10 Reasons I Spent $3,000 on a MacBook Pro

[Guest]

Maybe he's crazy, but the new 17-inch MacBook Pro's screen, dimensions, build, and keyboard convinced Bill Lake to shell out big bucks.

10 Reasons I Spent $3,000 on a MacBook Pro : Read more

 

[lejay]

I know...
I just heard a starving town in Africa just skipped water for the next ten years just to get a macbook pro.

Don't brag about wasting money, dude.

 

[one-shot]

Is this a blog just to announce you spend money foolishly? Again, Apple successfully appeals to those who want to feel "special" by overpaying for a Mac.

 

[Tomsguiderachel]

If you think this computer is a waste, or if purchasing it is foolish, please be more specific about why. Bill Lake's opinion piece addresses the argument about why he thinks this computer was worth the price. If you disagree, let's hear why. Simply dismissing the computer as a waste of money doesn't help your case.

Thanks,
Rachel Rosmarin
Editor of Tom's Guide

 

[Guest]

One-shot feels left out? What has the man overpaid for? I think he got pretty much what he wanted. Am I wrong?

 

[ohim]

[citation][nom]TomsGuideRachel[/nom]If you think this computer is a waste, or if purchasing it is foolish, please be more specific about why. Bill Lake's opinion piece addresses the argument about why he thinks this computer was worth the price. If you disagree, let's hear why. Simply dismissing the computer as a waste of money doesn't help your case.Thanks,Rachel RosmarinEditor of Tom's Guide[/citation]
sorry but the 10 reasons he stated does not worth 2.8k $ i think at apple even a simple thing as a screw or toilet paper costs at least as dobule than other places.

 

[Tomsguiderachel]

[citation][nom]ohim[/nom]sorry but the 10 reasons he stated does not worth 2.8k $ i think at apple even a simple thing as a screw or toilet paper costs at least as dobule than other places.[/citation]
Would be great to know your opinions about which features are especially overpriced here. Or, for you to show me another laptop with same features (or at least close) for a lot less money. That would really contribute a lot to this discussion and be much appreciated.

 

[fpsgamingsa]

I have been building PC's and using them with Windows, Unix, Dos, Solaris, SCO, MAC OS, OSX, and HP UX for over 20 years. An OS is an OS.

If you count build quality as having value. And support of the whole product not just the components as having value. The current Apple products are an exceptional value. Especially the mobile products. I will even add in that their support of Windows is superior. For example Vista on a Macbook is simple. The drivers for the system are on the Leopard disk. One program installs all of them with one reboot. I have built maybe 40 different PC's this last 12 months and not one of them had that smooth of support for Vista.

And yes I agree that MAC OSX is an excellent Unix system and I use my Macbook at the command prompt as often as in the GUI.
Why is it users of PC's have a prejudice? These are just tools we use. Recognize excellent engineering when you see it and appreciate it. If it doesn't have value for you then don't buy it.
I love watching a red Ferrari going down the road. It doesn't have value to me so I will not buy one, but I appreciate it all the same.

 

[michaelahess]

"while my tests revealed that the display is indeed exceptional."

I love all the comments about "better" that have nothing but this type of comment to back them up.

Look, if you want to buy an Apple because of the very few useful features that are VERY overpriced, more power to ya. I just think it's pointless in this day and age to waste money on things you don't need.

Magsafe is the ONLY thing Macs have over PCs' that's worth anything. The anti-glare screen actually costs less to produce, yet you pay more for it, makes sense to me. The manufacturing of the aluminum block actually costs more and produces more waste than comparable plastic and magnesium methods. The battery isn't "optimized" it simply has a larger surface area to store more energy than a comparable "AA" style pack. Round is bad for batteries BTW.

I've got a 6 year old and a 3 year old, funny, they never trip over any of my laptops cords, but that's cause they know damn well what will happen if they do So the only useful feature is negated by a little care and discipline!

Oh and for the keyboard, I've used pretty much every kind of laptop over the years (even the new mac books) and IBM/Lenovo keyboards are still hands down (pun intended) the best.

I have OSX running on my Lonovo and my Dell Mini-9, along with Ubuntu 8.10 and XP Pro SP3. Guess I don't need a mac for that "feature".

It's kinda like the guy I saw in Radio Shack today:

Salesguy: You need an HDMI cable, they're on sale today.
Dude: Cool
Salesguy: This 6' was 39.99 now it's "only" 29.99 and this 12' is half off at only 49.99.
Dude: I'll take the 12'!

I almost walked up and slapped him upside the head. "Ever heard of monoprice you stupid consumer that makes things worse for the rest of us?"

But I've already been kicked out of Radio Shack 4 times for doing things like that.

Bill go work at Radio Shack and leave this drivel for the masses that know no better.

 

[ohim]

[citation][nom]TomsGuideRachel[/nom]Would be great to know your opinions about which features are especially overpriced here. Or, for you to show me another laptop with same features (or at least close) for a lot less money. That would really contribute a lot to this discussion and be much appreciated.[/citation]1st reason, keyboard it might be great but still it`s only a keyboard (plastic/rubber) made me laugh the part with black keys white letter to better see during day ... like wtf ? you can`t see black letters during the day ? back lit keys are already on market nothing out of the ordinary

2nd. Unibody, nice touch i like it but still don`t think it`s worth that much cash, crash resistant ... well i could write a story here but let`s just say i like to be carefoul enough to keep my stuff safe first and not hope the enclosure that the company said is durable

3rd. Light weight ... well let`s just say i`m not a digital counter to realy feel that 0.36 lbs difference and besides it`s good for your condition .. what you wanna be a person that will be only able to lift a glass of water ? everything above that will be too heavy ? This point defenetly not worth the cash.

4th. power cord ... cheap gimic .. nothing hight tech and expensive here.

5th. Led backlit LCD .. well competition is doing too, it`s a new tech and soon all laptops will have it still i`m having no problem staring my eye balls to a normal LCD and i`m not that light sensitive too to be annoyed by the difference in lightness over the surface of the LCD, after all even knowing about it i still look at my LCD and don`t see the darker spots.

6th. Internet protection .. well that`s OS based and why do OS`s fell first in front of the user stupidity when talking about security ? That`s the problem with people these days .. they always want something else to look for their behinds ... anyway if this is so go Linux on a PC and it`s even free .. you can actualy save some $$ instead of having PC: Vista $$ + Linux Free > Mac: Vista $$ + OS X $$ .

7th. Battery well they list 8 hours but under mediu/heavy load how much ? since idle time i don`t realy care about, this might be a point for extra cash but still way off than the difference.

8th. Customer Service .. well at ~3k $ they at least should give you 2 free keys as a replacement to your laptop

9th. Recicle ...

10th. Ability to run other OSes ... well breaking news PCs do that too all in all is to be able to use Mac OS (wich personaly i don`t even want to)? to be above the normal guy or what ?

BTW loved the comment this article was written on my Mac... this ... this is realy amazing Macs can write articles better than PCs ...

All in all is an overpriced PC that does the same as other PCs with fancy accesories ... just like takeing a normal blonde and give her extra cash to make herserlf bigger boobs a nose job and in the end does the same as the cheaper blonde model
Pleased now ?

 

[ohim]

[citation][nom]fpsgamingsa[/nom]I have been building PC's and using them with Windows, Unix, Dos, Solaris, SCO, MAC OS, OSX, and HP UX for over 20 years. An OS is an OS. If you count build quality as having value. And support of the whole product not just the components as having value. The current Apple products are an exceptional value. Especially the mobile products. I will even add in that their support of Windows is superior. For example Vista on a Macbook is simple. The drivers for the system are on the Leopard disk. One program installs all of them with one reboot. I have built maybe 40 different PC's this last 12 months and not one of them had that smooth of support for Vista. And yes I agree that MAC OSX is an excellent Unix system and I use my Macbook at the command prompt as often as in the GUI.Why is it users of PC's have a prejudice? These are just tools we use. Recognize excellent engineering when you see it and appreciate it. If it doesn't have value for you then don't buy it. I love watching a red Ferrari going down the road. It doesn't have value to me so I will not buy one, but I appreciate it all the same.[/citation]
You compare the enormous diversity of the PC components with the very few Mac components .. you`re great at telling stuff

 

[Guest]

Monitor, keyboard, weight, power connector - all pluses.
Security - same. Mac is vulnerable, so is Win - no real advantage here).
Dual boot - same . No problem doing on any PC for anybody reading TomHrd.
Reliability - same. Does anybody know exactly the percentage of failed Macs? Does anybody know exactly the percentage of failed Dell's?
CPU (why not Core2 quad or Core7), HDD (why only 320GB and only 1 disk), Video Card (why not NVIDIA 9800M GT for example)- minus as they could be much better.
Battery - my dell was recharged more than 500 times during last 2 years and still holds almost the same time, so not true about 200-300 times. It is a lie unless they can provide specific laptop specifications with tests of the same capacity batteries which prove they can be recharged only 300 times. Simply not true.
And upgrades are especially bad at Apple. Upgrades are just not an option - too expensive. Try $1000 for 4GB more ram anyone - official pricing on apple.com.
So spending that much should mean the latest and greatest hardware available outside/inside. Looks like for now Apple has done great job on the outside and medium job on the inside. Thus Apple is better fit for less technical crowd. Other manufacturers concentrate more on the inside and are more appealing to us, techies

 

[Tomsguiderachel]

[citation][nom]ohim[/nom]1st reason, keyboard it might be great but still it`s only a keyboard (plastic/rubber) made me laugh the part with black keys white letter to better see during day ... like wtf ? you can`t see black letters during the day ? back lit keys are already on market nothing out of the ordinary2nd. Unibody, nice touch i like it but still don`t think it`s worth that much cash, crash resistant ... well i could write a story here but let`s just say i like to be carefoul enough to keep my stuff safe first and not hope the enclosure that the company said is durable 3rd. Light weight ... well let`s just say i`m not a digital counter to realy feel that 0.36 lbs difference and besides it`s good for your condition .. what you wanna be a person that will be only able to lift a glass of water ? everything above that will be too heavy ? This point defenetly not worth the cash.4th. power cord ... cheap gimic .. nothing hight tech and expensive here.5th. Led backlit LCD .. well competition is doing too, it`s a new tech and soon all laptops will have it still i`m having no problem staring my eye balls to a normal LCD and i`m not that light sensitive too to be annoyed by the difference in lightness over the surface of the LCD, after all even knowing about it i still look at my LCD and don`t see the darker spots.6th. Internet protection .. well that`s OS based and why do OS`s fell first in front of the user stupidity when talking about security ? That`s the problem with people these days .. they always want something else to look for their behinds ... anyway if this is so go Linux on a PC and it`s even free .. you can actualy save some $$ instead of having PC: Vista $$ + Linux Free > Mac: Vista $$ + OS X $$ .7th. Battery well they list 8 hours but under mediu/heavy load how much ? since idle time i don`t realy care about, this might be a point for extra cash but still way off than the difference.8th. Customer Service .. well at ~3k $ they at least should give you 2 free keys as a replacement to your laptop9th. Recicle ... 10th. Ability to run other OSes ... well breaking news PCs do that too all in all is to be able to use Mac OS (wich personaly i don`t even want to)? to be above the normal guy or what ?BTW loved the comment this article was written on my Mac... this ... this is realy amazing Macs can write articles better than PCs ... All in all is an overpriced PC that does the same as other PCs with fancy accesories ... just like takeing a normal blonde and give her extra cash to make herserlf bigger boobs a nose job and in the end does the same as the cheaper blonde model Pleased now ?[/citation]
Okay, thanks for the input. What it comes down to is you don't actually want any of the 10 features the author cared about a lot. Different strokes, of course. I wonder how someone who really wanted all of those features might feel.

 

[ohim]

[citation][nom]TomsGuideRachel[/nom]Okay, thanks for the input. What it comes down to is you don't actually want any of the 10 features the author cared about a lot. Different strokes, of course. I wonder how someone who really wanted all of those features might feel.[/citation]
well don`t get me wrong the keyboard / case / lcd / power plug / batery are nice indeed but do they realy worth that much of a difference than the normal ones ? I for one would not pay that ammount of cash just for such (some slight) differences ... I like the Apple look it is eye candy their products are nicely finished but they hardly worth their price in my opinion.

 

[Tomsguiderachel]

[citation][nom]AK47LT[/nom]Monitor, keyboard, weight, power connector - all pluses. Security - same. Mac is vulnerable, so is Win - no real advantage here).Dual boot - same . No problem doing on any PC for anybody reading TomHrd.Reliability - same. Does anybody know exactly the percentage of failed Macs? Does anybody know exactly the percentage of failed Dell's? CPU (why not Core2 quad or Core7), HDD (why only 320GB and only 1 disk), Video Card (why not NVIDIA 9800M GT for example)- minus as they could be much better. Battery - my dell was recharged more than 500 times during last 2 years and still holds almost the same time, so not true about 200-300 times. It is a lie unless they can provide specific laptop specifications with tests of the same capacity batteries which prove they can be recharged only 300 times. Simply not true.And upgrades are especially bad at Apple. Upgrades are just not an option - too expensive. Try $1000 for 4GB more ram anyone - official pricing on apple.com. So spending that much should mean the latest and greatest hardware available outside/inside. Looks like for now Apple has done great job on the outside and medium job on the inside. Thus Apple is better fit for less technical crowd. Other manufacturers concentrate more on the inside and are more appealing to us, techies[/citation]
This is more like it, thanks.
I would just make one comment: About the battery life--I'm not sure the main reason he paid to be able to have this feature was because of how many times you can recharge the battery. I think it had more to do with the 7/8 hours per charge. Do you know of any other laptops in similar weight/power range that have as long lasting a battery (per charge)? Seems like that could fall on the plus-side.

 

[cadder]

The iFruit laptops are nice products. You get the impression that they design and build a product as nice as they can build it, then figure out how to price it to make money and pay for their ad campaigns. If a person wants the nice product and has the money, that's their business. I buy some products based on quality, others based on price. Virtually every point made in the article talks about how nice the product is, can't argue with that. You can certainly spend a lot of money on a top Lenovo or other brands for instance.

I bought a Dell Latitude, spec'd as good or better than the iFruits. I got a P9500 at 2.53GHz, a 15" LED display made by the same manufacturer that the iFruits use, 9 cell battery, and spent less than 40% of what the 17" iFruit cost. It's a very solid machine but not quite as "pretty" as the Apple. If Apple had made a 100% equivalent machine with Vista installed, I might have considered it for $100 more, but that's about it.

It will be great when other manufacturers start using that battery technology. Batteries have been a sore spot for almost all manufacturers.

 

[V8VENOM]

Ahh, the Micro-humpers are at it again. Talking about a computer they don't own, and have never own -- yet they envy it. Why else would you Micro-humpers post about comments on something you don't have?

Where do you go when your PC doesn't work? Or for that matter, where do you go if you have a question about it? Would that be no where? Oh wait, that's right you can call Microsoft's India hot-line and be told to "wipe everything, re-install, and pray to Ala"

Oh that's right, you Micro-humpers don't value your time, you enjoy the pain that is Windows. Let me whip you with another user context ignorant security prompt, just in case you didn't get enough.

Go add up the amount of time you spend trying to resolve your PC problems vs. time you spend resolving Mac problems ... what's the REAL cost of ownership of that Microslop based PC? Time is money -- at least it is for me.

I bet 90% of you didn't even know you can get an ATI 4870 video card for a MacPro. Oh that's right, "Mac's can't be upgraded" myth that most of you die hard Micro-humpers cling to. One of these days you'll understand and might actually become multi-platform so can have a meaningful qualified opinion rather than diarrhea of the keyboard.

 

[V8VENOM]

Ahh, the Micro-humpers are at it again. Talking about a computer they don't own, and have never own -- yet they envy it. Why else would you Micro-humpers post about comments on something you don't have?

Where do you go when your PC doesn't work? Or for that matter, where do you go if you have a question about it? Would that be no where? Oh wait, that's right you can call Microsoft's India hot-line and be told to "wipe everything, re-install, and pray to Ala"

Oh that's right, you Micro-humpers don't value your time, you enjoy the pain that is Windows. Let me whip you with another user context ignorant security prompt, just in case you didn't get enough.

Go add up the amount of time you spend trying to resolve your PC problems vs. time you spend resolving Mac problems ... what's the REAL cost of ownership of that Microslop based PC? Time is money -- at least it is for me.

I bet 90% of you didn't even know you can get an ATI 4870 video card for a MacPro. Oh that's right, "Mac's can't be upgraded" myth that most of you die hard Micro-humpers cling to. One of these days you'll understand and might actually become multi-platform so can have a meaningful qualified opinion rather than diarrhea of the keyboard.

 

[ohim]

[citation][nom]V8VENOM[/nom]Ahh, the Micro-humpers are at it again. Talking about a computer they don't own, and have never own -- yet they envy it. Why else would you Micro-humpers post about comments on something you don't have?Where do you go when your PC doesn't work? Or for that matter, where do you go if you have a question about it? Would that be no where? Oh wait, that's right you can call Microsoft's India hot-line and be told to "wipe everything, re-install, and pray to Ala"Oh that's right, you Micro-humpers don't value your time, you enjoy the pain that is Windows. Let me whip you with another user context ignorant security prompt, just in case you didn't get enough. Go add up the amount of time you spend trying to resolve your PC problems vs. time you spend resolving Mac problems ... what's the REAL cost of ownership of that Microslop based PC? Time is money -- at least it is for me.I bet 90% of you didn't even know you can get an ATI 4870 video card for a MacPro. Oh that's right, "Mac's can't be upgraded" myth that most of you die hard Micro-humpers cling to. One of these days you'll understand and might actually become multi-platform so can have a meaningful qualified opinion rather than diarrhea of the keyboard.[/citation]
guess the Micro-humpers you like us too call are a little smarter than you and if they hit a problem they usualy solve it by themselves and not being such retarded to go for everylittle thing to a store to ask ... for once start useing your own brain and try to solve the problem yourself and not count on your customer service.

 

[cadder]

I did a quick check on Dell.com- I configured their M6400 similarly to the iFruit and got $2869 for the Dell. I picked the M6400 because it should be Dell's highest quality line, and it has a metal exterior case. In Dell's case you pay a lot more to go from 15" to 17". I'm sure you could spec a Lenovo and it would cost even more. So yeah the author spent a lot of money, but he picked expensive features.