Is it worth buying a Macbook Pro?

[KeithP]

I use a MacBook Pro 15 (mid 2012) as my main machine and I have always been happy with the hardware except for maybe the loud fans and the frequency with which they kick on.

The bigger problems these days is not so much Apple hardware as it is their software. OS X will give you plenty of "wiggling" moments on a regular basis. Confusing/inconsistent UI choices, strange bugs, disappearing features, not to mention Apple's hallmark feature…changing things for the sake of change without making the product any better (Mail, I am looking at you).

It is their software that is currently tarnishing the Apple experience, not their hardware.

-KeithO

 

[purbeast0]

ive never had any bugs or weird moments in OSX. not sure what you mean by confusing/inconsistent ui choices too, or disappearing features. usually people's problem with OSX is they try to use it like windows then think it sucks because it is different.

although i will say, xcode is the biggest piece of crap ide i've ever used and it sucks you are forced (for the most part) to use it for ios development. i've gotten really used to it, but it still sucks and is unstable and crashes regularly and just has tons of stupid quirks and things just not working right randomly.

 

[Tweak155]

once i got a macbook pro, with the touchpad, it's just so easy to switch desktops, that i'm now as productive with it as i am a desktop, maybe even more so since my hands like never leave the keyboard area. i use 4-5 desktops depending what i'm doing, and it's like having 4-5 monitors but not having to turn my head. the only time i find it's not as productive for me is when i need to be looking at something to compare to something on another desktop, which isn't very often though.

before this though, i would have agreed 200% with you about not being as productive on a laptop as with a desktop, due to touchpad and lack of 2nd monitor. but the macbook pretty much solved both of those issues for me.

I have 3 monitors at work and a 40" 4K at home. Just what I'm used to I guess. I also feel like my hand can get tired using a touchpad. I'm just old

 

[geekyny]

Honestly, yes. I think it's worth it. I could be biased but the MacBook Pro 13" is one of the best tech purchases I've made in a long time. The retina display is worth the money itself and the difference between the Pro and the Air size-wise is honestly negligible. The battery life is excellent, it doesn't run too hot, it's comfortable to use, etc. I could really go on and on. It really comes down to preference, though. There are some nice Windows machines but I personally have always been much more comfortable with OSX and feel that all of the Windows machines I've owned in the past have bogged down over time far more than my Mac products have. All of my Apple stuff feels so much more "built to last" than anything else I've owned.

Another plus is that Apple's customer service is outstanding. It's a big selling point for their brand. So if anything ever goes wrong or you have any issue, they'll offer you the assistance you need and replace something if need be.

 

[HeXen]

I use a MacBook Pro 15 (mid 2012) as my main machine and I have always been happy with the hardware except for maybe the loud fans and the frequency with which they kick on.

The bigger problems these days is not so much Apple hardware as it is their software. OS X will give you plenty of "wiggling" moments on a regular basis. Confusing/inconsistent UI choices, strange bugs, disappearing features, not to mention Apple's hallmark feature…changing things for the sake of change without making the product any better (Mail, I am looking at you).

It is their software that is currently tarnishing the Apple experience, not their hardware.

-KeithO

I have the late 2013 model. I have never once, ever been able to hear the fans but maybe they changed some things since the 2012 model.
The rest of what you said, I dunno. I had Mavericks, Yosemite and now El Capitan. Aside from things being cleaner, I didn't notice anything on the negative. I do like the notification hideaway bar compared to the stupid notification screen, it seemed like a waste of resources.

Overall, I'd still rather have Windows 10 except with the same trackpad gestures and a few other things from OSX. But W10 just doesn't really seem to run right on this particular hardware, it ran hot and slow to sleep/resume. The mouse didn't feel right and I really missed being able to switch full screen apps so fluidly as well as Safari's smooth zooming...every browser should have this.

 

[nerp]

I went Mac for some years. Back to Windows and ThinkPads and couldn't be happier. Grew to hate OSX. Can't stand the keyboards.

 

[Commodus]

I went Mac for some years. Back to Windows and ThinkPads and couldn't be happier. Grew to hate OSX. Can't stand the keyboards.

Funny thing is, I don't think I've seen many people switch back... not for those reasons, anyway.

Frankly, I'm surprised at the crap that passes for keyboards on many Windows laptops. Mushy keys, no gaps (i.e. it's easy to hit the wrong key by accident), and that odd insistence on shoving number pads into some 15-inch laptop designs. There are good Windows laptop keyboards, of course, it's just that Apple's keyboards from the late 2008 MacBooks onward are the gold standard in my books.

As for OS X? That's more subjective, but I would honestly have the OP give it a real try first. Most people I know who've switched end up preferring OS X, whether for specific UI elements, software they want to run or just because it's a breath of fresh air. I'm fine with Windows, but I prefer OS X's window management, tight integration with iOS gear, general unintrusiveness (Windows loves to pester you) and, interestingly enough, apps. Tweetbot is miles above the modern Windows Twitter clients I've used.

 

[slackerinabox]

I went Mac for some years. Back to Windows and ThinkPads and couldn't be happier. Grew to hate OSX. Can't stand the keyboards.

What do you hate about osx? I loved windows 7 but windows 10 is a mess in my opinion, while osx has been consistent and just does it's job. Confused what you could hate about it after using it for years. Thinkpads back in the ibm days had amazing keyboards, miss them - but "can't stand the keyboards" on a macbook? Did you even own a mac? They're vastly better than 90% of windows laptop keyboards.

 

[manly]

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2016/06/back-to-the-mac-modernizing-apples-aging-computer-lineup/

The article is kind of ho-hum but the comments are interesting. I'm ready to buy a new MBP, but only if Apple actually tries with the next update. I'm weakly considering a new XPS 15 running Ubuntu, but they are somewhat pricey like MBPs.

 

[JasonCoder]

I went Mac for some years. Back to Windows and ThinkPads and couldn't be happier. Grew to hate OSX. Can't stand the keyboards.

Funny but this is a real thing. I prefer the mac keyboard after years of use but I do remember at first that I couldn't stand the missing Ctrl-whatever. I got so used to the thumb for everything that I then hated to go back to my Windows systems.

I've now reached a zen state that when I switch systems it's like I mentally load up a new muscle memory program into frontal lobes. Dat command W, yo.

 

[HeXen]

What do you hate about osx? I loved windows 7 but windows 10 is a mess in my opinion, while osx has been consistent and just does it's job. Confused what you could hate about it after using it for years. Thinkpads back in the ibm days had amazing keyboards, miss them - but "can't stand the keyboards" on a macbook? Did you even own a mac? They're vastly better than 90% of windows laptop keyboards.

What's messy about W10? You can tweak the hell out of it, change whatever you want. You can't do that on OSX. The only thing I truly like about it is the trackpad and function, I like sliding between full screen apps and love the smooth zoom feature that apparently only Safari on OSX has. OSX resumes from standby much faster but for the most part, that is about it for me personally.
Windows has a lot more and better free software to the point that some Mac versions cost money but Windows does not. Windows seems to manage disks a lot better, I've literally had drive problems under Mac but Windows will offer to fix it and does so quite well in cases where the Mac seemed to have been the culprit at screwing it up to begin with, especially if you unplug without ejecting despite it's not in use. Plus you have to eject everything, install an app?..eject. Not all OSX apps exit when you click X either but on windows, that kind of stuff is just clicking X and it's off, don't have to mount and unmount every little thing.
I think Windows has a better memory manager, better compatibility all around. Cortona is pretty awesome imo compared to Spotlight.

If Windows 10 didn't cause my mac to heat up like it does while idle, and have standby issues, I'd use it on this.

 

[Tyranicus]

I've now reached a zen state that when I switch systems it's like I mentally load up a new muscle memory program into frontal lobes. Dat command W, yo.

Yeah, that's how it works for me. I use Ctrl shortcuts on my work PC and Cmd shortcuts on my Macs and pretty much never get them confused.