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

[BillLake]

yeah the macbook almost eliminates the need for the macbook pro as it is very nice. I wish it had a little higher resolution screen but for many a plan macbook would be very nice.

[citation][nom]Habeeb[/nom]Bought the cheapest aluminum Macbook in Dec '08 after 13 years in the DOS/Windows camp. Still have my 17" Dell XPS M1730 for the odd games and for photoshop. Won't be selling it as I still have another 2 years warranty and it does a fantastic job at what I require from it.But I have to say that buying the Macbook was the best decision I had made. The XPS will be the last Windows machine I'll be buying as I feel I get more value when using a Mac. OS X is a easy to learn and to use and the hardware has been put together with care and attention. And it shows.[/citation]

 

[BillLake]

I am not rich, I saved for more than a year to buy my laptop. I waited when I could have bought sooner, I worked extra to get what worked best for me. So work hard and save your money and you can get what you want, you just have to wait for it.

The OS is actually not more secure, you should run some protection on OS X otherwise when someone does do a mass exploit you will not be protected. That is in the article, for now it is just not targeted, how long that will last is anyone's guess, but maybe someone can interview the pwn2win guy and ask him what he thinks.



[citation][nom]zodiacfml[/nom]I don't agree on the keyboard, greener, powerplug, and OS security parts, yet i do agree on the unibody, which is really appealing.In my case as a poor guy, a macbook pro, highend gpus, sli's, highend processors are not worth my money.Yet, given more than enough money, the $500 to $1000 value I lost buying a macbook pro just to get that aluminum unibody wouldn't be much of a problem.[/citation]

 

[hillarymakesmecry]

I think Tom's is paying you too much if you can afford to waste such a ridiculous sum of money on a laptop.

 

[deck]

Wow. V8VENOM you are a fool. When my computer breaks. I fix it. Must be hard to have to rely on someone else to fix your comp for you.

 

[solymnar]

[citation][nom]billlake[/nom]OK close your eyes, now rub your hands over your eyes, now keep your eyes closed and move your hands down to the keyboard and start typing. I am work in some very dark areas, the lighted keyboard just helps to find the keys faster.[/citation]

There is a sweet device that mitigates this "problem". It usually amounts to two tiny bumps on the inner home-row keys...notably defined as "f" and "j". It seems to work extremely well for centering your hands on the keyboard. 😉

Not that I'd argue the astetics of a lit keyboard which is the primary driving reason.

A possibly more tangible advantage of a lit keyboard is spreadsheet work on a new keyboard in some extremely dark place since your hand often strays from the home-row when typing. Arguably if you use the same keyboard for a while even that becomes a weak point as you simply get used to the measured movement. Sometimes even the numberpads of various keyboards have the "bump" on one of the keys to find your position easily for that reason.

At home I use a subtle blue led lit keyboard. It looks pretty and matches the subtle blue led lighting on my PC and monitor...which also look pretty and professional. In terms of pure function its about on par with the keyboard it replaced with a slightly better hand rest...I don't care, I got it because it looks pretty.

To be fair I got my keyboard on sale for $20 with a combo purchase from newegg. So its the kind of vanity within a reasonable price for me. Backlighting on a laptop keyboard costs a bit more by comparison and very slightly reduces battery life.


Now all that said, what are you doing constantly using your computer in rooms so poorly lit that you can not see your keyboard at all despite a bright led flat panel shining immidiately above it?

It's not exactly good for your eyes, you might consider getting a lamp for these rooms of extreme darkness you find yourself in. 😉

Unless of course you have poor low light vision like my mother? In which case a somewhat dim room would seem very dark to you etc. I could see that making it more functionally useful.

Otherwise...it just is something else that looks pretty. Which is a fine reason. People spend huge amounts of money on things because they look pretty. Some more than others.


Bah I should stop procrastinating and get back to work. 😉

 

[solymnar]

[citation][nom]hillarymakesmecry[/nom]I think Tom's is paying you too much if you can afford to waste such a ridiculous sum of money on a laptop.[/citation]

That a baseless statement as you have no idea of his lifestyle, income or how he spends his money. For all you know he gets paid the same as you and has low/lower living expenses and watches his spending carefully so he can get 1 or 2 expensive things instead of a bunch of less expensive things.

I've seen people in RP when I've visited my wife's family who literally lived in a shack but owned a very expensive car and TV.

To each their own.

 

[icanhazcpuplz]

Lol, such divide amongst the two factions!
For the build quality and features, the Mac does not appear that overpriced. A little overpriced, perhaps, but after all, it's the price of luxury and quality.
Do you think a BMW M3 is overpriced? Perhaps. But it's a BMW M3. Sure, you'll find somewhat comparable 'cheaper' alternatives that can compete on some levels with it, but if money is not an issue, almost everyone will favor the M3.
If you favor PC laptops over all else, good for you, you have a right to not like apple products, but ffs, just stop the mindless dissing and recognize the product for its qualities, you won't be less of a man. It's not you vs them.

Also, you have to think the vast majority of consumers do *not* have the technical know-how or will to fix their PC's themselves - they just want them to work. In that respect, I think Mac's "survive" better than PC's in general.

Note: I own no apple products - I'm a PC, but say my parents wanted to best laptop they could get, I'd recommend a Mac, knowing I'd probably have a lot less support to do on it. For me though, I'll stay a PC for 3 reasons: games, price and I know, and want, to tinker with the OS/configs/hardware.

 

[mpasternak]

Billake:

this is me doing exactly as you recommended. My eyes are closed, I am turned away from the screen and I am typing. I know it won't be believed but it's true. Heck i'm willing to do this for you live on webcam if it proves my point.

A good typist should not require any fancy gadgetry to type. they should know by the feel of the keys where their fingers are. It's called home row as mentioned above.

I know this is a cool featureto have a lighted keyboard. it looks snazzy, but the real world practicallity is a little over rated. I have one. Don't know why. It was just "cool". it looks robotic. I unno.

 

[rooket]

Performance should be #1 priority when spending 3 grand on any computer, portable or not. Hopefully this article was written to figure out whether or not it should be returned during a certain time frame. I'd opt out for the Dell. This apple laptop would be fair if it was half the price.

 

[Tomsguiderachel]

[citation][nom]rooket[/nom]Performance should be #1 priority when spending 3 grand on any computer, portable or not. Hopefully this article was written to figure out whether or not it should be returned during a certain time frame. I'd opt out for the Dell. This apple laptop would be fair if it was half the price.[/citation]
Consider, for a moment, that performance is not the #1 priority for a good deal of consumers out there. Whether you like it or not, it is the truth. These are people who love using technology, are not stupid, and who simply have different priorities than you. It is possible for intelligent people to agree to disagree about this.

 

[Tomsguiderachel]

[citation][nom]radnor[/nom]To TomsGuideRachel:This article is nothing but a e-peen statement. Educated ? yes, but none the less a e-peen statment.1 - Keyboard i can understand, although i disagree. It is a matter of opinion. Nothing new, nothing original, diferent design. A mater of personal taste should be a plus for all.2 - Uniboby ? Great maketing stunt. Check rugged or semi rugged laptops or any professional lines from lenovo, hp or Dell. You like the look ? Fine by me. But again, is personal taste.3 - Yes, it is a light laptop. But if you need a 17" for writing articles, your out of your mind. Again, personal taste. Again it is proven that laptop comes with the Nvidia 9600 time bomb on it.4 - Premium for magsafe ? I prefer to pay a premium for Dell Complete Care for 5 years. Go read it. Professionally ive activated several times. Most times was for exchange for an updated version. 5 - Backlite LCDs are nothing new. You better inform yourself. neither is 1920x1200. Color gamut ? If you are just writing articles, it is nuts. Anyway there are equally good solutions there. For a bit less.6 - Spyware, malware,virus, flooders and others ? You are the first line of defense. Software can help up to a point. This is a non-argument.7 - 7 hours ? Not bad. Check Dell or Lenovo by that matter. Samsung has a model with 12 hours.8 - Apple Customer support ? With the premium you pay it should be. With that premium talk to Dell Customer support. 9 - Being Apple a software and design house nowadays, i doubt their pollute much. Estimated battery life ? But i'm sure they only will give it one year warranty. For your information, computers now are made to last 5 years. Almost all of them. Except the ones made by Quanta. Read the china financial times. 10 - I don't want to be a bitch. But i had Hack OSX, Vista 64 and Ubuntu 8.04, triple booting on my lappy. You guess it isn't a mac. It worked perfectly. I kept Ubuntu. Compiz-Fusion kick he crap out of OSX or Windows.Lets face it. You bought because you could and you liked it. Nothing but that.Of the 10 points, 4 are personal preferences , 4 are non-arguments, 1 is silly (the malware one) and 1 you could only prove in five years. I would like to ask you hows that batery in 5 years.For less, with this crisis I bought a 309 GTI 2.0 (mint condition) to add to my Lancia HF Turbo. I have a lappy well enough for my needs , and a computer that needs a small upgrade so i can game. It can't take more OC for now.At least you could finished the article saying you did it because you liked shiny things. Every reader would understand. We all like shiny things, whatever the brand is.[/citation]
You may think that, if you want to. But I commissioned this article because I think it is interesting to hear the perspective of someone who used his own logic to make an expensive technology purchase. It is a different point of view--one that is rarely represented on the Toms sites. I wouldn't describe Bill Lake's decision-making process as purely "I like SHINY THINGS!!!1omglol". That is very dismissive. He thought about his own priorities, and came to a rational decision for himself.

 

[BillLake]

Great, your a good typer and you felt your way around the keyboard to find the home keys or your at your desk and your hand fell right into the customary place and you can tell me that is easier than looking down and putting your hands in place?

My work often consist of me holding my laptop in one hand and typing with the other. That means home keys do me no good but for you the lighted keyboard is not valuable so you can go with a HP or Dell, they work fine. The point is if you need something you need it. Guess I was figuring people would understand, Buy the laptop that works best for you. If you don't need help seeing the keys in the dark then great, but if you do then it is exceptionally helpful.

[citation][nom]mpasternak[/nom]Billake:this is me doing exactly as you recommended. My eyes are closed, I am turned away from the screen and I am typing. I know it won't be believed but it's true. Heck i'm willing to do this for you live on webcam if it proves my point.A good typist should not require any fancy gadgetry to type. they should know by the feel of the keys where their fingers are. It's called home row as mentioned above. I know this is a cool featureto have a lighted keyboard. it looks snazzy, but the real world practicallity is a little over rated. I have one. Don't know why. It was just "cool". it looks robotic. I unno.[/citation]

 

[BillLake]

Thanks for the advice, I am often in poorly light rooms because my full time job is installing routers and the circuits that drive them. Many companies spring for a nice data room but just as many put them in poorly lit rooms. So I am often standiing holding my laptop with one hand and typing away with the other configuring or troubleshooting a circuit or router. The backlit keys are much better than the screen because you have to tilt the screen slightly down to see the keys and so again your not in a easy place to work and it just is easier to do with the screen tilted back, hand under one side, other hand typing and seeing a well lit keyboard.

Plus once I was working in a well lit room but they had motion detectors on the lights so every 5 minutes it would turn off. I either had to type in the dark or get up walk around to set off the motion detector. Another advance that is really not all the welcome when you are working.

[citation][nom]solymnar[/nom]There is a sweet device that mitigates this "problem". It usually amounts to two tiny bumps on the inner home-row keys...notably defined as "f" and "j". It seems to work extremely well for centering your hands on the keyboard. Not that I'd argue the astetics of a lit keyboard which is the primary driving reason.A possibly more tangible advantage of a lit keyboard is spreadsheet work on a new keyboard in some extremely dark place since your hand often strays from the home-row when typing. Arguably if you use the same keyboard for a while even that becomes a weak point as you simply get used to the measured movement. Sometimes even the numberpads of various keyboards have the "bump" on one of the keys to find your position easily for that reason.At home I use a subtle blue led lit keyboard. It looks pretty and matches the subtle blue led lighting on my PC and monitor...which also look pretty and professional. In terms of pure function its about on par with the keyboard it replaced with a slightly better hand rest...I don't care, I got it because it looks pretty.To be fair I got my keyboard on sale for $20 with a combo purchase from newegg. So its the kind of vanity within a reasonable price for me. Backlighting on a laptop keyboard costs a bit more by comparison and very slightly reduces battery life.Now all that said, what are you doing constantly using your computer in rooms so poorly lit that you can not see your keyboard at all despite a bright led flat panel shining immidiately above it? It's not exactly good for your eyes, you might consider getting a lamp for these rooms of extreme darkness you find yourself in. Unless of course you have poor low light vision like my mother? In which case a somewhat dim room would seem very dark to you etc. I could see that making it more functionally useful.Otherwise...it just is something else that looks pretty. Which is a fine reason. People spend huge amounts of money on things because they look pretty. Some more than others.Bah I should stop procrastinating and get back to work.[/citation]

 

[solymnar]

[citation][nom]TomsGuideRachel[/nom]You may think that, if you want to. But I commissioned this article because I think it is interesting to hear the perspective of someone who used his own logic to make an expensive technology purchase. It is a different point of view--one that is rarely represented on the Toms sites. I wouldn't describe Bill Lake's decision-making process as purely "I like SHINY THINGS!!!1omglol". That is very dismissive. He thought about his own priorities, and came to a rational decision for himself.[/citation]

To be fair though Rachel, you also seem to have a bias towards trendy stylistic things which makes you prone to identify strongly with choices that mirror that bias.

The not so tactful arguments against the validity of the article though aren't completely wrong. If the focus was on making a the best "logical choice" then the 10 reasons could be accurately and clearly defined and measured and then compared without bias.

This clearly isn't the case. It doesn't mean that bill made a bad choice. But some of his reasoning and evaluation of value IS pure opinion or close to it. Which makes it utterly futile to argue and not overly useful to a given reader. Its like me buying a something that was a gorgeous shade of green that I may have paid a little more for because green is my favorite color and then explain why its more valuable because its green as one of my points of reasoning in an article.

Its true that its more valuable to me for its color...but it contributes nothing of use to the reader and should at best be something mentioned in passing or specifically noted as opinion.

Its not that his reasoning is wrong or that it doesn't make sense any more than it does for me to like the color green.

When I help people buy laptops, I focus on what they are going to use it for and then ask questions and show them different models to get a feel for what things matter to them within the options for that general type of laptop. So I totally dig where bill is coming from when he's writing. These are things important to him and apple filled that criteria the best for him.

That said I wouldn't write an article rating the value of a laptop based on my or my mother's personal values and bias.

Perhaps bill should have written a strait up review of the laptop comparing it to similar models (which he most likely did when making his decision anyway) and break down the stats leaving his personal weight out of the equation. He could easily tag his own comments and note them as "from a personal point of view" x,and y are important to me so I went with z product and have been pretty happy with it so far. (see some of the other laptop reviews on toms for reference)

Which would be notably more useful to readers, and probably wouldn't have earned nearly the amount of heat. Most of which was over the top and unwarranted imo.

 

[solymnar]

[citation][nom]billlake[/nom]Thanks for the advice, I am often in poorly light rooms because my full time job is installing routers and the circuits that drive them. Many companies spring for a nice data room but just as many put them in poorly lit rooms. [/citation]

Soooo true. Been there done that. My old company had them in the back of an old storeroom with no windows. 😉

I was under the (mistaken assumption) that you were a writer and got your laptop to type on and I was like "what kind of messed up conditions is he typing under?!"

In light of that information (bad pun) I can completely understand your value on the lit keys. One hand typing sucks as it is. You might want to invest in a strap though for your laptop. Holding it on one hand while typing is one step away from dropping it (seen it happen a few times). Aluminum frame or no its not a toughbook. And its still pretty bad for your eyes. You can get a small LED flashlight (some with floodlamp function) that last pretty damn long along with rechargable batteries to illuminate the situation so that you're not burning your retinas as much...aside from the obvious value when regularly stuck in dark situations. They didn't have them back when I did that sort of thing so I had a normal rechargable flashlight but it served the purpose (especially durring power outtages with things running on battery backup, had a digital phone router back there too. Good times).

Even with the diffuse lighting from the flashlight I would imagine the lit keyboard will still be pretty handy for your specific occupation. 😉

 

[BillLake]

Well that is another nice feature of the MacBook Pro's, they have adjustable lighting so you can turn the screen up and down as well as the keyboard. I have a nice tripod LED flashlight from Stanley and it work well but still not as good as full lighting. Well thanks for worrying about my eyes. Someday I will get a full light kit and just carry that around with me, you know like a professional photographer, just pop out a lot of big lights and power them on : )

[citation][nom]solymnar[/nom]Soooo true. Been there done that. My old company had them in the back of an old storeroom with no windows. I was under the (mistaken assumption) that you were a writer and got your laptop to type on and I was like "what kind of messed up conditions is he typing under?!" In light of that information (bad pun) I can completely understand your value on the lit keys. One hand typing sucks as it is. You might want to invest in a strap though for your laptop. Holding it on one hand while typing is one step away from dropping it (seen it happen a few times). Aluminum frame or no its not a toughbook. And its still pretty bad for your eyes. You can get a small LED flashlight (some with floodlamp function) that last pretty damn long along with rechargable batteries to illuminate the situation so that you're not burning your retinas as much...aside from the obvious value when regularly stuck in dark situations. They didn't have them back when I did that sort of thing so I had a normal rechargable flashlight but it served the purpose (especially durring power outtages with things running on battery backup, had a digital phone router back there too. Good times).Even with the diffuse lighting from the flashlight I would imagine the lit keyboard will still be pretty handy for your specific occupation.[/citation]

 

[Tomsguiderachel]

[citation][nom]solymnar[/nom]To be fair though Rachel, you also seem to have a bias towards trendy stylistic things which makes you prone to identify strongly with choices that mirror that bias.The not so tactful arguments against the validity of the article though aren't completely wrong. If the focus was on making a the best "logical choice" then the 10 reasons could be accurately and clearly defined and measured and then compared without bias.This clearly isn't the case. It doesn't mean that bill made a bad choice. But some of his reasoning and evaluation of value IS pure opinion or close to it. Which makes it utterly futile to argue and not overly useful to a given reader. Its like me buying a something that was a gorgeous shade of green that I may have paid a little more for because green is my favorite color and then explain why its more valuable because its green as one of my points of reasoning in an article.Its true that its more valuable to me for its color...but it contributes nothing of use to the reader and should at best be something mentioned in passing or specifically noted as opinion.Its not that his reasoning is wrong or that it doesn't make sense any more than it does for me to like the color green.When I help people buy laptops, I focus on what they are going to use it for and then ask questions and show them different models to get a feel for what things matter to them within the options for that general type of laptop. So I totally dig where bill is coming from when he's writing. These are things important to him and apple filled that criteria the best for him.That said I wouldn't write an article rating the value of a laptop based on my or my mother's personal values and bias.Perhaps bill should have written a strait up review of the laptop comparing it to similar models (which he most likely did when making his decision anyway) and break down the stats leaving his personal weight out of the equation. He could easily tag his own comments and note them as "from a personal point of view" x,and y are important to me so I went with z product and have been pretty happy with it so far. (see some of the other laptop reviews on toms for reference)Which would be notably more useful to readers, and probably wouldn't have earned nearly the amount of heat. Most of which was over the top and unwarranted imo.[/citation]
I'm glad you picked up on the fact that this isn't a straight review, and IS listed as an Opinion piece. That said, a good editorial doesn't just say "I like it because it is green." A good editorial explains why "green" has utility for certain users, and is more than just a pretty color. If we use this analogy, I think Bill's piece succeeded. There's no doubt that only a small percentage of the population gets "utility from the color green" (this analogy is getting lame, huh?), but I wanted to expose the rest of you to a different kind of user--the kind that likes green (aka MacBook Pro 17-inch) for a specific list of highly-niche, specific, and yes--logical--reasons.
You said you wouldn't have published an article about why your mom's laptop is perfect for her. Well, I would. That's what we're about here at Tom's Guide--examining the gadget wants and needs of a wide swath of consumers, including, but not limited to those who only want the best *bang* for their buck, or only want a top-performing machine.

I thank you for allowing me to air this point of view.
As for this comment: Rachel, you also seem to have a bias towards trendy stylistic things which makes you prone to identify strongly with choices that mirror that bias," I'll admit that is probably true, but I do my best to not allow my personal preferences exclude other voices on Tom's Guide. I really do try to be as inclusive as we can be.

 

[rooket]

[citation][nom]TomsGuideRachel[/nom]Consider, for a moment, that performance is not the #1 priority for a good deal of consumers out there. Whether you like it or not, it is the truth. These are people who love using technology, are not stupid, and who simply have different priorities than you. It is possible for intelligent people to agree to disagree about this.[/citation]

Yeah but usually people are "I love my mac, it can do graphics and video editing" so that'd make me assume that they are running better hardware than I usually purchase since everyone knows that both mac and pc can run adobe products.

I thought you tom's hardware guys get the hardware for free to review too..

 

[BillLake]

Yeah right, free hardware, maybe sometimes they send stuff for us but most of the time it is on loan or you have to buy it. I usually try to buy it and test the entire process. It makes it more fun and life should be more fun.

I hate the Mac verse PC stuff, they are both PC's with different cultures. Just read the new article on Toms Hardware with the guy from PWN2WIN, he said the same thing I did, go read it, it is cool although we need more of that. The Apple crew better wake up is all I can say.

[citation][nom]rooket[/nom]Yeah but usually people are "I love my mac, it can do graphics and video editing" so that'd make me assume that they are running better hardware than I usually purchase since everyone knows that both mac and pc can run adobe products.I thought you tom's hardware guys get the hardware for free to review too..[/citation]

 

[rooket]

yeah these days the mac is the same as pc, aside from aesthetics. one thing I don't like about the macbook is that it has single click but my coworker showed me how to do the double click command, I forgot how to do it already but it wasn't hard.. I usually use a usb mouse with any laptop I'm on anyways so it really doesn't matter. I think the macbooks look pretty sharp.