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Here at KitGuru, the vast majority of our content – be it news or reviews – is focused on PCs. We love the ability to pick and choose parts tailored to your own specific needs – be it raw performance, aesthetics or low noise levels. You may be surprised to hear, then, that at the beginning of the month I splashed the cash and bought a MacBook Pro.
Before you ask – I did not spend £1449 on the latest 2016 model which may or may not have dodgy battery life. In actual fact, I got a great deal on the 13-inch Early 2015 MacBook Pro, picking one up in mint condition from CeX for £665. Until very recently, this model was the latest in the MacBook Pro family, selling for £999 on Apple's website – and for the sake of the argument, I am going to use that price as the basis for this article.
By now, there is a good chance being a PC centric gamer you are probably frothing at the mouth, exclaiming how I was stupid to spend money on an over-priced laptop which only uses low-power parts (my MacBook Pro uses the i5-5275U chip, for example). You may also add that £999 would buy you a significantly higher-spec Windows laptop – the MSI GS40 Phantom nets you an i7-6700HQ and a discrete GTX 970M for the same money as this MacBook Pro.
You would be 100% correct to say that. However, I think such sentiment – which is often echoed online – misses the point. The MacBook Pro has never been about raw performance. Not to my mind, at least. What I mean by this, is that you don't buy a MacBook Pro because of its on-paper specs. At least not when it comes to the CPU , graphics or memory.
I fully agree that if you want a beefy, HyperThreaded mobile CPU, get an i7-6700HQ or i7-6820HK based Windows machine. A MacBook Pro's CPU is never going to keep up – and to demonstrate this, I ran Geekbench 4 on my MacBook Pro, which you can see above. Heading over to Geekbench's website shows that an i7-6700HQ scores roughly 5000 more points for the multi-core performance aspect of the test.
It is very clear to me that the MacBook Pro is not about just having the fastest CPU, or about having a discrete graphics card that can blitz through the latest AAA games at ultra settings.
For me, Apple are much more concerned about delivering a beautiful and refined user experience to consumers, rather than just trying to cram the chassis full of the the fastest hardware on the market.
One important factor in ensuring this experience is as good as it can be is the MacBook Pro's chassis. A great slab of aluminium, it is by far the best looking laptop on the market. It is also exceptionally sturdy and just generally feels great. It is clear that the Razer CEO is quite the Apple fan too (don't believe us? read THIS), as their Blade machines look very similar – albeit it in black.
Every time I rest my palms below the keyboard to type, for example, I am reminded of just how well-built this laptop really is. Combine this with the thickness (1.8cm) and weight (1.58KG) of the device, and the end result is an ultra-portable but ultra-durable laptop.
Another huge factor behind the appeal of the MacBook Pro is the display. While high-resolution (by this, I mean greater than 1920×1080) displays are increasingly common to high-end laptops, the MacBook Pro's display is still a cut above. The 2560×1600 panel is still stunningly sharp across the 13-inch display, but the colours are the true star of the show. Apple use an IPS panel-type which explains the excellent colours – while the deep and rich blacks, not quite at the same level as an OLED display, for example, make photos and movies a real joy to watch.
Then there's macOS. It is a bright and colourful OS, but is wonderfully simple to use. Critics say it is too ‘locked-down', but I disagree. So far, the only thing I haven't been able to change that I wish I could is the start-up sound. Even then, I can just hit the mute button before I shut down the machine and the problem is solved. New Mac Pro laptops no longer have this start up sound (more HERE).
Despite that, the fact of the matter is macOS is not meant to be the most customisable or technical operating system on the market – it is designed to just work, and boy does Apple nail that. Granted they have only one set of hardware to content with, so you have to hand it to Microsoft for getting Windows working generally quite well on millions of hardware configurations.
All-in-all, the MacBook Pro is an exceptional laptop. I would say it is the best I have used – but it does of course depend on what you want to do. I bought mine to be a portable photo-editing and work machine, but you would obviously not specifically buy a MacBook Pro to play games. So far, though, it has proved to be a lovely piece of kit and I would buy one tomorrow if had to make the choice again.
I have no doubt that many people reading this would disagree with me on all the points I have mentioned. If you do, leave us a comment on Facebook and I will do my best to get back to you. I am just trying to start a debate with my views here, so if you think I have made a bad choice, let me know!
KitGuru says: This article has just been a short piece about why I bought my MacBook Pro. We want to hear from you, though, so tell us in the comments why you would or wouldn't buy an Apple laptop – or even Apple products in general.
Please tell the readers how your mouse cursor starts dissappearing in OSX when Apple thinks you use too much memory.
It’s not unsuitable only for gaming. Try using Office and then work together on a word or powerpoint file with Windows users.
Why didn’t you just buy a £800 “PC” and put OsX on it?
iDiot
well at least you bought the 2015 version that still has usb ports. And the only reason you bought it was how thin and cool it looks? Right? I mean you did say that lap tops for that price are stronger, better resolution, longer batter, and come in various looks right? I still dont get what was the point in buying mac.
Cant beat MacBooks Trackpad, and Keyboard IMO.. those are massively important things most people overlook..
I have a mid 2014 Macbook pro (due to needing to use xcode for work). It’s the best laptop I’ve owned. Battery life great, screen great, touchpad great, keyboard great etc. Build quality is great. The only downside is the lack of upgradability. As a technical environment OSx is better than Windows (apart from if you’re working with .net or windows mobile stuff, obviously), and second only to a linux distro. Write a batch file on windows requiring a seconds wait, or install ruby on windows, and compare to how OSx does it, and you’ll understand. The customer support has been really impressive (i.e. my wife broke the screen out of warranty and we took it into an Apple store, and ‘fessed up, but they repaired it for free because the screen on that model has an issue with peeling coating and my model was affected, and it was ready to pick up the day after). If you need to run windows applications on it, then there’s always Wine, or dual booting into windows, or even running a windows virtual machine.
But on my primary home machine, a Fractal Design r5 enclosed 6700k, it’s Windows all the way.
Because you can’t.
While I understand why someone would buy a Mac, and it sound like the author got a great deal, I would strongly argue that the “it just works” mantra doesn’t hold true. While it may be due to an incompetent IT department, my business MacBook Pro constantly has issues – from freezing to not waking up from sleep, which requires a whole selection of buttons to be pressed to clear some cached info.
That all being said, if I was doing business on an iphone and was on the move a lot, a MacBook makes a whole lot of sense. The integration of the ecosystems is great, and the trackpad I now feel is the only acceptable portable alternative to a mouse, with other laptop trackpads feeling unusable in comparison. Also access to Terminal makes life easy when programming, and I don’t care what others say: Linux is a painful alternative to OsX.
Although it is not a perfect route to get it installed, it is completely possible. OS X does not require bespoke Hardware
I would have to agree with the author here even though I don’t think the mac book pro is anywhere near the best mobile computing device to buy right now. They have really done a good job of nailing the laptop experience. They nailed it long ago at a time when a perfect laptop was a white space, as the OEM’s on the windows platform did not really care about creating a perfect experience because they were swimming in money kind of the way Apple is now. What apple did, needed to be done and I am grateful to them for filling the need. Although I wish it wasn’t them who had done it.
I wish it wasn’t them because they don’t have the philosophy of a real tech company. So I find their ecosystem and their product model to be very low tech compared to Microsoft and their OEM’s. They don’t do much to push the technological frontier, but just focus more on locking people into a money hungry ecosystem. Which is fine because they need the money in order to provide a profitable business out of literally babysitting low tech people – the majority of people.
I get it. But this is why I cannot say that the mac book pro is the best mobile computing device on the market for the average consumer. It is a niche device for a specific user, but it is not purchased that way. It is purchased in mass because Apple has no competition within its ecosystem. Their average consumer is basically forced to use this tech, even though it isn’t the most innovative or quality for this age of computing. Some Mac users will bristle as such a statement but here is why I say that:
1. laptops are not the best tech for mobile computing anymore, and neither are tablets. Yet, Apple insists on making only laptops and tablets. They only slightly conceded to consumer demand by producing the ipad pro, however it is clear that this device did not meet the needs of the consumer, since it is still just a really big tablet with a keyboard.
2. Hybrid OS with tablet form factor is the immediate future of mobile computing. People want the real power to run desktop apps, and have the mobility and battery life of a tablet(8-9 hours). People want touch and pen input capability on a computing device. Before you deny this, tell me why the ipad pro sold so well among Apple users, while the original ipad sales continue to decline if this was not true.
3. in my opinion Mack Book Pro is really old tech that is executed just as well as it has always been or even less well. laptops with really nice build, and really nice trackpads are boring. People don’t need really nice laptops as much anymore. If you are an editor or novelist that literally sits and types for 6-7 hours a day in coffee shops, then you probably need a perfect ‘laptop’ experience, but 90% of people do not type for more then 1hr a day. Most people don’t do real computing for more than 1hr a day. They are just browsing the web, Instagram and facebook, which we all know is better done on a touch device screen than with a trackpad and keyboard. That’s why 98% of the time my wife is using her ipad. Why should she spend 1500 dollars for a 2% use case? Why doesn’t her ipad offer the programs she needs for that 2% use case when she needs a real computer?? I would argue that even if you do a lot of heavy document creation and computing a hybrid device is still better, so that you don’t need to go buy a tablet to get that fix media consumption after a long day of creating. Surface book makes for a beautiful productivity and media consumption device with a high res touch screen and an excellent keyboard and trackpad. Hopefull next iterations will have a better battery in tablet portion, but you can plug it in for longer use, which is how my wife uses her ipad anyway.
All in all the Mac book pro is probably the best designed laptop, and probably has the best OS for a laptop experience. But it isn’t the best mobile computing device on the market, because for the average user it sits on the shelf for 90% of the use case. That’s because Standalone Laptops are not the best mobile devices while people are becoming more mobile, so in my opinion the surfacebook, or a surface pro 4 and the plethora of OEM cheaper options are far better uses of the money for the average consumer in this day and age. windows 10 is a far more future proof OS to get into for the average consumer also. Keep your iPhone and get on Windows, because at least windows lets you use whatever phone you want and still syncs up perfectly well with them.
I do it all the time at a multinational company with approx 30% mac, 70% windows users. Never had a single issue sharing any MS office files, including PowerPoint.
LOL…silly. I’m always amazed at how people manage to screw up their systems…
Time to do some troubleshooting, Dennis.
Wait but it just works….
You don’t need to do maintenance or trouble shooting?
it’s on open issue with apple and mozilla since 2012, it’s the way osx handles memory resources, and is hasn’t been fixed except adding more memory.
Yes, you can. I’ve done it.
Well since it is not the latest model I guess is still a good buy. My late 2009 macbook still run fine, but this is because I opted to stay with 10.8… anything above that is very heavy if you don’t have an ssd.
imho apple used to have some amazing machines (just not for gaming) but they now fail to keep up with their own standards while they overprice everyting.
Since only mozilla has the problem, I’d say it’s an open issue with mozilla, not with Apple
By the way, there’s no indication that the bug has anything to do with macOS’s memory handling. Check out bug #720233 at bugzilla.
I’ve been wondering the same thing. I moved to LA recently to work at UCLA for a short time, and I noticed that virtually every student owns a Macbook (air/pro). Almost all staff members and fellow grad students own them. And if you need to borrow a laptop from the university, you get a Macbook.
I bought a new laptop two years ago for the exact same purpose as all these people. It’s just as powerful, has a very good HD screen, and types very nicely (the trackpad is horrible, but I use a bluetooth mouse anyway). Yet I got to pay 40% less.
The typical explanation for buying a Macbook is that Windows sucks and Microsoft is some evil overlord. Well, as far as I can gather, Windows has basically caught up to OSX, and I do not see how Apple is any better than Microsoft. The fact of the matter is that Apple offers virtually nothing that these people need that you cannot get on a Windows laptop (especially the current insanely overpriced Macbook generation), and so you might as well save a few hundred bucks (or a thousand with current prices).
Good luck getting the same build quality and trackpad.
I’ve never had this issue on any of my iMacs or Macbook pros. Sounds like a personal issue.
I use Chrome… just saying.
It’s not stupid, if you have the money, to spend a premium price on a computer that offers a better user experience, even in a lower spec category. But when you go for a Macintosh instead of a Windows computer, you also have a smaller choice of applications software. For many, that’s the sacrifice that eliminates the Macintosh from consideration.
This is sad; Microsoft Windows needs to have competition, more so than even Intel does. But the Amiga, the Atari ST, and OS/2 are all ancient history.
You are just a fanboi – admit it!
I’m looking at getting the exact same laptop, for the same reasons. Just waiting for a good deal to come up.
I beg to differ. It is widely known that Thinkpads have the best-in-class keyboards. Trackpads are subjective especially when you compare MacBooks with devices like the Surface Book and Surface Pro.
The problem with your whole argument of “it just works” is that this isn’t always true. My girlfriend owns a Mac laptop (not sure which one) and we frequently have to go out of our way to look things up and find why something isn’t working. I suppose that if either of us knew the OS I could bypass some of that, but, if you’re going to be paying extra for a product that “just works”, it should at least be able to get that part right. Things that are easy to get to on Windows are often far out of the way when she needs to use them.
I just wish they came with windows instead of OS X. Love how they look and the design, but not a fan of the OS. I know its ‘easier’ to use and I’m not saying its a bad OS at all. Just personal preference. Be nice if they ran windows native.
Louis Rossmann watch his video’s for 1 week
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl2mFZoRqjw_ELax4Yisf6w
then come back and look again at my middel finger then go look in the mirror. have fun moron
Louis Rossmann
Louis Rossmann
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl2mFZoRqjw_ELax4Yisf6w
Louis Rossmann
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl2mFZoRqjw_ELax4Yisf6w
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl2mFZoRqjw_ELax4Yisf6w
Just format and install windows of your choice.
don’t think u can do that. have to run windows in a virtual box which sucks.
User experience is completely subjective and not quantifiable even to a specific user unless they have used every similar type of device available. Other than that we stop when we find the point where “it looks good to me.”
And was what you did legal?
Do the T&C’s allow this?