What do you think?

[1337]

Hello, everyone. Sorry for bothering the lovely forum with a silly computer question of mine. I am planning on buying a new laptop and have a budget of USD$1,200. And, I haven't been following much IT news so I figure that here would be a great place to start. Here are some of the factors I would like to have...

Lighter than 2.45kg, my current Vaio is that heavy.
Support minor gaming like casual D3.
Anti-Acer.

I am considering MacBook Air/Pro atm, any thoughts about it?

Sorry for the long text, please give me your advice, thank you.

 

[Lava King]

Hi 1337,

For your stated budget (1200 USD) I think that only the lower models of MacBook Air would be affordable, well, new ones anyway. That same money will buy a very nice Windows based laptop.

I can't give you much insight into those Windows based laptops, but I can try to give you a reasonably objective view of a MacBook Pro.

I've been using this 2010 model MacBook Pro 15" for over 1 year now and have come to grips (I think) with the highs and lows.



Pros

Trackpad - Best in the market, bar none. Multi-touch and gestures work flawlessly.

Display - Overall very good. Higher resolution (1440x900) at the time of purchase for the size than most other laptops. Viewing angles are very good, as well.

Unibody construction - Feels like a quality product, doesn't creak and pop when being opened or moved about.

OS X - Seems very stable, never had a kernel panic (Mac equivalent of BSOD).

Battery runtime - Very good, I get about 5.5 to 6+ hours of casual usage without resorting to extreme screen dimming and turning off WiFi, Bluetooth, etc.

Bootcamp - Run Windows on the Mac (dual boot).

Customer service - Seems to be very good according to what I've read in various forums.

Magsafe connector - A great idea. If the adapter cord gets pulled, it simply pops loose without damaging anything or pulling the computer off the table.



Cons

Expensive - A notebook with equivalent hardware (aside from the display) from any other manufacturer can be had for one-half to one-third the price.

OS X - Less software available, may not find a Mac replacement for that important Windows application.

Unibody construction - Could be bent or dented if treated roughly. Some of the plastic bodied notebooks may be able to "bounce back" into shape if they don't actually break.

Bootcamp - Windows drivers for Mac hardware are not optimized. Battery runtime drops to match any other Windows notebook. No (or limited) multi-touch or gestures with the trackpad.

Gaming - Fewer games available. Of those, they generally don't run as well because of the lack of DirectX. Mac-specific games seem to be aimed at (or developed by?) 12-year-olds.

Magsafe connector - Proprietary to Apple. Cheap alternatives are not available so if your adapter gets damaged or quits working you must buy a genuine adapter. Well, somewhat less expensive knock-offs are available but from what I've read they are junk so not really an alternative.


Now, having said that, would I buy this MacBook Pro again? Really hard to say, I never saw (in person) a notebook with such a good display (although I know they exist), and the trackpad is so just so much better than any other that I've seen...

Don't know if any of this helps you in any way, if you have any specific questions, just ask.

 

[AdeonC]

Mac-specific games seem to be aimed at (or developed by?) 12-year-olds.

Don't mean to be disrespectful but after reading this I think you have no idea what you're talking about.

 

[Lava King]

Mac-specific games seem to be aimed at (or developed by?) 12-year-olds.

Don't mean to be disrespectful but after reading this I think you have no idea what you're talking about.

No offense taken, I could have been more specific. The $10 and under games on the Mac App Store seem to all have nearly the same "look and feel." There are, of course, mainstream games available.

 

[1337]

Thank you, Lava King. Sorry, I couldn't add rep to your post above but still thanks.

I understand that with my budget, I will only be able to get the low-end MacBook Air series and the games are kinda' limited. I plan to make it strictly for school work and nothing more intensive than that. I do however want it at least to support games like, D3, LoL, Dota 2, etc. Which I doubt so...

Which is why, I am thinking back to a Windows-based laptop. But, there are also little thing I can get with my budget (poor me). Weight is a major factor and IIRC less weight means more money?

I hope someone is able to recommend me with some cheap alternatives. I know that I can get cheap laptop online by custom-building it but I live in Asia so, I think shipment is a major no-no for me too. And, there is not much custom-building laptop in Asia.

 

[Trucidation]

Singapore right? Howdy neighbour. And what, no custom building laptops, tosh. Go look at Dell's site, they allow you to customise their laptops - well, mostly cherry picking between 2-3 of each component, but they still have plenty of different base configs to choose from. Ditto other OEMs; Asus especially has plenty of choice.

Why is shipping a problem? They send from regional centers, not shipping from USA - it would be prohibitive costwise. If you're not willing to buy online then your only choice is to buy off the shelf at an IT mall. It's been a (long) while since I visited Singapore but I'm sure you guys still have those. In my experience most regional stuff tends to be sent out from Singapore anyway so shipping really shouldn't be a problem for you. They'll probably just send a fedex truck up to your place, like how Dell sent my laptop.