Laptops like the 2016 macbook

[Legolessed]

I was just curious if anyone knows of a laptop that is very thin like the MacBook 2016 but has a more powerful processor. I really like the build quality of Mac's but they are just so expensive. If the laptop had a reasonable battery than that would be awesome! In terms of price it just has to be better than my current laptop so if the laptop impresses me than I might get it. Thank you

[Enderman]

razer blade (much worse battery though), dell XPS, lenovo something, msi GS60/70

[Pendragon]

8 minutes ago, wrathoftheturkey said:

The Razer blade stealth is supposed to be a MacBook killer

Cept the Macbook is way better than the Razer Blade Stealth LOL.

[MrSuperb]

2 minutes ago, wrathoftheturkey said:

Quite frankly, they both suck. Why the obsession with laptops that look and perform like sheets of paper?

IMHO The performance of the 2016 version is more than enough for all the tasks one would do on such a small notebook.

[Pendragon]

1 minute ago, wrathoftheturkey said:

Quite frankly, they both suck. Why the obsession with laptops that look and perform like sheets of paper?

Actually, the Macbook is pretty decent in performance wise due to OSX optimizations. The thing will out video edit in FCP most Window's workstations short of the 3-4k+ ones. The battery life isn't exceptional for a Macbook and the 1 port requires you to get a hub. Running large excel spreadsheets on it though, I cringe and cry. I loaded up a macro heavy worksheet and the thing just crashes. 

 

tl;dr macbook is great in OSX applications. 

[Mr.Meerkat]

16 minutes ago, wrathoftheturkey said:

Quite frankly, they both suck. Why the obsession with laptops that look and perform like sheets of paper?

Well ultrabooks definitely have their place in this world . They have good battery life while being very very light and small (and slim) and before you say anything about tablets, most tablets run mobile OSes and who doesn't like an actual keyboard? (If you've actually typed on the keyboard of the macbook you would say they aren't as nice as something like a MX blue keyboard but it's more than acceptable, close to good ).

 

The performance of them aren't bad you know...the dual core i7 of the razer is perfectly acceptable for everyday usage as everyone seems to expect you to be able to game on. Even the quad-core thingy in the macbook is sufficent...some nice optimisations and as you've seen, you can even edit 4k videos on it  

[Pendragon]

2 minutes ago, Mr.Meerkat said:

the dual core i7 ULV of the razer is perfectly acceptable for everyday usage as everyone seems to expect you to be able to game on

The duo core i7 ULV will bottleneck a RX480, I honestly don't know why Razer would put a dual-core in a potential gaming laptop.

[Mr.Meerkat]

3 minutes ago, Pendragon said:

The duo core i7 ULV will bottleneck a RX480, I honestly don't know why Razer would put a dual-core in a potential gaming laptop.

Sorry did I say i7 ULV? I mean quad core i7 

 

edit again: I'm thinking about the gs30...not razer blade stealth...FUCK SAKE

[Dackzy]

2 hours ago, Pendragon said:

The duo core i7 ULV will bottleneck a RX480, I honestly don't know why Razer would put a dual-core in a potential gaming laptop.

and then thermal throttle it.

[Eason85]

Spectre 13

 

Upcoming Asus zenbook 

[Legolessed]

2 minutes ago, Eason85 said:

Spectre 13

 

Upcoming Asus zenbook 

i really didnt care for the hinge on the hp spectre. id take the macbook over it in looks any day. i havent looked at the asus zenbook though

[Legolessed]

7 hours ago, Enderman said:

razer blade (much worse battery though), dell XPS, lenovo something, msi GS60/70

how would they manage to fit the promised 8 hours of battery in a laptop that  size with that battery

[Legolessed]

4 hours ago, Dackzy said:

and then thermal throttle it.

and kill the battery

[Legolessed]

7 hours ago, wrathoftheturkey said:

Quite frankly, they both suck. Why the obsession with laptops that look and perform like sheets of paper?

because you can take them anywhere. people are not trying to game on these they are trying to get an ultra small laptop that they can slide into their backpack and do some word processing or whatever at school/work/at the local starbucks.

[Legolessed]

7 hours ago, Pendragon said:

Actually, the Macbook is pretty decent in performance wise due to OSX optimizations. The thing will out video edit in FCP most Window's workstations short of the 3-4k+ ones. The battery life isn't exceptional for a Macbook and the 1 port requires you to get a hub. Running large excel spreadsheets on it though, I cringe and cry. I loaded up a macro heavy worksheet and the thing just crashes. 

 

tl;dr macbook is great in OSX applications. 

i have always had a thing for macbooks. Yes they are way overpriced but they are so pretty and work well for what they are intended for or actually outside that. The 2013 macbook air handled heavily modded minecraft quite well. then my sister took it from me to do school work and i bought the behemoth i have now for no increse in specs. Its an inch thick and its a pretty good laptop but i loved being able to take the laptop anywhere versus my current one is a bit heavier.

[Enderman]

2 hours ago, Legolessed said:

how would they manage to fit the promised 8 hours of battery in a laptop that  size with that battery

The XPS 15 has over 15 hours of batter life...

[Hill]

Firstly, what is this laptops purpose coding / VMs / games ? This decides quite a lot for what your options are.

I will preface this with "unlike most people, I don't have much hate for Macbooks or Mac-related items", other than budget price to performance. As you said their CPU is usually a downer.

I'd either go in the range of Dell's xps line up, as its a similar slimline and attractive product, but also packs a pretty good punch with its specs. Although as mentioned by someone else earlier you could have a look at the Lenovo's ThinkPad lineup, or even Yoga if that's your thing (2 in 1 tablet deal). The new ThinkPads are actually quite thin and have a brushed metal coating. Which is in fact quite appealing to look at, and gives that nice cold feeling when you lift the panel. 

 

Heck, you could even deck out the Dell inspiron 7559 with everything, for a lot cheaper than both suggested and still have killer specs. H series i5 or i7 along with a 960m and tbh, a pretty sexy looking rig. Now that it's almost slate black, and comes with red accents.

Both the Dell line and ThinkPad come equipped with 1080p to 4k IPS panels, similar to that of the Apples. Which to me is something you just cannot pass up on a laptop. As other panels become almost unusable in any form of light.

[Pendragon]

9 hours ago, Enderman said:

The XPS 15 has over 15 hours of batter life...

No it doesn't LOL. Wtf are you smoking. Find me a bench or personal testing that shows it has 15 hours cept in low min brightness, power saving, airplane mode or something extremely and not reflective of real world use.

 

^ it's a great ultrabook but it's battery life isn't that good compared to other notebooks in its size and weight bracket (MBP 15)

@OP, if you think the Macbooks are expensive, the XPS line are just as expensive. To get a reasonably specced out one costs as much as Macbook Pros. 

[Enderman]

2 minutes ago, Pendragon said:

No it doesn't LOL. Wtf are you smoking. Find me a bench or personal testing that shows it has 15 hours cept in low min brightness, power saving, airplane mode or something extremely and not reflective of real world use.

 

^ it's a great ultrabook but it's battery life isn't that good compared to other notebooks in its size and weight bracket (MBP 15)

@OP, if you think the Macbooks are expensive, the XPS line are just as expensive. To get a reasonably specced out one costs as much as Macbook Pros. 

1) how is power saving not reflective of real world use? Unless you're gaming or rendering videos, power saving mode works great. It also lowers TDP making it run cooler and quieter.

 

2) The 1080p model with the large 84Wh battery does get over 15 hours, obviously not at full brightness, but not minimum either.

 

3) a near-4k screen at 15" is useless and a gimick, so the 1080p screen is jsut fine.

 

4) unless you need to buy the top end model with touch screen and 1TB SSD, it is definitely cheaper than a macbook pro, try looking at the prices next time.

[Pendragon]

23 minutes ago, Enderman said:

2) The 1080p model with the large 84Wh battery does get over 15 hours, obviously not at full brightness, but not minimum either.

 

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-XPS-15-9550-Core-i7-FHD-Notebook-Review.158875.0.html

^ Idle, No WLAN, Min Brightness. 16 hours. Congrats. Doing absolutely nothing. 0 real world representation.

 

23 minutes ago, Enderman said:

4) unless you need to buy the top end model with touch screen and 1TB SSD, it is definitely cheaper than a macbook pro, try looking at the prices next time.

Wrong again. There is ONE 1080p model with a bigger battery as confirmed on the Dell US site. I had one of these.

Dell XPS15: 84Wh battery 1080p with a 512 SSD costs - 1830USD

MBP 13: Maxed out - $1799

MBP 15: Starting - $2000

 

This doesn't take into account all the discounts and refurbs you can get on apple machines (which you should)

- There are student discounts (dell has diddly squat) 

- There the apple refurbs (dell has no discounts on the 1080p 84Wh model on the Microsoft store)

- There are third party refurbs (there are FAR fewer XPS15 refurbs simply due to the mass quantity of MBP sold)

I've known people who have knocked off hundreds of dollars off a MBP 

 

Keep in mind that most retailers that sell refurbs come with warranty.

 

[Eason85]

Nobody buys from Dell. Buy from a refurb reseller. I've bought/sold 4 XPS 15 i7/16/512/4k models for under $1400. Refurb or not (And I've never had a problem with one), you can't get close to price competitive to that.