5 ms·

The price tag.

derefr 13y ago
Isn't that the idea behind the word "premium"? This seems to be very similar to the "we can't find any programmers to hire" chant of Big Business -- nobody can find a decent laptop at the price they're willing to pay. Because the price they're willing to pay is ridiculous and below-cost, especially when all the other laptops are loss-leaders and the premium models make up the difference.
- aspensmonster 13y ago
  My point was that, if you don't like the operating system and are going to use a different one, why pay a premium for the hardware when you can get substantially better performance for the same price from any of a number of providers? Because the Macbook is sexy and that's worth paying the premium? Don't get me wrong, the MBP does look nice. And plenty of people are clearly willing to throw lots of money at Apple for both the real and perceived benefits of the premium price. But if performance per dollar is my concern --and I'm forgoing the operating system, one of the "real" benefits IMHO-- numerous other competitors blow Apple out of the water.
  - derefr 13y ago
    "Performance per dollar" is a strange qualifier for a laptop. If you want something small, portable, and powerful, maybe one of those Mac Pro cylinders might suit you when they come out. If you don't (much) care about portability at all, just build something in a mini-ITX case with a handle, and throw it in the boot of your car. The point of a laptop is good, light, sturdy industrial design, long battery life, and quality interaction features (solid keyboard, responsive touchpad, good webcam, flat SPL curve on speakers, etc.), while optimizing performance given that. That's what you're paying the Apple premium for, not the OS. Those qualities remain when you run Windows on the hardware.
    - zurn 13y ago
      > run Windows on the hardware Out of the frying pan, into the fire...
x0054 13y ago
You can get a $2,500 MBP, work on it for 3 years, and resell it for $700 or so after. So, that's $1,800 for 3 years, or about $12/week. So the price is reasonable if its something you use to make money or use all the time. Plus, with MBP you get OSX out of the box, plus it runs Linux and Windows, or all 3. Even if OSX is not your cup of tea, it's nice to have OSX available if you like to play with iOS development. I have a friend who keeps bugging me about how expensive MBPs are. I asked him to find a better laptop for the money. I care about the following, in order: quality of screen, quality of keyboard, tough case, light wight, long betters life, fast hd, fast CPU, good gfx card. So far no results :) I actually kind of wish there was more choice in the high end market. I have seen a few nice ultrabooks, but they cost as much as a Mac, if not more, so what's the point?
- pessimizer 13y ago
  The price of everything is reasonable if instead of comparing it against alternatives, you compare it against not buying anything. For example, $1000 shoes that last 1 year are reasonable when compared to going without shoes - only $3 a day, and you'll save money that you would have to pay to repair damage to your bare feet. Could you find a better pair of shoes for less than $1000? Where's the gold leaf, and why do they lace up the front rather than snap up the sides? I think not.
- x0054 13y ago
  My argument is that you can not find a laptop with a nicer screen and keyboard, with good battery life, durable case, light frame, and amazingly fast HD for less money then an rMBP would cost you. And given that's its only $12/week, why not choose the best tool for the job, especially if your job is working on your laptop. Of course, same arguments can be applied to almost anything, but this thread was about premium laptops. You can't have a premium laptop that's also very cheep.
  - throw_1245 13y ago
    How about a Lenovo x230? Adding core i7 and 16GB RAM takes the price to USD 1300. Still weights around 3 lbs. http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/x-series/x230/ http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/x-series/x230/

The price tag.

Isn't that the idea behind the word "premium"? This seems to be very similar to the "we can't find any programmers to hire" chant of Big Business -- nobody can find a decent laptop at the price they're willing to pay. Because the price they're willing to pay is ridiculous and below-cost, especially when all the other laptops are loss-leaders and the premium models make up the difference.

aspensmonster 13y ago
My point was that, if you don't like the operating system and are going to use a different one, why pay a premium for the hardware when you can get substantially better performance for the same price from any of a number of providers? Because the Macbook is sexy and that's worth paying the premium? Don't get me wrong, the MBP does look nice. And plenty of people are clearly willing to throw lots of money at Apple for both the real and perceived benefits of the premium price. But if performance per dollar is my concern --and I'm forgoing the operating system, one of the "real" benefits IMHO-- numerous other competitors blow Apple out of the water.
- derefr 13y ago
  "Performance per dollar" is a strange qualifier for a laptop. If you want something small, portable, and powerful, maybe one of those Mac Pro cylinders might suit you when they come out. If you don't (much) care about portability at all, just build something in a mini-ITX case with a handle, and throw it in the boot of your car. The point of a laptop is good, light, sturdy industrial design, long battery life, and quality interaction features (solid keyboard, responsive touchpad, good webcam, flat SPL curve on speakers, etc.), while optimizing performance given that. That's what you're paying the Apple premium for, not the OS. Those qualities remain when you run Windows on the hardware.
  - zurn 13y ago
    > run Windows on the hardware Out of the frying pan, into the fire...

x0054 13y ago

You can get a $2,500 MBP, work on it for 3 years, and resell it for $700 or so after. So, that's $1,800 for 3 years, or about $12/week. So the price is reasonable if its something you use to make money or use all the time. Plus, with MBP you get OSX out of the box, plus it runs Linux and Windows, or all 3. Even if OSX is not your cup of tea, it's nice to have OSX available if you like to play with iOS development. I have a friend who keeps bugging me about how expensive MBPs are. I asked him to find a better laptop for the money. I care about the following, in order: quality of screen, quality of keyboard, tough case, light wight, long betters life, fast hd, fast CPU, good gfx card. So far no results :) I actually kind of wish there was more choice in the high end market. I have seen a few nice ultrabooks, but they cost as much as a Mac, if not more, so what's the point?

pessimizer 13y ago
The price of everything is reasonable if instead of comparing it against alternatives, you compare it against not buying anything. For example, $1000 shoes that last 1 year are reasonable when compared to going without shoes - only $3 a day, and you'll save money that you would have to pay to repair damage to your bare feet. Could you find a better pair of shoes for less than $1000? Where's the gold leaf, and why do they lace up the front rather than snap up the sides? I think not.
x0054 13y ago
My argument is that you can not find a laptop with a nicer screen and keyboard, with good battery life, durable case, light frame, and amazingly fast HD for less money then an rMBP would cost you. And given that's its only $12/week, why not choose the best tool for the job, especially if your job is working on your laptop. Of course, same arguments can be applied to almost anything, but this thread was about premium laptops. You can't have a premium laptop that's also very cheep.
- throw_1245 13y ago
  How about a Lenovo x230? Adding core i7 and 16GB RAM takes the price to USD 1300. Still weights around 3 lbs. http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/x-series/x230/ http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/x-series/x230/