Should I get a Mac or PC laptop??

Asked this question on comicvine, but I figure there could be more tech savvy people here, so I'll toss it out here too.

My laptop just broke after having it three years. This is the second PC laptop that has broken on me, so I'm thinking of getting a Macbook, but those are crazy expensive.

So, what should I do? Get another Windows laptop, or shell out extra for a Macbook??

I purchased a higher level hp laptop back in 2006 when I graduated high school it was a terrible experience. The quality of the build was disappointing and it slowed down and within a year the battery would barely hold a charge for an hour. In late 2008 I saved up and purchased a macbook pro that ran like a dream until earlier this year when it started to slow down and struggled to run some apps. I upgraded the ram to 8 gb and it now runs like it is brand new again. My personal experience would say its worth the money to go macbook. That being said I would never buy an imac to replace my desktop.

I'd say Macbooks are pretty much always worth it, but if you really wanna save some money, I would suggest looking at a laptop preferably from Lenovo. ASUS and HP are good alternatives too.

It depends on what you want to do. If ou want a gaming laptop, a Windows laptop makes the most sense. if you want to do strictly word processing, browsing the Internet, etc., you could even go with a chromebook. I recently went with a MacBook Pro 15 inch because the display is awesome, it's powerful enough to do some gaming, I can run VMware, and it had an unbeatable trackpad and battery life. I also recently purchased A 13 inch MacBook air for my mom. I got it refurbished for $850. It's the recent April release and refurbished Macs from Apple are just as good as new ones. Then again, I could have purchased something much more powerful for her at the same cost if I didn't care about weight and the trackpad.

So your question doesn't really have an easy answer.

I'd always pick a PC based computer or laptop over anything mac, mainly because of software options and cost of a PC are better than anything apple..... It all is depends on what you plan to do with it do you only use/need final cut pro, garageband or apple only stuff? surfing the net or writing a paper in a coffee shop/whiskey bar then dumping money on a mac would be ok, but that can be done on any platform... anything more just make sure the specs are i5 or higher with more ram..... AMD based chip laptops/PCs seem to be hot garbage from my experience ADM chips do not perform well at all avoid that, the price cut is not worth it......

When it comes to build quality and durability I have yet to see a company top Apple but that comes at a pretty steep cost in terms of the dollars to specs ratio. If you want a laptop that will last 5-7 years which you're not planning on doing a heavy amount of gaming on then a Macbook with decent amount of RAM would be my choice.

The only thing Mac does better than PC these days is music production. And that's debatable. Mac hardware also tends to be of a bit higher quality, but it's also exorbitantly priced and upgrading can be a nightmare. I don't know if it's still true, but I know they at least used to hot-glue components right to the mainboard. I am firmly of the opinion that Macs are no longer worth the extra cost (usually about double the price of a comparable PC.)

I don't know, I have always thought about getting a macbook air but the cost of all of Apple's laptops is just too ridiculous. I went with an ASUS about a bit over a year ago and I am insanely impressed by the build quality and holy damn the track pad actually works really well! I am not sure what you are planning on using your laptop for but if it isn't anything too crazy I would say maybe just stick to windows so you aren't spending gaming PC prices on a laptop that can't do too much. Chromebooks seem pretty cool and if you aren't really doing much but web browsing maybe just an iPad air or something. Also the Surface 3 is pretty cool and only like $799. Seems pretty smooth from the times I have messed with it.

If you're looking to play games, I'd just shell out the extra brad bucks and build a good gaming pc.

I got one earlier this year and it has changed how I play games. Ultra settings out the butt!

@bigmess: The dude is asking about laptops man..

Mac or pc depends on your needs and budget for the most part. If you have the extra $$ kicking around and are curious about Macs then go the MacBook route, they are pretty slick computers.

This is definitely not true. My Macbook has much better battery life, and a much better trackpad and keyboard than any other Windows Laptop. I've used Windows laptops for years, and purchased one of the best ones at the time, right before I traded it in for a Macbook due to the awful trackpad and battery life.

Regarding upgrades, you don't upgrade anything on a laptop except for maybe memory.

I've yet to have a PC laptop that wasn't garbage. So far Dell, HP and Sony have all let me down. I prefer a desktop PC but when it comes to laptops, Macs are definitely worth the extra money. I'm running a MacBook Pro from 2009. I've owned 3 PC laptops in that time. I'm done with them. (I like to have both OSs for web dev testing purposes)

Did I forget to mention that Mac users are also obnoxiously smug and always correct?

;-D

Windows and OSX are good for different things. It's been my experience that Windows is an operating system best suited for desktop computers which use a traditional mouse and keyboard. Windows is also obviously the best choice for gaming, which, again, makes it a desktop OS in my opinion.

OSX, on the other hand, is great for laptops. The multitouch gestures are fairly intuitive and feel much more natural on a laptop than a desktop in my opinion. Also, on my laptop, I just want to run a handful of applications which are useful for work (and streaming videos, of course), so the task bar at the bottom of the screen and lack of desktop clutter are really nice. Also, I'm not installing a ton of programs to my laptop, so the desktop area remains clean. Having my iPhone and Macbook Pro work together is an amazing user experience I'm going to miss when I switch to an Android because I'm tired of iPhones.

TL;DR: Windows is good for desktops/gaming PCs; OSX is better for laptops used for work and multimedia.

Just curious, how did you manage to break your laptops? I have a Macbook Air from 2012, and I guess it's pretty good, if you don't mind Apple. I'm not a huge fan myself, but I feel like it's a pretty quality laptop and have had no issues with it so far… but then again, all I use it for is some basic web browsing/watching videos and such, so maybe I'm not the best person to ask. If it were me, I'd buy a reasonable $400-600 laptop from ASUS or something.

If you were asking me: they just got insanely slow, are loaded with bloatware from the mfg, the Sony had the crappiest speakers I've ever heard in a laptop, the HP had keys that would just fall out with regular typing, and the Dell just weighs a ton, sounds like a jet and is very slow coming to and from a sleep state (it has lasted the longest of my PC laptops though, I'll give them that). I use the MacBook more and work it harder and I've had to replace a power cable and a battery after 5 years, but no major issues, still runs great, is fast, the trackpad is lightyears better than any PC trackpad I've used and I plan on using it for at least another year or two. It's lighter and has a better battery than any of the PCs I have used. In my experience PC laptops are heavier, hotter, louder, get worse battery life, aren't nearly as well made, have much worse keyboards and trackpads. I kept trying them because I actually prefer windows but I'm done with it. If I'm buying a laptop, it'll be a mac from here on in.

I also agree with the posters saying that OSX is better suited for laptops, I love windows, but all of the trackpad gestures are very well thought out and intuitive. Using a PC laptop makes me feel like my hands are tied. I'm by no means an apple fanboy, I use an android phone and actually just this week sold my iMac so I can build a new gaming PC. :)

I think we all know the true answer to this.

Linux.

@rejizzle: nothing wrong with that, but my last Linux (yellow dog) machine was a ps3 if that tells you anything.

I'd recommend either a MacBook or a surface pro. My previous experience with Apple laptops has been extremely positive, and the surface pro 2 that I use when off site at work has been amazing.

What are you using it for? Programming? Playing games? Just surfing the web? We need details here!

@jrm: I guess I've just always had bad experiences with any PC laptops.

Not sure what your budget is, and what you want to do exactly, but Macbooks are pretty much always solid choices. If you want to write, browse the web, and do some video and/or photo editing, it's probably the best choice. Gaming is... less than ideal unless you just want to play indies and older games, even on the higher end Macbooks.

On the bright side, though, you can also easily Dualboot Windows (or Linux, because hey someday it'll be worth it) to access any programs that won't run on OSX.

Overall I'm gonna say Mac, but I'm probably biased since I've had really shitty luck with Windows laptops in the past. Only problem I had with a Macbook was the charger broke.

One thing to consider is that we are mid-cycle and there will most likely be a good Macbook refresh soon. I'm not sure if it will affect every model but the Air's are getting very long in the tooth. We've been waiting for a higher resolution screen for awhile now. I'd be surprised if we didn't see one early next year.

Of my last 3 PC laptops, the first (Dell) just stopped turning on after 3 years, the next (Compaq) overheated (known problem with chipset) after 2 years and burned out first the WiFi and eventually everything, and the latest (Sony) is starting to fall apart after 3 years (screen wobbles and has to be tilted just-so to work).

Decided I'd had enough of cheap and cheerful laptops and bought a MacBook Pro - only had it 6 months so far, but loving it so far.

And the whole "Macs are more expensive" thing is a myth. Yes, they start more expensive but that's 'cos they just don't do the cheap and cheerful end of the market. My MacBook was cheaper than an equivalently specced PC laptop - the closest Dell I could find (aluminium body, similar CPU, same ram, same size but slower SSD, and much worse non-retina display) was £400 more expensive.

I'd say investigate Lenovo laptops, you can really good specs/build quality and they're priced sensibly.

I have a Lenovo laptop that I use exclusively for work. I use it everyday for most of the day, and it's been running fine for 2 years now. Also, I bought it for 500 bucks. Macbooks are nice, but I rarely think their price is worth it.

You get what you pay for; a highend PC laptop will perform the same or better than a macbook.

You should probably ask an unbiased source like @rorie as he often details this battle quite well!

If you spend the same amount on a Windows laptop as you would on a Macbook, you'll get a comparable experience as far as quality and such goes. It's much of a muchness really.

Apple trackpads >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Windows Laptops

Performance wise, MacBooks are terrible value for money, I say this as an owner of a MacBook Air. I have two laptops, one of them is a gaming one with better specs than a MacBook Pro that was literally double the price. Yeah.

I would advice against laptops, time obliterates the battery life over years. While I didn't get a laptop for gaming, I made the stupid mistake to play games on it excessively. My battery now charges only to 15%-ish, does not last 20 minutes but worst of all the keyboard is broken to hell and back. I think that playing videogames in combination with an overheating motherboard has something to do with it. Get a system with easy replaceable parts if some parts start to wear down. Build your own system or get a pre-built PC tower.

Depends on your requirements. If I was in the laptop I'd end up spending Macbook money on a Windows Laptop anyway (GS60 Ghost or something like that), cheap laptops are precisely that.

When (and if) that happens you simply buy a new battery as they aren't expensive. What you described is not normal either, by the way, and is usually covered by warranty even if expired.

Apple do this if the battery craps out far before it should do, they defined it to me as within 2-3 years. I got a free replacement from them out of warranty when my battery suddenly only started to last 2 hours.

I always find it weird people bring up building a desktop PC instead, the person asked for a laptop so do you not think maybe, just maybe, they need a machine they can move around? We all know desktops are better value for money.

@privodotmenit: The topic title was vague with 'PC laptop', so I assumed he missed a dash in it or something. If he really wants a laptop, he should go for a Windows-based one since it's probably more useful u the long run.

Well do you want to do multi media stuff like video editing or photo editing then get a mac if you want to accomplishing anything in the real world get a pc.

@the_stegman: Also highly recommend checking out http://thewirecutter.com/leaderboard/laptops/ before making a purchase. They do a great job of breaking down various types of laptops.