MacBook Pro Declared 'Best Performing' Windows Laptop

while i get more annoyed with OSX the more i use it requiring either boot camp or parallels to actually accomplish anything productive, I have to say the build quality and retina display is fantastic, that said Dell offers the same hardware for the more part in the XPS Ultra book with almost identical build quality just no high res "retina like" screen

between this report and the fact almost every single Mac pc/laptop I see has Parallels, or Bootcamp setup doesn't say much for OSX..that report must have Jobs rolling over... lol
 
Um, riiight.
Didn't know that Windows come pre-loaded on Macs?
Also, isn't there a lock on the system to prevent other OSes installations?
 
Putz said:
while i get more annoyed with OSX the more i use it requiring either boot camp or parallels to actually accomplish anything productive, I have to say the build quality and retina display is fantastic, that said Dell offers the same hardware for the more part in the XPS Ultra book with almost identical build quality just no high res "retina like" screen
Click to expand...

I know for me at the time there was just no equivalent, regardless of price. Yes it was expensive, but when you use it every single day and only upgrade every couple of years than the price is irrelevant, not to mention the resale value of Macs.
 
ninjaturtle said:
Um, riiight.
Didn't know that Windows come pre-loaded on Macs?
Also, isn't there a lock on the system to prevent other OSes installations?
Click to expand...

Apple fully support windows installation on macbook. Google "boot camp."
 
ninjaturtle said:
Um, riiight.
Didn't know that Windows come pre-loaded on Macs?
Also, isn't there a lock on the system to prevent other OSes installations?
Click to expand...

No, Apple specifically has Bootcamp for Windows and Linux runs fine.

Its why most developers I know have retina macbooks right now - fantastic resolution, all three major OS's easy to boot.
 
The article indicates this is a very narrow metric (crashes, hangs, BSoDs, boot and background processes) and the main reason that the Mac beat the native PC systems is that the Mac install is a clean install while the other companies included lots of extra programs/processes in their basic installs (they didn't try to compare a clean install to clean install) ... they also indicated that if you included cost and setup as factors that the rankings would change ... the Devil is always in the details ;)
 
Well Duh! Its a Real Intel Laptop. But the hardware is the same as a PC laptop. Mackbook pro has Intel HD graphics LG DVD drive some of them. Kingston DDR3 Intel Chipset and CPU. Other Laptop fail because they don't build them with ceritifed chipsets or other hardware.
 
Soldto, (yes that was intentional), uses a clean, uncluttered install of Win, to the standard mucked up, crapwared up Win install of the typical brand name laptop. Then proceeds to justify it by claiming that this is what you get with an out of box laptop, while conveniently forgetting that they had to install Win on the mac, and therefore it was no longer out of the box.
Apple sells a high quality laptop, but best performing? No. Not even at it's price point.
 
or for less then half the price get an acer... but I guess not all of us are cheap bastards?
 
Having been a PC person all my life and anti mac for a substantial portion of that, I'll say that when I bought a laptop for school a little over two years ago, I bought a mac. I bought a macbook air because, at the time, there was simply no comparable pc at that price, though you could spend substantially more and get a dell adamo. Now, while you may get a PC at a comparable or better performance level at the same price, the odds that the build quality will match that of the mac is extremely unlikely, if something goes wrong a year down the road it's likely that an entire new line of products will be out from your PC manufacturer and you may not be able to get the parts you need to fix your laptop forcing you to buy a new one (I have a few friends and family members that this has happened to), and when you want to upgrade, the resale on your XYZ2222huthut model pc laptop is unlikely to be close to the resale on a mac laptop.

If I wanted a windows laptop I would absolutely buy a mac and install windows on it over a laptop from one of the major windows laptop manufacturers.
 
FIrst, look at the hardware on the list to see why it's a bunch of BS. THose computers have widely varying specs.
Second, consider that Soluto is an app that is based around boot times, so the data is skewed towards SSDs and not CPU/GPU/Ram. Not only that, but consider who the people are that are actually installing Soluto...
So, yea.
 
ninjaturtle said:
Um, riiight.
Didn't know that Windows come pre-loaded on Macs?
Also, isn't there a lock on the system to prevent other OSes installations?
Click to expand...

Nothing stopping you from using bootcamp, that they created in the first place, and loading win7 onto the system.
 
Someone on reddit/r/apple read the report and pointed out that this data is flawed and people even agreed. Apparently the data source (Soluto) noted that the data isn't completely reliable or accurate.

I could say that OSX was super reliable on a Dell Latitude E6400 but I never said that I only used it for 15 minutes and in that time it never kernel panicked or hung up. Let Mac users run Windows on a regular basis and I bet someone will manage to screw it up.
 
I can believe it. The build quality of a MBP is phenomenal. The keyboard is such a pleasure to you, you just want to keep typing. The touchpad? OMG. Light years ahead of anything the PC has. Big, glass, WAAAAAY better at multi touch input. Retina resolution.

Best PC laptop I've ever used is a MBP.
 
kbrickley said:
The article indicates this is a very narrow metric (crashes, hangs, BSoDs, boot and background processes) and the main reason that the Mac beat the native PC systems is that the Mac install is a clean install while the other companies included lots of extra programs/processes in their basic installs (they didn't try to compare a clean install to clean install) ... they also indicated that if you included cost and setup as factors that the rankings would change ... the Devil is always in the details ;)
Click to expand...

Agreed. This survey is totally idiotic. Also not including the fact that a lot of professionals have work issued laptops which are generally bulk purchased mediocreware. And not including the fact that proportionally there are far fewer people with Mac/BootCamp then there are with Dells, so of course you'll see more crash reports.

HOW CAN YOU NOT INCLUDE COST??!!!:eek:

That's like saying a BMW 7 series is better as a daily driver than a Nissan Sentra, because it has fewer breakdowns.
 
mastaBlasta said:
HOW CAN YOU NOT INCLUDE COST??!!!:eek:

That's like saying a BMW 7 series is better as a daily driver than a Nissan Sentra, because it has fewer breakdowns.
Click to expand...

WElsome to EVERY Consumer Reports laptop rating EVER. I used tto sell computers at Best buy, and whenever I saw someone come in with a CR magazine, opened to laptops, i knew I was going to have to spend a good 15 minutes explaining why the overall rankings make no sense in that rag... they offer equal points to ergonomics, screen quality and speed. Considering the first two are terribly subjective...
 
Haven't kept in touch with Apple's PCs lately( good 5-6 years-ish).
Last I heard they used standard PC components and had the hardware locked down but there were products out to bypass that stuff.
 
Yeah the article is terribad.

If you can bootcamp windows on an Apple device then you can do a clean install of windows on a PC.

I understand the companies real world metrics and believe they are accurate in comparing people who bootcamp windows on a mac vs grandma who bought a dell and checks her email on it - it's how they stacked the competition.
 
those findings reek of Apple payoff to me. 0.88 crashes/week & 1.06 hangs/week on it? and they're in #1? i call total BS.

I can't remember the last time my laptop (Acer 8943G) had a hang or a crash with Win7 installed on it....oh wait....that's right.....IT NEVER HAS! :rolleyes:

of course, i also always do a clean install on any laptop i purchase, so i'm on a level playing field with the MBP, but still.... someone's getting something from Apple to publish those results.

and i got a far, far superiorly-specced (if that's really a word, lol) laptop than what Apple had to offer at that time, for roughly 1/2 the price. at the time i got my laptop, MBP's were somewhere around $2200 - $2500 for a semi-comparably-specced machine, and i ended up getting mine for $1175.

but oh noez! it doesn't haz aluminum unibody construction or an illuminated logo on the lid! i got ripped off!!!! whatever will all my wanker hipster friends think of me?!?! i think i'm gonna have to go cut myself now while drowning in shame! ;)

i actually prefer it not to have the aluminum unibody....makes it much easier to take apart if/when it ever needs to be disassembled without destroying something.....

Metrocall said:
I know for me at the time there was just no equivalent, regardless of price. Yes it was expensive, but when you use it every single day and only upgrade every couple of years than the price is irrelevant, not to mention the resale value of Macs.
Click to expand...

sorry....price is never irrelevant unless you're LOADED with cash or you can write off the cost as a business expense or something like that...or if it's just outright given to you.....
 
I did not real the article but I have to say, after using a macbook pro for a couple of years now, I honestly do not think I can go back to another laptop.

The trackpads on MBP are just SO much better to use. I never accidently click something while typing. It is accurate. It doesn't seem to care if i have other points of contact on the trackpad, it still moves the cursor where I want. Its easy to click and drag an object to the other side of the screen (even when you have to lift your finger to keep moving over). Etc., etc., etc. It is just an absolute pleasure to use.

The internal components of the MBP (processor, graphics cards, etc.) are no better than other laptop offerings, I fully agree. But the creature comforts of the MBP (trackpad, keyboard, monitor, etc.) are better than anything else I have used. Due to how often I am on a computer, I am willing to pay the extra money to have those comforts, thought I can also see how some people would find that to not be worth it. I would say it is similar to normal membrane keyboards vs mechanical keyboards. Some cannot understand why you would pay $100+ for a mechanical keyboard, when a membrane keyboard is $15. IMO, if you use a computer a lot, spending that extra money for the mechanical is worth it (same for a nice mouse).

In otherwords, IMO, the difference between a Macbook Pro and another laptop is in the creature comforts/luxury aspects, not the performance aspects. As computer nerds we often get stuck on performance aspects because we can quantify them in a price to ratio manner. It is much harder to quanity creature comforts because they are qualitative in nature.
 
xXaNaXx said:
sorry....price is never irrelevant unless you're LOADED with cash or you can write off the cost as a business expense or something like that...or if it's just outright given to you.....
Click to expand...

I'm certainly not LOADED, but 2-3K over three years with a 25-50% resale value really isn't that much money. :rolleyes:

Also my comparison was to other laptops at the time. If I could have found preferably an Asus(my last laptop brand) or even a Samung with a 1800p screen, seven hour battery life, four pounds, and a graphics card that can play games at that res or even 1200p, I would have gotten it.
 
I find it funny that Opt #1 and Opt #2
are $1500 apart.

and 0.04 points apart.

Solutio is a piece of shit anyway. I put it on a PC and it crashed
the system. Caused blue screens and all kinds of other issues
so "it could improve my PC speed and boot times".

It booted real fast, right to a BSOD
 
I started by putting win7 on this MBP and it ran way too slow for such awesome hardware. I just run 10.8 with win7 in fusion and it is much better.
 
Bojamijams said:
I can believe it. The build quality of a MBP is phenomenal. The keyboard is such a pleasure to you, you just want to keep typing. The touchpad? OMG. Light years ahead of anything the PC has. Big, glass, WAAAAAY better at multi touch input. Retina resolution.

Best PC laptop I've ever used is a MBP.
Click to expand...

Bahahaha. A mac user would believe it. A mac user would also not read past apple being #1. A mac user would not realize how flawed and inconsistent this article is.
 
I just find it hilarious that number two is a laptop of 1/3rd the cost. Otherwise I ignore C|Net garbage.
 
RadCliffeX said:
I just find it hilarious that number two is a laptop of 1/3rd the cost. Otherwise I ignore C|Net garbage.
Click to expand...

This. At 1/3 the cost I can have a laptop that runs marginally worse than a $1200 laptop.

Trust me, I want an MBP pretty freakin' bad, but I can't afford one.
 
Modred189 said:
FIrst, look at the hardware on the list to see why it's a bunch of BS. THose computers have widely varying specs.
Second, consider that Soluto is an app that is based around boot times, so the data is skewed towards SSDs and not CPU/GPU/Ram. Not only that, but consider who the people are that are actually installing Soluto...
So, yea.
Click to expand...

You can't spread FUD when they actually explain their metrics and scoring.

https://www.soluto.com/reports

We gave parameters the following weights:
Crashes per week Taken as is: one crash per week equals 1 point.
Non-responsive events per week Taken as is: one non-responsive event per week equals 1 point
BSoDs per week Multiplied by 10. So 1 BSoD per week is like 10 crashes per week
Background running processes The average of background processes is 78. The points’ contribution of a model with X running processes was calculated as: (X-78)/25. This means that from a frustration perspective, we defined 25 more running processes as equal to another crash every week, and 25 less running processes as one less crash every week (a model with few background processes gets a positive bonus).
Boot time The average boot time is 167s. The points’ contribution of a model with boot time X was calculated as follows: (X-167)/60, based on the same rationale described in the background processes.
Click to expand...

It's a factor but the point isn't to measure boot times but stability which is why it is only 1 out of 5 factors that affect rating.
 
xXaNaXx said:
those findings reek of Apple payoff to me. 0.88 crashes/week & 1.06 hangs/week on it? and they're in #1? i call total BS.
Click to expand...

The numbers all seem weird. The crashes are application crashes. That's really dependent on your applications. I've been running windows on macbooks at work for years now. No BSOD issues, and no crashy apps that aren't crashy on my dell at home. Both have 'non-responsive events', but they are due to bumping off the limits of the hardware and have nothing to do with build quality, just specs.

I can't remember the last time my laptop (Acer 8943G) had a hang or a crash with Win7 installed on it....oh wait....that's right.....IT NEVER HAS! :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
neither has my dell or macbook retina.

of course, i also always do a clean install on any laptop i purchase, so i'm on a level playing field with the MBP, but still.... someone's getting something from Apple to publish those results.
[/QUTOE]
Not necessarily. My old (personal) dell got replaced with a macbook retina. It was not a cheap dell. There were two key things they had in common that figured into the purchase that windows laptop designers seem to be failing hard at, and that is an air path for heat management that is hard to block off, and a trackpad that doesn't get bogus input while typing that screws up your day. the former can be a HUGE, HUUUUUGE factor in hangs, and BSODs. It's a lesson apple seems to have finally learned, becuase historically they suck at heat management.


and i got a far, far superiorly-specced (if that's really a word, lol) laptop than what Apple had to offer at that time, for roughly 1/2 the price. at the time i got my laptop, MBP's were somewhere around $2200 - $2500 for a semi-comparably-specced machine, and i ended up getting mine for $1175.
Click to expand...

Depends on what is critical to you. I REALLY didn't want a mac due to price, but I make my laptops last (at least 4 years the dell lasted me way longer with an SSD swap and more ram). I tend to go with the $1500-1600 price range. The problem is once I tossed all the laptops that were giant gaming rigs or giant, cheap and stuffed with low end to mid range guts, I had a VERY small sample to choose from and they were delaying the new crop for windows 8 release. Take out the ones that had ALL their air intakes where you would probably block it by resting it on anything but a laptop cooler, and a buttload more vanished. Want a decent screen with acceptable contrast and glare with good color reporduciton? POOF almost everything else gone. Want a reasonably rigid chassis to aid in durability? I had VERY, VERY few options left, and the macbook (granted with educaitonal discount, but I get that for other brands too), was only about a $300-400 premium, was built nicer, and had a WAY better screen and touchpad.

I've always said once Apple has people like me buying their gear based on practical considerations, they are SCREWED. I bought one... based on practical considerations... now look at their stock ;)

but oh noez! it doesn't haz aluminum unibody construction or an illuminated logo on the lid! i got ripped off!!!! whatever will all my wanker hipster friends think of me?!?! i think i'm gonna have to go cut myself now while drowning in shame! ;)

i actually prefer it not to have the aluminum unibody....makes it much easier to take apart if/when it ever needs to be disassembled without destroying something.....
Click to expand...
That aluminum construction matters if you don't just replace every 2-3 years. I've found it leads to screen flex and hinge failure, which can be pretty expensive fixes for osmething that is otherwise working 100%.

sorry....price is never irrelevant unless you're LOADED with cash or you can write off the cost as a business expense or something like that...or if it's just outright given to you.....
Click to expand...
Very true, but you also have to compare apples to apples, no pun intended.

One of the windows laptops that made it to the very short list for me was the samsung series 9 NP900X4C-A07US. Given the best prices I could get for both, for a $325 premium, the macbook has a faster CPU, a nicer screen, a real video card, and gives up 3 hours of battery life, has an slightly larger chasis and weighs about half a pound more.

Having dealt with both samsung and apple customer support previously, that figured into my purchase decisions as well.
Click to expand...
 
the one thing apple has going for it over most competitor is the sex appeal and user interaction, the stuff we see/touch

as an IT guy a windows box is a windows box is a windows box... blah blah blah, i5 i7 8gb 16 gb... long as its semi recent and comes with an SSD who cares

the things that matter to me beyond that:
Screen.... I look at it all day in an out
Keyboard... trackpad... the stuff you put your hands on

cost aside, the MB Pro 15" retina is by far the nicest interaction ive had with a laptop between the screen, keyboard, and track pad... and im not even an apple guy, if Dell made one that was damn similar with those features id buy it, id get what i want - apple tax

then again that said, I can afford a mbpro but i don't have one... i find my iPad 4th fulfills most of my laptop type needs
 
When I read the headline, I instantly though "At twice the price" and then read the details.

First place, at 1.05 score is Apple at $1199 +$199 (you still need to buy Windows)
Second place, at 1.12, is Acer at $429

So in other words, you can buy almost 3 of the 2nd place computers, for the cost of 1 Apple. Apple tax much? Is 3x the price really worth .06 score?
 
Bojamijams said:
I can believe it. The build quality of a MBP is phenomenal. The keyboard is such a pleasure to you, you just want to keep typing. The touchpad? OMG. Light years ahead of anything the PC has. Big, glass, WAAAAAY better at multi touch input. Retina resolution.

Best PC laptop I've ever used is a MBP.
Click to expand...

Until it drops a couple of inches onto the ground.

Apple uses aluminum body contruction, which looks good and everything, but behaves in the WORST possible way when bumped or dropped. The solid construction transfers all outside force internally and is more likely to damage the internal components. Plastic may look cheap and seem flimsy, but when dropped, it will absorb the impact instead of your motherboard. I've known plenty of Mac fans that ditched them when they broke the second they touched the ground.

I also can't stand the keyboard setups they use in Macbooks. I prefer NOT to have the island keys setup. It never feels right to me.

And who the hell wants to see their reflection when they're trying to do their work? That glass panel looks great, but it gets in the way of a lot of work if you're in a brightly lit area. Not to mention that unless you're paying close to $3000, that "retina display" isn't going to get to use the native resolution in most games.

The touchpad I won't comment on, mostly because I'm not happy with any the PC laptop touchpads I've had a chance to use either.
 
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