Apple MacBook Pro 13.3 "Retina, i5-4278U, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD @ £879.00 Amazon Sold by

lee_baby_simms

Pique wrote: »

Right let's quit the crap.

Macbook for nearly €900 with 8gb ram and a tiny ssd.

Why? If it's for surfing so you won't need the HD space, then why not a tablet with BT keyboard?

If it's a laptop you need HD space with then why not a windows i7 for less?


Honest question as I honestly can't see the appeal!


Non fan boys please reply.

I bought a macbook in 2007. Its been used daily since then, photo editing, music production and a phd written on it. Upgraded ram and hard drive a few years ago.

Still going strong. I pretty sure a cheaper dell would not deliver the same perfomance.

Doodah7

The point is you CANNOT get a Windows machine with the same specs for less than a Macbook Pro. Every person so far on this thread has tried and the machine put forward is simply not as good as the Apple version without having to bolt on additional RAM etc. or the screen is simply inferior.

Have a look at some PROPER ultrabooks with equivalent specs and you will see that they cost around the same price as a MBP if not more. If anyone thinks they can get the equivalent machine for half the price, they are fooloing themselves. It CANNOT be done.

Alanstrainor

Would someone just be sound and buy me the MacBook in the OP so I can tell people how great it is?

galwayjohn89

Seems like a good price. I used to be hard core anti apple, but now own a mac, still anti iPhone though. Used to buy windows machines and then wipe them get cash back for windows and install a Linux Distro. Happened to be able to get a top model 13.3 air for €900 so went for it. Build quality brilliant, battery is brilliant, overall great device. Much better quality than any windows machine I've ever used.

aperture_nuig

It's a long shot I know, but does anyone know do the likes of argos and currys reduce their prices to clear off old stock of apple gear? Or do their prices usually stay the same?

keithclancy

HOW ABOUT WE JUST SAY ITS A BARGAIN FOR A MAC ? :pac:

endacl

keithclancy wrote: »

HOW ABOUT WE JUST SAY ITS A BARGAIN FOR A MAC ? :pac:

OK. DO WE HAVE TO SHOUT?

zarquon

What is with the €900 b.s figure that keeps getting referenced. If it was €900 it would be a bargain however this laptop is approximately €1250 with current exchange rates which is still a decent price however there are better options in the same price range such as the new dell xps 13

Doodah7

New Dell XPS 13 is still not as good as a MBP. Screen resolution is 1920x1080 compared to 2304x1440. The base-model Dell has 4GB of RAM vs 8GB in the machine quoted and costs €1093 incl. VAT.

Personally, if I was paying north of a grand for a laptop, I wouldn't spend my money on a Windows version...

Effects

jontr wrote: »

Can you please post me an example of a laptop which will have the following:
- great touchpad that rules out the need for a mouse completely

That doesn't exist, mac or pc.

Sad Professor

Effects wrote: »

That doesn't exist, mac or pc.

The MacBook trackpad is better than any mouse I've ever used. I've a Logitech, an MS and several Apple mice collecting dust.

Effects

Which track pad? The current one?

ThunbergsAreGo

tallpaul wrote: »

New Dell XPS 13 is still not as good as a MBP. Screen resolution is 1920x1080 compared to 2304x1440. The base-model Dell has 4GB of RAM vs 8GB in the machine quoted and costs €1093 incl. VAT.

Personally, if I was paying north of a grand for a laptop, I wouldn't spend my money on a Windows version...

Something I always wondered, does the above difference in resulution make any difference at all for standard users?

Sad Professor

Effects wrote: »

Which track pad? The current one?

Yes.

galwayjohn89

Effects wrote: »

That doesn't exist, mac or pc.

Majority of people I know with laptops haven't used a mouse in years!?

zarquon wrote: »

What is with the €900 b.s figure that keeps getting referenced.

Only one person quoted €900 and I presume it was a mistype for £900

Effects

I do a lot of photo work on my MBP and the trackpad just doesn't cut it. I have to use a mouse.

Paul_Hacket

Effects wrote: »

That doesn't exist, mac or pc.

Actually it does. The trackapd is the single element that makes macbooks so desirable. And I speak as someone typing on a €1,400 Acer Aspire S7 luxury ultrabook.

I work in IT and digital media production, and am not a fanboy for either windows or apple machines. There are things about both operating systems that bother me but you'd have to be on drugs to find Windows 8 anything other than a sh!tshow if you're actually trying to do more than view movies and surf on your laptop. So the first thing you have to do when buying one of these cheaper ultrabooks people are talking about is spend a day wiping the hard drive and installing windows 7 plus all of the drivers you need to get things like backlighting on your keyboard etc. working.

Mac OS just kills windows at this point. Add to that important non-spec intangibles such as build quality, zero keyboard flex, genuinely useful trackpad and all the rest of the optimized hardware and there really is absolutely nothing in the PC space that compares. I got my Apire S7 in the USA for $450 refurbished, that's why I have it, and that's around what it's worth.

zarquon

tallpaul wrote: »

New Dell XPS 13 is still not as good as a MBP. Screen resolution is 1920x1080 compared to 2304x1440. The base-model Dell has 4GB of RAM vs 8GB in the machine quoted and costs €1093 incl. VAT.

Personally, if I was paying north of a grand for a laptop, I wouldn't spend my money on a Windows version...

You need to do your research better, there is a (3200x1800) QHD panel available too on the XPS 13.

Personally speaking though anything over 1080p on a 13'' screen is overkill for most tasks. Extra screen space would be useful for work such as editing etc however anyone performing such tasks would be better off with a larger screen anyway.

The macbook is a decent price however it is irritating to see fanboys try so hard to put down windows machines in comparison.

My current laptop was nearly 2K, a similiar spec'ed macbook was about 3K at the time so it was a no-brainer to go with the windows laptop. I don't like paying massive premiums just for the label (expect perhaps for cars :)but each to their own

Doodah7

zarquon wrote: »

You need to do your research better, there is a (3200x1800) QHD panel available too on the XPS 13.

No I don't. That machine is €1399!!! Ruddy DEARER than a Macbook Pro. For Windows!!

zarquon

tallpaul wrote: »

No I don't. That machine is €1399!!! Ruddy DEARER than a Macbook Pro. For Windows!!

about €150 dearer than the laptop in the OP with much superior specs across the board especially the new broadwell CPU and rated 15 hours battery life and far superior screen. I would certainly rather buy the XPS than the macbook in the OP for the extra few quid.

Each to their own though, if you need osx for specific software such as final cut etc, then it's a great deal but if you want a laptop for general surfing and word processing then it's stupid paying the apple brand premium considering the quality and spec of windows laptops in the same price range.

I don't understand the snobbery about paying for premium windows laptops, mine was 2k. Too often people try to compare €500 piece of crap windows laptops to €1500 macbooks which is nonsense. Macbooks are only worth the price if you need mac specific software otherwise you are paying a hefty premium just for the shiny apple on the lid.

Effects

Paul_Hacket wrote: »

The trackapd is the single element that makes macbooks so desirable.

Sorry, I think you just lost your argument from the start.

There are things about both operating systems that bother me.

Like a lack of basic cut and paste on a mac? It took them long enough to embrace a two button mouse as well though.

Effects

zarquon wrote: »

about €150 dearer than the laptop in the OP with much superior specs across the board especially the new broadwell CPU and rated 15 hours battery life and far superior screen. I would certainly rather buy the XPS than the macbook in the OP for the extra few quid.

A Dell XPS is always going to be better specced than a Mac at similar price.
It's the build quality that people say is the difference.
I've heard of a lot of disasters with macs though compared to windows machines.
Most recently a friend of mine whose mac shuts down after giving him a warning to get his battery serviced as it's over heating. Brought it to the mac store where he's told diagnostics say the battery doesn't need to be replaced so they won't do anything. This is despite the obvious problems and the mac still under warranty for another six months.

alastair

Effects wrote: »

Like a lack of basic cut and paste on a mac? It took them long enough to embrace a two button mouse as well though.

The Mac OS has had universal keyboard controlled cut and paste since 2011, and application level cut and paste since the 80's. It also had/has a finder/desktop mouse-controlled 'move' (the same outcome as cut and paste) for years prior to 2011.

You were able to buy a third party two button mouse (or indeed a four button mouse) for the Mac for years before Apple decided to start shipping their own multi-touch/multi-click take on things.

Doodah7

So in the space of four pages we've gone from saying that you can get a better specced machine for half the price to a machine of rough equivalency for €150 more than the Macbook Pro quoted in the original bargain alert.

Brilliant!!

zarquon

tallpaul wrote: »

So in the space of four pages we've gone from saying that you can get a better specced machine for half the price to a machine of rough equivalency for €150 more than the Macbook Pro quoted in the original bargain alert.

Brilliant!!

You won't get a better specced machine for half the price however the €150 more laptop is a FAR superior specced system. Massive stretch to say to say rough equivalency. I guess you think a ford fiesta is a rough equivalency of an Audi a4 or BMW 530d

I guess QHD screen, extra ssd, broadwell i7 versus haswell i5 and 50% more battery are equivalent :rolleyes:

Doodah7

No, the point I was trying to make was that there werepeople on here saying "pah!! Apple!! ripoff merchants!! 'sure I can get just as good for half the money!"

Of course there are better machines than a MBP but you have to pay an equally serious amount of money to but them. Therefore Apple machines are not overpriced for what you get.

zarquon

tallpaul wrote: »

No, the point I was trying to make was that there werepeople on here saying "pah!! Apple!! ripoff merchants!! 'sure I can get just as good for half the money!"

Of course there are better machines than a MBP but you have to pay an equally serious amount of money to but them. Therefore Apple machines are not overpriced for what you get.

There are extremists in every debate but a balanced viewpoint is the only one that should be given any credence. You are pretty much nearly always guaranteed to get better windows hardware than apple hardware for the same price point therefore apples are overpriced if you need a general use machine. I would gladly buy a macbook if i was in the market for a laptop and found one that offered better or the same value for money over a windows system however everytime i bought a laptop i could never price a macbook in the same range with similar hardware, not even close. There was a 1k gap in the price the last time i bought a laptop. A top of the range specced macbook was 3k compared to the same specced windows machine i payed 2k for. In that case i could clearly say that the apple machine was ridiculously overpriced as it was 50% more expensive for similiar spec.

I have no specific mac software requirements therefore there is no way i will ever buy a macbook until the pricing starts to be on a parity with windows equivalents. Apple make huge margins on their macbooks, much more so than windows OEMS. The reason is simple, people are willing to pay more just for the brand

alastair

zarquon wrote: »

I guess QHD screen, extra ssd, broadwell i7 versus haswell i5 and 50% more battery are equivalent :rolleyes:

Just to be clear - you're comparing an older model MBP with a newer model Dell XPS 13. If you take the previous model MBP (not the new one - which Dell clearly haven't had a chance to respond to) - so contemporaneous models, the MBP has the same processor options (i7 and i5), and the MBP has better battery life than the Dell. The Dell has a higher resolution panel, but an inferior graphics card.

zarquon

alastair wrote: »

Just to be clear - you're comparing an older model MBP with a newer model Dell XPS 13. If you take the previous model MBP (not the new one - which Dell clearly haven't had a chance to respond to) - so contemporaneous models, the MBP has the same processor options (i7 and i5), and the MBP has better battery life than the Dell. The Dell has a higher resolution panel, but an inferior graphics card.

Exactly, older model macbook, but the key point is that it is at a similiar price. A current season macbook will be way more expensive than the new XPS 13 which is the real point in the debate.

alastair

zarquon wrote: »

There are extremists in every debate but a balanced viewpoint is the only one that should be given any credence. You are pretty much nearly always guaranteed to get better windows hardware than apple hardware for the same price point therefore apples are overpriced if you need a general use machine. I would gladly buy a macbook if i was in the market for a laptop and found one that offered better or the same value for money over a windows system however everytime i bought a laptop i could never price a macbook in the same range with similar hardware, not even close. There was a 1k gap in the price the last time i bought a laptop. A top of the range specced macbook was 3k compared to the same specced windows machine i payed 2k for. In that case i could clearly say that the apple machine was ridiculously overpriced as it was 50% more expensive for similiar spec.

I have no specific mac software requirements therefore there is no way i will ever buy a macbook until the pricing starts to be on a parity with windows equivalents. Apple make huge margins on their macbooks, much more so than windows OEMS. The reason is simple, people are willing to pay more just for the brand

Apple certainly charge a premium, but much of that premium is wrapped up in ram and storage prices. Anyone savvy buying a top end Apple laptop will opt to spec them at the lowest level for both and just buy third party memory/drives and install themselves. This sadly isn't an option on the lower end of the Apple range.