Are Mac's worth the Money?

Context: my last laptop was the Macbook Air 1,1 (first generation) which I got in early 2008. My current laptop is a high spec Asus U36SD (i5, 8GB, OCZ Vertex 3 120).

The Asus is high spec, but there is no comparison in terms of hardware build quality, even despite the MBA being first generation. Don't get me wrong, the Asus is pretty damn good, but the Mac is awesomeness personified when it comes to the tangible side of the hardware - the case, the screen, the touchpad, the keyboard, the lighting, even the packaging.

I'm not a fan of MacOSX, so chose to run Win7 on the MBA. Apart from the battery lasting 30-45 minutes of heavy use, the MBA had no problem with Win7

The spec, though, leaves a lot to be desired - even in the higher end Macbook Pros. You're getting a very expensive machine - usually at least one and a half times an equivalent Windows machine spec - and worse, you're often limited by arbitrary Apple hardware decisions that make it difficult or expensive to replace components. I'll give specific examples.

I had to get a trackpad and the Airport (wifi) card fixed in an MBP (not mine) recently - it was over €250 for both all in - pricey enough. The HDD failed in my MBA, first time under warranty, about a week after I got it. I had to pay to ship it to Apple, they replaced it and paid return shipping. Eighteen months later the replacement HDD failed, this time it's out of warranty. Apple quoted me over €200 to replace it again - with the exact same crappy hardware that's failed twice (!). I decided to spend €120 on a Runcore SSD and installed it myself. That option wasn't available first time because Apple chose a rare HDD model for the 1,1 (1.8" PATA ZIF).

So is there a conclusion? Well, I do absolutely love the look and feel of the Macbook Air - it's just awesome. When using MacOSX "It just works" - stuff like the sleep mode lasting for weeks, all that is nice. The multi-touch trackpad is super (ironic they pioneer this after forcing one-button mice on us for so long).

My two main issues are 1) I don't like the OS - not a problem, I run Windows on it. But 2) The Mac is expensive but good while there are no technical problems, but if you do get a problem with it it's very expensive to fix if you can't do it yourself, and from my experience reading the Apple support forum, they are not very responsive to customers who have problems.

YMMV.

If you can afford a Macbook then you can afford a good-spec Windows laptop :pac:

Not worth the money, fashion boxes.

Normally, I'm a PC user. I've a laptop and desktop at home (i7 processors, 8gb ram, lots of disk space, running Windows 7, 64bit). They do what I need.

But, I recently bought a Macbook Pro. While it's a good spec, and expensive, it does what I need, better than any PC I've had.

I use it for photo processing/editing.

Using Adobe products on the mac, they work faster and better than they do on the PC. The battery life is also a hell of a lot better on the mac. It's a combination of the hardware, the OS and the software applications that make it work so well.

I was more than willing to spend the extra, just for those two features, because they're important to me.

For me, it was never for a fashion item, it's purely practical and it does what I need.

Well for me I think they are (granted I got mine for 13" i5 €930). I've always had decent laptops on windows and think they're fine but they're not amazing. The mac is 1,0000000 times better than ANY equivalent 13" laptop. Its light, the battery last ridiculously long, its fast, the screen is really high quality, trackpad makes life easy etc. The build quility is flawless too.

If you paid €900 for a windows laptop it would be amassing too. Most people spend around €500.

Trojan wrote: »

Even if you spent €10,000 on a Windows laptop, it still wouldn't match the Mac's build quality, because none of the manufacturers put the same fanatical attention to detail at the design and build stage.

Sony and Lenova approach it, and Asus are having a pop at it with the new MBA clones they're building - but look up reviews and read what they say about build quality.

Sorry but in my line of work I get to see and use a variety of different laptops and when your willing to spend the money you get the same if not better quality of build in comparison to Apple models. The only issue at the moment is that apple are squeezing the aluminium chassis makers for most of their supply.

To be fair Apple does have exceptional build quality that just isn't really considered on widows based PCs. People buying PCs know full well that buying a laptop that will last decades is as pointless as buying a reusable condom. It may technically work for years and years but after 6 it's going to be so redundant it might as well be in pieces in the bin.

I applaud Apples manufacturing standards but it's about all I'd give them and I wouldn't buy based on that, lovely and all as they are it's complete overkill.

Duke Leonal Felmet wrote: »

'A 1,000,000 times better'

'Even if you spent €10,000'


So hard to take this stuff seriously...

I think you missed the point of my post completely if that's the case. Also, there's more than a slight difference between a factor of 5 and a factor of 1,000,000.

Duke Leonal Felmet wrote: »

So a €2,000 mac is better than a €10,000 pc?

I can't help you if you choose not to actually read what I said, which was:

Trojan wrote:

Even if you spent €10,000 on a Windows laptop, it still wouldn't match the Mac's build quality

Build quality. No more, no less.

Duke Leonal Felmet wrote: »

But mac fanz are of the order of you or the 'million' guy, i.e. no pc can ever be better than a mac.

Sorry, it just seems a little immature to me. Perhaps you could change my mind.

I'm far from being a mac fanz. I think they're very expensive to buy and maintain, and I don't like their OS. But the point remains that they are way ahead of any other manufacturer in terms of build quality.