Macbook Pro Retina vs Lenovo Y50 vs Lenovo Yoga Pro 2

[Deep12]

Hey guys. I am looking to get a new laptop for university. My main use would be for study purpose and watching videos and using high end software. I am looking for a laptop that fulfills all this and I have come down to these 3 laptops. I am really confused between these laptops, as I have heard that even i5 Macbook is better then i7 on a window. I really wanted some advice/suggestions before I make my choice. Thank you in advance

 

[Rit_86]

The Lenovo Y50. Best performance hands down.
I know this may sound controversial, but Microsoft really knows how to make an OS and it does make them better than Apple. Macbooks are for posers. Real powerhouses run Windows or Linux. 😉

 

[Deep12]

The Lenovo Y50. Best performance hands down.
I know this may sound controversial, but Microsoft really knows how to make an OS and it does make them better than Apple. Macbooks are for posers. Real powerhouses run Windows or Linux. 😉

Hey thanks for the suggestion. But I am confused cause Macbook Pro with retina was updated in july 2014, so apple must have made it the best so it can compete with other laptops in the market that time. However, thats where my question lies is Mac i5 really better then Windows i7, I mean there must be something good about in macs i5 that when Apple decided to upgrade the MBP 13 inch series they went with i5.

 

[manez]

No, the macbooks aren't magic, the laptop i7 is a lot better than the laptop i5 and for the vast percentage of situations a windows or Linux machine will have better suited software too. Unless you absolutely need that Apple specific software, there is no reason not to buy a windows machine, as you will get much more for your money.

Apple is not even trying to have the best laptops, The fully upgraded lenovo y50 has far superior specs for a lot less, Apple does not even have a macbook with a 4k screen on the market.

If you buy an Apple product, you're mainly paying for the looks, the brand and to some degree the sofware.

 

[Rit_86]

No, Mac i5's are no way better than Windows with i7's. In fact, other than having a sleek profile and extremely hyped products, the macs have no other thing going for them. Windows with i7 will beat any Mac with i5 any day in any test.
Macs were never really good for anything. It's like paying all your money for an inferior product with an Apple logo because more powerful windows and intel ones are too common.
If with your hard earned money, its a logo you want, buy an Apple with i5, if you want a much more powerful, versatile and useful machine go with the Lenovo (i7 with Windows)

 

[Deep12]

hey guys thanks for the answer. would u mind suggesting me a good windows laptop? as I read reviews of y50,everyone seem to say the screen/display is really bad in y50
thanks

 

[MSFT_guru]

The difference people may be referring to when saying the i5 on the MacBook is better is probably the clock speed (which is often higher on most Mac models), but the i7 usually has more Cores/Threads so it handles high-end programs better. As far as the Lenovo Y50, it would definitely be in your best interest to get the one with the 4K screen as the model with the 1080p screen has a terrible TN pannel that is very washed out. The 4K screen is IPS and is worlds better than the 1080 they use as long as you can handle the poor DPI scaling with most older programs. I would also recommend a model with SSD as the speed would be over 2x faster with most boot times and program launch times.

 

[gmonters]

you're mainly paying for the looks, the brand and to some degree the sofware.

 

[cdnml]

I am going to give a different perspective and I would recommend rMBP . I don't know about custom configurations Vs prices of these models. In my country, All these 3 laptops sell with pre-configured hardware.

1. SSD and Faster RAM and Newer Processors

None of the lenovo laptops come with an SSD, they give hybrid configuration where SSD is like 8GB for OS installation, that's all. If you are going to boot more than one OS, then having such a low SSD is kinda pointless.

I would pick i5+SSD combo over i7+HDD combo.

rMBP ships with twice as fast SSDs as well as Broadwell processors now.
Also, RAM of rMBP is 1866 Mhz as opposed to 1600 Mhz.


2.Battery Life

rMBP no doubt has much better battery life.


3. Precision trackpad

Only very few laptops have this feature. XPS 13, Macbook Pros and Surface Pro 3. I seriously recommend either of these 3 models just for the sake of awesome trackpads.

Bottom line :


IMHO, Go for a Surface Pro 3 or XPS 13 if you want Windows laptop.
Go for a rMBP if you want OS X.

 

[_warr]

tl,dr; get something with a solid state drive and that you want to use. don't worry about the CPU unless you're a gamer or filmmaker.

what does "using high end software" mean?

For watching videos and surfing the web (we all know what you mean by study purpose), you're requirements are satisfied with a tiny processor, you don't need an i7. since you're not specific, I assume you're in this range. most people over-estimate their CPU needs drastically.

when would you need an i7? gaming. video editing. lots and lots of photo editing, rendering images (map, game, video design work). local data db work. please note i do not mean looking the photos from your point and shoot or even dslr.

get something you feel comfortable paying for, something you want to carry around and use. if you like windows 8, get a windows box. if you hate windows and linux, don't buy it. if you hate OS X, don't by a mac.