6 ms·

Why do people buy MacBook Pro retinas, given their relatively high price?

35 points by Artemis2 10y ago

tluyben2 10y ago
My story about this; I made the mistake (in my personal opinion), based on the advise of a friend, to buy one recently. Insanely expensive and I really don't like it as much as the much cheaper Air; it has worse battery life (I had Apple check it twice and there is nothing wrong, just 'my usage pattern'; I use the same software on the Air and on my old X220 and get better battery life on both; on the X220 far better), the screen has staingate[0] which my local Apple store said they wouldn't replace for free (going to try different ones now). And it feels slower; it's objectively (tests) faster, but for my subjective performance perception it's slower. It often pops the beachball which I never see on the Air and it runs hot doing nothing but web browsing. Again, Apple checked it twice. [0] http://www.staingate.org/ http://www.staingate.org/
- givinguflac 10y ago
  Just my 2c, my experience has been the exact opposite in regards to subjective performance. You may want to try a fresh install and reformat, sounds like something is off. My coworker and I were issued the same model Mac, and he had issues and I don't. Reinstalled his OS and things are great for him now. But, to each their own; certainly not trying to say your opinion is invalid.
  - tluyben2 10y ago
    I have tried... And my Apple store tried as well. For my usage pattern there is no rescue apparently :) I'm not that mift about it anyway; I use it for compiling + testing iOS apps and compiling + testing cross platform apps. And for everything else I use my X220. I would never recommend the MBP, I would recommend the Air any day. But I would give it this context; I know some people who love their MBPs. Especially designers.
- jasonlfunk 10y ago
  I hadn't heard of "staingate" but I just took my mbp in for the same problem, though not nearly as bad as some of the pictures on the site. Just a bit around the top.
  - tluyben2 10y ago
    For me it started a little bit in the middle. It stayed like that 6 months and then suddenly it spread all over the place...
coldtea 10y ago
Why do people buy anything on the high end of the market given its relative high price? Price is not the only criterion. In fact for socially aware people it might even be a positive -- signaling you do well to others etc. This is not just a shallow thing for personal showing-off: in its general application (ie. not just in laptops), how you look and what you use can have quite an impact on your opportunities and connections. But it's not like competitive products with smaller prices are just as good in every aspect either. What actually happens is more like this: Some cheaper competitive products are as good or even better as MBPr for the basics of computing (raw CPU/GPU), and some people think "computer" and automatically assume that CPU/GPU is all that matters (whereas most people, gamers aside, totally underutilize them). But they fail to see where those cheaper products fail for someone who can pay for something pricier. E.g. in ergonomics (e.g. the mag-safe power adaptor, multi-touch trackpad, magnetic hinge, illuminated keyboard, etc), and some of the most important factors for laptops you carry frequently: construction (sturdiness), weight, thickness and battery life. Being able to run OS X (and Windows/Linux), and the nicer industrial aesthetics and lack of BS (intel inside stickers, OEM crapware, etc) don't hurt either. And MBPr's monitors frequently review as the best of the competition too (plus, they were the first to introduce hi-dpi screens, at least mass market). Besides, when you get to the higher end Dells, Sonys etc, and add all the features and trimmings to match 1-1 those MBPr (including the "details" mentioned above), you end up with similar, or even higher in some cases, prices. So it's down to what you value. For raw CPU/GPU you can build something cheaper. For variety/freedom/reuse (build-your-own-with-whatever-parts-you-like too). But for ergonomics and laptopy-concerns, those Apple laptops are pretty much where it's at, and if you find something comparable (high end Dell, Sony, whatever) it will have a comparable price.
- noir_lord 10y ago
  The what you use thing is a fun one, I subconsciously equate people using Thinkpads as proper engineers over anything else including Mac books. What makes this even funnier is I use a big 17" dell vostro (it had a better spec per price to Thinkpads). Funny the biases we all carry.
  - coldtea 10y ago
Amorymeltzer 10y ago
Some people buy new cars, some only buy used. Some people think a night out at the movies is absurd given their relatively high price, yet pay for a paper newspaper rather than just an online subscription which others might not. While I generally agree with the Quora answer, the answer to "Why do people buy X given X is expensive?" is generally "Because it's worth it to them" or "They have to."
- cm3 10y ago
  Isn't the real question "why do people buy it, regardless of the price, even though the hardware and software stack isn't capable of providing a fluid experience at that resolution?"? I haven't used a Retina macbook, but I find it hard to believe Apple would sell a macbook that isn't responsive in typical use cases.
  - givinguflac 10y ago
    The only retina Mac I've seen with occasional responsiveness issues was the very first generation, which got much better with updates.
emmet 10y ago
Wow that's a really solid answer, and I have to agree with it 100%. Also never knew about the motion sensor. Would explain how it survives just about anything. Nice find!
- elmigranto 10y ago
  > Also never knew about the motion sensor. That's a nice thing about Apple, you find interesting awesome stuff that increases subjective value of a product for a customer. iPhone 6 being water-proof was not in the ads. Was really cool to find out mine survived being in the sea for couple of minutes when I forgot to put it out of the pocket. (Don't risk it though, there are plenty of youtube videos if you want to see it for yourself :)
  - Nullabillity 10y ago
    > That's a nice thing about Apple, you find interesting awesome stuff that increases subjective value of a product for a customer. The motion sensor has been a standard feature in all laptops for over a decade. It'd be like advertising that it has a flat screen.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
scriptproof 10y ago
"Do you remember how much the Microsoft Visual Studio used to cost? I don't even know how much it costs today (the free version of the MS compilers come without the IDE)". Actually VS Community is free with the IDE. This post is outdated.
- elmigranto 10y ago
  I think you missed "used to cost" part.
petercooper 10y ago
Because it runs the software I need to use on the only operating system that seems to run it and it does so with the fewest problems of any hardware I've tried. The price is almost line noise compared to the value produced using the equipment for me. (It's like wondering why use a $50 chisel when you can get one for $1.. if you're doing a lot of work with the chisel, just get the $50 one.)
- e40 10y ago
  At work we have a bunch of Windows and Mac laptops. The Windows laptops are constantly needing something. Either hardware repair or having software issues of various types (for some reason, often the wifi drivers). The Macs... never once have we had a problem with any of them. For me, I just got fed up with Windows and Windows laptops. The bloat. Windows itself (I dropped off at Windows 8, I just hated it). I had used every Windows version since 3.1. Both at home and work I use Linux for all my server needs, but for my home base, macOS is fine. I never upgrade it until it hits 10.x.4, and by that point, it's rock solid. I use a product called FastX for reconnectable SSH sessions to my home and work Linux machines, where I do everything in GNU Emacs, even email. I've been using nmh + MH-E + some filtering software I wrote myself. I've accumulated 30+ years of Emacs tweaks and that environment is as about as productive as I can make it, for what I do. My son recently wanted to play Windows games (Steam) on his Mac, so we installed Windows 10 via bootcamp. I was impressed with how easy it was to install and how fast Windows was on his new 2016 Macbook. Compared to all the Windows laptops out there, I think Macbooks are an incredible deal.
mtw 10y ago
They buy the best components, yet I still have to buy a charger every six months and it's my 3rd bluetooth keyboard that dies on me. Same for the iPhone headset.
- wilkystyle 10y ago
  What on earth are you doing to your charger to need a new one every six months? I'm three MacBooks in (heavy daily use for both work and personal) and in each case the charger has lasted as long as I've had the MacBook (years).
  - mtw 10y ago
    I don't know your use case. Maybe you have a fixed desk. I use my laptop at home office and office. The smaller cable dies. Maybe it's my usage or you are extra careful when you use it. I'm not the only one. Regularly I have friends asking for chargers on Facebook. I also mentioned the case at Apple store and the specialist agree with me that they are fragile.
    - wilkystyle 10y ago
      Hmm. I also travel to and from home and office, and that's a wrap/unwrap of the cable each time. I do wrap mine a particular way, so maybe that helps them last longer?
- spdustin 10y ago
  iPhone headset ... Is the cable breaking down, or is it (sorry, have to ask) earwax impeding the sound? The EarPods in particular seem to get a coating on their protective mesh that needs to be removed.
  - emmet 10y ago
    Such an awkward question to ask but I've saved more than a few friends from throwing out earphones because of it. You'd never even know it was there unless you knew to lift out the mesh.
da_n 10y ago
I'm not an Apple hater, I use a MacBook Pro at work (funnily enough, either SSH remote linux server or running Linux VM through vagrant), for my personal machines I run 100% Linux. It is solid hardware, but I think the OS is becoming a hindrance to me as a developer. It seems like every iteration closes yet another door on the underlying UNIX base, making it harder and harder to get things working, Homebrew helps but seems like it needs more and more workarounds and often breaks with esoteric conflicts. Nowadays I just use OS X as a VM shell, so I might as well be using Windows. I don't use any Apple "apps", I never touch their cloud because of all the horror stories I've heard, and I fear in a couple of releases the OS is just going to be completely locked down so I'll have to move to Windows at work to get work done. The hardware is definitely the best in class, but the software is becoming unusable to me as a developer. I hope it means more linux usage but I'm not delusional and know that desktop linux is basically just a niche and probably always will be (which saddens me greatly). I think it's a shame Apple has taken this direction.
- drvdevd 10y ago
  I have a similar situation, and agree. I actually keep Linux installed on a separate partition on my 2015 Retina MBP. I shrink the OS X partition as much as possible, and install grub on the EFI system partition, alongside OS X. When in OS X, I use VMWare (with an EFI-based VM) to boot the Linux partition and slowly over time I'm working on getting the thing to run Linux smoothly as a Desktop alternative to OS X. This involves some weirdness. For example I had to recompile my kernel yesterday with some patches just to get suspend/resume working in Linux due to hardware changes introduced circa 11,4. This is an example of the challenges Linux/other free software OSes face which companies like Apple don't on the Desktop -- a tight coupling between OS development and hardware design. It's actually quite remarkable how far Linux has come in spite of this.
- Nullabillity 10y ago
  The hardware is "best-in-class"? I keep hearing this, but the specs and personal experiences just don't match up with it. Their devices are, and have always been, way underspecced, and they pull stupid crap like abusing the case as a heatsink (because they're too cheap for fans?), soldering in RAM and gluing in batteries (seriously, WTF?), and using proprietary connectors for everything. Their software is a trainwreck, their hardware is even worse. Why on earth do people give this company money?
british_india 10y ago
If you could afford the best computer in the world, a computer you would be working on most of your waking hours, why on earth wouldn't you get the best--an Apple MacBook Pro Retina.
riprowan 10y ago
What notebook computer is as durable and has as good a keyboard / touchpad / display? The keyboard and touchpad in particular is why I can't leave. It's ergonomic.
mnkmnk 10y ago
Why doesn't anyone sell good hardware other than apple?
- e40 10y ago
  Exactly. Honestly, this one really confuses me. At this point, I've decided that all the companies that make Windows laptops just don't get why people like Apple hardware. I really cannot believe Apple is the only one capable of making good laptops.
- KayL 10y ago
  No one buying expensive PC. My years old PC still faster than most of my friends' new hardware. People always said PC is slow but they never thought they only spend half or 30% of Mac cost on their PC.
- digi_owl 10y ago
  They do, but rarely via consumer channels. The internals of macbook pros can be found in B2B offerings from HP, Dell, Lenovo, Acer, Samsung, etc etc etc...
  - zlynx 10y ago
    Dell m3800 for example...
digi_owl 10y ago
Because most other hardware of similar grade is sold via B2B channels.
b3b0p 10y ago
For me it's mostly because of build quality (keyboard, casing, screen, feel, ...) and a functional pointing device. No other laptop I have used has a useable trackpad and most have a keyboard that is unusable. The only other laptop I have ever used with a pointing device I liked was the Thinkpad nub. Also, everything seems to "just work" when compared to using a Linux. Sleep/hibernate, syncing with my iPhone and iPad. It's nice not worrying or having to tweak this only to never be satisfied with the end results. I remember spending hours and days trying to get things working sometimes. I expect some would argue the everything "just works" statement, but for me I have not had any problems of note. I have not tried a Thinkpad + Linux in years or the Dell alternatives I have seen. I'm really eyeing a Thinkpad 460p and want to put Fedora on it and give it another try.
hereonbusiness 10y ago
If you use something to earn money price doesn't really matter that much imo, especially if you earn multiples of the price per month. I wouldn't really recommend spending MBpro money for just casual usage. When I bought mine after some consideration last year it was the only laptop with a 16:10 screen, IPS panel, better than 1080p resolution, 16GB of ram, faster than SATA SSD, good battery life, light, decent keyboard, just all around a great device, the only missing option I would have liked hardware wise is a matte panel instead of glossy. Alternatives I considered at the time were the Dell XPS 13 Dev and Lenovo 450s/440s which both were 16:9 and with less than 16GB of ram. I think there are still no other comparable options that come with a 16:10 screen out there even today. OSX is not my OS of choice (it's still a lot better than having to run Windows) but battery life and scaling is worse on Linux, also if you do your development using Vagrant and Docker the OS is not much of an issue.

35 points by Artemis2 10y ago

My story about this; I made the mistake (in my personal opinion), based on the advise of a friend, to buy one recently. Insanely expensive and I really don't like it as much as the much cheaper Air; it has worse battery life (I had Apple check it twice and there is nothing wrong, just 'my usage pattern'; I use the same software on the Air and on my old X220 and get better battery life on both; on the X220 far better), the screen has staingate[0] which my local Apple store said they wouldn't replace for free (going to try different ones now). And it feels slower; it's objectively (tests) faster, but for my subjective performance perception it's slower. It often pops the beachball which I never see on the Air and it runs hot doing nothing but web browsing. Again, Apple checked it twice. [0] http://www.staingate.org/ http://www.staingate.org/

givinguflac 10y ago
Just my 2c, my experience has been the exact opposite in regards to subjective performance. You may want to try a fresh install and reformat, sounds like something is off. My coworker and I were issued the same model Mac, and he had issues and I don't. Reinstalled his OS and things are great for him now. But, to each their own; certainly not trying to say your opinion is invalid.
- tluyben2 10y ago
  I have tried... And my Apple store tried as well. For my usage pattern there is no rescue apparently :) I'm not that mift about it anyway; I use it for compiling + testing iOS apps and compiling + testing cross platform apps. And for everything else I use my X220. I would never recommend the MBP, I would recommend the Air any day. But I would give it this context; I know some people who love their MBPs. Especially designers.
jasonlfunk 10y ago
I hadn't heard of "staingate" but I just took my mbp in for the same problem, though not nearly as bad as some of the pictures on the site. Just a bit around the top.
- tluyben2 10y ago
  For me it started a little bit in the middle. It stayed like that 6 months and then suddenly it spread all over the place...

coldtea 10y ago

Why do people buy anything on the high end of the market given its relative high price? Price is not the only criterion. In fact for socially aware people it might even be a positive -- signaling you do well to others etc. This is not just a shallow thing for personal showing-off: in its general application (ie. not just in laptops), how you look and what you use can have quite an impact on your opportunities and connections. But it's not like competitive products with smaller prices are just as good in every aspect either. What actually happens is more like this: Some cheaper competitive products are as good or even better as MBPr for the basics of computing (raw CPU/GPU), and some people think "computer" and automatically assume that CPU/GPU is all that matters (whereas most people, gamers aside, totally underutilize them). But they fail to see where those cheaper products fail for someone who can pay for something pricier. E.g. in ergonomics (e.g. the mag-safe power adaptor, multi-touch trackpad, magnetic hinge, illuminated keyboard, etc), and some of the most important factors for laptops you carry frequently: construction (sturdiness), weight, thickness and battery life. Being able to run OS X (and Windows/Linux), and the nicer industrial aesthetics and lack of BS (intel inside stickers, OEM crapware, etc) don't hurt either. And MBPr's monitors frequently review as the best of the competition too (plus, they were the first to introduce hi-dpi screens, at least mass market). Besides, when you get to the higher end Dells, Sonys etc, and add all the features and trimmings to match 1-1 those MBPr (including the "details" mentioned above), you end up with similar, or even higher in some cases, prices. So it's down to what you value. For raw CPU/GPU you can build something cheaper. For variety/freedom/reuse (build-your-own-with-whatever-parts-you-like too). But for ergonomics and laptopy-concerns, those Apple laptops are pretty much where it's at, and if you find something comparable (high end Dell, Sony, whatever) it will have a comparable price.

noir_lord 10y ago
The what you use thing is a fun one, I subconsciously equate people using Thinkpads as proper engineers over anything else including Mac books. What makes this even funnier is I use a big 17" dell vostro (it had a better spec per price to Thinkpads). Funny the biases we all carry.
- coldtea 10y ago

Amorymeltzer 10y ago

Some people buy new cars, some only buy used. Some people think a night out at the movies is absurd given their relatively high price, yet pay for a paper newspaper rather than just an online subscription which others might not. While I generally agree with the Quora answer, the answer to "Why do people buy X given X is expensive?" is generally "Because it's worth it to them" or "They have to."

cm3 10y ago
Isn't the real question "why do people buy it, regardless of the price, even though the hardware and software stack isn't capable of providing a fluid experience at that resolution?"? I haven't used a Retina macbook, but I find it hard to believe Apple would sell a macbook that isn't responsive in typical use cases.
- givinguflac 10y ago
  The only retina Mac I've seen with occasional responsiveness issues was the very first generation, which got much better with updates.

emmet 10y ago

Wow that's a really solid answer, and I have to agree with it 100%. Also never knew about the motion sensor. Would explain how it survives just about anything. Nice find!

elmigranto 10y ago
> Also never knew about the motion sensor. That's a nice thing about Apple, you find interesting awesome stuff that increases subjective value of a product for a customer. iPhone 6 being water-proof was not in the ads. Was really cool to find out mine survived being in the sea for couple of minutes when I forgot to put it out of the pocket. (Don't risk it though, there are plenty of youtube videos if you want to see it for yourself :)
- Nullabillity 10y ago
  > That's a nice thing about Apple, you find interesting awesome stuff that increases subjective value of a product for a customer. The motion sensor has been a standard feature in all laptops for over a decade. It'd be like advertising that it has a flat screen.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

scriptproof 10y ago

"Do you remember how much the Microsoft Visual Studio used to cost? I don't even know how much it costs today (the free version of the MS compilers come without the IDE)". Actually VS Community is free with the IDE. This post is outdated.

elmigranto 10y ago
I think you missed "used to cost" part.

petercooper 10y ago

Because it runs the software I need to use on the only operating system that seems to run it and it does so with the fewest problems of any hardware I've tried. The price is almost line noise compared to the value produced using the equipment for me. (It's like wondering why use a $50 chisel when you can get one for $1.. if you're doing a lot of work with the chisel, just get the $50 one.)

e40 10y ago
At work we have a bunch of Windows and Mac laptops. The Windows laptops are constantly needing something. Either hardware repair or having software issues of various types (for some reason, often the wifi drivers). The Macs... never once have we had a problem with any of them. For me, I just got fed up with Windows and Windows laptops. The bloat. Windows itself (I dropped off at Windows 8, I just hated it). I had used every Windows version since 3.1. Both at home and work I use Linux for all my server needs, but for my home base, macOS is fine. I never upgrade it until it hits 10.x.4, and by that point, it's rock solid. I use a product called FastX for reconnectable SSH sessions to my home and work Linux machines, where I do everything in GNU Emacs, even email. I've been using nmh + MH-E + some filtering software I wrote myself. I've accumulated 30+ years of Emacs tweaks and that environment is as about as productive as I can make it, for what I do. My son recently wanted to play Windows games (Steam) on his Mac, so we installed Windows 10 via bootcamp. I was impressed with how easy it was to install and how fast Windows was on his new 2016 Macbook. Compared to all the Windows laptops out there, I think Macbooks are an incredible deal.

mtw 10y ago

They buy the best components, yet I still have to buy a charger every six months and it's my 3rd bluetooth keyboard that dies on me. Same for the iPhone headset.

wilkystyle 10y ago
What on earth are you doing to your charger to need a new one every six months? I'm three MacBooks in (heavy daily use for both work and personal) and in each case the charger has lasted as long as I've had the MacBook (years).
- mtw 10y ago
  I don't know your use case. Maybe you have a fixed desk. I use my laptop at home office and office. The smaller cable dies. Maybe it's my usage or you are extra careful when you use it. I'm not the only one. Regularly I have friends asking for chargers on Facebook. I also mentioned the case at Apple store and the specialist agree with me that they are fragile.
  - wilkystyle 10y ago
    Hmm. I also travel to and from home and office, and that's a wrap/unwrap of the cable each time. I do wrap mine a particular way, so maybe that helps them last longer?
spdustin 10y ago
iPhone headset ... Is the cable breaking down, or is it (sorry, have to ask) earwax impeding the sound? The EarPods in particular seem to get a coating on their protective mesh that needs to be removed.
- emmet 10y ago
  Such an awkward question to ask but I've saved more than a few friends from throwing out earphones because of it. You'd never even know it was there unless you knew to lift out the mesh.

da_n 10y ago

I'm not an Apple hater, I use a MacBook Pro at work (funnily enough, either SSH remote linux server or running Linux VM through vagrant), for my personal machines I run 100% Linux. It is solid hardware, but I think the OS is becoming a hindrance to me as a developer. It seems like every iteration closes yet another door on the underlying UNIX base, making it harder and harder to get things working, Homebrew helps but seems like it needs more and more workarounds and often breaks with esoteric conflicts. Nowadays I just use OS X as a VM shell, so I might as well be using Windows. I don't use any Apple "apps", I never touch their cloud because of all the horror stories I've heard, and I fear in a couple of releases the OS is just going to be completely locked down so I'll have to move to Windows at work to get work done. The hardware is definitely the best in class, but the software is becoming unusable to me as a developer. I hope it means more linux usage but I'm not delusional and know that desktop linux is basically just a niche and probably always will be (which saddens me greatly). I think it's a shame Apple has taken this direction.

drvdevd 10y ago
I have a similar situation, and agree. I actually keep Linux installed on a separate partition on my 2015 Retina MBP. I shrink the OS X partition as much as possible, and install grub on the EFI system partition, alongside OS X. When in OS X, I use VMWare (with an EFI-based VM) to boot the Linux partition and slowly over time I'm working on getting the thing to run Linux smoothly as a Desktop alternative to OS X. This involves some weirdness. For example I had to recompile my kernel yesterday with some patches just to get suspend/resume working in Linux due to hardware changes introduced circa 11,4. This is an example of the challenges Linux/other free software OSes face which companies like Apple don't on the Desktop -- a tight coupling between OS development and hardware design. It's actually quite remarkable how far Linux has come in spite of this.
Nullabillity 10y ago
The hardware is "best-in-class"? I keep hearing this, but the specs and personal experiences just don't match up with it. Their devices are, and have always been, way underspecced, and they pull stupid crap like abusing the case as a heatsink (because they're too cheap for fans?), soldering in RAM and gluing in batteries (seriously, WTF?), and using proprietary connectors for everything. Their software is a trainwreck, their hardware is even worse. Why on earth do people give this company money?

british_india 10y ago

If you could afford the best computer in the world, a computer you would be working on most of your waking hours, why on earth wouldn't you get the best--an Apple MacBook Pro Retina.

riprowan 10y ago

What notebook computer is as durable and has as good a keyboard / touchpad / display? The keyboard and touchpad in particular is why I can't leave. It's ergonomic.

mnkmnk 10y ago

Why doesn't anyone sell good hardware other than apple?

e40 10y ago
Exactly. Honestly, this one really confuses me. At this point, I've decided that all the companies that make Windows laptops just don't get why people like Apple hardware. I really cannot believe Apple is the only one capable of making good laptops.
KayL 10y ago
No one buying expensive PC. My years old PC still faster than most of my friends' new hardware. People always said PC is slow but they never thought they only spend half or 30% of Mac cost on their PC.
digi_owl 10y ago
They do, but rarely via consumer channels. The internals of macbook pros can be found in B2B offerings from HP, Dell, Lenovo, Acer, Samsung, etc etc etc...
- zlynx 10y ago
  Dell m3800 for example...

digi_owl 10y ago

Because most other hardware of similar grade is sold via B2B channels.

b3b0p 10y ago

For me it's mostly because of build quality (keyboard, casing, screen, feel, ...) and a functional pointing device. No other laptop I have used has a useable trackpad and most have a keyboard that is unusable. The only other laptop I have ever used with a pointing device I liked was the Thinkpad nub. Also, everything seems to "just work" when compared to using a Linux. Sleep/hibernate, syncing with my iPhone and iPad. It's nice not worrying or having to tweak this only to never be satisfied with the end results. I remember spending hours and days trying to get things working sometimes. I expect some would argue the everything "just works" statement, but for me I have not had any problems of note. I have not tried a Thinkpad + Linux in years or the Dell alternatives I have seen. I'm really eyeing a Thinkpad 460p and want to put Fedora on it and give it another try.

hereonbusiness 10y ago

If you use something to earn money price doesn't really matter that much imo, especially if you earn multiples of the price per month. I wouldn't really recommend spending MBpro money for just casual usage. When I bought mine after some consideration last year it was the only laptop with a 16:10 screen, IPS panel, better than 1080p resolution, 16GB of ram, faster than SATA SSD, good battery life, light, decent keyboard, just all around a great device, the only missing option I would have liked hardware wise is a matte panel instead of glossy. Alternatives I considered at the time were the Dell XPS 13 Dev and Lenovo 450s/440s which both were 16:9 and with less than 16GB of ram. I think there are still no other comparable options that come with a 16:10 screen out there even today. OSX is not my OS of choice (it's still a lot better than having to run Windows) but battery life and scaling is worse on Linux, also if you do your development using Vagrant and Docker the OS is not much of an issue.