The specs updated a couple weeks ago, so I ordered one. The proper refresh will be October at the earliest, possibly 2016 when Intel release Skylake. I couldn't wait that long, but it seems worth the wait if you can. Skylake should be a massive update as they've ignored Broadwell chips and kept the old Haswell for this recent update.

The specs updated a couple weeks ago, so I ordered one. The proper refresh will be October at the earliest, possibly 2016 when Intel release Skylake. I couldn't wait that long, but it seems worth the wait if you can. Skylake should be a massive update as they've ignored Broadwell chips and kept the old Haswell.

More googling for me then, never even heard of any of those haha.

It'll be a few months before I've saved the money and feel I know enough to buy one anyway. I need to be 100% before I chuck a grand at something haha. I'm in no immediate rush tbh.

Cheers (:

Edited 7 June, 201511 yr by fabiamk2SE

If you're going to go Apple you really have to go the whole hog.

 

So if you don't want an iPhone as well and everything else Apple maybe pause and think a bit.

 

Transitioning to Win10 probably won't be that bad plus it'll be free. the Rumours around Win10 are generally positive.

 

Also consider any software you use on your PC. Office etc will need to be rebought.

If you're going to go Apple you really have to go the whole hog.

So if you don't want an iPhone as well and everything else Apple maybe pause and think a bit.

Transitioning to Win10 probably won't be that bad plus it'll be free. the Rumours around Win10 are generally positive.

Also consider any software you use on your PC. Office etc will need to be rebought.

True that. It all works together doesn't it and Apple is a bitch for not letting things work together if it's not their products haha.

I do have an iPhone 5s, iPad mini and Apple TV though, and I do like their products tbh.

I've had windows before tbh and not been that impressed. My dads got a windows laptop and it confuses the hell out of me. The user system has just gone too fancy and less functional IMO. I liked XP back in the day though Hahaa.

Hmm is office software expensive from Apple? I assume it will be?

There is a lot to be said for things that just work. It's clear Apple and MS are trying to carve out that eco system for users, sony (phone, tv, playstn ) too to an extent.

 

In 2006 I swapped to mac; I still use it,  and stopped buying odds and sods for pc upgrades. I saved what I spent to a point as over time I moved from the mac pro to a mac book pro... recently i.e. 2013 I brought a retina pro mac laptop, lovely!  I'm a developer and a few things were beginning to grate, like fixed components, external screen woes, compilers, dependencies etc and I was frequently hitting my ram 8gb cap doing virtual machine work... I didn't fancy a new mac with 16gb so close to the previous one; I was angry I'd not chosen correctly. But the eco system of mac worked.

 

So I grabbed a thinkpad x230 and I've been using linux daily for everything I can. For the most part it works. But I spent 4 hours yesterday trying to get an application working... new release of linux etc... There is a lot to be said for just opening a machine and using it, for that apple has me sold. If you have the budget and accept it.

 

IF I had an iphone & aTV I'd probably go macbook pro 13. If I was travelling most every day I'd still go for that or the AIR and accept it's a potentially last in line, I'd not take the 4Gb one though. I'd consider 6Gb a minimum for any machine now that will have more than a dozen browser tabs, email etc open. If my usage was far more casual/email and the odd skype then the air would suffice, but so to would an ipad.

 

Extras, also consider a 'time' capsule / nas unit or at worst a USB3 caddy for timemachine backups. Again it just works, I have to reboot my linux laptop if it sleeps/suspends in the middle of a backup... it works but * attached.

Interesting!

That's the key thing really, I like things that just work, built well and are going to last. Id rather spend more and have something decent than spend half it on a tacky made item that doesn't do what I want it to. I get really annoyed when stuff freezes haha.

I think that might be the answer then. I think I'll just save n get a MacBook Pro 13 with Retina display.

Might aswel go the full hog if I'm doing it all...

I do have an iPhone 5s, iPad mini and Apple TV though, and I do like their products tbh.

 

 

If you've got all that then getting a Macbook is probably a good idea, it'll all slot together nicely.

Edited 8 June, 201511 yr by Aspman

I have three machines for test, a 2006 MAC PRO, 4x2.66Ghz

 

I have the same model! that I'm using to type this! :sun:

 

My old faithful 'Big Bertha' that I still use as my work rig. Granted it now runs solely Windows 7, all I've had to do its fit an SSD for the OS and up the RAM to 16gb.

 

I don't mind OSX, but I'm more impressed with the hardware. My 07 MacBook is still going strong, so if you want a device that'll last, I do recommend them.

 

I don't mind OSX, but I'm more impressed with the hardware. My 07 MacBook is still going strong, so if you want a device that'll last, I do recommend them.

 The thing is, the hardware is stock conventional PC architecture, so nothing special.

 

I've got a 2006 Macbook Pro.  It's still going running the latest OSX, Pages etc, without issue.  Obviously, at that age, the gfx was a suspect NVIDIA card, which resulted in the whole mainboard being replaced under warranty in November 2011,, despite being well out original warranty as well as outside the additional warranty  obligations placed on Apple due to the NVIDIA manufacturing issues.

Yes, I'm now invested into the software ecosystem, but if I was willing to take a day or two, I could convert all my work easily into a Word format and go back to PC.  

The cost of a direct replacement is prohibitive compared to a similarly spec'd PC, but the materials in case construction on the Macbook are what set it apart IMHO.  Not a lot of brittle plastic on show......the Macbook sports a number of scuffs and a rather industrial dent that would have killed a plasticky Toshiba or Acer......

 The thing is, the hardware is stock conventional PC architecture, so nothing special.

 

You say that, but it's lasted much longer than anything else that I've bought or used. I can't knock their choice of components or build quality.

I have the same model! that I'm using to type this! :sun:

 

My old faithful 'Big Bertha' that I still use as my work rig. Granted it now runs solely Windows 7, all I've had to do its fit an SSD for the OS and up the RAM to 16gb.

 

I don't mind OSX, but I'm more impressed with the hardware. My 07 MacBook is still going strong, so if you want a device that'll last, I do recommend them.

 

Aye I got the dud one a 1,1 so 32bit efi. I've occasionally tried to monkey it to run latest... I think I'm going to convert it to linux though, just can't seem to let the big old shiny thing go Benchmarks it's eclipsed by a new macmini, but eco wise, it's going to outlast me I reckon.

Double post sorry.

Keep getting failed connection to server when I post

Edited 8 June, 201511 yr by fabiamk2SE

You say that, but it's lasted much longer than anything else that I've bought or used. I can't knock their choice of components or build quality.

This is it.

My mates got one that's still going after 10 years. Okay it had 3 battery replacements under warranty and then when that broke out of warranty, he's been running it on the mains for quite some time. But that's to be expected with any battery isn't it.

I've had windows laptops in the past n they're alright, but they are cheap plastics and have been knackered after about 3 years or so slow they're unusable

Aye I got the dud one a 1,1 so 32bit efi. I've occasionally tried to monkey it to run latest... I think I'm going to convert it to linux though, just can't seem to let the big old shiny thing go Benchmarks it's eclipsed by a new macmini, but eco wise, it's going to outlast me I reckon.

 

 

Well after some fiddiling and messing about with a Win 7 ISO file, I have managed to get mine running x64 Windows 7 Enterprise.

 

The hardware is fine for it, you've just got to trick it into allowing the installation to proceed!  

Make that a triple post.

Apologies aha

Edited 8 June, 201511 yr by fabiamk2SE

Double post sorry.

Keep getting failed connection to server when I post

 

Yup pulling a clone of the server image. The db server is almost out of ram :( Not like I had enough to do this week with a big meet next weekend...

Yup pulling a clone of the server image. The db server is almost out of ram :( Not like I had enough to do this week with a big meet next weekend...

Aha. Typical eh. Everything comes at once!

Bet it's got some serious ram anyway hasn't it? Running this lot..

I'm thinking of replacing our five year old Windows 7 PC with a Macbook Pro when it finally gives up the ghost.... Or maybe sooner.... Uses would be internet and word processing.... Along with photo editing in Photoshop too. The only games i play run fine on the PC which has a GTS240 1gb card in which looking at benchmark scores is slightly worse than the onboard graphics in the Macbook Pro???

 

Anyway for my use would i see much benifit between the 13" 2.9ghz dual core i5 with 8gb RAM and the 15" 2.2ghz quad core i7 with 16gb RAM?...... I've also noticed a couple of the 2014 retina 13" MBPs with the 2.6ghz dual core i5, 2.8ghz dual core i5 & 2.9ghz dual core i7 processors in the apple outlet for between £1109 and £1279.

I switched to apple years ago. Bought my first MacBook Pro in 2010 for £999, sold it 2 years ago for a pretty decent sum (on here as it happens) where another brand of laptop would have been worth almost nothing.

 

2 years ago I bought the current machine, 15" Retina MacBook Pro with 16GB Ram and 512GB SSD and quad core I7 . This thing cost in excess of £2K,  and the today is still worth considerably more than £1.5K.

 

I now only use Windows at work (running as a VM on my latest MacBook), at home its OSX all the way.

I'm always amused when people compare Macbooks to Windows PCs, it's never anything remotely equivalent - as in this thread which is entirely normal, it's cheap plasticky Windows laptops that were likely a small fraction of the price of a Macbook so it should be no surprise the build quality and materials aren't as good.  Similarly priced business PC's are usually much more durable, more serviceable and come with next day on site warranties making them quick to get up and running again if you do have issues although I realise they're not 'cool'  I guess if people have only bought cheap Windows laptops they're not aware that there shouldn't be a problem with machines lasting long periods of time, a few of my laptops are over a decade old and still work well (mainly Ultralights with XP for some older devices I still have) while some of the Latitudes are work are also over ten years old and still in daily standalone use by engineers who won't give them up.  As one person phrased it, they look like they've been bounced along a minefield and parts do occasionally break but they're easily repairable to get back up and running again.

 

I'm not at all impressed with Macbook reliability, as mentioned above they do use exactly the same internal components as other PC's but the attention to aesthetics comes at the cost of under-performing cooling which appears to have a knock-on effect with regards to GPU failures as they've been worse for it against similar specced machines.  Furthermore, repairing Macbooks is a complete nightmare (as are the Imacs) with Apple making every effort to ensure you can't repair them, I don't rate them for long term durability - their current laptops now attract the minimum repairability score due to the difficulty in disassembly, soldered or glued parts and proprietary parts.  Admittedly to my frustration many Windows laptops are following suit but there's still a few that aren't, particularly business machines which aren't as superthin or light nor have particularly appealing looks but they're designed to be repairable which ultimately means they'll last longer as a single component failure doesn't mean a vastly expensive repair.  

Im running on the mid 2014 mac book pro 13" retina 2.6 Ghz Intel Core I5 and I LOVE IT

 

Had gaming laptops and a desktop mac but this is my favourite by far ! 

 

The battery life on this thing is incredible for the performance of it ! I personally wouldn't touch the AIR its just not a laptop in my eyes . The new macbook pro has no disk slot but you can buy a plug in to the usb thats about £40 so installing older software isn't a issue. 

 

I run Pro Tools on it and it works a charm never caused me a problem or froze in the 10 or so months that i have had it. 

Im running on the mid 2014 mac book pro 13" retina 2.6 Ghz Intel Core I5 and I LOVE IT

Had gaming laptops and a desktop mac but this is my favourite by far !

The battery life on this thing is incredible for the performance of it ! I personally wouldn't touch the AIR its just not a laptop in my eyes . The new macbook pro has no disk slot but you can buy a plug in to the usb thats about £40 so installing older software isn't a issue.

I run Pro Tools on it and it works a charm never caused me a problem or froze in the 10 or so months that i have had it.

Disc drive is £65 at currys. I was putting this into the price as id need it no doubt.

Glad to hear your thoughts (:

I'm always amused when people compare Macbooks to Windows PCs, it's never anything remotely equivalent - as in this thread which is entirely normal, it's cheap plasticky Windows laptops that were likely a small fraction of the price of a Macbook so it should be no surprise the build quality and materials aren't as good. Similarly priced business PC's are usually much more durable, more serviceable and come with next day on site warranties making them quick to get up and running again if you do have issues although I realise they're not 'cool' I guess if people have only bought cheap Windows laptops they're not aware that there shouldn't be a problem with machines lasting long periods of time, a few of my laptops are over a decade old and still work well (mainly Ultralights with XP for some older devices I still have) while some of the Latitudes are work are also over ten years old and still in daily standalone use by engineers who won't give them up. As one person phrased it, they look like they've been bounced along a minefield and parts do occasionally break but they're easily repairable to get back up and running again.

I'm not at all impressed with Macbook reliability, as mentioned above they do use exactly the same internal components as other PC's but the attention to aesthetics comes at the cost of under-performing cooling which appears to have a knock-on effect with regards to GPU failures as they've been worse for it against similar specced machines. Furthermore, repairing Macbooks is a complete nightmare (as are the Imacs) with Apple making every effort to ensure you can't repair them, I don't rate them for long term durability - their current laptops now attract the minimum repairability score due to the difficulty in disassembly, soldered or glued parts and proprietary parts. Admittedly to my frustration many Windows laptops are following suit but there's still a few that aren't, particularly business machines which aren't as superthin or light nor have particularly appealing looks but they're designed to be repairable which ultimately means they'll last longer as a single component failure doesn't mean a vastly expensive repair.

I did look at rival laptops in currys the other day (the guy showed me around the latest rivals for the pro). They were better made than the stuff ive had before, but they were twice the price. However they still didnt feel as good as the Macbook pro.

Its the windows user system too, im just not a fan of all the fandangled stuff they seem to be doing, id rather it just got on with the job tbh. Okay windows 10 is out soon, but i cant comment on that until ive seen it tbh.

I can only speak on my experiences on windows, ive had a £400 dell which is pretty much unusable now, just freezes all the time. My dads got a 6 month old £500 windows laptop too, and that seems to freeze on me also. Does my head in tbh haha

Everything apple ive got, iphone 5s (had numberous iphones before this one) , apple tv, ipad mini has all been faultless tbh. It all just... Works.

I did look at rival laptops in currys the other day (the guy showed me around the latest rivals for the pro). They were better made than the stuff ive had before, but they were twice the price. However they still didnt feel as good as the Macbook pro.

Its the windows user system too, im just not a fan of all the fandangled stuff they seem to be doing, id rather it just got on with the job tbh. Okay windows 10 is out soon, but i cant comment on that until ive seen it tbh.

I can only speak on my experiences on windows, ive had a £400 dell which is pretty much unusable now, just freezes all the time. My dads got a 6 month old £500 windows laptop too, and that seems to freeze on me also. Does my head in tbh haha

Everything apple ive got, iphone 5s (had numberous iphones before this one) , apple tv, ipad mini has all been faultless tbh. It all just... Works.

 

 

To be fair i have moved away from apple handsets, i just think they choke their development to much for mass gains in profit. I have moved to android a lot more customising and user friendly. I like a good phone but apple just seem to bring out a new handset every 2 months with ONE feature added to it and your handset is then outdated seems a waste. iicr they had SIRI back when they made the first iPhone 3 yet didn't release it onto the handset until the 4s because they wanted to stagger the features to keep customers involved. 

 

I feel their phone market is now aimed at young kids who just want the next branded fad and they dont even care if it can't do as much as a rival android handset they just want that shiny apple on the back .

Erm, there's been one iPhone launch every year since the 3GS. Not every couple of months.