Macbook pro or other brands

endrewsmith

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My acer laptop died on me few weeks ago and I'm looking for a new one to replace it. As much as I love cheap stuff, I hate how fragile acer could be and gave me so much trouble before it stopped working completely. So this time I'm looking for something better..something robust. Yesterday I went to bestbuy and looked around all those laptops on display and I found macbook pro to be the most robust and sturdy. Sony vaio VGN-FW510DT looks sturdy as well but they don't reach to mac level sturdiness. Mac also felt very solid in my hand as well. The only gripe I have for mac is that it's price to spec ratio suck so bad. I could get sony with blueray drive/better spec for $100 less. So my question to you guys is, is it worth to go for macbook pro by sacrificing the spec over the sturdiness? Does it really sturdy in real use? I'd like hear thoughts from those who have experience both.
 

jsc

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All I will say is that if you choose a MacBook Pro, buy everything you are going want in it first. Expanding one will be really expensive if you go through Apple.

Case in point:
A friend of mine has a MacBook Pro with 4 GB of memory. He wanted to expand the memory to 8 GB. Online Apple Store said $1200.

The idea is that you then take your MacBook Pro and the memory down to your friendly, neighborhood Apple Store and they will install the memory free for you.
 

endrewsmith

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Is it gonna void warranty, if I do that by myself? I mean it is still expensive to buy memory from apple.
 

endrewsmith

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1. USD$1300
2. not bigger than 16
3. higher better
4. not really. I'm looking for the one more sturdy.
5. longer better
6. every now and then
7. watch movies
8. 250gb or greater
9. nope
10. 5 years may be
11. dvd writer at least
12. acer sucks hell. so fragile - adapter toasted after a year and the plastics around hinges came off after normal use. Its in the dust bin now.
 

endrewsmith

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Never heard that brand. Have you ever used that brand before? I mean I have a concern over built and I don't want to run into another acer like brand.
 

deadlockedworld

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I would pick out products you like at Best Buy, but I wouldnt buy there. They overprice as bad as Apple does.


The mac price premium is for those users that "want a product that just works." If you have any interest in upgrading/customizing/fixing it yourself/replacing your own battery, want to game on it, or use obscure software--get a PC. Personally, i like to fix my own electronics so I have a PC that I customize.

On the other hand, you are right in that Mac's are generally made with high quality manufacturing/parts, and have less problems. For example, you will notice that ALL of their models come with the better model Intel processors (the Pxxxx processor line/centrino) with higher bus speeds--that are typically only available in mid-to high level PC laptops. Having retail service/genius bar is nice too.

Also with regard to the power/price dilemma I should point out that often you can get away with slightly less powerful macs because the Mac OS is lighter on system resources than windows PCs. Some people claim Win 7 will change that... but im not convinced. After a couple service packs im betting 7 will be a beast too.

Does it need to be REALLY sturdy? Several manufacturers sell laptops designed to handle abuse--in exchange for an even greater price premium. Also I remember reading about some other manufacturers using methods similar to apple's single mold manufacturing process--you might look into this.