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In my experience, most people looking for "just a notebook" don't care about any of those things. They want a low maintenance, high performant (for day-to-day t

In my experience, most people looking for "just a notebook" don't care about any of those things. They want a low maintenance, high performant (for day-to-day tasks, not gaming) portable computer with a great battery that runs Chrome, Office and Spotify, and comes with great customer service - nothing comes close to being able to bring your Mac to the next Apple Store.

zdragnar 3y ago
You could just get a Chromebook for that and save yourself a ton of money. It's what my wife did, and she's not wanted anything else for seven years. It isn't close to an apple device in terms of materials or performance, but at a tenth of the cost of a pro it makes a lot of sense.
- garrickvanburen 3y ago
  Laptops in my household are a mix of Macs and Chromebooks. All are >5yrs old. Love the resilience and useful life of both.
- eropple 3y ago
  I've had a couple of Chromebooks and enjoyed them, but I never found one with a keyboard that didn't feel terrible to type on. Does one exist today?
  - zdragnar 3y ago
    I'm guessing if you want quality materials, you have to pay for it. I don't know if the pixel line of Chromebooks are still a thing, but even if they are you can just get a higher end laptop with more appropriate levels of local SSD storage and an actual OS for what I remember Google charging for them.
    - lupire 3y ago
      Higher end Chromebooks run Linux well.
    - eropple 3y ago
      That's why my actual laptops are Thinkpads and Macs, sure--but I can hope, right?
makeitdouble 3y ago
If I gave these requirements to my parents they'd go to a random computer shop and come back with probably a random 13 or 15 inch DELL. And that's what millions of people get at work as a standard supplied computer. I am not saying the mac isn't good at filling that niche, just that people who really don't care about computers also don't care if it's a mac, and will probably be fine with any recent default configuration machine from a major maker. PS: > bring your Mac to the next Apple Store You need an Apple Store. In my experience people have come to terms with shipping devices and waiting for repairs. Cloud sync helps a lot in that respect, as keeping another computer around has become decently manageable.
- Klonoar 3y ago
  > If I gave these requirements to my parents they'd go to a random computer shop and come back with probably a random 13 or 15 inch DELL. And if I did that, they'd also come back with that DELL - and then I'd be stuck doing tech support for them for however long the thing lasts. I cannot begin to count the number of times they've gone and bought some junk computer that they got upsold on. This is not an experience unique to me, either. The non-Apple laptop segment is (mostly) a broken experience in comparison.
  - sroussey 3y ago
    > And if I did that, they'd also come back with that DELL - and then I'd be stuck doing tech support for them for however long the thing lasts. I stopped doing tech support for family members using Windows. THAT was the main reason they changed to Mac. And now, hardly do any support for them at all.
    - throwaway118899 3y ago
      The key is to treat Windows users like children and lock it down with an administrator password. You’d be amazed how well Windows holds up over the years if you just prevent them from installing whatever random bullshit they find.
sva_ 3y ago
> nothing comes close to being able to bring your Mac to the next Apple Store. Ah really? Ever heard of worldwide on-site next day repair warranty?
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
macinjosh 3y ago
And in my experience most people looking for "just a notebook" don't want to pay the prices Apple demands. Especially when they see prices on the non-Apple laptops.

zdragnar 3y ago

You could just get a Chromebook for that and save yourself a ton of money. It's what my wife did, and she's not wanted anything else for seven years. It isn't close to an apple device in terms of materials or performance, but at a tenth of the cost of a pro it makes a lot of sense.

garrickvanburen 3y ago
Laptops in my household are a mix of Macs and Chromebooks. All are >5yrs old. Love the resilience and useful life of both.
eropple 3y ago
I've had a couple of Chromebooks and enjoyed them, but I never found one with a keyboard that didn't feel terrible to type on. Does one exist today?
- zdragnar 3y ago
  I'm guessing if you want quality materials, you have to pay for it. I don't know if the pixel line of Chromebooks are still a thing, but even if they are you can just get a higher end laptop with more appropriate levels of local SSD storage and an actual OS for what I remember Google charging for them.
  - lupire 3y ago
    Higher end Chromebooks run Linux well.
  - eropple 3y ago
    That's why my actual laptops are Thinkpads and Macs, sure--but I can hope, right?

makeitdouble 3y ago

If I gave these requirements to my parents they'd go to a random computer shop and come back with probably a random 13 or 15 inch DELL. And that's what millions of people get at work as a standard supplied computer. I am not saying the mac isn't good at filling that niche, just that people who really don't care about computers also don't care if it's a mac, and will probably be fine with any recent default configuration machine from a major maker. PS: > bring your Mac to the next Apple Store You need an Apple Store. In my experience people have come to terms with shipping devices and waiting for repairs. Cloud sync helps a lot in that respect, as keeping another computer around has become decently manageable.

Klonoar 3y ago
> If I gave these requirements to my parents they'd go to a random computer shop and come back with probably a random 13 or 15 inch DELL. And if I did that, they'd also come back with that DELL - and then I'd be stuck doing tech support for them for however long the thing lasts. I cannot begin to count the number of times they've gone and bought some junk computer that they got upsold on. This is not an experience unique to me, either. The non-Apple laptop segment is (mostly) a broken experience in comparison.
- sroussey 3y ago
  > And if I did that, they'd also come back with that DELL - and then I'd be stuck doing tech support for them for however long the thing lasts. I stopped doing tech support for family members using Windows. THAT was the main reason they changed to Mac. And now, hardly do any support for them at all.
  - throwaway118899 3y ago
    The key is to treat Windows users like children and lock it down with an administrator password. You’d be amazed how well Windows holds up over the years if you just prevent them from installing whatever random bullshit they find.

sva_ 3y ago

> nothing comes close to being able to bring your Mac to the next Apple Store. Ah really? Ever heard of worldwide on-site next day repair warranty?

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

macinjosh 3y ago

And in my experience most people looking for "just a notebook" don't want to pay the prices Apple demands. Especially when they see prices on the non-Apple laptops.