MacBook Pro 13" Retina any alternatives?

[Joni_78]

I've always thought that Apple makes overpriced hardware but I just noticed that I can't seem to find any Windows laptops in this price range with similar specs.

 

MacBook Pro 13" Retina has really nice display, 2,6 GHz i5, 8GB memory and 9 hours battery. It's really thin and made of aluminum if I remember correctly. It's about 1300 euros where I live.

 

I would prefer buying Windows laptop, so far I've looked HP, Asus and Samsung laptops but can't seem to find anything good at the same price. Is there anything i've missed?

 

It should have pretty much the same performance, not plastic, good battery and thin. 1080p IPS or better.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Dell XPS 13 maybe?

 

It has good battery life, is a beefy machine comes with a 1080 display. It does come at a price though - not much cheaper (if at all) than the rMBP. 

[RottGutt]

To answer your question, no. If you want the best, you have to go with Apple. There is no comparison. On top of that, you can still install and run Windows through the included Boot Camp option.

Tim

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

To answer your question, no. If you want the best, you have to go with Apple. There is no comparison. On top of that, you can still install and run Windows through the included Boot Camp option.

Tim

Good point. Expensive as Apple hardware may seem, it does give you a much better bang for the buck than most high-end Wintel laptops.

[Stokkolm]

If you don't care about a built-in keyboard then a Surface Pro 3 compares very nicely. In fact, it's what got me to sell my MacBook Pro 13".

[stereopixels]

I absolutely agree; if you want the best laptop hardware, it has to be Apple. Their trackpads alone are lightyears ahead of any Windows-based laptop I've come across. I've tried so many different brands over the years, and ultimately always come back to (and now stay with) Apple laptops; even if it means dual booting Windows.

[User6060]

you won't find too many others with that type of screen resolution...and im going to second steropixels opinion on the apple trackpad, its sooooooo good you won't be able to use tiny windows trackpads by synaptics or the like ever again 

[xp1ode]

The levono Yoga 3 Pro is a great replacement.  I currently own the Yoga 2 pro and it is just awesome.  The only difference is i run linux on mine, but for the specs you are looking for i think the Yoga 3 pro meets all your needs.  Oh yeah I forgot, it'll be out later this month

 

http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/09/lenovo-yoga-3-pro-thinkpad-yoga-14/

[bandit_liberty_rumble]

If you don't care about a built-in keyboard

Isn't a good built-in keyboard (and trackpad) sort of important for a laptop?  :huh:

[Anibal P]

Acer makes good laptops, and this idea that only Apple makes "good" hardware is nonsense, you are paying extra for the name, essentially ANY top end laptop by most of the better manufacturers will give you equal and possibly better performance, don't look at price, look at features and what you need 

[Stokkolm]

Isn't a good built-in keyboard (and trackpad) sort of important for a laptop?  :huh:

Not really, I find the keyboard on the SP3 to be adequate. Most of the time it's not attached.

[francescob]

Acer makes good laptops

 

Not really.

[tsupersonic]

Isn't a good built-in keyboard (and trackpad) sort of important for a laptop?  :huh:

Microsoft touts the Surface as a tablet, but also claim it can be a laptop, if you have the additional expensive keyboard. The type cover keyboard has limited key travel compared to a traditional laptop, and don't even get me started on the miserable excuse of a "touchpad." 

 

The MBP is a great laptop - high end build quality. I equate Thinkpads of equivalent to MBP's. Yoga Pro 3 is also a great alternative. There are some (very high-end) Asus laptops that are similar to MBP's build quality, but cost way more than the MBP.

Acer makes good laptops, and this idea that only Apple makes "good" hardware is nonsense, you are paying extra for the name, essentially ANY top end laptop by most of the better manufacturers will give you equal and possibly better performance, don't look at price, look at features and what you need 

You lost all credibility with that opening statement...They have made one good laptop ever - the S7.

[francescob]

Apple is usually unbeatable for the base models so if those specs are fine with you there's hardly going to be something comparable from other manufacturers. Consumers buy garbage (e.g. i7s with mechanical hard drives, 2GB low-end videocards slower than IGPs, etc.) so the manufacturers mostly sell garbage. Also don't believe the hype that Windows runs perfectly on Macbooks, the battery life is usually much shorter and the Windows touchpad drivers are teh horribleness (plus other random problems) but the experience is usually still better compared to some other OEMs. If Microsoft had any shame with the current sorry state of the notebook market they should go and beg Samsung to not discontinue their notebook market, once Samsung is gone there's only Lenovo and a few Asus models between Windows and a sea of garbage.

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

Apple is usually unbeatable for the base models so if those specs are fine with you there's hardly going to be something comparable from other manufacturers. Consumers buy garbage (e.g. i7s with mechanical hard drives, 2GB low-end videocards slower than IGPs, etc.) so the manufacturers mostly sell garbage. Also don't believe the hype that Windows runs perfectly on Macbooks, the battery life is usually much shorter and the Windows touchpad drivers are teh horribleness (plus other random problems) but the experience is usually still better compared to some other OEMs. If Microsoft had any shame with the current sorry state of the notebook market they should go and beg Samsung to not discontinue their notebook market, once Samsung is gone there's only Lenovo and a few Asus models between Windows and a sea of garbage.

 

+1 i agree with all you have said.

 

I got a MacBook Air (Mid 2012) and ended up loving OSX on a laptop. Windows 8 works fine but as you mentioned I probably get 2-3 hours less battery life on Windows compared to OSX. The gestures and virtual desktops made me enjoy OSX far better than Windows 8 on a laptop anyway.

[ParadiseLost]

Not really.

 

Maybe they don't, but not because of nothing to do with that report.

[Joni_78]

Surface Pro 3 looks like it compares pretty well with MacBook Pro 13". Surface has a little weaker GPU performance it seems and keyboard and touchpad aren't as good, but GPU performance is about the same. Surface also has the Stylus pen and works as tablet which comes in handy.

 

MacBook Pro 13" Retina

256 GB / Intel i5 / 8GB RAM 1549 ?

 

 

Surface Pro 3

256 GB / Intel i5 / 8GB RAM 1339 ?

 

 

How good are the speakers on Surface?

[tsupersonic]

Surface Pro 3 looks like it compares pretty well with MacBook Pro 13". Surface has a little weaker GPU performance it seems and keyboard and touchpad aren't as good, but GPU performance is about the same. Surface also has the Stylus pen and works as tablet which comes in handy.

 

MacBook Pro 13" Retina

256 GB / Intel i5 / 8GB RAM 1549 ?

 

 

Surface Pro 3

256 GB / Intel i5 / 8GB RAM 1339 ?

 

 

How good are the speakers on Surface?

I'd say both are on par. Can you get any discounts - like educational, or possibly wait for holiday sales? 

[Gotenks98]

+1 i agree with all you have said.

 

I got a MacBook Air (Mid 2012) and ended up loving OSX on a laptop. Windows 8 works fine but as you mentioned I probably get 2-3 hours less battery life on Windows compared to OSX. The gestures and virtual desktops made me enjoy OSX far better than Windows 8 on a laptop anyway.

The reason you get less battery with bootcamp is that Apple intentionally setup bootcamp such that it does not turn off the high end graphics card ever. Most Windows laptops have graphics switching to save battery life. If Bootcamp did allow for graphics switching like it does in OSX it would actually get better battery life with Windows than with OSX.

 

To the original poster of the thread aside from the better trackpad and retina display, there are tons of comparable machines spec wise that at least half the cost of the MBPr. You need to search more.

[greenwizard88]

A guy at my work got a Samsung laptop that's as nice as a MBP. The Surface Pro is a good choice, or check out Dell's Latitude 7000 line.

[+Fahim S. MVC]

To the original poster of the thread aside from the better trackpad and retina display, there are tons of comparable machines spec wise that at least half the cost of the MBPr. You need to search more.

 

Can you give any examples?

[vhane]

Can you give any examples?

 

 

If he's discounting the Retina display then he's missing the point of the rMBP. That's the main reason why people buy these things.

 

These discussions always come down to differences in what people value, and optimise for, and results in tone-deafness and talking past each other. People are coming from different angles, all of which are valid. No new insight will be gained in this thread.

[Joni_78]

I'd say both are on par. Can you get any discounts - like educational, or possibly wait for holiday sales? 

 

I could wait for couple of months. Is there new MBP's expected in the next six months?

 

To the original poster of the thread aside from the better trackpad and retina display, there are tons of comparable machines spec wise that at least half the cost of the MBPr. You need to search more.

 

That's what I thought too. I checked HP, Asus and Samsung laptops but those were always made of plastic, battery life wasn't even close to 8-9 hours, had low end i5 or didn't have good quality 1080p IPS panel. Comparable seemed to cost almost 2000 euros.

 

I don't care about trackpad and retina, but if I'm going to buy MBP there is no point buying it without retina display as it's only extra 100 e.

[francescob]

To the original poster of the thread aside from the better trackpad and retina display, there are tons of comparable machines spec wise that at least half the cost of the MBPr. You need to search more.

 

Are you sure of that? There has always been an huge battery life difference even when the macbooks only came with either IGP or dedicated card (not both). Also I thought it was nVidia deciding on things like Optimus, shouldn't they be the ones to blame? Anyway Macbooks are made to run OS X better, the drivers for Windows only leave the users with the crumbs.

[tsupersonic]

The reason you get less battery with bootcamp is that Apple intentionally setup bootcamp such that it does not turn off the high end graphics card ever. Most Windows laptops have graphics switching to save battery life. If Bootcamp did allow for graphics switching like it does in OSX it would actually get better battery life with Windows than with OSX.

This isn't a problem in lower end MBP's/MBA's as they have integrated graphics...Bottom line is using Boot Camp for Windows doesn't result in good battery life. I would look into Parallels if you want to use Windows. You could seamlessly switch between OS X and Windows that way rather than having to reboot.

 

I could wait for couple of months. Is there new MBP's expected in the next six months?

No, most likely not. They did a slight "refresh" a few months ago. They'll probably update it next when the new Intel CPU's are ready.