Macbook Pro Alternatives?

[Dackzy]

39 minutes ago, Pendragon said:

Buy a Razer Blade from hid. Buy max years warranty on it. Repaste it with Ic diamond. Voltage lock the 1060 to something lower with a custom vbios I saw up on NBR. Thoughts? 

that is a lot of work to just get it to be somewhat okay, there are still all the QC problems and low quality parts they use.

But yeah the laptops Pendragon recommeded are good also the Asus UX550ve seems to be a good laptop with a good long battery life, BUT you cannot upgrade ram in it.

 

Edit:

I am going back to my nap

[Pendragon]

44 minutes ago, D2ultima said:

Repasting

U is right. 

 

I was thinking about doing the crazy shit PRSnow did on NBR or Mobius1. But they are hundred percent not average users. 

[pdubs]

Wow that was more discussion than I was expecting. Thank you for your opinions.

 

I think that I might try the XPS 15 1080p version and see how I like it. I really don't need a very powerful laptop or eGPU possibilities because I expect to always have a desktop with more powerful components than a laptop with a reasonable size and battery could have. My concern with power stems from my MacBook Air being too weak (dual core i7 @ 1.7GHz iirc) for things like MATLAB simulations I ran, small CAD drawings, and occasional light games. I am sure that any laptop with a quad core and dedicated graphics will be just fine.

 

I also have about 2 months before I need to make a final decision on the laptop, so if something goes wrong or I decide that I miss macOS or something I do have time to return and try again. Apple or Dell might not like that a huge amount but I don't know how else to get a good feel for whether I will like using it every day for the next few years and it is not exactly a negligible purchase. I think that there is a chance that I will want to switch back to Mac but unfortunately the deadline for returning this computer is tomorrow so I cannot go buy another one and compare in time. I am used to using windows some anyway so maybe I won't miss it too much.

 

 

Edit: does anyone know anything about the Aorus X3 Plus R7 or V7? I know they only have 14 inch screens but they seem to have other positives like a 1060 with larger vents than the Blade while still being under 2kg.

 

Edited July 10, 2017 by pdubs

[Mira Yurizaki]

One thing to consider: Macs have a phenomenal battery life. Good luck trying to get that from a lot of the PC manufacturers. The only one I've seen that can compete with Apple on that front was Sony in their Vaio line. It's just too bad they decided to sell that off to someone else. Dell is approaching that level though, from what I've seen from time to time. Razer also seems to be getting great battery life.

 

But the others? I've rarely seen them get any more than 5 hours on a 200 nit website test.

[pdubs]

Just now, M.Yurizaki said:

One thing to consider: Macs have a phenomenal battery life. Good luck trying to get that from a lot of the PC manufacturers. The only one I've seen that can compete with Apple on that front was Sony in their Vaio line. It's just too bad they decided to sell that off to someone else. Dell is approaching that level though, from what I've seen from time to time. Razer also seems to be getting great battery life.

 

But the others? I've rarely seen them get any more than 5 hours on a 200 nit website test.

I am not hugely concerned with battery life, but that is one reason that I would get the Dell. I really like full brightness and they have the Power Companion battery pack to charge it. I carry a giant external battery in my backpack anyway, so switching it out for one that can handle the laptop too would not be a problem for me.

[Pendragon]

37 minutes ago, pdubs said:

Aorus X3

nope. it's bad. the screen is ancient. haven't refreshed in YEARS. and thermals are poor.

 

11 minutes ago, pdubs said:

I carry a giant external battery in my backpack anyway, so switching it out for one that can handle the laptop too would not be a problem for me.

yeee the dell power companion is legit.

[DrMacintosh]

Wait, so you want to return a laptop because you think its keyboard is too loud? I have one right now and I have used it in a few placed outside and not anyone has ever said "wow your keyboard is really loud" Sure its not the easiest thing to get used to but I have a Logitech G610 MX Brown Mechanical keyboard that I use on my desktop and I still really like the new keyboards that are in the 2016/2017 MBPs. 

 

The new keyboard is perfect for what I like to call "slam typing" (even though irl that doesn't mean anything special) and I have no complaints other than my own faults in how I type because I don't practice "correct typing."

 

Its not silent but it also not unbearably loud to the point that people in your class will not be able to focus because you are typing. 

 

Imo your reason for wanting to return the MacBook is very 1st world since it is going to fill your requirements much better than a "comparable" PC as far as battery life, build quality, and display quality are concerned. 

 

Now if the software you needed was Windows only and you needed the ports that other laptops have and can't carry around a dongle I could see why you would want to return the MacBook, but if all you dont like about it is the keyboard.......ehhhh I wouldn't be able to live with changing the keyboard and getting a massively worse trackpad. 

 

Oh and laptops run Windows 10 so you'll be fighting MS over control of your machine 

 

(If you can't tell where my bias is look at my pfp and name)

[pdubs]

Gasp. Someone has a different opinion on a keyboard. I'm glad that you like it but I'm not able to justify $3500 on a computer that I'm not comfortable using for both the feel and sound of the keyboard. Typing is kind of a bit part of what I need a laptop for and mice are easier to carry than keyboards. As such, I am exploring other options and may very well come to ththe conclusion that the mac is my best option. The situation may have been different if I had longer to decide but I did not. 

 

Also, until Apple makes building your own desktop computer easy I will often be using a Windows machine anyway.

[Aerdian]

The XPS 15 is a very good option and I believe you would be quite happy with it. However, the Surface Book with Performance Base seems like it could be another great option for you to look into.

[Scruffy90]

On 7/10/2017 at 5:05 PM, pdubs said:

A lot of reviews make it seem like it would be great for me but I have seen a lot of stuff about quality control with screens and wireless connections.

I just bought one and I guess I got lucky. Dont know why I didn't make it my primary laptop sooner. A lot of the issues have been solved with driver and bios updates. The only issue that still remains are potential screen issues.

[Scruffy90]

1 hour ago, Aerdian said:

The XPS 15 is a very good option and I believe you would be quite happy with it. However, the Surface Book with Performance Base seems like it could be another great option for you to look into.

I'd recommend the surface were it not for the fact that microsoft pushes out bad firmware and essentially demolishes battery life on the Surfaces with crappy updates. Happened to the surface book 1 and surface pro 4 when anniversary ed was released. On my sp4, I went from 8-9 hours to under 3 in one update.

[Aerdian]

On 7/13/2017 at 9:55 AM, Scruffy90 said:

I'd recommend the surface were it not for the fact that microsoft pushes out bad firmware and essentially demolishes battery life on the Surfaces with crappy updates. Happened to the surface book 1 and surface pro 4 when anniversary ed was released. On my sp4, I went from 8-9 hours to under 3 in one update.

I was unaware of that. That is a big decrease in battery life. I'm surprised just a single update does that.

[Nena Trinity]

Surface?

[Scruffy90]

5 hours ago, Aerdian said:

I was unaware of that. That is a big decrease in battery life. I'm surprised just a single update does that.

Yeah. A lot of people were vocal about the massive battery loss with that update.