choose. I have looked at MacBook Pros and, quite honestly, thought that the build quality was very poor compared to Sony and Toshiba (felt rather "plasticky" to me) and that the keyboard lacked precision. I must also admit that the keyboard with my iMac is not to my liking - these deep keys are rather old-fashioned and I have not yet got used to the grey lettering on white keys; my typing is no great shakes but I have suddenly become dyslexic.

 

[fleurya]

Basically, it's freakin' BEAUTIFUL man!!

I have to admit, one of the main motivations fro getting my MBP was the physical appearance. Nw, I couldn't own anything else. When I'm in my grad school classes and see people working on other laptops, there's just no comparison. Their computers just look like an outdated pile of trash compared to my MBP. The only computer that comes close to good looks is LG's T1 (bigger screen and thinner than a macbook, and looks great), but it just doesn't have the power.

I had reservations about the OS since every Mac I've touched from the 80's through 2000 seemed to crash on my me with no recovery! Seriously, I would just be using a programs, like a word processor, and "boom!" get the little watch and nothing works. But I thought I'd give it another shot. Now, when I switch back to Windows, I just feel like I'm taking a step back. Even Vistas isn't looking good to me in comparison.

The only downsides I can think of is most other laptops have more connectivity ports, which worried em at first, but hasn't caused any problems. Also, if you got a professional model like a Thinkpad, they come with 3 year warranty standard whereas Apple only gives you a year with the option of buying an extended warranty. But that's only an issue if you're buying a professional model laptop, most consumer-level laptops are 1 year also.

I have been officially assimilated.

 

[David Nutzell]

Hi, Y'all...

I was recently confronted with the need to buy or build a new computer for serious audio and video (Avid, Pro Tools etc.) I spent nearly a month comparing different options, including a home-built PC, and finally came to the conclusion that, if you scrupulously compare apples to apples, (OK, Apples to PC's lol) hardware to hardware, Mac are less expensive than PC's. I did have to buy a third party monitor, I just couldn't afford a Cinema at the same size...now if I can get the "home" and "end" keys to work like they do in Windows, I'll be totally happy...Oh yeah, being able to resize windows from all around would be nice too, but I'm getting used to the Apple way!

 

[MacHeadCase]

Welcome to Mac-Forums, David Nutzell! Sounds like you have one heck of a system there! Hope you stick around and join in the fun!

 

[MaDDoG]

You have asked a very open question.

There are two points to consider here.

Let me begin with the first one, which is the Hardware. An Apple Laptop will bring you these "pluspoints":

- A beautiful design
- Illuminated Keyboard
- Built-In Camera
- MagSafe power cord
- A brilliant screen (which you may find similarly on Sony Vaio systems)
- A really fast processor.

The other part is OS X. There are a million reasons to use OS X over Windows, but there are also a lot of reasons why OS X may not be the optimum choice for you.

I suggest you spend some time at X vs XP and see Windows in comparison on many points. It will let you get a feel of OS X's concept as well, and will help you understand why this choice is so important.

I am with Yogi on this one. He encapsulated most of my thoughts in his reply. The only other thing I would like to add is NO VIRSUS ETC.

 

[D3v1L80Y]

An Apple Notebook will bring you these "pluspoints":

- A beautiful design (which you may find similarly on Sony Vaio systems)
- Illuminated Keyboard (only if you get the Pro model)
- Built-In Camera
- MagSafe power cord
- A brilliant screen (which you may find similarly on Sony Vaio systems)
- A really fast processor. (which you may find similarly on Sony Vaio systems)

Basically, as far as design and aesthetic goes, A SONY N-Series VAIO will give you more or less the same look and specs (with a larger screen and same price) as a MacBook.

The other part is OS X. There are a million reasons to use OS X over Windows, but there are also a lot of reasons why OS X may not be the optimum choice for you.

I would suggest taking a moment and finding out what you need your computer for. What software do you already have and are you willing to buy a complete new set, if needed, to work under the Mac OS?

 

[jotdess]

I recently made the switch to mac on my new laptop (mac book pro) and I couldn't be happier. Everything is so easy and there's such less headache in so many regards. I still have my desktop pc that I use for some work related things, but I could do much more on my mac and easier.

I was looking around for weeks to try and narrow it down between some PC brands or a mac. I'm pretty much done with Vista due to it's sluggish performance on my machine. Mind you I have a AMD X2 4600+, 3GB RAM, 2 7900 GTs, etc. Another deciding factor for me was so slim it was and the ease of use. After I went to the apple store and tested it out it was a done deal. Now, I've only had mine for a few days and have barely used my desktop. Good luck.

 

[Ninjab3ar]

well said. you just simply cant get a 2.00ghz c2d in any HP/dell/whatever for the price apple sells them.

thats why i never understand the argument, "apples are soooo much more money". Well, if the idiot pricing them out would learn about what cpu is in which, he would have better research.

People tend to say that Macs are more expensive because they usually compare them to a $600 POS Dell PC.

 

[Prise]

I’ve gone through and pondered many of the same questions you are now on deciding which notebook to buy.

I’m from the school of thought where one should start with the CPU. After all, it’s the main component of any computer on which everything else will be based. Aside from OSX, while there isn’t anything in particular which makes the Macbook “special,” Apple does tend to house its computers with the best hardware (at least when it comes to notebooks), especially CPUs.

In that sense, assuming running 3-D intensive games aren’t an issue, I don’t see much downside to opting for a Macbook or Macbook Pro. For me, I choose the latter because processor speed, on board ATI video, and finally the Macbook Pro being the best-looking laptop I have ever seen (on the PC side, some Asus and Sony’s come close).

The only downside is that certain websites or portals will ONLY work with IE. Parallels can resolve the issue quite nicely, except when you need run predominantly windows-intensive programs. In that case, you’d be much better off with a windows based laptop.

Best of luck!

 

[KoDorSean]

when you go out and buy a car what do you look for? I would think something that best fits your needs and wants. Its the same with a computer..