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Which laptop should I go with?

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S

Spy

Member
I was all set on getting the new MacBook which is likely set to drop this week if the sales and release patterns are anything to go by. I've been a Windows user my whole life but was moderately excited to jump into the Mac side of things and see if the user experience was truly superior like I've heard, until I discovered the HP Spectre x360. It's a beauty of a machine and converts into a tablet which appeals to me since I use my Surface to casually browse the internet more than my phone.

hdlVPPB.png


HP Spectre x360

-Windows 10 Pro
-Intel Core i7 7500U (2.7 GHz, up to 3.5 GHz w/ Intel HD 620)
-16GB Memory
-512GB SSD
-13.3" (3840 x 2160) Touch Screen
-Battery Life of 6 Hours

Price: $1599.99

ipAtVB4.png


MacBook

-macOS
-Intel Core i7 7Y75 (1.3 GHz, up to 3.6 GHz w/ Intel HD 615)
-8GB Memory
-256GB SSD
-12" (2304 x 1440) Screen
-Battery Life of 10 Hours

Price: $1549.99

*MacBook specs are speculation

I know it should be an easy decision as the HP is a much better value but like I said before, I was kind of excited to try out macOS. Excluding the specs, the MacBook likely has a better build quality, is more portable, can use Windows thanks to Boot Camp, and has no fan which is nice to not hear it go off from time to time. I will be using the computer for web development and light video editing.

What do you say?
 
J

Jonnax

Member
1080p is a bit low resolution for a 13" screen. Isn't there a QHD+ option?

Notebookcheck is a site that does technical reviews, I'd commended checking them out to see if they reviewed the HP.
 
S

SwolBro

Banned
What's your field of work/education? what's your main purpose for the laptop? etc.

These are the most important questions before buying a laptop.
 
G

gruenel

Member
Going by my experience with half a dozen HP Pro- and EliteBooks, HP has shit batteries. Expect that already poor battery life to halve every year.
 
S

Spy

Member
Jonnax said:
1080p is a bit low resolution for a 13" screen. Isn't there a QHD+ option?

Notebookcheck is a site that does technical reviews, I'd commended checking them out to see if they reviewed the HP.
Click to expand...
Didn't realize there was one with a 4K screen, it's priced a bit higher at $1,599.99 but I would definitely go with that if I got the HP. Updated the OP.
 
C

Chumley

Banned
Since I don't need the extra horsepower out of a laptop, I personally prefer Macs. You're paying for the build quality and OSX, for me it's worth it but I have a desktop PC at home for heavy duty stuff.
 
Z

ZeroX03

Banned
Jonnax said:
1080p is a bit low resolution for a 13" screen. Isn't there a QHD+ option?

Notebookcheck is a site that does technical reviews, I'd commended checking them out to see if they reviewed the HP.
Click to expand...

Huh? 1080p is perfect for a 13" screen. Why would you want to go higher? Scaling doesn't work that great with all applications and you also sacrifice battery life.
 
C

Chumley

Banned
ZeroX03 said:
Huh? 1080p is perfect for a 13" screen. Why would you want to go higher? Scaling doesn't work that great with all applications and you also sacrifice battery life.
Click to expand...

Uhhh have you ever used a modern Macbook pro?

Once you go retina display you don't go back, 1080p looks like smeared shit by comparison.
 
S

SwolBro

Banned
Wait, i thought apple wasn't going to have a spring event this year? I was pegging new macbooks later around the iphone 8 release.
 
A

Admodieus

Member
Spectre x360's are great machines. You're obviously getting a lot more for your money with the Spectre, but it all comes down to what you're going to use it for.
 
S

Spy

Member
Jill Sandwich said:
Macbook has an i7? Thought it was m5/m7.
Click to expand...
I should have noted the MacBook is speculation based on if they release the new models this week which I think there's a good chance. The core m3, m5, and m7 have been renamed to i5 and i7 with them being virtually the same aside from slightly higher clocks due to Kaby Lake.
 
J

Jonnax

Member
ZeroX03 said:
Huh? 1080p is perfect for a 13" screen. Why would you want to go higher? Scaling doesn't work that great with all applications and you also sacrifice battery life.
Click to expand...

I've got a 13" Dell XPS 13 with 3200x1800 display.
It looks great. Fonts look as sharp as they do on my mobile phone. And if I'm spending a ton of money on a laptop I don't want my phone to have a significantly higher DPI screen.

Being able to zoom out of a spreadsheet and still read it fine is really useful.

The only application I had issues with scaling was Guitar Pro 6 which was recently fixed in their latest version.
Everything else works fine.

Battery life is excellent, it's not like I'm missing the slight decrease. Mobile phones have by standard 1080p screens. Moving from 720p to 1080p didn't drop battery life significantly.
 
S

smuf

Member
If you do webdevelopment get the Macbook. I can't live without the terminal though, so your mileage may vary.
 
B

boneyjangles

Member
Spy said:
I will be using the computer for web development and light video editing.

What do you say?
Click to expand...

As a web dev who also does works in adobe creative suite (including video), I would personally go mac.

If you go to any webdev conference or hackathon or similar, you will sea a sea of almost entirely macbooks. Party because of the unix underpinnings of the OS, party because developing iOS apps requires a mac, partly because they are very reliable machines.

Been this way for quite a few years now, I dunno if it will change, maybe it will, MS are putting in effort to get Unixy stuff fully supported in Win10, but in the meantime they've bled a massive amount of the tech community.

'Light video editing' - video world is a mixed bag, probably mostly adobe premier, but Final Cut X (mac only) is reasonably popular too. Certainly if i was doing something like 4k editing on a laptop, I would be using final cut x, as premier is performance dog. (see here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnapaZYD2cU )
 
J

Jill Sandwich

the turds of Optimus Prime
Spy said:
I should have noted the MacBook is speculation based on if they release the new models this week which I think there's a good chance. The core m3, m5, and m7 have been renamed to i5 and i7 with them being virtually the same aside from slightly higher clocks due to Kaby Lake.
Click to expand...

Aha, I'm a bit behind on processors. Bit cheeky of Intel!
 
S

Spy

Member
boneyjangles said:
As a web dev who also does works in adobe creative suite (including video), I would personally go mac.

If you go to any webdev conference or hackathon or similar, you will sea a sea of almost entirely macbooks. Party because of the unix underpinnings of the OS, party because developing iOS apps requires a mac, partly because they are very reliable machines.

Been this way for quite a few years now, I dunno if it will change, maybe it will, MS are putting in effort to get Unixy stuff fully supported in Win10, but in the meantime they've bled a massive amount of the tech community.

'Light video editing' - video world is a mixed bag, probably mostly adobe premier, but Final Cut X (mac only) is reasonably popular too. Certainly if i was doing something like 4k editing on a laptop, I would be using final cut x, as premier is performance dog. (see here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnapaZYD2cU )
Click to expand...
I think you've convinced me on the Mac, perhaps the bells and whistles of the Spectre were clouding my mind but all the reasons you listed, is probably why I should stick with getting the MacBook.
 
TheDude108

TheDude108

Member
I personally would choose the Spectre, I have the early 2016 model and its great.

I too have been a Windows user my whole life, tried a Macbook Air a few years back and couldn't get use to it after 6 months of trying. Hated the file management most of all and Finder. It just felt like I could get things done quicker in Windows (not performance wise, just workflow).

I'm a web developer/software engineer and everyone in work uses a Windows machine. Macs won't make you a better web developer, so I'd go with the system you are familiar with.
 
Vigilant Walrus

Vigilant Walrus

Member
Considered a XPS 15?

Portable, bezel-less (a 15 in a 14-inch chasis), 5+ hours of battery
touchscreen
built quality that gets close to the unibody macs
powerful graphics (1050) and cpu ( good for video editing, and productivity)
best in class display
arguable the best bang for the buck

or the XPS 13 if the 15 is too big. They also made a convertible version of the 13, though it has weaker specs.


Besides this, I don't know where you get this idea that MacOS is somehow a superior operating system. That hasn't been the case for years. MacOS has become a bloated OS that is trying to fight the inevitible unification with iOS but refuses to, due to lost sales by consolidating the two OS.
As someone who uses both operating systems daily, Windows 10 is a better experience. OSX used to be better, but a string of bad decisions have really hurt OSX. It's not terrible, but a lot of design choices are questionable.

I wouldn't personally want to buy a computer with 256 GB storage and 8 GB ram in 2017. I think that would be a big mistake, but Apple are masters at making entry level product at prices you'll consider, but still end up making customers up for almost mandatory upgrades. By the time you deck out the Mac with acceptable specs, you're into a pricing territory, where it gets seriously expensive.

The Macbook has not become the Macbook Air. It will take before, we see it priced at 999 for a good configuration as it should be. It will take 1 or 2 more years. It's way way way to expensive for what it is currently.
 
O

Ocarina_117

Banned
Vigilant Walrus said:
Considered a XPS 15?

Portable, bezel-less (a 15 in a 14-inch chasis), 5+ hours of battery
touchscreen
built quality that gets close to the unibody macs
powerful graphics (1050) and cpu ( good for video editing, and productivity)
best in class display
arguable the best bang for the buck

or the XPS 13 if the 15 is too big. They also made a convertible version of the 13, though it has weaker specs.


Besides this, I don't know where you get this idea that MacOS is somehow a superior operating system. That hasn't been the case for years. MacOS has become a bloated OS that is trying to fight the inevitible unification with iOS but refuses to, due to lost sales by consolidating the two OS.
As someone who uses both operating systems daily, Windows 10 is a better experience. OSX used to be better, but a string of bad decisions have really hurt OSX. It's not terrible, but a lot of design choices are questionable.

I wouldn't personally want to buy a computer with 256 GB storage and 8 GB ram in 2017. I think that would be a big mistake, but Apple are masters at making entry level product at prices you'll consider, but still end up making customers up for almost mandatory upgrades. By the time you deck out the Mac with acceptable specs, you're into a pricing territory, where it gets seriously expensive.

The Macbook has not become the Macbook Air. It will take before, we see it priced at 999 for a good configuration as it should be. It will take 1 or 2 more years. It's way way way to expensive for what it is currently.
Click to expand...

Listen to this man.
 
R

Renekton

Member
Jonnax said:
Lol. I imagine in the same way that if you're a creative person you need to get a Mac.


The thing about the Web is that it doesn't matter what your platform is.

For servers Linux is the common OS.
Click to expand...
Yeah I'm wondering what is the web dev advantage in Macbook.
 
BeforeU

BeforeU

Oft hope is born when all is forlorn.
Dell XPS 15

Thats all you need. Fucking beast.

Best Screen, best keyboard and trackpad. And A+ performance.

Whatelse do you need?
 
S

Spy

Member
You know, screw it. I'm just going to get the refreshed MacBook when it releases then buy the Surface 2 this fall. Best of both worlds.
 
C

CS_Dan

Member
I have an XPS 13 (first gen of the current design) and love it, but I still have some mad consumerist lust for the latest XPS 15 model.
 
M

ModernBoxes

Banned
It's better to have reasons than just list an item just 'cause web dev.

I personally dislike iOS/OSX immensely. It looks and feels archaic.

I ssh into Linux boxes all day. I downloaded CMDer and don't see how a MacBook would improve this experience. You're still paying a massive markup, and windows 10 not only feels better... the hardware that runs it is more power for the price.

If you're doing video and graphics work a MacBook comes back into the picture insofar as you can see a distinct difference between its screen and the competition.
 
Oppo

Oppo

Member
Chumley said:
Uhhh have you ever used a modern Macbook pro?

Once you go retina display you don't go back, 1080p looks like smeared shit by comparison.
Click to expand...

yeah I have. bought the Dell XPS 15 instead - 4k touchscreen. (edit - I see I am not alone, ha)

OP maybe have a look at those as well. I think the Spectre is nifty but I wanted 4 cores and a Pascal GPU.

I will say - to be fair - OS X is currently handling across-the-board DPI scaling better than Windows 10. But text on native W10 apps on such a high rez screen is gorgeous.
 
LordOfChaos

LordOfChaos

Member
I'd pick the X360, having experienced the Macbook the Core M can get pokey under even just browser load. I also really hate the first gen butterfly keyboard, not enough feedback, while I quite like the second gen butterfly in the new rMBPs. But YMMV here, be sure to try it in store.

If iOS dev is an interest, be sure it's really what you want before buying, that was one of my reasons for buying a macbook pro but I never ended up doing it, heh. Still love the rMBP though, if you can step up to that, even the function key one, I'd recommend that over both.
 
N

number11

Member
My 2009 MacBook Pro is dying a slow death. I would prefer to stay with Mac OS.. but I'm tempted to buy a Windows laptop. Macs used to have a reputation of being for creatives, but I'm hearing about a lot of people being disappointed with the current lineup.
 
Z

ZOONAMI

Junior Member
For MacBook $ you can get an oled Alienware 13 with a gtx 1060. I have one and it's amazing. Battery life could be better (I get about 7 hours surfing/light use music, some YouTube, if I use prefer integrated graphics, gaming yeah it'll be dead in a couple hours). It's definitely heavier than these two but it has a small footprint for such a beast.
 
D

DasPenguin

Member
number11 said:
My 2009 MacBook Pro is dying a slow death. I would prefer to stay with Mac OS.. but I'm tempted to buy a Windows laptop. Macs used to have a reputation of being for creatives, but I'm hearing about a lot of people being disappointed with the current lineup.
Click to expand...

I'm in the same boat with you and will be moving on from MacBook to Windows. My friend has the XPS 15 and it's a beast. I will probably go with the 13 inch model with the higher specs and touch screen. It's almost the same size (at least the width of the keyboard) as the old MacBook Air 11 inch model.
 
T

TedMilk

Member
Vigilant Walrus said:
Considered a XPS 15?

Portable, bezel-less (a 15 in a 14-inch chasis), 5+ hours of battery
touchscreen
built quality that gets close to the unibody macs
powerful graphics (1050) and cpu ( good for video editing, and productivity)
best in class display
arguable the best bang for the buck

or the XPS 13 if the 15 is too big. They also made a convertible version of the 13, though it has weaker specs.


Besides this, I don't know where you get this idea that MacOS is somehow a superior operating system. That hasn't been the case for years. MacOS has become a bloated OS that is trying to fight the inevitible unification with iOS but refuses to, due to lost sales by consolidating the two OS.
As someone who uses both operating systems daily, Windows 10 is a better experience. OSX used to be better, but a string of bad decisions have really hurt OSX. It's not terrible, but a lot of design choices are questionable.

I wouldn't personally want to buy a computer with 256 GB storage and 8 GB ram in 2017. I think that would be a big mistake, but Apple are masters at making entry level product at prices you'll consider, but still end up making customers up for almost mandatory upgrades. By the time you deck out the Mac with acceptable specs, you're into a pricing territory, where it gets seriously expensive.

The Macbook has not become the Macbook Air. It will take before, we see it priced at 999 for a good configuration as it should be. It will take 1 or 2 more years. It's way way way to expensive for what it is currently.
Click to expand...

This human has been on both sides of the fence and know what's what.
 
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