MacBooks...cheaper to own?

C_Mababejive

Do yourself a favour,just install ubuntu linux as a dual boot on your windows pc. After a few months,there will be no competition to think of and you will still have £££ in your pocket.

Notmyrealname

Derivative wrote: »

Apple computers have a number of benefits, but one thing they are definitely not is cheaper.

Buy one if you wish, but using the cost/durability angle is just fooling yourself IMO.

Price up the equivalent to a 27" iMac. The last time I did it a few months ago, the iMac was cheaper despite the equivalent spec monitor being on sale. Also you still didn't get a Thunderbolt port and the motherboard was a mid-range.

Also look at the cost of IBM Thinkpad T or X series, Dell Latitudes and Toshiba Tecras which are made to the same build quality as a Macbook Pro. I think you'll find the difference in price is very minimal however when it comes to selling it on, those laptops will have depreciated more.

Notmyrealname

A._Badger wrote: »

A Thinkpad. You can hammer nails in with them.

Yep. And the T and X series are as much if not MORE expensive than Macbook Pros.

Notmyrealname

BRSurvivor wrote: »

While not about MacBooks, I have to tell you my recent experience.

I've had PCs for about 15 years. A few months ago I was really pining for an iMac - any my lovely wife agreed to let me buy one for my upcoming big 4-0.

About six weeks ago, we went and got one. The base 21.5" iMac model, quad core, 500GB hard drive, etc £999. Beautiful beautiful machine, looked so elegant when I put it on my computer workstation - no tower, no wires, and simply gorgeous display.

I booted it up, and tried to run some MKV video files. No good. Had to download some software to play them, and then they were choppy.

You'd have to download some for Windows too.

I installed Microsoft Office - I love Excel, and have developed powerful spreadsheets for work, and they ran like a snail on the Mac.

OS X is very different. I had Windows open all over the place. I wanted to uninstall MS Office to re-install it, couldn't figure that out.

Go to applications folder, drag the icon to the wastebasket.

In a funny way I'm greiving for the iMac. I so much wanted to love it. I just couldn't deal with OS X.

Person tries completely new operating system, tries to use it the same way as Windows, gives it hardly any time and wonders why they can't get on with it.

Notmyrealname

-TangleFoot- wrote: »

Unexpected power failure or software conflict; I'm a desktop-bound Windows user at heart.

So the battery would just instantly go flat without the drop in capacity being registered....

OK if you say so.

Notmyrealname

tombruton87 wrote: »

where do you get those figures from

TWENTY FIVE YEARS IN IT and four years running a business specialising solely in laptop sales, service, repair and refurbishing..

Ps you really should shut ur machine down often

Why?

Apple failure rate is pretty much the same, fair enough better batteries but not user replaceable.

It isn't but then again I'm an actual engineer, not a sales droid purporting to be one. And the batteries ARE user replaceable despite Apples claim but thanks for demonstrating the sum of your technical ability.

Notmyrealname

GunJack wrote: »

thing is, ANY laptop will last, if it's looked after properly.....

Compaq C300/500/V2000/3000/4000 series....hinges failed no matter how you looked after them.
Acer Aspire 5000 series....power sockets fail no matter how you look after it.
HP DV6000 series....GPU fails no matter how well you look after it.
Dell Latitude D620/630....screen fails around 2-3 years old depending on how many times you open/close the lid with lines across the bottom no matter how well you look after it.
Dell 1520 series....hinges come loose no matter how well you look after them.

I could go on and on and on....

GunJack

Notmyrealname wrote: »

Compaq C300/500/V2000/3000/4000 series....hinges failed no matter how you looked after them.
Acer Aspire 5000 series....power sockets fail no matter how you look after it.
HP DV6000 series....GPU fails no matter how well you look after it.
Dell Latitude D620/630....screen fails around 2-3 years old depending on how many times you open/close the lid with lines across the bottom no matter how well you look after it.
Dell 1520 series....hinges come loose no matter how well you look after them.

I could go on and on and on....

I know what you mean, but they're specific design faults and/or components. Put it into perspective, though, when windows-based lappys are around 90% of the global market, the few that are like this really are a minority......

i8change

Originally Posted by gino_76ph
I'm very much considering to buy my very first MacBook Pro laptop.

According to Which? laptops are all roughly in the same ballpark, with regard to reliability.

Think Foxconn make the motherboards for many of them, except Asus. The motherboards are too expensive to replace so many Mac users recommend Applecare to cover three years. You could buy from John Lewis for 2 years free and risk the last year.

Many will just have their own peculiarities to watch out for. Like the White Macbooks which suffer from cracking of the case.

Shouldn't be a problem with the Pro model. I have only seen a couple of rare instances on the Mac forums. However they do seem to be more prone to dents if not careful.

There is no stand-out brand when it comes to laptop reliability. All brands received an average reliability score in our survey. Total sample size is 5,050.

Acer 88%, Apple 88%, Compaq 88%, Packard Bell 88%, Samsung88%, Advent 87%, Asus 87%, Fujitsu-Siemens 87%, HP 87%, Medion 87%, Sony 87%, Lenovo 86%, Toshiba 86%, Dell 84%. Overall reliability 87%

C_Mababejive

BRSurvivor wrote: »

While not about MacBooks, I have to tell you my recent experience.

I've had PCs for about 15 years. A few months ago I was really pining for an iMac - any my lovely wife agreed to let me buy one for my upcoming big 4-0.

snippety snip>>


In a funny way I'm greiving for the iMac. I so much wanted to love it. I just couldn't deal with OS X.

Exactly..you so much wanted it to work and it didnt. Perhaps you felt you wanted to be one of the "in crowd" and now your not hence your grieving experience.

Mr Jobbs was the TV Evangelist who pursuaded the world to buy his niche products and now hes gone..well....