MacBook Pro upgrade, Buy a new one or revert back in time to windows laptop ?

[Soulsurfer]

So may have posted in the wrong place and apologies if so !
Basically I have a MacBook Pro late 2011 which I bought new in 2012 sometime and it had a hard drive go the way of the pear so with a few bits under consumer law warranty I upgraded to a bigger 750GB SATA HDD and now it has gone in to get more RAM and is still a very fast and powerful laptop but I was looking at dropping down to a 13" new one and selling my 15" Pro on, but now am wondering whether to revert back to windows something like a Dell 15" XPS lappy will be same kind of spec but quite a bit cheaper although will be windows of course :-( but can get generally more electrical based software etc.. for windows rather than Mac OS X.

Opinions please ?

I can run windows from Parallels on Mac or run windows via Bootcamp but not sure if it's the way forward.

Thanks, Matt ;-)

 

[Andy78]

Is new macbook pro the one that comes with usb only so you have to buy adaptors for everything you want to connect to it ?

 

[Soulsurfer]

Is new macbook pro the one that comes with usb only so you have to buy adaptors for everything you want to connect to it ?

The very new one is yes Andy the one I'm looking at is 2015 one as doesn't have the functions touch sensor bar, as can't be arsed spending extra few hundred for it as don't need that ! Mrs bought a MacBook and it's thinner than the Air & only uses USB C port for everything which is very designer but also needs £50 + adapter for anything such as power for charging while plugging in a USB drive / mem stick etc..

The one I'm looking at has 2-3 USB 3 ports plus thunderbolt, SDXC card reader etc.. not too minimalist but would need an external DVD drive for burning music discs etc.. but is SSD Flash drive and very fast boot up

 

[Andy78]

Ah I see. Well I'm biased as I have never owned an apple device apart from an ipod due to the fact that I don't agree with paying usually 100% more for them than similarly specced products.

If you are looking for a windows based alternative, then the HP elitebooks seem very well equipped for the price. I have been looking at the 14" 840 lately as a choice for a work laptop to take on site. Still not sure though.

 

[Soulsurfer]

Ah I see. Well I'm biased as I have never owned an apple device apart from an ipod due to the fact that I don't agree with paying usually 100% more for them than similarly specced products.

If you are looking for a windows based alternative, then the HP elitebooks seem very well equipped for the price. I have been looking at the 14" 840 lately as a choice for a work laptop to take on site. Still not sure though.

Ok mate, cheers, just been up to sort out a new tv too. The only MacBook Pro they have is this latest 2016 one with couple of USB C ports & the windows fan there did agree the better laptops windows based were a few quid less ! Generally around 200-400 less but he said fastest ones were way below the speeds & spec of the MBP which is a bit of a bugger. The MBP boots from powered off in under 7 seconds which is crazy quick. Although pricey but then again VAT doesn't come into it over here either

 

[Andy78]

Will performance be a major issue for a work laptop ? Booting speeds can be helped by choosing a SSD option for storage.

 

[hightower]

Not sure how much your iMac is expected to cost but I bought a gaming PC about 4 years ago that is still as rapid as the day I bought it. Think it was about £900 new, but operates as new 4 years on. Boot up times are around 8 seconds, that's pushing the power button to having a desktop. However, I tend to let it hibernate rather than shut down so power button to desktop is about 2 seconds.

I've been in IT now for 13 years, and have come across many different brands and products, and 13 years later I still say Apple products (on the whole) are nothing more than overpriced designer crud. I have an iPad only because it's provided by work (and I do nothing more than read books on it), and an iPhone 5s because when I renewed this year it was actually the best value phone I could find. But an iMac? Just send me the money you'd spend on one, I'll send you an equivalent Windows based laptop, and pocket the leftover as a resellers fee.

 

[Soulsurfer]

Not sure how much your iMac is expected to cost but I bought a gaming PC about 4 years ago that is still as rapid as the day I bought it. Think it was about £900 new, but operates as new 4 years on. Boot up times are around 8 seconds, that's pushing the power button to having a desktop. However, I tend to let it hibernate rather than shut down so power button to desktop is about 2 seconds.

I've been in IT now for 13 years, and have come across many different brands and products, and 13 years later I still say Apple products (on the whole) are nothing more than overpriced designer crud. I have an iPad only because it's provided by work (and I do nothing more than read books on it), and an iPhone 5s because when I renewed this year it was actually the best value phone I could find. But an iMac? Just send me the money you'd spend on one, I'll send you an equivalent Windows based laptop, and pocket the leftover as a resellers fee.

Ha ha yep you're not alone but as it all works well together is generally another reason for whether to stick with it or not,
I have a lot of files in iCloud right down to kids baby photos and scans etc.. and all my pics are in photo app built in, whereas it might turn out to be a major headache in shifting back to windows and trying to get it all to operate without losing lots of irreplaceable files etc.. ? The lad was not an apple fan at all but said nothing windows would come close ? I get that a high spec Alienware might do but that's gotta be like £2,500 upwards and I don't want gaming, just speed and ease of use, Ram, SSD, and as big SSD storage as I can ! It's for personal as well as work stuff. The MBP works out £1290 or so 256GB SSD & 8 Gig of ram DDR3

 

[Robert Turnbull]

I use a MacBook air and use parallels to run windows 10, so i can use easy cert. (the only thing i run in windows)
i have had mine 2 1/2 years it lives in my tool bag during the day as mostly do Testing.
Never missed a beat, only wish i had spec 8gb ram not 4gb.

Used to be in IT before been a sparky, i find OSX never has any issues.
this laptop was £900 2 1/2 years ago and would pro fetch £550 today, so residual price to be considered also.

 

[Soulsurfer]

Just held a pro 13" new one just in case ! Only one they have is new touchbar one which I didn't need but.... just got my MB Pro 15" back today after free logic board replacement but also only on 4GB of DDR3 ram could do with 8 or 16. Just downloaded OS X Sierra tonight but thinking I'll sell this one to go towards new one ! Also got really annoying issue you may know what to do ? Loads of holiday pics all on phone and present but photos app isn't seeing them to import ! Really annoying...

 

[Robert Turnbull]

i don't use photo app on laptop as i only have a small hard drive and it would fill it up. but i do know it can take a while to sort its self out, and it may run a big sluggish while this happens. (why most reviewers of the new Pro say its slow after only using it for a day!)

would really like an upgrade but the MacBook would feel like a down grade due to its spec compared to the air and the pro is £2k for one with 16gb ram (not making the under spec mistake again).

Going to see how work pans out in the new year, have a few big job tenders in and if we get one i might have to treat myself

 

[Robert Turnbull]

have a google for you issue though as there are plenty of helpful people out there

 

[Soulsurfer]

I've had a look but thought as iCloud optimises the pics on phone to save space you then have to download as you look at them on phone. But still don't appear in laptop. 8Gb 256Gb SSD Pro is around 1,500 over here or just over but very fast running.

 

[Robert Turnbull]

How to Fix iPhone Photos Not Showing Up on Mac - https://www.imobie.com/support/how-to-fix-photos-not-showing-up-in-iphoto.htm try that, haven't read it all but could help

where can you get one for £1500 is that with touch bar?

 

[Soulsurfer]

Y

How to Fix iPhone Photos Not Showing Up on Mac - https://www.imobie.com/support/how-to-fix-photos-not-showing-up-in-iphoto.htm try that, haven't read it all but could help

where can you get one for £1500 is that with touch bar?

Yes Touch bar top spec one Jersey, Channel Islands. Free of VAT.

 

[Taylortwocities]

If you are thinking of buying new, there was an article in the FT that said that Apple has raised prices by as much as £500 on its products sold in the UK, making it now cheaper to buy a return ticket to North America to purchase certain Apple computers than get them on the British high street!!

 

[Soulsurfer]

If you are thinking of buying new, there was an article in the FT that said that Apple has raised prices by as much as £500 on its products sold in the UK, making it now cheaper to buy a return ticket to North America to purchase certain Apple computers than get them on the British high street!!

That's a bit naughty, wouldn't be surprised but then recent flights this summer to America cost us £4,000 so I won't be doing that.​