Which laptop should I buy?

Question

I want the rose gold MacBook but I don't know if it's worth it or overpriced. Should I get it or what other MacBook would you recommend or which other brand? Sorry I don't know much about this stuff :(

Answer 1

1

Answer 2

The Rose Gold MacBook is the same price as the other colors. It's meant to be extremely thin and light with good battery life. If that is important to you it is worth it.



Price wise it really isn't out there. The linked HP EliteBook Folio G1 is the closest match I could find to the linked MacBook.



http://store.hp.com/us/en/pdp/Laptops/hp-elitebook-folio-g1-notebook-pc-%28energy-star%29-w0r84ut-aba

http://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook?product=MMGL2LL/A&step=config#



HP Elitebook $1,299

- Intel Core M5-6Y54 CPU

- 8GB RAM

- 256 GB SSD



Macbook $1,599

- Intel Core M5-6Y54 CP

- 8GB RAM

- 512 GB SSD



For this type of extremely light laptop with good battery life. The Macbook is a better deal.



Display: The Macbook uses a higher resolution and DPI Retina display 2304x1440 vs 1920x1080 so images will be more detailed with a better color gamut. Mac OS X also does a much better job seamlessly scaling text for HiDPI than Windows in my opinion. HP has a 4K screen option with an appalling 4 hours battery life.



SSD: Capacity is not the only thing which is doubled. The MacBook SSD is over twice as fast. It uses the Samsung PM971-NVMe. I don't know the exact model the HP uses just the benchmarks. I presume the Samsung PM951 or similar.



Portability: The Macbook is slightly lighter with a slightly larger battery. It is also slightly smaller going by length and width but is slightly thicker. In testing the Macbook gets about 2 ½ hours more battery life. 7 hours for the HP (4 ½ with 4K display) vs 9 ½ for the Macbook.



To be fare the HP has some advantages



Ports: It has two rather than one USB-c ports.



Webcam: It has a much higher resolution 720p webcam vs 480p in the Macbook.



So in this extreme class of ultraportable. The MacBook is a good value.



Here is a review where you can see how the HP EliteBook and Macbook stack up against each other. Ignore the speed testing as they are comparing the high-end Core m7-6y75 option in the HP versus the mid-range Core m5-6y54 option in the Macbook. If you choose the same CPU option speed will be the same. The Dell Latitude is a good comparison as well. The Razer Blade Stealth and Lenovo Thinkpad are poor choices. They are larger laptops with a Core i7, an unfair comparison. They are a different class.

http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/hp-elitebook-folio-g1





Although I won't go into detail. The Macbook also provides even better value that the Dell Latitude 7370.

Latitude 7370 $1,439

- Core M5-6y54

- 8GB RAM

- 128GB SSD (smaller and slower)

- 1920x1080 screen

- thicker, heavier, less battery life

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=cto02al737013us&model_id=latitude-13-7370-laptop&c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04



If you are happy with the thicker and heavier MacBook Pro 13. You will get a better performance value for the money. The Intel Core i5 is considerably faster in the base model. The SSD is also faster and the screen a higher resolution. It has more ports with full Thunderbolt 3 speed (model without Touch Bar).



Value wise the base model isn't that great. The 1.3Ghz m7 upgrade will give a considerable performance advantage. The m5 model with 512GB SSD gives a good storage and speed boost. If you need more space.



Personally, I would buy the Macbook Pro over the Macbook. It is still very thin and light with many other advantages. If you do want the Macbook for its ultra sleek profile and lower weight. It is a great value when compared to other models in its specific class.

Answer 3

If you don't know much about it, than this could be a challenging decision. What color it is, should be way down on the list of criteria.



You are really faced with three choices. Microsoft Windows vs Apple OSX vs Google Chrome. What you are selecting is the operating system that runs on the hardware. In my opinion, Windows or OSX are the better choices. Chrome, while inexpensive is relatively new to the market, therefore will be more limited with respect to what applications are available. Also Chrome is very google centric. If you want google to know everything you do on a computer, get a Chromebook.



I would also advise you to consider what smart phone you use, assuming you have one.



If you use an Android based phone (Samsung, LG, Motorola....) than either Windows or Chrome are your best choice.



If you use an iPhone, than a Mac is your best choice. iPhones and Mac OSX are tightly linked through iCloud. This will make transitioning between the two devices very easy. Take a picture on your iPhone, it magically appears on your Mac via the magic of iCloud. Want to send text message using a full size keyboard you can do that with your Mac and the same messages will appear your iPhone, makes it so you can transition back and forth between devices.



As for the computer question. Is the Macbook worth it, in my opinion yes. The Macbook hardware and the operating system that run on it are designed to work together. The Macbook hardware is very high quality and will last a long time. Mac OSX maintains itself, so you don't have to worry about getting things like anti-virus software of other utilities to tune the operating system. You should get many many years of service out this investment. If you have a problem with your Macbook you can take into any Apple store and the folks at the genius bar will help you with it for no charge. I have a Macbook Pro that I bought in 2011 in 2016 it's still going strong.



You can buy a more powerful (on paper) machine to run Windows, that will cost less than the Macbook. But unless Microsoft has vastly improved Windows 10, you will need to maintain it on your own. You will need to maintain antivirus software, run utilities to fine tune the operating system occasionally, it won't be trouble free. If you need help, there isn't a free place you can take it. You will either need to pay someone to help you or spend your trying to fix it on your own. From my experience, people with no computer skills usually end buying a new Windows machine about every 3-4 years because its become so slow they can't stand it anymore. If you have computer skills you can solve that.



So to answer your question - I think the Macbook is worth it. However, you should only go there if you are also willing to move to the Apple ecosystem of iPhone, iPad, iWatch etc... AND you don't need to use any Microsoft productivity software.



If you are using an Android phone and you only want the computer to surf the web, do email and you don't require it to run things like Microsoft Word or Excel than get a Chromebook. It will be much cheaper, and it won't be a major expense if you need to buy a new two years from now.



If you have a need to use any Microsoft productivity software, MS Work, Excel, Powerpoint etc.. than get a Windows based machine. While those applications are available for Mac OSX, the Windows versions are much better and more capable. Windows will also work with an Android phone or iPhone equally well, but won't work with an iPhone as seamlessly as a Mac.

Answer 4

You should go for something that has a good webcam, large hard disk (500GB and upwards) and at least 4GB RAM. In terms of rugged design and long lasting body, I'd recommend any HP product that meet the memory criterion.

Answer 5

Yes. Totally over priced. And ousted by the quality and capabilities in the Surface Book.

Answer 6

MacBooks are great. You could compromise for just a silver MacBook.

Answer 7

HP is a best for use.