SubJeff on 6/6/2014 at 23:44
Quote Posted by Aja
Having bought my first Macbook earlier this year, a 13" Pro, I have to disagree. I absolutely love it, and I'm a guy who shunned Macs for the longest time.
I've got a Mac. It's great. It's just a Mac Air, not a Macbook Pro. It's also very fast, nice and the trackpad is fabulous and a bit reason I got this instead of a Windows laptop. That may silly but I HATE trackpads and mouse "button" things, I hate all of them except Mac trackpads. I got a magic mouse because I thought the track stuff on it would compliment the trackpad but the only good thing about it was the trackpad - I didn't like it otherwise and sold it. I also have a desktop. The only reason I can see having a Macbook Pro would be if I didn't have desktop and wanted more power than the Air, in which case I'd also have a monitor for when I'm at home.
Renzatic on 7/6/2014 at 00:11
Quote Posted by faetal
That's another reason I won't go near Mac. I don't want to catch the bug and be tied into a more expensive computing system for the rest of my days. I don't doubt it is nicer than PC in a lot of ways, but for all of that money I'll be saving for the rest of my life, there are plenty of things to spend it on.
If there is one truly big advantage to going with Apple over a PC, it'd be the resale price. PCs depreciate very quickly, Macs don't. Apple controls their own market from top to bottom, and keep a very tight reign on the prices of their devices. If you were to go out today and spend $1999 on a Macbook Pro, you could easily turn around and sell it for for $1500 3 years later, then spend only $500 out of pocket upgrading to the latest and greatest version. They're more of an investment than your average PC.
Though to be fair, there is also one huge downside to buying into Apple. They're a very flaky bunch, and can change or mothball entire platforms practically on a whim without telling anyone they're doing so until the very last moment. With a PC, it's not rare for a program you used on XP back in 2002 to work just as well on Windows 8. With OSX, Apple can depreciate an API for something they consider better, and break compatibility entirely between yearly versions. You never know what they're gonna do until they do it, and it kinda sucks wondering if their newest update is gonna require you to rebuy all your software or not.
...this is especially true now that there are rumors of Apple switching entirely to ARM over x86 for the Macbook lineup, now that they're starting to become competitive from a performance standpoint. If they were to do that, it'd break EVERYTHING, and there wouldn't be an emulation layer to lean back on like they had when they switched from PPC to x86. You'd just suddenly find yourself stuck on a dead end platform overnight.
faetal on 7/6/2014 at 00:18
I built my desktop PC for <£1000 back in 2007 and have performed one upgrade to it which cost around £450 in 2011. It has never crashed, blue-screened or had viruses. It has done everything I've wanted it to do without any noticeable performance issues. I am still using it and will probably upgrade the processor and graphics card for not much money and probably get another 2 years out of it. If I'd have bought a mac for <£1000 back in 2007, where would I be with it now? How much would I have spent on a new one when the specs started to fall behind what I needed? My guess is a lot more than the £1450 odd quid I've put into 7 years of flawless use of my current machine. I get that there are appreciable benefits to owning a mac, I'm just not interested in them for the cost that comes with them. It's not even about being able to afford it - I just don't see any reason to pay more money to do the same things, but a bit nicer. Instead, I can put that extra money into holidays, musical instruments, meals out, clothes, savings etc... I'm sure a great trackpad is awesome, but I prefer orthogonal rather than incremental benefits of spending extra money.
Aja on 8/6/2014 at 20:45
Quote Posted by SubJeff
The only reason I can see having a Macbook Pro would be if I didn't have desktop and wanted more power than the Air, in which case I'd also have a monitor for when I'm at home.
Audio production is the big reason. If you don't have your own recording studio or want to use it to perform with a computer, lugging around a desktop is just not practical. I could probably manage with an Air on stage, but for actual production the extra power is good to have, and 512GB of solid-state memory is wonderful.
Plus the Pros have high-res screens that are leagues above the one in the Air. I don't actually have a TV, and everything I and my girlfriend watch is online, so having a screen with good viewing angles is great. Considering a screen like this would cost several hundred on its own, the Pro isn't such a bad investment.
SubJeff on 8/6/2014 at 21:24
It's pretty niche though. Great that they make such a product but it's for niche stuff or for people who have more disposable income than me.
june gloom on 8/6/2014 at 21:31
You mean there's someone richer than you? :p
Aja on 8/6/2014 at 23:31
I just got a nice tax return last year, that's all.
Renzatic on 8/6/2014 at 23:37
Quote Posted by Aja
Plus the Pros have high-res screens that are leagues above the one in the Air. I don't actually have a TV, and everything I and my girlfriend watch is online, so having a screen with good viewing angles is great. Considering a screen like this would cost several hundred on its own, the Pro isn't such a bad investment.
Most of my time with a Mac has been spent with either the Air, or an old 21" iMac. Today, I got to spend a goodly amount of time with a 15" Retina Pro.
...it was the best piece of computer machinery I've ever used. It felt like an MBA with a shit ton of power. Enough to do anything and everything I'd want to do with it (besides play higher end games, but Macs have always sucked there). I like the Air, but the Pro, while superficially similar, is ultimately leagues ahead of it.
I want one, and I want it bad, and I need to know if anyone wants to buy one of my kidneys so I can afford it. Better hurry. I'm doing this on a first come first serve basis, and I'm a universal donor. Get it while the getting's good.
edit: Nevermind. (
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/macbook_pro/15) I just found out Apple sells refurbished computers directly. Kidney deal is off the table. Sorry for getting everyone's hopes up.
But damn, even at $1700, this'll be the most I've ever spent on a computer. The one I've got now cost me about $1300 to build, but it's lasted me 7 years now. I wonder if the MBP will give me as much bang for the buck.
faetal on 9/6/2014 at 07:50
That's another thing which has me confused is macolytes telling ome over the years that if I was serious about music production, I'd get a mac (usually ignoring that the software I've spent 15 years getting familiar with doesn't exist for mac). I've never had a single problem with computing power or usability or...well anything on the PCs I've built. Either I'm missing something or for some people, the extra bit of pizazz is really worth adding all of that extra cost. To reiterate what I said earlier, even if I had more disposable income, rather than funnelling that extra cash into what is essentially a really expensive PC with a different O/S, I'd stick it into savings if there wasn't something else I had in mind to buy. Why have silk when cotton gets the job done?
Aja on 9/6/2014 at 15:14
I had a Dell laptop and if I plugged it in while using my USB audio interface, I'd get horrible grounding noise coming out the outputs. None of the desktops I've owned have had similar issues, but if you're planning to be on stage with a laptop, it's kind of a crapshoot unless you go to one of those custom builders that specialize in audio laptops.
