Too Many Options

[pinksnowmanshandle]

Well knowing how this forum is I'm guessing the default answer will be the Surface Book 2.

But here's a couple considerations...

 

What I'm looking at and for what:
I plan to start Community College in Spring of next year, and while my HP Pavillion with an A10 9600P would be up to snuff I want something a little more flexible if you will...

 

I'm highly considering a MacBook Pro and an iPad with an Apple Pencil and a few accessories. This will run me just under $2,600....

Where as a Surface Book 2, specced similarly to the MacBook Pro would run me just at $2,000. However, tack on roughly $300 for MS office licenses and another $100 for the Surface pen and we're at $2,400 before any tax

 

I know some of you may try and say, get Office 365. But you see, I don't want to pay $70 a year for something that I could pay $150 once and that's about 2.5 years of Office 365 for one device now on multiple then I guess the situation changes a little.

 

However I plan on doing a fair bit of traveling next year too, so being able to play at least tf2 pretty well is important.

Puts me in a weird spot, on one hand the GTX 1050 would be perfect for more than just tf2 but I feel that the iGPU in the ULV i7 Apple uses in the MacBook Pro could handle it too.

The issue my A10 9600P faces is both the CPU and the iGPU.

 

It'd also be nice to have a modern Mac again, Mojave looks very interesting.

[DrMacintosh]

Yeah, one befit with going Apple is you get a full MS compatible Office suite right out of the box on your Mac and your iPad for absolutely free. 

 

Though if you are in the market and are considering a Mac, new models could be out as soon as September. If you cannot wait, the current models are still pretty good. The Mac/ iPad combo gets my vote. 

[Jurrunio]

Wait MS stopped offering one-off Office installation packages?

[pinksnowmanshandle]

1 minute ago, DrMacintosh said:

Yeah, one befit with going Apple is you get a full MS compatible Office suite right out of the box on your Mac and your iPad for absolutely free. 

 

Though if you are in the market and are considering a Mac, new models could be out as soon as September. If you cannot wait, the current models are still pretty good. The Mac/ iPad combo gets my vote. 

Oh yeah, I wouldn't have money until probably after income tax time.

I see you have a nTB i5 mbp

How's the iGPU performance on it? I'm under the impression if it can run CS:GO just fine, it can run TF2 just fine. Because Valve is really stretching thin the Source engine in tf2 lol

[DrMacintosh]

1 minute ago, pinksnowbirdie said:

How's the iGPU performance on it? I'm under the impression if it can run CS:GO just fine, it can run TF2 just fine. Because Valve is really stretching thin the Source engine in tf2 lol

Yep. Those games run great. The Iris line is much better than IntelHD. Its no Vega 8, but its good.

 

It also runs games like World of Warships at 900p on low/medium settings at 60fps so thats freaking enough for me when I'm not at home  

[DrMacintosh]

4 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

Wait MS stopped offering one-off Office installation packages?

Pretty sure. Software models are literal jokes now. 

[genexis_x]

Important question: Do you need macOS?

[pinksnowmanshandle]

4 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

Wait MS stopped offering one-off Office installation packages?

Just now, DrMacintosh said:

Pretty sure. Software models are literal jokes now. 

Im currently running Office 2007, and I like it a lot but something more dedicated than Google Drive I'd prefer, which means either like Apple Pages or MS Word are prime for this.

10 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Yep. Those games run great. The Iris line is much better than IntelHD. Its no Vega 8, but its good.

 

It also runs games like World of Warships at 900p on low/medium settings at 60fps so thats freaking enough for me when I'm not at home  

yeah lol

Nah if I could even eek-out 1080p on medium I'd be happy. I dont generally go many places but when I do end up going to be with my guy, I wouldn't expect us to spend every single minute I'm there together so sometime while Im down there I may wanna play tf2 with him.

 

[pinksnowmanshandle]

1 minute ago, ZM Fong said:

Important question: Do you need macOS?

Well it's certainly something I want, my desktop is in my description. It's the second PC I've built.

 

Having access to a modern version of iMovie on hardware that isn't 8 years old would also be nice. I have a mid-2010 mbp base spec 13" so I could install High Sierra

because I'm too cheap to pay for any real video editing software for times having one would be nice.

[DrMacintosh]

1 minute ago, pinksnowbirdie said:

Having access to a modern version of iMovie

Oh yeah, you get a free video editor with Macs too  And a DAW! GarageBand is pretty cool if you are musically inclined. 

[pinksnowmanshandle]

1 minute ago, pinksnowbirdie said:

Well it's certainly something I want, my desktop is in my description. It's the second PC I've built.

 

Having access to a modern version of iMovie on hardware that isn't 8 years old would also be nice. I have a mid-2010 mbp base spec 13" so I could install High Sierra

because I'm too cheap to pay for any real video editing software for times having one would be nice.

@ZM Fong but I could get by without macOS, but it's something I want. Maybe not something I need.

 

By all means if my primary use for it was gaming, the Surface Book hands down beats it out.

But gaming would be a tiny fraction of a percent.

[pinksnowmanshandle]

2 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Oh yeah, you get a free video editor with Macs too  And a DAW! GarageBand is pretty cool if you are musically inclined. 

It really is a shame Microsoft pulled movie maker and replaced it with the steaming pile of trash that they threw into the pictures app.

[DrMacintosh]

1 minute ago, pinksnowbirdie said:

By all means if my primary use for it was gaming, the Surface Book hands down beats it out.

But gaming would be a tiny fraction of a percent.

Don't forget, if you ever, for some weird reason wanted to. You could hook up an eGPU to the Mac thanks to Thunderbolt 3. Something you cannot do on the Surface Book because MS doesn't believe in Thunderbolt apparently. 

[pinksnowmanshandle]

3 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Don't forget, if you ever, for some weird reason wanted to. You could hook up an eGPU to the Mac thanks to Thunderbolt 3. Something you cannot do on the Surface Book because MS doesn't believe in Thunderbolt apparently. 

I was thinking about that but then I thought it'd be pointless, I wouldnt wanna put more than a 1050ti an eGPU case but between what my pc is rn and what I have in mind for a gpu upgrade and what not. It would be as I said. Pointless.

[DrMacintosh]

Just now, pinksnowbirdie said:

I was thinking about that but then I thought it'd be pointless, I wouldnt wanna put more than a 1050ti an eGPU case but between what my pc is rn and what I have in mind for a gpu upgrade and what not. It would be as I said. Pointless.

I think the benefit would show up the longer you had the device. 

 

You wouldn’t necessarily need to replace it for something more powerful when you can just plop a new GPU in there somewhere along the line. 

[Rain7]

Pretty sure Microsoft offers a permanent Office 2016 license at $120 for Home/Student users.

[pinksnowmanshandle]

5 hours ago, Rain7 said:

Pretty sure Microsoft offers a permanent Office 2016 license at $120 for Home/Student users.

Nop

[TLCH723]

Some colleges offer free office, google drive, etc. Just wait until you at the college

[pinksnowmanshandle]

6 minutes ago, TLCH723 said:

Some colleges offer free office, google drive, etc. Just wait until you at the college

meh even then I'd lean away from wanting to use that.

[TLCH723]

4 hours ago, pinksnowbirdie said:

meh even then I'd lean away from wanting to use that.

Wait, you willing to pay $100 something to buy office instead of getting free from your college? Is your money to burn

[pinksnowmanshandle]

19 minutes ago, TLCH723 said:

Wait, you willing to pay $100 something to buy office instead of getting free from your college? Is your money to burn

For two copies, it'd be $300.

I intend to apply for the CC sometime this fall, for Spring semester and if they didn't have it, it just makes the Apple choice easier.

 

If they do have it, then I don't necessarily have to go the Apple route, although I'm leaning towards that for the things @DrMacintosh mentioned and things I'm well aware of having owned a Mac before.

 

That being said, I intend to save up for the Apple route and depending what Apple has by February of next year will determine a lot.

But that being said, I lean towards the Apple route because I'd like to have access to some of those macOS features on more modern hardware.

[Rain7]

12 hours ago, pinksnowbirdie said:

 

Spoiler

 

Nop

It's $119 if I visit: https://products.office.com/en/buy/office# so I have no idea why it's $150 on your side, but if I do put it on my cart the price goes up to $130.

 

Alternatively, it's $130 on Amazon ($114 for 2013 version) and it's sold by Amazon so it's legit and support is pretty solid, just make sure you buy the one sold by Amazon themselves and not a third party vendor.

 

So no, $150 is not the cheapest you could get it for.

[pinksnowmanshandle]

30 minutes ago, Rain7 said:

It's $119 if I visit: https://products.office.com/en/buy/office# so I have no idea why it's $150 on your side, but if I do put it on my cart the price goes up to $130.

 

Alternatively, it's $130 on Amazon ($114 for 2013 version) and it's sold by Amazon so it's legit and support is pretty solid, just make sure you buy the one sold by Amazon themselves and not a third party vendor.

 

So no, $150 is not the cheapest you could get it for.

I'm just talking about from Microsoft themselves.

[Rain7]

2 hours ago, pinksnowbirdie said:

I'm just talking about from Microsoft themselves.

Well there you go, I just saved you $40, you're welcome.

 

But personally I'd go with 365, OneDrive's just too convenient to use (unless 5gb is enough for you in which case just go for the permanent license and free OneDrive) but I think even with that in mind, the $99 for 5 is the better deal considering the fact that it's $80 on Amazon because with 5 licenses, you can do either one of the following:

 

1. Use 2 and sell 3 for like $20/user so in the end you get a 1 year subscription for 2 devices for $20.

 

2. Or if you don't feel like selling, you can just use 2 licenses on each user (thereby getting a 2 yr license each) then save the last one for a rainy day (i.e for a new device, trade, sell) or just buy another 5 license for $80 again, consume them, and in the end you'll get a 5 year subscription (live updates, 1 tb OneDrive storage each, all office applications) to Office 365 for two devices for only $160. That'll probably last you until you reach college and get a free account like TLCH said.

[pinksnowmanshandle]

2 hours ago, Rain7 said:

Well there you go, I just saved you $40, you're welcome.

 

But personally I'd go with 365, OneDrive's just too convenient to use (unless 5gb is enough for you in which case just go for the permanent license and free OneDrive) but I think even with that in mind, the $99 for 5 is the better deal considering the fact that it's $80 on Amazon because with 5 licenses, you can do either one of the following:

 

1. Use 2 and sell 3 for like $20/user so in the end you get a 1 year subscription for 2 devices for $20.

 

2. Or if you don't feel like selling, you can just use 2 licenses on each user (thereby getting a 2 yr license each) then save the last one for a rainy day (i.e for a new device, trade, sell) or just buy another 5 license for $80 again, consume them, and in the end you'll get a 5 year subscription (live updates, 1 tb OneDrive storage each, all office applications) to Office 365 for two devices for only $160. That'll probably last you until you reach college and get a free account like TLCH said.

Well in lieu of a long winded reply, I'm just going to point out a few things. It's likely to end up wordy too.

 

I'd only change my mind if the difference grew to $500, at which point. It would justify closing that gap and getting more ram, and more storage on the Surface Book.

But to me, if I bought it at an Apple store or online as a student...

 

I could buy this for $200, I'd even consider going up to 512GB and 16GB of ram which then we do pass $500 by a fair margin but then you have to consider the value.

 

I dont think it'd be worth it to get a base 15" over a higher end 13.5" unless Apple ends up putting G sku i5s and i7s in the lower end 15" mbps

Now, do I really need all of that? Maybe not but it doesnt hurt to have it I wouldnt mind playing around with it once in awhile. FCPX is easy since it's a lot like iMovie and same with LPX and Garageband...

 

All I'm going to have to say on this, is that maybe I did come into this with a little bias. But I was also open to having my mind changed but fwiw I'm getting even less reason to go with the surface book even if best case scenario, the school has a 1 or maybe even 5 license office 365 subscription as part of the annual costs.

 

All I intend to study at the college is Generals since that I'm not sure what path I wanna take yet. Hence getting generals out of the way now would allow me time to discover what path I wanna take, because I wasted a lot of time.