To Macbook Pro or not to?

[xDezor]

That's even more expensive than the MBP. Might aswell step it up a notch and buy a toughbook instead.

 

[Pylon]

Oh? Alright, well which laptop should I buy that's made out of magnesium alloy?

HP Envy 14
Dell Latitude E6520
Dell Precision M4600
Lenovo Thinkpad W520
Lenovo Thinkpad T520
(note - the Lenovos have plastic exteriors but has a magnesium alloy internal skeleton and it's very tough)

Also the thing about magnesium alloy is that it doesn't exactly feel all that much like metal since it's not that cold to the touch. My Dell Latitude E6410 I'm typing on is mostly magnesium alloy and yet it still feels like plastic.

 

[heatlesssun]

Yeah, the Z does make a Macbook look cheap. Pylon is correct about the Thinkpad. The exterior is plastic and many don't like the aesthetics as they've not really changed ever in 20 years, the Thinkpad design is probably older that a lot of forum members around here but they are very well built machines and the plastic is tough.

 

[danman]

OH THANK GOD ITS GOT THE MAGSAFE CONNECTOR!

what?

MBP is a nice laptop to look at, and with your discount it might be a better buy than it otherwise would be, but I can't stand OSX and don't want to be associated with all the rest of the mactards..

Ever kicked your power cord and had it knock over your laptop? The magsafe is awesome. All laptops should have it.

 

[Pylon]

It's patented. However, I'm sure a mechanical solution shouldn't be that hard to engineer.

 

[skiddy]

I understand I could go for maybe a Dell XPS which in general is a better bang for your buck as far as the hardware is concerned but even the 1300$ xps doesnt come with a quad core. The alienwares might meet my hardware needs with the quad core and good gpu but size and battery life just suck.

Also I forgot to mention that I am getting 25% off the MBP so it brings the price down to 1386$ + tax, very close to the XPS with the dual core but much better battery life.

I plan on triple booting osx, windows 7 and SL so software isnt really in the debate anymore.

What do you guys think? Can anyone think of any reason not to go for the MBP? Anyone have a better solution for me?

Any and all opinions/advice are welcome.

Thanks

I got my XPS L502x for ~$1400 back in May completely decked out minus a SSD and the 2820qm. I actually missed out on almost another $100 off with EPP and another coupon too.

Quick specs:
2720qm
6GB ram
750gb HDD
GT540 2gb w/optimus
1080p screen
BD drive
Backlit keyboard
9cell

I owned (still own actually) a 13" 2009 MBP that I upgraded from mainly because I can't stand OSX and the thing turned into a fireball after heavy use. The thing looks sleek, but the cooling on MBP's is absurd in my opinion.

I absolutely love the L502x. The only major complaint I have is it feels somewhat clunky, but I bought it knowing that ahead of time. The Z model removes that complaint, but they don't offer quad i7's with it either.

The battery life is exceptional on the L502x with a 9cell. I regularly get 7-8 hours idle. I believe Anandtech got 8.5+ hours with the 2630qm. The L501x models had noticeably worse battery life than the L502x models if I recall.

$1380 on a 15" MBP is pretty damn hard to turn away from, but I had the Mac experience for 1.5 years and don't plan on turning back to it. If Dell has some good coupons on the XPS series, I would highly recommend the L502x if you can get similar specs to mine for around $1400. I do not miss my MBP at all.

 

[91JeepXJ]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I looked into the lenovos but with my discount at apple it comes to almost the same price for one with the same specs.

I've come to terms that battery life in windows wont be as good but I plan on only using win7 when I need to use catia or solidworks, everything else ill do on osx so it's not a big issue.

I think what I'm gonna do is get the 4gb, 6490m with the high def anti-glare screen.

The 4gb can be changed to 8gb for like 70-80$ if I do it myself... And I can't really justify the 400$ price jump to get the 6750m. The stuff I will be doing isn't so demanding on the gpu that I need the better one.

I looked at the two screen types in store and I think you guys are right about the high-def antiglare, especially sitting in classrooms and auditoriums I could see the glossy bugging me.

As someone who did and occasionally still does Soildworks drafting I highly recommend avoiding any of the "gamer" cards, even in small assemblies my old 8600M GT would crash, and generally just be painfully slow. Even my quad core desktop with a GTX 260 was terrible. Since upgrading to a Dell M4500 with the 880M I've had no problems, however since you seem to be doing this as a student it may be a non-issue. I also have a 13 inch mid 2010 MBP and love the hell out of it.