You've probably come to a wrong place to get an objective response.
I'm using macbook pro and I'll try to explain what you're buying. I can't compare to the Y700 or similar laptops, since I haven't used it.
For the components or price to performance, it's probably the worst thing out there. That's the biggest argument of mac haters, it costs a lot. They're not wrong, but it's not all about the specs. I know that this just triggered a hardcore pc fan, I hope their flaming rage won't burn the forum down. But it does matter for gaming. Lightweight games like lol or csgo would probably run at playable fps even with the integrated gpu. Any newer AAA titles would only run on the mbp with dedicated gpu, but that one costs a shitton of money ($2500+). To be honest, if you're buying a mbp, it's cheaper to buy a lower-priced mbp and spend the rest of the cash to build a gaming pc.
For me, it's the operating system, os x is amazing for developers (I know, this is biased). But I see from other users that it's great for other areas, except gaming. Don't expect a lot of games to work w/o wine or some other kind of virtualisation. Continuing about the os, the sleep/wake is amazing, you just close the lid when you stop using the computer and open it when you're back and it's right where you left it, working without any issues. Unlike windows, where putting the computer to sleep few times caused it to behave in weird ways and needed to be restarted. This again is a bit biased, I haven't been using windows actively for the last 2 years.
And most of gaming peripherals software is not working or poorly supported, so don't be surprised if you won't be able to customize your cool-looking peripherals.
It's known for great battery life, although other companies are catching up. About battery quality, for just over 2 years old rmbp (bought in early March '14) it's still at 88% of the design capacity and it can easily hold the charge for 3-4h when I'm coding, about 5h when watching movies (in vlc) and around 6h if only using is as fb machine. Keep in mind that for youtube, netflix or similar streaming, browser decoding is pretty energy hungry and the battery life will be significantly lower (about 2h). Also, these numbers are for 13" rmbp and I usually run it at near-full brightness. By the way, the battery in 15" model has more capacity, but the display doesn't eat that much more, so it should last even longer. This is based on very unscientific test performed by my roommate (15" rmbp, late '12) and myself (13" rmbp, late '13).
Also the trackpad works great, it took me a day or two to get used to it and now it just feels natural. I always hated using other trackpads, they all behaved strange and usually had a special area for left/right click, which was annoying. It's so great that I would consider buying an external one to use with my upcoming hackintosh build. Your mileage may vary, but from my experience, I haven't talked to any mbp user who didn't like their trackpad.
If I would be buying a laptop, I would pick mbp again. As a web developer, the workflow support is unmatched on any other OS. This is not biased, just look at other web developers, especially in high-end companies such as google or fb, most of them will be using a mbp.
But for school use and gaming, I can't say the same. In this case, the battery life still plays a major role, so you won't be forced to always look for a power outlet. But other features can't really justify the price in your use case and you might not get the performance you need/expect. Also, try to find out what programs you'll be using at school and check the support on os x or you might need to run a virtualbox to run the program. All in all, if you're concerned just about the specs and price to performance, apple products aren't something you should look at. If you also care about aesthetics, build quality, user experience and status symbols, a macbook will probably suit your needs.
mckendry1011 got a reaction from MHagen in inventory software
mckendry1011 got a reaction from Darkside447 in inventory software
mckendry1011 got a reaction from Castdeath97 in New laptop
mckendry1011 got a reaction from ADZ_123_!"£ in Hel;p with my first build
