MacBook Pro/Air or Ultrabook/Laptop

Hello to all,

I am looking for a good, dependable office laptop. No gaming, I need it only for emailing, internet browsing, watching films and office work, occasional editting (nothing fancy) etc. I want it to be as quick as possible, silent, with SSD (256GB+), with solid long-lasting battery (6-12 hours) and 8gbs of RAM.

My only experience with laptops (got plenty with PC experience so I kind of know my way around hardware wise) is my trusty HP laptop that has been going strong for about 4 years but the battery never lasts more than 2 hours.
I have never had an Apple product with the exception of my iPad Mini so I am not familiar with the OS but I hear its very intuitive and the interface is very fast.

The budget is somewhere between $1000-1500.

At the moment I am leaning towards Macbook Pro as it looks like the best choice with the overall longevity.

Any help and experience would be highly appreciated. Thanks.

P.S. I should mention that I might be going to China somewhere in the upcoming months. I heard that there are some problems with Apple compatibility. Any thoughts?

Dell has some full aluminum computers, check out those.

You'll be hard pressed to find a laptop that has a good amount of processing power and battery life in the 6-12 hr. range. "Occasional editing." You mean photo or video editing? If so, those computing activities beg for processing power.

The manufacturing trend for laptops is toward thin and light these days. They are competing with tablets. The problem with that is it cuts down on battery size and therefore battery life. I recently purchased an Asus 15.4" laptop with an Intel Celeron N2930 (1.83GHz) quad core Atom, basically. Very thin and light. 4 gb of RAM. Kind of under powered which I can live with since it's not my main everyday rig. My biggest disappointment with it is the battery life. Only 2-4 hr. in average use and the CPU only draws 7.5 watts. The culprit is the tiny battery which is internal. No way to move up to an extended life battery. Just no room for one in that thin body.

My office just ordered a macbook pro w/ retina for me, 3.5lbs with an approximate 10hr battery life (the reason I went for it is because of a) their trackpads b) the battery life c) the weight compared to the other options I could choose from).

Janus67 said:

My office just ordered a macbook pro w/ retina for me, 3.5lbs with an approximate 10hr battery life (the reason I went for it is because of a) their trackpads b) the battery life c) the weight compared to the other options I could choose from).

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Have you actually used it yet? You know how those battery life figures put out by the manufacturers is typically significantly exaggerated, don't you?

From reviews that I've read it was said to be pretty close. At least much better than the Lenovo that I was offered

Well, from what my Macbook owning friends have told me, the battery life just can't be compared when it comes to Apple and other manufacturer products. Apple wins it. Especially in the Air/Ultrabook category.
I am really torn here. I hate the prices of Apple accessories, the lack of ethernet port could be a nuisance as well, but there are adapters.
I also HATE Windows 8 and touchscreens - just another thing that might have a problem or some kind of a failure.

The Macbook Pro Retina 13" with 256GB SSD, 8gb RAM looks like a good choice atm and from what I have been able to see (and try), the OS is very intuitive. However, the compatibility of Windows with other software is unmatched. But again...I find Macbooks to be much more reliable as none of my friends and colleagues has ever had a problem with them, whereas nothing similar could be said about Windows powered machines.

Mitukczuk said:

Well, from what my Macbook owning friends have told me, the battery life just can't be compared when it comes to Apple and other manufacturer products. Apple wins it. Especially in the Air/Ultrabook category.
I am really torn here. I hate the prices of Apple accessories, the lack of ethernet port could be a nuisance as well, but there are adapters.
I also HATE Windows 8 and touchscreens - just another thing that might have a problem or some kind of a failure.

The Macbook Pro Retina 13" with 256GB SSD, 8gb RAM looks like a good choice atm and from what I have been able to see (and try), the OS is very intuitive. However, the compatibility of Windows with other software is unmatched. But again...I find Macbooks to be much more reliable as none of my friends and colleagues has ever had a problem with them, whereas nothing similar could be said about Windows powered machines.

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Classic Shell, I assume you don't like 8 because of the UI.
Don't buy a touchscreen, that's an easy fix.

Windows 7 is just perfect, there is no other way to put it. I get your point though. The UI alone is enough put me off, but is 8 really better than 7 ?
Not buying touchscreen for sure, I was just making a point.

This is like Sophie's Choice. I really don't know what to buy.

8 is overall a better OS (a bit quicker, and more features) than 7. Installing classic shell gets rid of the interface issues.

I got your point, just making the counter-point that there's one piece of free software to fix the UI "issues" and that you can choose touchscreen or not

Now that we have the OS/UI question answered...

Is there anyone who has experience with both Apple laptops and "classic" laptop manufacturers?

I got given a MacBook Pro (mid 2012) for my PhD work, and was my first Apple laptop (otherwise I've only ever used Windows and sometimes Linux). The battery life is among the best you'll find, and 6-7 hours of life is reasonable to expect (WiFi on, moderate brightness, Word Processing and Web Browsing) - although this will deteriorate slowly over the lifetime of the laptop and cannot be replaced unlike other laptops. Battery life drops to 2-3 hours if I start loading up the CPUs with simulations etc.

The UI was fairly easy to get used to, and the trackpad is fantastic versus any Windows laptop I've seen (pushing it in feels much more responsive than tapping the touchpad of a Windows laptop). They aren't really any quieter to a typical Windows laptop, and it's hard to ignore the fans when you're at 100% CPU or gaming. The only thing I really missed is the window snapping features - but additional apps fix this. I like the App Store too, which is able to keep a lot of software up to date easily.

The only disappointment is the durability of the power adapter. The wire coming from the transformer to the laptop is in an awkward position and can be put under pressure when packed in a bag during traveling, and the insulation tends to split from wear and show bare wires (which then can become detached from the transformer and result in no longer working). The wire from the transformer to the plug can be replaced, but this one can't so it means you need to buy a replacement outright if you don't want to fix yourself - and this isn't cheap. Other people I know have had the same issue, and tend to have it replaced every couple of years. Luckily my University paid for it to be replaced.

Badbonji said:

The only disappointment is the durability of the power adapter. The wire coming from the transformer to the laptop is in an awkward position and can be put under pressure when packed in a bag during traveling, and the insulation tends to split from wear and show bare wires (which then can become detached from the transformer and result in no longer working). The wire from the transformer to the plug can be replaced, but this one can't so it means you need to buy a replacement outright if you don't want to fix yourself - and this isn't cheap. Other people I know have had the same issue, and tend to have it replaced every couple of years. Luckily my University paid for it to be replaced.

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Well, they have to pay for the quality of the machine somehow. The accessories prices are just off the hook.

Mitukczuk said:

Now that we have the OS/UI question answered...

Is there anyone who has experience with both Apple laptops and "classic" laptop manufacturers?

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I run a small computer repair business and I can tell you that it is a myth that Apple laptops "never give a problem." It is also not true true (anymore) that you never have to worry about viruses with Macs. And when something does go wrong with a Mac it can be much harder to find someone to work on them who knows what they are doing. Unless you live in an urban area where there is an Apple store I would strongly suggest you stay with Windows. The strength of Mac laptops is that their OS technology which is very tightly integrated with their hardware/firmware technology and very proprietary. The weakness of Mac laptops is that their OS technology which is very tightly integrated with their hardware/firmware technology and very proprietary. No, I am not contradicting myself. When stuff starts to go wrong on a Mac laptop it can be a nightmare. One problem seems to create a whole cascade effect.

I would also say that having used both I do not feel the MAC OS is any easier to use than modern Windows versions. The Windows 8 haters out there need to discover Classic Shell. It removes all the negatives of Windows 8/8.1 and allows the user easy access to all the under the hood features of the OS just like you had in Windows 7. And Windows 8 is just snappier than Windows 7 from a performance perspective.

Very helpful post! Some valid points were made. Thanks

I know nothing about Windows 8/8.1 so the classic shell is new to me. I am slowly rethinking what I want, but I am still stuck at which manufacturer is the most reliable. Also, it is almost impossible to find a solid ultrabook with NO touchscreen, that's the only thing I certainly don't want.

I am sceptical about Asus and Acer, Toshiba caused me a lot of problems when their HDD inside my HP laptop broke down on me when I was writing one of the most important essays in my life.

I just purchased a Mac book Air the last gen from best buy for $799. I was hesitant at first since I've always been a windows guy and frowned upon Apple. This little thing rocks! I have gone all day watching movies, surfing the web, listening to music (8hrs) and still have 25% battery left. I am still in disbelief how long the battery last and the performance you get out of the little thing. I am very impressed with it and it has far surpassed and Dell laptop I've owned (4 in total) but this is my two cents.

Mitukczuk said:

Very helpful post! Some valid points were made. Thanks

I know nothing about Windows 8/8.1 so the classic shell is new to me. I am slowly rethinking what I want, but I am still stuck at which manufacturer is the most reliable. Also, it is almost impossible to find a solid ultrabook with NO touchscreen, that's the only thing I certainly don't want.

I am sceptical about Asus and Acer, Toshiba caused me a lot of problems when their HDD inside my HP laptop broke down on me when I was writing one of the most important essays in my life.

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You will find reviews that praise just about any product out there and then you will find reviews of the same product where other folks had a terrible experience with the same item. When you make judgments on anecdotal evidence like that you will hard pressed to come to any conclusions. Here are some tips in that regard.

1. Read the professional reviews on technology products but don't rely totally on them. The professional reviewers are given a product for evaluation but the reviews are: 1. based on one person's opinion and 2. represent a limited time slice and range of use slice. They typically don't reflect how well the product will perform over time and in a broad range of scenarios. Read as many different professional reviews as you can find to get different "expert" perspectives.
2. Don't buy a brand new product that has a very limited user review base. Buy something that has a track record with plenty of user review input over time that you can draw from. Look at products that have a minimum of 50 user reviews so as to give a better perspective over time. Sometimes manufacturers will make changes to a product that may make it better or worse than it was at the initial release.
3. Read the negative reviews with some discernment. Many negative product reviews reflect user incompetence rather than flaws in the product. Many times you can tell the person has no tech savvy. They may complain, for instance, that the 1600 mhz RAM they just bought is only running at 1333 mhz after they installed it in the computer. In most cases like that the issue is not with the RAM but with bios settings that are simply running in default mode and need to be manually changed.
4. Look for patterns in consumer reviews. If a high percentage of people are complaining about the same issue then you need to take notice. Also, ask yourself, is that issue really going to affect me in how I use the product?

As far as brands go, on the Windows side Dell seems to build the most quality into their computers, both laptops and desktops, of all the mass producers, though the differential is not as great as it used to be. Lenevo is also a good brand. Lenevo is an arm of IBM. Acer seems to offer the lowest quality products with HP and Toshiba somewhere in the middle. That's my take on brands at least from a repairman's perspective.

Be prepared to spend around $800 for a quality Windows laptop that will give you almost desktop-like performance and will hold up. The more expensive ones also tend to come with amenities like full MS Office as opposed to basic or trial versions.

Also be aware that laptop CPUs are not the same as their desktop counterparts even when the same descriptor is used. For example, a laptop i3/i5/i7 is not the same as a desktop i3/i5/i7. The laptop versions of those typically are cut down versions of their desktop counterparts. Intel and AMD both have "mobile" CPU product lines they use on their laptops to make them run cooler and extend battery life. Not generally a concern in desktops. It can be confusing. Take time to know what you are getting. And choosing a Mac book will not circumvent this issue as Apple now uses Intel CPUs in their products.

notebookcheck.net is a good source for mobile CPU information. It gives you an overview of what you can expect from a given CPU in nontechnical, practical, actual usage terms. Just google the processor in question.

The budget is 1000-1500 dollars so it should not be an issue.

As for the processors, i would have never thought that they are equivalent to their pc borthers with the lack of cooling etc.

i have narrowed down my options to Macbook Pro or Dell/Lenovo ultrabooks. I am hesitant when it comes to the display resolution. I feel like the higher it is, the more power it will draw. How far Am I from the truth? I am not a display efficianado so I don't mind an hd or full hd screen.

I like the Dell XPS 13.

This would be my choice:
http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/productdetails/xps-13-9343-laptop/dncwt5130s