MacBook Pro or Alienware 14

[duke132]

I have an MacBook Pro retina late 2013 and I want to change to a gaming laptop and a guy with an Alienware 14 want to trade, is it a good choice ?

MacBook Pro :

8gb ddr3
i5 4258U
256 ssd

Alienware:

i7 4700HQ
gtx 765M
750gb hdd
he said no ssd (?)
Maybe full hd he can't tell

 

[molletts]

The CPU and discrete graphics will be a very good trade; find out how much memory it has, though. If it's less than 8GB, you'll want to budget for an upgrade (I'd go for 16GB if possible). Also, you should budget for an SSD as you'll really notice how slow a hard drive is after being used to an SSD on your Mac.

A quick search suggests that the Alienware 14 has a dedicated mSATA slot so you could leave the HDD in the laptop for bulk storage and fit an mSATA SSD to use as the primary drive for the OS and apps/games. You'll want to reinstall Windows anyway so you might as well do it on an SSD.

 

[duke132]

The CPU and discrete graphics will be a very good trade; find out how much memory it has, though. If it's less than 8GB, you'll want to budget for an upgrade (I'd go for 16GB if possible). Also, you should budget for an SSD as you'll really notice how slow a hard drive is after being used to an SSD on your Mac.

A quick search suggests that the Alienware 14 has a dedicated mSATA slot so you could leave the HDD in the laptop for bulk storage and fit an mSATA SSD to use as the primary drive for the OS and apps/games. You'll want to reinstall Windows anyway so you might as well do it on an SSD.

So is it worth the upgrade ? and the money ? my Mac is in great shape and is lighter and thinner, but the performance on the dell is worth the change ?

 

[molletts]

So is it worth the upgrade ? and the money ? my Mac is in great shape and is lighter and thinner, but the performance on the dell is worth the change ?

Depends what you want to do with it. As you say, the Mac is thinner and lighter (the only Alienware laptop I've ever handled was so heavy it should have come with wheels and was actually too "thick" for me to type comfortably without a wrist-rest) and MacBooks usually have pretty good screens too. (Personally, I'm not a fan of Apple products, but credit where it's due!)

If you are happy with the MacBook's performance then there's no need to change. If you hanker after faster graphics and a beefier CPU and don't mind the weight and bulk, it might be worth the trade. Personally, if I'd been offered a similar swap back when I used a laptop as my main computer (many years ago) I would probably have decided to keep my small, light, bomb-proof ThinkPad X40 and simply build a gaming desktop as I really didn't need to game on the move. (And I can play UT Classic on the X40, anyway, which is good enough to while away an hour or two on the train.)

Only you can really decide, though.

 

[duke132]

So is it worth the upgrade ? and the money ? my Mac is in great shape and is lighter and thinner, but the performance on the dell is worth the change ?

Depends what you want to do with it. As you say, the Mac is thinner and lighter (the only Alienware laptop I've ever handled was so heavy it should have come with wheels and was actually too "thick" for me to type comfortably without a wrist-rest) and MacBooks usually have pretty good screens too. (Personally, I'm not a fan of Apple products, but credit where it's due!)

If you are happy with the MacBook's performance then there's no need to change. If you hanker after faster graphics and a beefier CPU and don't mind the weight and bulk, it might be worth the trade. Personally, if I'd been offered a similar swap back when I used a laptop as my main computer (many years ago) I would probably have decided to keep my small, light, bomb-proof ThinkPad X40 and simply build a gaming desktop as I really didn't need to game on the move. (And I can play UT Classic on the X40, anyway, which is good enough to while away an hour or two on the train.)

Only you can really decide, though.

The thing is, my mac is not the main pc, i have a desktop, a ryzen and 1060 bla bla bla, is decent, but for college i need visual studio and that kind of software (Programming). My mac handles it but has compatibility problems, basically is a writing machine, if i eventually get the dell i will play some games of corse, but it isnt the primary objective of the laptop

 

[molletts]

The thing is, my mac is not the main pc, i have a desktop, a ryzen and 1060 bla bla bla, is decent, but for college i need visual studio and that kind of software (Programming). My mac handles it but has compatibility problems, basically is a writing machine, if i eventually get the dell i will play some games of corse, but it isnt the primary objective of the laptop

You could dual-boot Windows or run it in a VM (possibly in full-screen mode) using VirtualBox in order to run stuff like VS with maximum compatibility. I kept a Windows VM on my ThinkPad (which runs Linux, like all my systems) for times when I needed to run Windows software that didn't work well/at all under Wine.

I must admit that I'm increasingly leaning towards saying "keep the Mac", which would sound very odd to people who know me! It just sounds like it's a better fit for your particular requirements than the Alienware, at least if you can overcome the compatibility issues.

 

[duke132]

The thing is, my mac is not the main pc, i have a desktop, a ryzen and 1060 bla bla bla, is decent, but for college i need visual studio and that kind of software (Programming). My mac handles it but has compatibility problems, basically is a writing machine, if i eventually get the dell i will play some games of corse, but it isnt the primary objective of the laptop

You could dual-boot Windows or run it in a VM (possibly in full-screen mode) using VirtualBox in order to run stuff like VS with maximum compatibility. I kept a Windows VM on my ThinkPad (which runs Linux, like all my systems) for times when I needed to run Windows software that didn't work well/at all under Wine.

I must admit that I'm increasingly leaning towards saying "keep the Mac", which would sound very odd to people who know me! It just sounds like it's a better fit for your particular requirements than the Alienware, at least if you can overcome the compatibility issues.

I think is best too, im using bootcamp (Dualboot) and it could work better but its decent. Maybe i will stay with the mac. Thanks !!