Thinkpad or MacBook?

[Polarbear]

I need a laptop and I can't decide wether to get a Lenovo Thinkpad or a MacBook Pro.

Which one is better?

[Artemis]

You're a Mac man so would probably loathe the Thinkpad anyway. In terms of choice in a Wintel based laptop Lenovo would not be my first choice anyway, they offer fairly pedestrian specs on their machines. The first thing to check up on when buying a laptop in particular is the local warranty status, i.e. does the machine need to be sent overseas if it requires a repair, what is the turn around time do they offer international warranties for travel etc. I have no idea of the support base for Lenovo in Europe so this is something to keep in mind if deciding on a purchase, but as I said you would be far happier with a Macbook anyway.

[mjmacky]

Since I loathe Apple, my vote should be very obvious.

A great spec'd Thinkpad can run you $650-$950 new, includes Intel i5 or i7, 4-6 GB DDR3 RAM, great graphics, 15.6" or 17.3" screen, etc. Priced to the accessorization that you desire (e.g. bluetooth, HD type and capacity, etc.). My wife has an older model Thinkpad, the ones with the core2 duo, and it looks nice, performs great, etc.

On the other hand, Macbook Pro starts off @ $1799 for 15" and $2499 for 17" and the hardware no way justifies the price bump (some kind of i7, they don't specify, and pretty standard graphics). In fact, I don't see anything appealing about the hardware other than a claimed 7 hour battery life. I don't even think they look nice.

So I think it's clear, if you have a shitload of cash burning your pocket, that's the only scenario in which I could even imagine recommending a Macbook Pro.

[clocker]

From a practical standpoint the Mac starts out more expensive, replacement parts are more costly (with fewer options) and service is harder to come by.

Keep in mind that I'm not a Mac fan and hate laptops in general.

[xripper]

I would suggest that though macbook is better than the thinkpad, there are certain areas in which it lacks like being too expensive. You will also face some problems if something goes wrong with your macbook. I have a lenovo laptop, though i hate it most of the time, it gets my work done and if it something goes wrong it is easy to get spares and quick help but if u are a mac lover, the macbook is for you.

[mjmacky]

I would suggest that though macbook is better than the thinkpad, there are certain areas in which it lacks like being too expensive

Actually the $950 Thinkpad I found on Newegg was superior to Macbook Pro in basically every way, except for maybe battery.

[fredricos]

I would choose the macbook

[mjmacky]

I would choose the macbook

Have you learned nothing here?

The question should be changed to:
Should I buy a Macbook Pro, or save some money and buy 2 superior Lenovo Thinkpads?

[CQ1ST]

Definitely the thinkpad, and a few big-ass external hard-drives too

[Mooi1990]

@Polarbear which one did you you pick?

[markose]

I say neither.

[mjmacky]

I heard in this thread that he's a Mac fan, so he probably marked out to the apple. Going against Jobs is like going against your own deity, since Apple fandom is a religion (apparently).

[Artemis]

I heard in this thread that he's a Mac fan, so he probably marked out to the apple. Going against Jobs is like going against your own deity, since Apple fandom is a religion (apparently).

Horses for courses, there are some things that a Mac is better at natively, audio/visual editing/manipulation being top of the pops with many applications written for Mac that have no/or a less powerful equivalent in a Windows environment.
Since I happen to know that Polarbear is both a D.J. and a long time Mac user, it seemed the wise thing in this case to recommend the Macbook.
Another argument for Mac hardware is that although there is a higher purchase cost, there is also a far higher resale value, with similarly spec'ed Mac equipment holding its value for far longer than a Windows based equivalent.
Before you jump back on your horse to tilt at this particular windmill macky, I am not a Mac fanboi personally, but recognise that there are some areas that Mac has got Windows machines cold on, and the big one is audio/visual production and post production.

[mjmacky]

Are we talking about professional (e.g. Avid) here or amateur editing (WMM vs. iMoviefilmorsomething)? I wouldn't be so quick to say that it's natively better, as I'd only prefer 3rd party solutions, and they are available for both.

Now, the thought that you would need a Mac to be a DJ... that feels like a really long yoga stretch.

And it's a bit odd to consider resale value for electronics. This might be a special consideration for Apple since the price point is ridiculously and unjustifiably high at the start. Then again, I never factored in resale value of my car when I bought it.

[clocker]

And it's a bit odd to consider resale value for electronics. This might be a special consideration for Apple since the price point is ridiculously and unjustifiably high
Since I don't deal in Apple stuff I can't really say what their used market is like...except that the potential pool of buyers is much smaller than for a Windows based machine.
At this point, any PC older than 3 years has basically zero value given the low entry point into a new machine and the sped up obsolescence of older platforms (which makes component replacement- specifically motherboards- almost impossible), but I don't know how that works in Appleworld.

[mjmacky]

Since I don't deal in Apple stuff I can't really say what their used market is like...except that the potential pool of buyers is much smaller than for a Windows based machine.
At this point, any PC older than 3 years has basically zero value given the low entry point into a new machine and the sped up obsolescence of older platforms (which makes component replacement- specifically motherboards- almost impossible), but I don't know how that works in Appleworld.

Well now, to be fair, a laptop running Windows isn't exactly 0 value after 3 years. It can still be bar money (fun night out, treat everyone). I speak from personal experience.

Also, think about buy used Apple hardware. Isn't that something that would be shameful to Apple fans? Anyways, how much would you pay for a 3-year-old Macbook...

[Mooi1990]

See yourself


MacBook Pro 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Unibody (Late 2008) Model A1286 w/ AppleCare
Item condition: Used
Time left: 2h 43m 39s (Sep 19, 201118:00:31 PDT)
Bid history:
1 bid
Current bid: US $850.00


http://www.ebay.com/itm/MacBook-Pro-2-8GHz-Intel-Core-2-Duo-Unibody-Late-2008-Model-A1286-w-AppleCare-/370542411662?pt=Apple_Laptops&hash=item56460c7f8e

[mjmacky]

What a sucker, that thing looked hideous.

[Skiz]

I've been eyeballing the upcoming Lenovo U300s (http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/01/lenovo-announces-u300s-ultrabook-u300-and-u400-ideapads-we-go/) that Lenovo is fixin to release. There's a short article in that link, and I think you'll find that laptop may provide the best of both worlds.

[Artemis]

What a sucker, that thing looked hideous.

Your bias is showing again, the resale value is a valid argument, and not every mac user is the elitist image you seem to believe. My post regarding the OP's (Polarbear's) question, was based on the fact that I know him, and know that he uses Mac's for audiomixing and post production.
There are other pro's to owning a Mac as well including the fact that being based on FreeBSD with the Darwin window environment it is almost immune to malware/viruses, and since it does not use the Dll/Vxd/Exe application structure of a Windows based PC the applications are far smaller and there aren't the redundancies from old dll & vxd files.

[mjmacky]

My bias is always showing, I'm a pervert like that. But about the elitist image, you'd have to be part of that category to waste that much of your money on an electronic product way beyond its warranty period.

Basically though, the objective pros for owning a Mac disappear for > 95 % of the population if you remove the ones it shares with Linux (e.g. not Windows, low virus incidents, not having casual access to root). But if we go down that road, there are some major reasons to go with, let's say Ubuntu, over any of the Mac distributions (ahem, repository).

About the application sizes, I'm not sure if that's quite right. Windows uses DLL so that all the code doesn't have to sit in memory when an executable is loaded, and they are accessed as needed. From what I know about OS ecks, the programs are contained in .app file folders with all of those same components within. Comparing the installable file size for Firefox is bigger on OS ecks (13.3 MB for Win executable, 28.1 MB for dmg). When I browsed the dmg archive, I find a lot of dylib, which I would wager is the Mac equivalent of a DLL (dynamic library link).