My postal code spans two counties, which have a sale tax difference of 1%. I went online, chose a product and went to checkout and Apple decided that even though my home address, my alternate shipping address, my billing address, and the nearest Apple retail store I chose to ship the product to in order to pick up at my convenience was all in the less of the two tax regions, they were in fact going to assume I was 100% lying and thus charged me the higher sales tax.
Before finalizing the checkout I opened a chat to talk to Stacie. I explained why I was initiating the chat and in the end she said she couldn't help me, suggested I call telesales--I placed Stacie on hold and called telesales--but in the end Apple was too poor to afford a checkout system to perform such a minimal option of asking the buyer what county they reside in--even though that can be determined by all information already given.
The difference amounted to less than $20, but it was the principal of the matter. Apple was too cheap/poor to afford a robust checkout system that I have taken for granted in so many other online sellers. Amazing. So I cancelled the order and when I informed Stacie I would she just didn't care. End chat session.
OK Apple, let me go build or buy a computer and let someone else get the $2K in sales.
I'm a PC guy all the way, and I've got a >$2000 MBPr... I used to cry that Macs were overpriced, but I retract such complaints. This thing is one hell of a piece of awesomeness. It helped that I got a discount of over $200 on a sale price from Best Buy thanks to a 10% discount (movers coupon - those things are amazing).
Can you get better hardware for a lower price? Sure, all day every day. But that's an incomplete picture. Hardware specs alone can be a great thing if you are focused on gaming and have other accessories to capitalize.
But as a strict laptop sans accessories, I haven't come across a laptop that beats a Macbook Pro. No trackpad has ever come close, and with the right software (Trackpad++), it's easily the best touchpad I've ever used within Windows. (I don't know WTH Apple is doing not making an actually useful trackpad driver for Windows/Bootcamp... they aren't losing sales and almost every Macbook owner will surely dual-boot versus solely running Windows if they choose to install Windows in the first place. No loss for Apple to do the right thing... but I digress).
And I'm a mechanical keyboard fanboy through and through (ever since converting a couple years back - thank you, Internet, for showing me the right ways), but I've never experienced a scissor-switch laptop keyboard as good as the one on my MBPr (late 2014 version).
It's less wonderful on Windows 10 in general, basically due to the lack of "Optimus" style drivers (it runs the onboard Nvidia GPU 100% in Windows, never switches to the Intel IGP like it does in OS X). But it's still terrific in the end, and OS X has its merits, especially for anyone in the "creative" scene; if you are into art, like I enjoy photography, nothing beats Apple's treatment of color profiling for monitors and printers. Adobe + Apple = :wub:
If you are only after gaming, obviously there are a ton of alternatives that completely demolish Apple computers. But for those Apple computers, if you are in their real market, there has yet to be anything better when viewed as a complete product.
As a gamer, if I wanted a gaming laptop, no way would I have chosen an Apple laptop. Never. But that's not what I was looking for in a laptop. I pay a pretty penny to maintain a gaming-quality desktop, I don't care about a gaming-quality laptop.
Are there a lot of fanboys that follow the Apple bandwagon simply because it's the cool thing to do? Absolutely. But they have earned a certain respect for build quality that has earned that throne, and many "artsy" folk have chased that bandwagon simply because they have had positive experiences with the hardware or they have acquaintances with said experience.
What you are looking for in a laptop should be the deciding factor, not brand. Chase the overall performance factor for what you want, not anything else.
I have no idea what you're talking about. I have a 2010 Macbook Pro that I got for free (haven't had time to sell it yet) because the owner was going to discard it and while the build quality is good, there isn't really anything particularly special about this machine that would make me rather use it compared with a Thinkpad.
hahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaa..........here is a quarter - find a pay phone that takes quarters and call somebody who gives a .........My postal code spans two counties, which have a sale tax difference of 1%. I went online, chose a product and went to checkout and Apple decided that even though my home address, my alternate shipping address, my billing address, and the nearest Apple retail store I chose to ship the product to in order to pick up at my convenience was all in the less of the two tax regions, they were in fact going to assume I was 100% lying and thus charged me the higher sales tax.
Before finalizing the checkout I opened a chat to talk to Stacie. I explained why I was initiating the chat and in the end she said she couldn't help me, suggested I call telesales--I placed Stacie on hold and called telesales--but in the end Apple was too poor to afford a checkout system to perform such a minimal option of asking the buyer what county they reside in--even though that can be determined by all information already given.
The difference amounted to less than $20, but it was the principal of the matter. Apple was too cheap/poor to afford a robust checkout system that I have taken for granted in so many other online sellers. Amazing. So I cancelled the order and when I informed Stacie I would she just didn't care. End chat session.
OK Apple, let me go build or buy a computer and let someone else get the $2K in sales.
They stole a young man's dream. That's even worse.
i am blown away that one postal code can be in 2 counties.
that's odd.
unless it's rural which i bet it totally is.
20 bucks is 20 bucks though.
So don't fucking buy one. Shit.
The internet would be a more interesting place without pathetic nerds who whine on the internet about what brand of electronics a complete stranger uses.
I have no idea what you're talking about. I have a 2010 Macbook Pro that I got for free (haven't had time to sell it yet) because the owner was going to discard it and while the build quality is good, there isn't really anything particularly special about this machine that would make me rather use it compared with a Thinkpad.
I've used dozens of different make and model laptops over the years starting with the Compaq LTE 286 and I really prefer the Thinkpads. I can usually appreciate little features and differences between computers which is one reason why I feel unbiased enough to say that the Thinkpad is a more featureful (I'm coining this word!) and durable than the Macbook Pro. I also think it's so pathetic that the Macbook loves to scream its fans at moderate loads (yes the cooling system has been fully cleaned out). Macbooks are just way overpriced for what you're getting.
Buying (or almost buying) an Apple product and caring about money are incompatible.
In almost all cases there are similar or better products for far less money.
comparing modern laptops to a 2010 model.
:thumbsup:
the "much better product for far less" is also not really that true all things considered. maybe for the same exact hardware specs it will be cheaper non-apple, but that doesn't put any of their physical components into the equation. how much that is worth to someone is up to them. same with the OS it runs.
You honestly think that a newer macbook is a BETTER buy than a 2010 model? REALLY? Do you know how many features they've been removing from their machines since the 2010 model? I could probably come up with a list if I was so inclined. The performance difference between a 2010 model and the 2016 model isn't anything to write home about and the features they've been removing has been making the newer models a WORSE buy.
What was the last make/model computer you were using?
I said "almost". Clearly if you are working on an Apple specific product, you are probably better off with an Apple specific product.good luck doing ios development on a non-osx computer.
for my previous hackintosh, it was an hp probook 4540s i believe. paid $450 refurb from microcenter for it like 3 years ago i think.
got my macbook this past october when i took on a more serious ios development project and paid $1800 brand new from adorama for it.
the touchpad alone makes me like 3x more productive on the macbook than it did on the probook because i can swipe to different desktops with the flick of my fingers. even though osx could do that on the probook, the touchpad was ass and it didn't recognize it correctly. now with the macbook it's like i'm working with 4-5 monitors instead of 1. also the resolution alone is complete night and day too.
I said "almost". Clearly if you are working on an Apple specific product, you are probably better off with an Apple specific product.
But for the OP where he said he can get it from any other company, my post applies. If he cares that much about $20 he should strongly consider other brands.
REALLY? You're comparing a laptop with a 1366X768 screen and a lousy touch pad and HP build quality with a computer that costs well over $1000? Those are two completely different classes of computer. I bought a Lenovo Z585 back in 2012 with a 1366X768 monitor. I adapted to that monitor for a few years but due to an HDD crash and needing to recover data, I found myself using an older Thinkpad T400. The usability is so much better on the Thinkpad even though it is 4 years older because of the better touchpad, keyboard and screen. The touchpad and the screen were the things I really hated about that lower end machine. Touchpad being USB based instead of PS/2 based means than it would sometimes skip or crash.
he should have strongly considered buying used, how about that!
I've never seen ANY online sales system that allowed the buyer to select the county of residence.
It isn't that Apple products are bad purchases. They are in general pretty good products. But they are quite overpriced for what you get. As long as you are willing to accept that price part, Apple products are just fine. But too many Apple people don't even give high-end non-Apple products a chance. They compare the top of the line Apple to whatever cheapest thing they can find. That is a comparison that really only hurts you not us.everyone always says they can find equivalent non-apple laptops that are like 1/2 the price of the apple products, but i don't think i've ever once seen someone actually do it. some of them try, but then there will be things that are weaker on the non-apple one, like the battery life, or screen resolution, or touchpad, then claim that stuff doesn't matter.
i also always find it amusing how people who are anti-apple have some agenda to try and convince people who bought an apple product that it was a bad purchase.
It isn't that Apple products are bad purchases. They are in general pretty good products. But they are quite overpriced for what you get. As long as you are willing to accept that price part, Apple products are just fine. But too many Apple people don't even give high-end non-Apple products a chance. They compare the top of the line Apple to whatever cheapest thing they can find. That is a comparison that really only hurts you not us.
For example, there are maybe a half dozen or so 15" 4K laptops in 2014 for the $1200 to $1800 price range. Those would have 60% MORE pixels (3840x2160 resolution for 4K vs 2880x1800 for that specific MacBook) than the MacBook you bought, many have the same battery life (8-ish hours), and if you can't find one good touchpad in a half dozen high-end computers then maybe the problem is you and not the trackpad.
It isn't that the MacBook that you bought was bad. No, it is a good product. But for the features you mention specifically as important, there are computers far cheaper with the same or better.
Do I need to Google 4k laptops for you?and as mentioned, i always hear people make this claim but never see them back it up with an actual product.
and fwiw i'm not running this at max resolution because that makes the font too small for me personally, so having 4k vs what i currently have in the laptop means nothing to me. i forget the actual res i run at but it is the one that is right before the max res.