Help me ditch my macbook

[frustratedrocka]

Well, it seems my old Macbook Pro has finally started showing its age. The battery is gone, the touchpad is starting to wear down, and she's just not as fast as she used to be. I think it's time to find her a new home and use the resulting cash to get myself a new machine.

This is not a desktop replacement. For once, gaming is a secondary priority - obviously it's a plus, but what I'm primarily looking for is a mobile workstation I can use for video editing and music production on the go, as well as the usual office tasks. SSD is optional - if all else fails, I have a spare 240 gigabyte drive I can pop in there.

As far as user experience goes, I have a few requests. I'd rather not lug a behemoth of a notebook around with me daily, so let's limit it to a screen in the 15 inch range. 1400x900 minimum resolution. Other priorities are battery life and a really good touchpad.

 

I figure I'll be able to get about 800 for the mac on craigslist, so let's have that be the upper limit unless you guys really think I should save just a bit more.

[EposVox]

use the resulting cash to get myself a new machine.

so let's limit it to a screen in the 15 inch range. 1400x900 minimum resolution. 

I would just like to point out that it's probably unrealistic to expect to get a whole lot of cash for a dying old laptop that barely functions, Mac or not. I don't know how old it is, but worn out touchpad and depleted battery sounds like it'd be junk for most people.

Also, most mid-lower range laptops are still hitting that 1366x768 resolution often, so you're going to be spending a hefty penny - which I guess won't be a problem if you bought a MBP in the first place.

Just saying/tl;dr - don't expect to get an even - or close to even - trade from your dead Macbook to a new laptop lol

[frustratedrocka]

I would just like to point out that it's probably unrealistic to expect to get a whole lot of cash for a dying old laptop that barely functions, Mac or not. I don't know how old it is, but worn out touchpad and depleted battery sounds like it'd be junk for most people.

Also, most mid-lower range laptops are still hitting that 1366x768 resolution often, so you're going to be spending a hefty penny - which I guess won't be a problem if you bought a MBP in the first place.

Just saying/tl;dr - don't expect to get an even - or close to even - trade from your dead Macbook to a new laptop lol

Oh don't get me wrong, it still performs fine. I've factored in the cost of repairing the touch pad, and the battery still lasts for about two hours per charge. This was the 15 inch model with a 2.2 ghz core i7, and I upgraded it to 16 gigs of ram. I just figure that at this point the repair bills are going to start piling up quickly, so I might as well let them be someone else's problem.

[shypin]

dell xps 15 (consumer) / m3800 (workstation)

 

both of them are portable and have 15 inch screens with optional 4k resolution

 

kind of out of your budget but they have discrete graphics

[skylane]

Get another Mac. You're already on that platform and ecosystem. Plus as you see the resale value keeps unlike any PC laptop. Cost of ownership is much lower because of it. PC laptops might be cheaper initially but they are disposable products with horrible resale.

[d3sl91]

Well, it seems my old Macbook Pro has finally started showing its age. The battery is gone, the touchpad is starting to wear down, and she's just not as fast as she used to be. I think it's time to find her a new home and use the resulting cash to get myself a new machine.

This is not a desktop replacement. For once, gaming is a secondary priority - obviously it's a plus, but what I'm primarily looking for is a mobile workstation I can use for video editing and music production on the go, as well as the usual office tasks. SSD is optional - if all else fails, I have a spare 240 gigabyte drive I can pop in there.

As far as user experience goes, I have a few requests. I'd rather not lug a behemoth of a notebook around with me daily, so let's limit it to a screen in the 15 inch range. 1400x900 minimum resolution. Other priorities are battery life and a really good touchpad.

 

I figure I'll be able to get about 800 for the mac on craigslist, so let's have that be the upper limit unless you guys really think I should save just a bit more.

 

 

I would just like to point out that it's probably unrealistic to expect to get a whole lot of cash for a dying old laptop that barely functions, Mac or not. I don't know how old it is, but worn out touchpad and depleted battery sounds like it'd be junk for most people.

Also, most mid-lower range laptops are still hitting that 1366x768 resolution often, so you're going to be spending a hefty penny - which I guess won't be a problem if you bought a MBP in the first place.

Just saying/tl;dr - don't expect to get an even - or close to even - trade from your dead Macbook to a new laptop lol

 

 

Oh don't get me wrong, it still performs fine. I've factored in the cost of repairing the touch pad, and the battery still lasts for about two hours per charge. This was the 15 inch model with a 2.2 ghz core i7, and I upgraded it to 16 gigs of ram. I just figure that at this point the repair bills are going to start piling up quickly, so I might as well let them be someone else's problem.

 

 

In your situation and budget, I would reccomend learning to repair it yourself, or, raising your budget. Buying a new Macbook is also a good solution. 

 

$800 will get you a crappy PC compared to what was a very nice, probably $1500+ macbook. $800 PCs generally do not have amazing touchpads, do not have the best form factor (when compared to $1500 macbooks), and surely do not have much more than 1920x1080 resolution in that pricerange. (did you actually mean 1440p - closer to retina resolution rather than 1440x900? ). You will also likely be ending up with an i5 and ~8GB ram at that pricepoint. 

 

So... I would think hard about repairing or having your existing high-end MacBook repaired before getting a pretty average PC. 

[frustratedrocka]

In your situation and budget, I would reccomend learning to repair it yourself, or, raising your budget. Buying a new Macbook is also a good solution. 

 

$800 will get you a crappy PC compared to what was a very nice, probably $1500+ macbook. $800 PCs generally do not have amazing touchpads, do not have the best form factor (when compared to $1500 macbooks), and surely do not have much more than 1920x1080 resolution in that pricerange. (did you actually mean 1440p - closer to retina resolution rather than 1440x900? ). You will also likely be ending up with an i5 and ~8GB ram at that pricepoint. 

 

So... I would think hard about repairing or having your existing high-end MacBook repaired before getting a pretty average PC. 

The suggestion is appreciated. The machine cost about 2100 new, and that's about what I'd have to shell out to get a new mac of similar or better capability. Here's the specs I'm working with:

 

Late 2011 macbook pro

2.2 ghz core i7 processor

16 gb ram

Radeon HD 6770M

750gb HDD

15 inch 1400x900 display

 

From the quick research I've done so far, I don't think I should have too much trouble meeting and surpassing those specs on my current budget. But if I was to get a new mac, I'd have to spend 2500 just to get a discrete graphics card in there. I want to make this move as part of a transition into using my windows desktop as my base of operations, so I think I can live with 8 gigs of ram instead of 16.

 

Beyond that, I just don't want to be tied into Apple's ecosystem anymore. I don't like the direction they seem to be going with their hardware, and while form factor is a concern, it's not enough of an issue for me that I'd be willing to spend 1500 dollars that I don't have on it.

[Sauron]

Oh don't get me wrong, it still performs fine. I've factored in the cost of repairing the touch pad, and the battery still lasts for about two hours per charge. This was the 15 inch model with a 2.2 ghz core i7, and I upgraded it to 16 gigs of ram. I just figure that at this point the repair bills are going to start piling up quickly, so I might as well let them be someone else's problem.

 

I can buy a brand new laptop that wipes the floor thoroughly with your macbook for 800$. You may want to lower your expectiations.

[ShadowCaptain]

SNIP

 

Ideally we are going to need a budget, or a rough idea of what you are willing to spend

[EposVox]

I can buy a brand new laptop that wipes the floor thoroughly with your macbook for 800$. You may want to lower your expectiations.

No.

 

 

 

 

Ideally we are going to need a budget, or a rough idea of what you are willing to spend

 

Yeah; that's the problem with these posts. Without saying your budget, we have no idea what to suggest.

I was working with "I'll sell this and use that cash to buy a new laptop" not "Oh I have a big budget to buy anything good enough"

[frustratedrocka]

 

 

 

Ideally we are going to need a budget, or a rough idea of what you are willing to spend

 

 

 

No.

 

Yeah; that's the problem with these posts. Without saying your budget, we have no idea what to suggest.

I was working with "I'll sell this and use that cash to buy a new laptop" not "Oh I have a big budget to buy anything good enough"

I'm expecting my budget to be roughly 800-900. I might be able to stretch to 1000, but unless it's absolutely essential I'd rather spend that on upgrades for my desktop.

[Sauron]

No.

 

ehm... yes. Easily.

[frustratedrocka]

ehm... yes. Easily.

Care to point me to one?

[Sauron]

Care to point me to one?

 

The aspire V nitro is about that price atm depending on where you look. With that you get a gtx 960m, a quad core cpu, twice the battery life as well as a new product.

 

Or you culd get something similar to the macbook for much cheaper: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Asus-15-6-1080p-IPS-screen-i5-4200U-8GB-RAM-750-HDD-Windows-8-1-/311018321362

[ShadowCaptain]

The aspire V nitro is about that price atm depending on where you look. With that you get a gtx 960m, a quad core cpu, twice the battery life as well as a new product.

]

Yeah Acer Nitro

Alienware 13

MSI GE60 

 

etc etc plenty of decent models around