1st apple laptop

[allen]

i purchased an apple laptop for the 1st time.
i'd always been on windows, and had been on a t60p w/ winXP for 6 years, after having desktops before that.

i had some discussions going debating frankenpad vs an hp vs retina macbook pro. basically looking for an ips panel, current OS, current processor, SSD, and at least 8GB RAM.

i was never into macs or apple computers, and didn't want to switch.
but the frankenpad route was going to take more time then i wanted it to.
and then apple gave me credit to pay monthly without interest.

there are differences, it's a different way of computing. some things are better, some are worse.
there's no reason to really break it all down, but here are some things off the top of my head.

i'll miss having more buttons on a keyboard, and now i have to hit fn and something else to do things i used to only 1 button, like volume, or delete (not backspace) and i have to get used the ctrl and cmd thing.
some key shortcuts that used to take 2 keys for example, now take 3, making em much harder to remember or hit.
all of it i still find not great, but just have to deal with it.

lack of actual trackpad buttons is super lame.

the symbol they use for the alt/opt button, when reading how to do something, is pointless and confusing.

the retina screen is too high res and previewing jpgs is really dumb. all i wanted was a decent ips on a laptop.

so basically. there are these kinds of things that i find dumb and annoying, but then the thin and lightness are good. and the fact that i was able to go to a store to check it out, and walk out with it ready to use.

now that i have switched, even if any windows computer makers ever get their [censored] together,
i will probably not want to have to switch again in the future.
i may never know what windows 7 was like, and i will miss thinkpads for a while.
at least 16:10 isn't as annoying as 16:9

nearly 100% of the people i know use macs, which can be handy.

[RealBlackStuff]

And on top of all the annoying facts of an rMBP, I bet you will be paying way more than a FrankenPad would have cost!

[allen]

unfortunately, $900 up front + $112 / month for 18 months for a computer in hand is more affordable then a frankenpad in the mail. a return policy makes a buyer more comfortable as well.

the size/weight wasn't that much of a factor to me, until i had a super slim computer to realize how nice it can be. i'm pretty mobile.

i think the best option for selling frankenpads would be selling full finished frankenpads, specs clearly laid out, instead of having customers send in theirs.

[RealBlackStuff]

If you look at the Nuclear FrankenPad that is on eBay now: http://www.ebay.com/itm/300891576332
the asking price is $1,699.00 shipped for an absolutely top-of-the-line maxed-out machine.
You are paying $2,916.00 for a machine that you may not even like, that is 72% or $1,217.- MORE!
I wonder how you did in math/economics in school...

Either way, good luck.

[Cigarguy]

I don't blame allen for doing this if he wants a more modern processor and speced machine. That MBR will take DDR3 and native SATA III support. He's willing to pay for it so more power to him. He'd rather stay with a Windows machine. I'd blame Lenovo for not offering anything that serves his needs. When it's time that my T60 to T420 Thinkpads no longer are able to do what I need it to do, it's time for me to look elsewhere too.

Instead of whining and complaining about what Lenovo is/is not doing, allen decided to vote with his wallet. Good for him. What does Lenovo care? Allen and myself are insignificant players in a fairly insignificant market. The Chinese market is where it's at for them.

[Summilux]

Thank you for the feedback.
You didn't indicate that you miss the trackpoint, maybe you didn't use it much on your Thinkpad.

I wouldn't have bought a Mac if I were in your shoes, but I can understand the appeal of trying a different system.

[allen]

i used 4 of the mouse buttons, but not the trackpoint.

when i decided to switch to apple i thought i would be buying the $1800 refurbished model.

i went higher in part because apple gave me credit with 0 interest, which makes purchasing much easier,
and partly because i'm going for longevity.

i don't like the glossy screen but i do like the metal body,
thinkpad's plastic one would get weird dust stuck to it.

i think i complained about windows computers lack of options before giving up.

[lead_org]

As good as the Nuclear Frankenpad is, it is still couple of generations old in terms of CPU and GPU. Some people may need a more modern machine with a better CPU and GPU.

[ajkula66]

i don't like the glossy screen but i do like the metal body,
thinkpad's plastic one would get weird dust stuck to it.

Macs don't age gracefully whatsoever, although they do have two very important things going for them:

a) Excellent size/weight ratio

b) Excellent customer support

Frankly, I'm a bit surprised with your choice considering the requirements that you had originally stated in the other thread...especially given the price tag. My money would've gone to Dell or HP, but it was your money to begin with, so all I can do is wish you luck with your purchase.

lead_org wrote:

As good as the Nuclear Frankenpad is, it is still couple of generations old in terms of CPU and GPU. Some people may need a more modern machine with a better CPU and GPU.

Technically, this is true...however...for a vast majority of users, a T9500 - let alone a X9000 - provides more processing power than they'll ever need. I have a very nice HP8540W with an i7 CPU that was brought in for an upgrade at my premises, and it doesn't feel any faster. Of course, if one were to throw complex calculations that crunch five zillion formulas in a quarter of a nanosecond, a Quad Core Arrandale would outperform the C2E in the FrankenPad. But in all fairness, most of the people never get to that point and those who do, use desktops and not laptops to begin with. This is coming from someone who on weekly if not daily basis runs a piece of proprietary software at work which is "guaranteed" to shut down *any* laptop within 30 seconds when ran at full blast, that's why we have a custom-ordered workstation in our lab for those purposes, and are strictly prohibited from installing it on mobile hardware...as for the graphics power, if one is interested in anything short of high-end gaming, NVS140M or FX570M are powerful enough even today.

The only point where a FrankenPad fails compared to a more modern machine is the 8GB RAM limitation, which may be a big deal for some users, while not for me personally.

All of the above is obviously a completely moot point in this particular case, since the choice and the purchase have been already made...once again, good luck.

[allen]

older cpu, gpu, and 8GB of RAM might be ok today, but what about in 3 yrs when software gets annoyingly resource heavy. even current web pages are hard for some older computers.

it's hard to judge what "most users" will need.
having 2 browsers with 3 windows and 30 tabs open ar once, sometimes that's handy when working. and then opening an indd and 30" square 300dpi scan during all of that.

i don't know how much resources that takes, and i don't want to learn. i just want to do my work and get off the computer as soon as possible.

when riding a bike, 1-2lbs of laptop makes a difference.

i'm not big apple fan. i was a thinkpad fan.
just thought i'd share the perspective for anyone else trying to find a new computer.

[pianowizard]

It's a shame that you shelled out nearly $3K for a machine that you don't love 100%. Too bad I didn't notice your other thread until just now, when George's mentioning it got me curious. Otherwise, I would have encouraged you to wait for a year or so for a light and powerful WinTel laptop with IPS (basically a PC version of the 15.4" Retina MBP), while getting an older, relatively cheap Dell or HP with IPS in the meantime to tide you over. Right now, there really isn't any laptop that fully satisfies your needs, but the number of IPS-equipped laptops has been skyrocketing while weight keeps going down. So, it's extremely likely that a perfect-for-you laptop will become available in a year or so, and it will almost certainly be under $2K let alone $3K. It could even be 3:2, like Google's Pixel Chromebook.

[allen]

it is a shame, but i've had to accept that there isn't one that i'd be 100% happy with.
i'm still pretty happy about it though.

i'll be curious about future windows options,
maybe they will make something better,
but now that i've dealt with switching hard drive formats, backup systems, software, etc, it'll have to really be better.

[ajkula66]

older cpu, gpu, and 8GB of RAM might be ok today, but what about in 3 yrs when software gets annoyingly resource heavy. even current web pages are hard for some older computers.

Honestly, the hardware requirements haven't gone up since Vista in the Windows world. Whatever runs Vista competently will have no problem with W7 or W8, couple of glitches notwithstanding for the latter...

it's hard to judge what "most users" will need.
having 2 browsers with 3 windows and 30 tabs open ar once, sometimes that's handy when working. and then opening an indd and 30" square 300dpi scan during all of that.

Well, when one deals with various forms of IT support on different levels 60-70 hours a week for well over a decade, they get a pretty good sense what "average" requirements are for most industries...

i don't know how much resources that takes, and i don't want to learn. i just want to do my work and get off the computer as soon as possible.

Fair enough. Hopefully you'll get what you need from that MBPr.

when riding a bike, 1-2lbs of laptop makes a difference.

No argument from me on that one, it definitely makes a noticeable difference when walking as well...

i'm not big apple fan. i was a thinkpad fan.
just thought i'd share the perspective for anyone else trying to find a new computer.

Honestly, had I never read anything else that you posted apart from this thread and were in a similar situation, your initial evaluation of Mac would discourage me from buying it...

[allen]

well, the point of my original post was, yeah, there are some things that aren't as logical coming from a solid thinkpad and win xp,
but if i could get used to it, it means mostly anyone else could, and some things work better then xp did.

having a store to shop at, and contact for questions, is a big help, as was being offered credit.
on windows, it was a bit much trying to shop for hp, dell, or thinkpad, and compare their different models.

i was going to list a bunch of the useful positive things i've found, but i don't think there's a need to start a big comparison.

[lophiomys]

to add my own 2 cents.
What I admire with MBP is, that it just works. I never reboot just open and close the lid.
And for the last Windows program, not natively running on OSX, I found VMWare Fusion 5 as a solution.
Last but not least, there is a Unix system under the hood.

Even though I decided to give the SATA Modded T43p with Win7 a last chance, after all
my T42p's are slowly quitting with different kind of flexing problems, despite all the hassles to be expected.

Besides:
All people I know, who do real number crunching, have flashy MacBooks, which they
use simply as a remote access tool, to connect to theirt quad processor-16core Linux machines at home.
Among them, I am the last who carries around a good old Thinkpad.

[emeraldgirl08]

Besides:
All people I know, who do real number crunching, have flashy MacBooks, whith which they
use simply as a remote access tool, to connect to theirt quad processor-16core Linux machines at home.
Among them, I am the last who carries around a good old Thinkpad.

This also somewhat describes my situation as far as a subjective and direct observation of student/personal laptop usage at my university. What I have noticed are a majority of Mac users which becomes even more apparent when the lights are dimmed and there are a multitude of glowing apple logos scattered throughout the auditorium.

I love my Thinkpads and a personal decision transpired in which I do not want to follow the crowd. Experience tells me that my computing habits will keep the ThinkPads I have in my day-to-day usage for another couple of years. If I need an upgrade in graphics (one that my T500 cannot provide) I will most likely spring for a more recent business-line laptop. You will never see me carrying around a glossy-plastic-everywhere type of notebook- ever

For my situation I feel that whatever works for me and does not cause me regret in my purchase is a good fit

[allen]

i was not particularly interested in switching to an apple, or being a conformist.
i taped a couple postcards over the white apple light.

i was proud of my thinkpad while it lasted, and liked being able to inform people that the photography and magazines i made were done on it. most people i knew would talk about how messed up their old windows computers were.

but hey, i'm a fan of non black things usually.
this laptop is more of a metal all around notebook, the thinkpads seem more like plastic all around.

[pianowizard]

this laptop is more of a metal all around notebook, the thinkpads seem more like plastic all around.

I think both the 13" and 15" Retina MacBook Pros are very nice machines. High resolution and light weight are extremely important to me, and these MBPs have both. I just wish you were 100% happy with it, considering you paid so much money. It's going to get scratched and dented quite easily; treat it with the utmost care.

[mattdocs12345]

I for one congratulate allen. He voted with his wallet. Good for him! Unfortunately Lenovo will still not get it and they will just make their T series look more like MacBooks instead of Thinkpads.