The Battle - Mac vs. PC - A Challenge

[MrSuperb]

The Battle - Mac vs. PC - A Challenge

 

First of all, yes I am a Mac user. Some of you might call be an idiot for buying a Mac, some of you might understand why I like them.

Every other week someone on this forum posts a thread trying to describe why all the Mac buyers are just money wasting idiots, that Windows laptops and PCs are so much cheaper and you only pay for the Apple brand. I say, they are wrong.

 

There are no cheap Macs, as in very low in price. Apple decided do not produce any low cost Macs. There are however a lot fair priced Macs. With Apple you don't just pay for the performance of Mac, but rather for the whole package (performance, design, build quality, features). As Apple almost never lowers the prices for older products, there are however also Macs which tend to be somehow expensive (like the current Mac Pro which basically saw it's last real update in 2010).

 

I'd guess that many LLT members are still in school or college (or at least no one who is). I might note, that Apple offers large discounts on their hardware products ranging from 8% to 20% off (depending on the region) and even more so on their software.

 

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Now to the challenge. I will list several popular Macintosh configurations (I will skip products which are basically EOL, i.e. all Macs with internal DVD-Drives) and I ask you to find significantly cheaper Windows alternatives that are comparable not only in performance, but also in features (like weight, size, display) and build quality.

 

Macbook 1

$999.00

 

Macbook Air 11"

1.3Ghz i5 Haswell

4GB RAM

128GB PCIe SSD

1.08 kg

max 1.7cm in height

Aluminium Unibody

Ability to connect screens up to 2560x1600

9h battery

 

----

 

Macbook 2

$1299.00

 

Macbook Air 13"

1.3Ghz i5 Haswell

4GB RAM

256GB PCIe SSD

1.35 kg

max 1.7cm in height

Aluminium Unibody

Ability to connect screens up to 2560x1600

12h battery

 

----

 

Macbook 3

 

$2199.00

Macbook Pro Retina 15"

2880x1800 sRGB IPS Display

2.4Ghz i7 Quad-Core

8GB RAM

256SSD

NVIDIA GT650m

2.02 kg

max 1.8cm in height

Aluminum Unibody

Ability to connect two screens up to 2560x1600

7h battery

 

----

 

Mac 4

 

$1799.00

iMac 27"

27" 1440p AR-coated factory calibrated screen

2.9Ghz i5 Quad-Core

8GB Ram

NVIDIA GTX660m

Ability to connect two extra screens up to 2560x1600

9.5kg

 

[Samdb]

I guarantee, 90%+ will choose Yes for both.

[MegaDave91]

Did you really make this thread?

[joelthezombie15]

I love there build quality but with people like asus getting there build quality up i cant feasibly think of a reason to go mac. 

[TechTheWorld]

My PC that I built(in signature below ) I got for around 6-650ish$.

[helping]

It always makes me wonder, if they grant conditional discounts, what are their actual profit margins?

[MrSuperb]

It always makes me wonder, if they grant conditional discounts, what are their actual profit margins?

 

Apple is a listed company, their profit margin is therefore no secret at all.

 

 

Did you really make this thread?

yes, problem? write me a pm ;)

[MegaDave91]

Apple is a listed company, their profit margin is therefore no secret at all.

 

 

yes, problem? write me a pm ;)

Like there hasn't been enough Mac vs Pc threads, and not just on this forum either.

[SirReallySam]

I love there build quality but with people like asus getting there build quality up i cant feasibly think of a reason to go mac. 

Indeed, like my Lenovo, U410, also...

 

 

Sorry about the, 'whty buy a Mac?' thing at the bottom... It was to make a point to my mate I can think of genuine reasons to buy a Mac, he just didn't need one...

[montyrule]

lol 0% no!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MrSuperb]

Like there hasn't been enough Mac vs Pc threads, and not just on this forum either.

hey, this is a challenge not a pure Mac vs PC thread. I don't want to discuss OS X vs Windows. I want those people who always say, that mac buyers are just stupid idiots to stand their ground and show me that I am wrong.

[criso8]

Totally agree. There are no value macs and you can't get a macbook for $300. I think thats the main reason why people think they are overpriced. High end pcs are also getting expensive so that argument isn't very valid. The iMac 27 in though. Why would you settle for mobile graphics in that form factor.

[SMURG]

Totally agree. There are no value macs and you can't get a macbook for $300. I think thats the main reason why people think they are overpriced. High end pcs are also getting expensive so that argument isn't very valid. The iMac 27 in though. Why would you settle for mobile graphics in that form factor.

Yeah, the imac is the easiest to beat in a challenge like this because it's a desktop using laptop parts XD

[Mac]

hey, this is a challenge not a pure Mac vs PC thread. I don't want to discuss OS X vs Windows. I want those people who always say, that mac buyers are just stupid idiots to stand their ground and show me that I am wrong.

I was going to bring up iOS App development, that's a reason to buy one.

[MrSuperb]

Indeed, like my Lenovo, U410, also...

 

Sorry about the, 'whty buy a Mac?' thing at the bottom... It was to make a point to my mate I can think of genuine reasons to buy a Mac, he just didn't need one...

 

Well thanks for trying. But here some reason why you shouldn't compare those two.

The 102a ...

... is significantly heavier 1.72kg vs 1.08kg

... the build quality is much worse

... plastic vs aluminum

... has worse battery life

... the keyboard and mousepad suck

... its almost 3x the thickness of the macbook air

[MrSuperb]

Yeah, the imac is the easiest to beat in a challenge like this because it's a desktop using laptop parts XD

It only uses Laptop graphics, the rest of the components are standard desktop hardware ;)

[TechTheWorld]

...

[MrSuperb]

My PC that I built(in signature below ) I got for around 6-650ish$.

 That's great, but what are you trying to tell us?

[WorldDominator]

I have a 27" 1440p iMac. It has an i7 @ 2.93 Ghz, 4 gb RAM, 1 TB HD, and a Radeon 5750. This is a mid 2010 model and tbh for $1800 at the time I'm sure that wasn't that bad of a deal considering 1440p monitors are now $550 about, themselves.

[rashdanml]

 

vs. the Macbook 3. 

 

Retina display is overrated, GT650M is the only real difference. I can do a similar configuration on the W series (Quadro graphics) for less than the $2200 price tag. 

 

I'm sure there's many more examples that can compete with the Macbooks. 

 

e: 10 hours or so battery life is standard on the T430, that's an upgraded battery. Also, if people are struggling to carry 1.5-2kg, there's something seriously wrong. 

[TechTheWorld]

 That's great, but what are you trying to tell us?

O my bad I posted this in the wrong thread. Thats what I get for multi-tasking

[MrSuperb]

 

vs. the Macbook 3. 

 

Retina display is overrated, GT650M is the only real difference. I can do a similar configuration on the W series (Quadro graphics) for less than the $2200 price tag. 

 

I'm sure there's many more examples that can compete with the Macbooks. 

 

e: 10 hours or so battery life is standard on the T430, that's an upgraded battery. Also, if people are struggling to carry 1.5-2kg, there's something seriously wrong. 

Thanks for trying but the Thinkpad ...

... has a dual-core vs quad core in the macbook retina

... has a much weaker gpu solution

... has (as you said) a much weaker display - I don't care so much for the resolution but more for other factors like sRGB coverage, contrast, etc.

... is significantly bigger

 

But it is a great Laptop. My sister actually has a brand new T430 for work (and a Macbook for home) ;)

 

edit: the retina display alone most probably costs Apple several hundred dollars in purchase ;)

[criso8]

Macs have a bad rep attract idiots who buy them for completely wrong reason just because they have been branded and advertised correctly. Some people just think that they need to spend tons of money because if they don't they will get utter crap, which is completely untrue and is a mindset that has been spread by apple and reinforced by bad experiences with cheap windows machines from years back.

[SirReallySam]

Well thanks for trying. But here some reason why you shouldn't compare those two.

The 102a ...

... is significantly heavier 1.72kg vs 1.08kg

... the build quality is much worse

... plastic vs aluminum

... has worse battery life

... the keyboard and mousepad suck

... its almost 3x the thickness of the macbook air

I can list off things that I prefer about the other one as well.... I was just saying internal components and price wise... I would go with the XMG.

 

Also 3x of a macbook air... is still pretty thin hahahha XD

 

...I prefer the GMG because of the matt finish plastic so scratches and scuffs won't look as bad

...I really don't like the macbook air mousepad...

...I like my laptops to be hefty, like seriously, I almost dropped my mates air SO LIGHT D: I was like ahhhh noooo... and saved it XD

...Also I like those types of keyboards, the low profile keys mac has, I really don't enjoy...

 

It's all opinion mate, anyone can make anything sound bad or good, like we, just did. Raw performance, the XMG is better price to performance wise.

[MrSuperb]

Macs have a bad rep attract idiots who buy them for completely wrong reason just because they have been branded and advertised correctly.

Absolutely true. That doesn't make Macs anymore expensive or worse machines though ;)