Apple Macbook Pro - is it worth the $$$

[amsafko]

I am in need of something that can do anything from checking email to typing up reports to recording my children's music lessons to skyping. Is this a good device for such things AND is it worth the extra money spent above a "regular" laptop. Thanks for any advice you might have.

 

[DebMcDonald]

OMG Yes, Yes, Yes!. My husband bought me one a couple of years ago when I was home for a living and I just fell in love with it from the first moment. Years before that I made fun of my husband for buying one ("why would anyone want a MAC when a PC is what everyone else has" )

I did venture out further with it and built a website, burned DVD's with music that was from my itunes account. I love that with a MAC everything just works together and is meant to work together. We are now a three MAC family and a one PC - for our teenager daughter, so breaks everything anyway so the PC for her was just the cheapest way to go.

 

[jgreco]

YES! they are basically immune to viruses which is important for all of the coupon sites and sample pages! Its so easy to find files and old emails.

My hubby has one. I wish I could switch. The software I use for work is only compatible with Internet Explorer.

 

[toomanycars]

I am in need of something that can do anything from checking email to typing up reports to recording my children's music lessons to skyping. Is this a good device for such things AND is it worth the extra money spent above a "regular" laptop. Thanks for any advice you might have.

For lifestyle computing Macbook Pro really is the right answer. For what you mentioned for checking e-mail typing up reports and recording music the Mac will serve you well for many years. Also I don't know that I would call my Mac immune to a virus, but there very few viruses that can affect a Mac, in almost every case you have to give your password out to allow the virus access to the system.

As far as being happier with your mac I think this charts says a lot.

"Apple continues its dominance, leading the PC category by a wide margin for the seventh straight year. Customer satisfaction with Apple’s computer products, including the iPad, rose 2% to an ACSI of 86—the highest score ever for Apple. The company now has a 9-point lead over its nearest competitor. No other company in the ACSI has as formidable a lead within its own industry. Innovation and product diversification, along with strong customer service, have long been at the center of Apple’s success."

 

[princessmom29]

no, they are nto worth more than twice the price of a PC if you don't need them for seriuos computing, just word processing, email, skype, ect. You could buy 3 entry level PC's (which is all you will need) for the price of one Mac. You are paying for a anme.

 

[gparr]

I bought my MB Pro in 2008 when I began my Masters Degree. Since I knew I was going to be getting into Instructional Technology and doing some sound/video recording and editing, I chose the Pro.

For what you are looking at doing, I feel you are buying too much computer for what you would like to do. Look at the Macbook or Air. Both will perform exceedingly well and do not cost as wnuch as the Pro.

Good Luck!

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

no, they are nto worth more than twice the price of a PC if you don't need them for seriuos computing, just word processing, email, skype, ect. You could buy 3 entry level PC's (which is all you will need) for the price of one Mac.

I completely agree - for the things you want to do, you would be buying far too much computer. You could save a ton of money by purchasing a basic netbook.

YES! they are basically immune to viruses

I think this problem is far overstated. I got my first PC in 1983 (IBM, one floppy disk drive) and have had many computers since. Not once have I had a computer virus. You just need to always use a good virus protection program and keep it updated.

 

[RitaE]

eh - my husband had one and he passed it off to our son. It's a fine computer but really the only thing it does better that my $800 Dell is some graphic stuff and photo and video editing in Photoshop.

DH has been using a MacAir for home use and travel most of the time now. He seems to like it better than the Mac Pro.

 

[toomanycars]

no, they are nto worth more than twice the price of a PC if you don't need them for seriuos computing, just word processing, email, skype, ect. You could buy 3 entry level PC's (which is all you will need) for the price of one Mac. You are paying for a anme.

You certainly don’t need to splurge on a system in the Mac’s price range to be a happy computer user. But with computers, as with most things in life, you generally get what you pay for.

Windows based laptops in the $400 to $900 price range are fine for almost all day in and day out tasks.

We have in our home Mac's and PC's. After years of using both, we have discovered that we use the Mac's for Photos, Music, Email mostly lifestyle tasks.

The PC's we use for Excel and Word and Outlook. These task are for our jobs with are based in the PC world.

The choice of which laptop you it is a personal choice.

The price of a Mac is higher than a PC. But it is not 2 Times the amount. In the Windows world laptops can be found for less than $400. Apple does not make base model laptops. So if the comparison is the least expensive Laptop, PC's will win hands down.

 

[RitaE]

yeah exactly. I don't remember exactly how much we paid for the Mac Pro but it was over $2k if I remember.

If I went to a computer place and gave them a $2000+ to build me a higher end PC, I'd probably end up with something that is also very, very nice.

My Dell laptop is definitely not as "high quality" The trim on the side is starting to warp and I had to upgrade the RAM in it myself and it has some quirks. But for what I use it for $2000 would have been a huge overkill.

And as far as longevity I have a couple of sub $500 PC laptops here that are over 5 years old. They're holding up fine.

 

[Mom of 3 Princesses]

I am in need of something that can do anything from checking email to typing up reports to recording my children's music lessons to skyping. Is this a good device for such things AND is it worth the extra money spent above a "regular" laptop. Thanks for any advice you might have.

I WILL NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER NEVER EVER EVER.. go back to anything else. EVER! EVER ! EVER!

You know that little message that you get from a PC that says there has been an error? In all the years I have been using a MAC I have NEVER seen one.. EVER.


You know that viruses? Yep, never see those either. You know that "crash?" Nope, never had that happen either.

I LOVE my Macs. My daughters have Macs for school as well. Get them insured and make them be careful with them, but they have so many free and good features, it just doesn't make any sense to do anything else.

Everytime something goes down here at work, I remind my IT guys that it is because we need to switch to Macs.

People who like Macs... LOVE MACS. They also usually refuse to use anything else. So there is going to be a strong preference associated with Mac vs.. the other guy.

 

[Kathi OD]

Personally, I don't think they're worth the money. In our home we have a Windows-based PC, a MacBook, and a MacBookPro. For every day type stuff, the Pro is just overkill. Either of the other two computers handles those things just fine.

The MacBookPro is a great choice if your career requires heavy graphics, as the price now justifies the means.

 

[MickeyHereWeCome!]

Our family has become a Mac family! I have owned many pc's over the years. Some were higher end, and some much more inexpensive. I eventually had issues with all of them. Once I got my Mac, I never had any trouble!

For what you want it for, though, I don't think you need to pay for the Macbook Pro. You can get a regular Macbook for much less. That's what we have, and it works for all of our basic needs. My son creates videos, my daughter lives on Skype, I'm on e-mail all the time. I can burn dvd's I really haven't found anything I can't do with my basic macbook. I did get iwork, which has some really neat tools.

You won't regret it!

 

[momrek06]

We were always DELL (pc) people, ALWAYS. Then in 2008 my DS (upon college grad) bought himself a MAC pro … (his Dell laptop was done after 4 years of college) and he was AMAZED. While DH & I stood by our Dell's. Then DS #2 bought himself a Mac Pro in 2009 after seeing how AMAZING it was for DS #1!

Then June 2010, DH says to me, let's go check out those Ipads. Well we bought one … omg, AMAZING!

So now fast forward to January, both our Dell's were nearing 10 years old. We stopped by Apple one Sat night around 6pm and stayed until closing (8pm) as we looked at everything. We left with the iMac … AMAZING!

I guess the saying goes … "Once you go MAC, you never go BACK" …

Good luck, OP, I think you are going to love the Mac Pro!

 

[auralia]

i was a pc advicate thought macs were stupid waste of money then hubby was to deploy to the desert and i did serious research on the computer to get him... he ended up with a regular mac book... the metal caseing on the pro inhibits the wifi signal also we just didnt need the extra power for the every day tasks we were doing of a mac book pro dh never did go on the deployment but my god r we in love with macs now! so much more user friendly than windows

 

[jsmith]

okay lets start with this statement :

YES! they are basically immune to viruses which is important for all of the coupon sites and sample pages! Its so easy to find files and old emails.

this is a fallacy of the worst magnatude-most good computer security experts will tell you that the current MAC operating system has a vunerablity to securty threats 10 times that of windows-there are few VIRUSES written because the money in viruses is in taking down business-and most of them use windows. MACs have other security holes just like any computing system.
the Hardware is more expensive because all Apple hardware is proprietary-that makes getting repairs more expensive when you need them. We have 4 PCs and two MAC book pros in our family. My sons who are in math intensive graduate programs like the MACS for number crunching because the operating system is lighter weight and leaves more memory for processing. However both of them are absolute lemons-one had to have three graphics card replacements in the first year, both have had battery issues and one has had repeated memory issues. the best computer we have stability wise for hard and soft ware is a HP tower purchased in 2001-still going strong and never a virus or hard ware issue. Laptops are inherently fragile but we do have a Toshiba that was purchased in 03 and went to iraq three times that still works great.
bottom line-unless you need the processing power-you can buy three pc laptops that will do all the things you need to do for the price of a MAC book-if you want the MAC "imperviousness" to viruses with the lower cost of PC hardware-get one loaded with Ubuntu or Fedora-both are Linux operating systems and they really are more secure.

 

[AmberHeartsDisney]

I started off with a ipod....then a macbook.... then ipad then iphone....

I love apple

 

[princessmom29]

You certainly don’t need to splurge on a system in the Mac’s price range to be a happy computer user. But with computers, as with most things in life, you generally get what you pay for.

Windows based laptops in the $400 to $900 price range are fine for almost all day in and day out tasks.

We have in our home Mac's and PC's. After years of using both, we have discovered that we use the Mac's for Photos, Music, Email mostly lifestyle tasks.

The PC's we use for Excel and Word and Outlook. These task are for our jobs with are based in the PC world.

The choice of which laptop you it is a personal choice.

The price of a Mac is higher than a PC. But it is not 2 Times the amount. In the Windows world laptops can be found for less than $400. Apple does not make base model laptops. So if the comparison is the least expensive Laptop, PC's will win hands down.

If you can get a mac notebook for under $1000, I would ove to know where. I paid $400 for my curret toshiba notebook that I LOVE, so yes I could have more than purchased 2 for the price of the cheapest mac out there, and my toshiba is not even the entry level model. It is a pretty nice dual core which I would say is comparable with the baseline macbook, which my MIL has.

 

[wdw_girl_18]

If you can get a mac notebook for under $1000, I would love to know where. I paid $400 for my curret toshiba notebook that I LOVE, so yes I could have more than purchased 2 for the price of the cheapest mac out there, and my toshiba is not even the entry level model. It is a pretty nice dual core which I would say is comparable with the baseline macbook, which my MIL has.

I bought my macbook pro last May for $1100 and the regular macbook (the white one) was $1000 with a student discount.

Not technically under $1,000, but it did come with a free ipod touch

There was a white macbook for sale at goodwill for $299.99 and it worked!

 

[RitaE]

base price on the 13" with the slower processor and before discounts is $1200.
It's 4GB RAM and a fairly small hard drive. If you want a larger screen or you start adding in some of the upgrades and the price climbs QUICK.

I didn't look to see if there were any refurbs out there right now.