Who is a Mac for? (2014)

So who is a Mac for anyway? (please no insults, post your ideas to add to the list)

- anyone who likes great looking hardware with superb build quality
- anyone who likes optimised drivers and system that just works out of the box
- anyone unhappy about windows looking for an alternative
- Apple Fan boy (no logical reason, just pure fanboism)
- Power user / Enthusiast
- Front-End / WEB developer
- iOS developer
- Graphical designer (creative pros)
- Video professional (creative pros)
- Audio professional (creative pros)
- Writer / Blogger / Social Media Manager
- add more ...

 

- Google employees as they dont have much of a choice

 

Cisco as well

 

I'm sure most of those points are either pure Apple marketing or just outdated stereotypes about Apple users. The only two accurate ones from that list (imo) would be the fanboy and the iOS developer. Maaaaybe "Looking for a Windows alternative" if Linux is too scary for the person in question.

That said, to add to those two reasons, I'd just add "anyone who wants to use OSX" as a reason, since, you know, Apple runs on OSX.

 

IMO scratch the bolded ones in my experience the last 4-5 years.

the great looking I will agree with, superb build not so much, in your same cost area a good business unit is much better built and supported.
there are now I find too many sacrifices in the units in areas important to power users and professionals. If you specified compared to other consumer models I would defiantly agree fully.

Optimized drivers, not so much. The driver support for OpenCL/GL is now 2.5 years behind and the number of Kernel Panicks's I get from external devices and drivers since 10.6 is fairly impressive ..... almost windows Vista impressive if you push your laptop hard.

Power user .... see driver issue above and also no support for a lot of enthusiast hardware and software, and little to no hardware upgrade path or modifications. I am a power user and find it disturbingly sad there is not a single laptop with wide gamut screens, 32GB of RAM support or dual drive bays. its very much a limited set and even more so now that the old MBP 17" is gone

Video Pros and graphical designers ...... this is my bread and butter and what pays my bills! and to be honest Apple has been taken to slaughter in these two fields both because of hardware and software. there is no longer the pro support in software ( Adobe, AVID ets are all much better in win 7 and 8 ) but even just the fact that in the laptop and desktop market there is no hardware to back it up for the serious professional.
in the mobile market there is not a single unit that can be used as a portable workstation atleast competitively, for video work a cheap clevo gaming unit with a k2000m GPU will outrender a rMBP 6fps for every one. go to a true workstation with Premiercolor or Dreamcolor screens and K5000m GPU and 32GB you can literally be faster than a pretty heavily loaded Mac Pro!!! and have color accuracy that even a shiny new Apple Cinema Display can not touch.

after almost 30 years of Apple I would have to say they are focused on the consumer who wants the styling, the marketing influence, needs or wants OSX
they have gone and made it a high demand consumer item more akin the Gucci handbags then a powerful unit like they were back in the early 2000's

iOS development may also be a question as well , if you follow a lot of dev boards like my husband does many of them develop with OSX in a VM atop windows 7 Pro. they need OSX to develop for iOS devices but need the raw power they can hide in the background. much like me doing heavy video rendering on a 64 core machine that makes my 2014 Mac Pro spend more time as a cable holder

 

Pretty much this. In my short life so far, I haven't seen any of their products used for anything more serious than a trivial photo touch-up or Internet usage (ignoring iOS dev work, though that's an artificial limitation imposed by Apple, for good reason I suppose). "Stylish Facebook machine" is what I'd personally call it, though "Gucci computer" would be a better term I suppose.

 

Macs are for anyone who can afford them and have a desire (or requirement) to use OS X.

 

This in my opinion. You buy a mac for the OS, just like you'd buy a given Wintel machine for primarily Windows. Which Wintel or which Mac depends on the given usage.

 

^Agreed with the above. For the OS. That is why I use Macs. If I could have OS X on different hardware (running just as well as it does on an Apple machine), I would probably get it. Apple's machines are not even my favorite. Their OS is, however, and that's why I use them.

 

A custom rig for home, an alienware for travel and a macbook for the bus

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

 

Macbooks are for these people!

People who want beautiful looking hardware
People who want better than average consumer hardware
People who do not game
People who love OSX
People obsessed by excessive thin and lightness.
People who have owned Macintoshes before.

I love OSX. I like the styling of most Macs and the industrial design. I like them for what thin and light laptops do best. I use other laptops for most work use. I also expect to buy all the AppleCare they will sell you. I expect the MacBook to be delicate and to be more prone to needing service (that said, recent MacBook Air and MacBook Pro is good by consumer machine standards.

 

I am a creative professional who just recently switched from a PC laptop to a MacBook Pro.

Here are some of the reason I bought my MacBook Pro:

- It looks good (Not really a deciding factor, but still a plus)

- Form factor (It's slim, light, and extremely portable)

- I prefer using OS X over Windows (I have no problem using either, but I just prefer OS X)

- Graphic Design, Web Design, UI/UX Design, Illustration, Mobile Apps, Light Video Editing, etc... While I realize that PC workstations out there are optimized for the programs that I use (Adobe CS for example), I have still been able to do everything I want to with my MacBook Pro without any issues. This will definitely vary by person though, and the MacBook Pro's performance with some programs/tasks could certainly gimp people with heavy duty editing needs

- Retina Display screen resolution works with all of the programs that I use. While Adobe did optimize the performance of it's apps for PC workstations, their programs still suffer from scaling issues at higher resolutions with the QHD. Most people have to drop down to the FHD in order for the programs to look decent. If you are dead set on having a QHD then you are forced to be stuck with either tiny icons/UI elements (at higher resolutions) or blurry pixelated icons/UI elements (at lower resolutions) for a lot of crucial applications

- AppleCare. Everyone that I know of (including my wife) that has had an issue with their Apple product simply took it to the Apple store, and if they couldn't fix it on the spot Apple gave that person a brand new or manufacturer refurbished product right then and there. I have had to use the 2nd day in-home service repair with a Dell Inspiron that I had, and while I loved the service, it was frustrating in that particular instance that I had to schedule and leave work early for 3-4 service repairs over the course of 2+ weeks, and the issue still never got resolved. While I am sure that situation isn't the norm, I like being able to walk in to the Apple store at my own convenience and (most likely) walk out with a brand new or manufacturer refurbished product that I can then sync with iTunes, Time Machine, etc... and be back up and running in less than a few hours

- Installing and uninstalling programs is just a lot cleaner and easier

- Much LESS prone to getting viruses (I said LESS, I realize Macs can get viruses, but the fact of the matter is that the bulk of malware, viruses, etc... target the Windows operating system)

- Battery life. I "unplug" quite a bit and I am not always near a power source (nor do I want to lug around a heavy power brick), so this was a big deal for me

- Trackpad. I also use my trackpad a lot, and the MacBook Pro trackpad compared to the other workstation I was considering (Dell Precision M3800) was just better

- iOS Development. From what I understand, you can not sign your iOS apps from an OS X virtual machine running on Windows; you HAVE to have a Mac. I was told that if Apple finds out you are trying to sign/have signed an app from anything other than a genuine Mac they ban your account and kidnap your entire family, lol. So far I haven't had to sign an iOS app (but probably will in the near future), but I heard from more than one non-biased developer that this is indeed the case

I have a feeling that I may get heavily "rebutted" for what I posted, as most of the comments towards Macs seem to be pretty negative, but I am just stating my reasons for buying one. As I stated in another thread, I buy what I feel best suits my needs. Neither Apple no Microsoft sponsors me, and I will drop either company's hardware, software, etc... in a heartbeat if I feel it's no longer what's best for me.

 

As far as I know, Adobe's working on the QHD interface issues. And personally, I don't have much issues with using Revo Uninstaller on Windows (though I agree that Unix/Linux system have much cleaner uninstalls).

 

1. Your wife and friends have been very fortunate to have their MBP's replaced on the spot, as I have read many posts in which folks have left their MBP at the Apple Store to have the logic boards replaced, etc. under warranty. They usually do a direct replacement within the 1st 14 days, but after as I understand it, you must leave there for repairs.

Our last couple of computers have been Dells, and I think the onsite next day service is great as repairs are effected without having to give up our computer for a few days. I wish Apple would offer on site service.

2. Can you please tell me the difference between the MBP and Dell M3800 track pads?

 

1. That was not the case with us at all. As a matter of fact, I bought my wife's iPad from Sprint, and when it started acting up (months after I bought it), Sprint told her to take it to the Apple Store instead. When she walked in, they tried for like 5 minutes to get it working, and when they couldn't, the customer service rep at the Apple Store just went and got her a new iPad. No questions asked. Friends of mine have had similar experiences with their MacBooks and MacBook Pros as well. They received replacement CPUs when the issue couldn't be fixed during that visit. Even when I recently purchased my MacBook Pro, I was told that generally if they can't fix most hardware issues in store within a half hour or so, they just replace the entire machine on the spot.

My last CPU was a Dell, and the onsite repair is nice. As a matter of fact, lack of that option excluded other CPU manufacturers (Asus for example) from my recent laptop search. I just prefer being able to go to an Apple Store at my own convenience (after work), rather than having to leave work early and rush home to meet someone at my house (as was the case with all of my Dell repairs). It's just my own personal preference. Everyone is different.

2. The Dell Precision M3800 trackpad just doesn't work as well as the MacBook Pro trackpad. I believe there were some driver updates that made things better, but I keep reading that it still isn't as reliable as it should be, and there seem to be quite a few people frustrated with it's performance. As a matter of fact, trackpad performance was a big drawback for most of the other manufacturers that I looked at. Even my old Precision M6600's trackpad would just start going wonky for no reason at all about 10-15% of the time. So far I am extremely happy with the MacBook Pro's trackpad performance, and I haven't had one issue at all.

 

iPads and iPhones are completely different animals and are generally subject to replacement for manufacturer defects. Your experiences with the computers, though, is highly unusual. Apple will attempt 3 repairs before authorizing a replacement machine. I have never heard of a retail store handing out a new system for defects that have fallen outside of the standard return window.

 

My replacement experience was only with the iPad. As far as the MacBooks go, I was simply relaying what a few friends who own them told me, and what I was told at the store. My friends and I all live roughly in the same area, so maybe something is up with that particular store. I can vouch for the iPad replacement for sure, but I can not personally 100% vouch for the MacBook replacement as well. I am only going by what I have been told by a few people.

I don't know, I know a lot of people have complained that Apple always refuses to price match, but I can show a receipt proving that I got a nice discount off my MacBook Pro because they price-matched another store. I didn't have to fight, argue, or anything. I just showed them the listing proving the MacBook Pro was cheaper somewhere else, and the Apple Store happily matched it without an issue.

Who knows, maybe it is just the particular store that I go to. I just assumed all of this was standard operating procedure. If that's not the case, then I apologize on that respect, the last thing I want to do is mislead anyone here on the forums.

 

I've been to Apple stores all over the country, and what you've described is unique, so it must be your particular location. Similarly, I've not heard about a price-matching policy. It definitely works with authorized retailers, such as Best Buy or MicroCenter, but again, this is news for a standard Apple store.

As I said, it's different for iOS devices. I've had a couple iPhones replaced with no questions asked, though lately the company has been cracking down on this, giving the in-store staff more resources to do repairs. The last thing that went wrong with my phone was a sticking power button, which they almost certainly would have tried to repair had it broken before they instituted these new policies.

But hey, if your friends have had good luck getting replacement computers without having to go through the hassle of repairs, more power to them.

 

Yeah, I just reached out to one of my friends to make sure I wasn't going crazy, and he did confirm that he walked out of the Apple Store with a new (probably as-in refurbished) MacBook Pro with no issues from Apple and no previous repair attempts. It's funny that you mentioned Micro Center, because that was the store's online ad that I used to get the Apple Store to price match my MacBook Pro. I have no idea what this Apple Store is doing as opposed to other Apple Stores, but do I know that I am always going to use this particular one for whatever Apple-related products and services I need

 

you are very lucky Illustrator, Average system fix for me at an Apple store is 1-2 weeks if they don't decide to ship it off or worse yet decide that I run my system hard and they will just void my warranty arbitrarily and make me pay for any repairs. OK admittedly I may run some of them hard but if stock OSX lets me blow up a motherboard ..... I still say its their issue.

Apple Support I did find was better in some regions of the USA, and in some countries completely non existent, or very slow.

 

I purchased my last two MacBook Pros from MicroCenter. They were closeouts of previous generation/refresh models that were reduced quite dramatically. The system in my signature, save for the SSD and 16 GB of RAM, was more than $1,000 off Apple's original retail price when I bought it about six weeks after they announced the first models with Retina display.

 

MAN! $1000.00+ off is one heck of a discount. Micro Center does have some pretty nice deals that come around every once-in-a-while. Most of the time when I look there though, they want more than like an Amazon or a Newegg, so I just buy from the online retailers and save Micro Center for the crazy deals like you got, and the crazy (for a brand new rMBP, lol) deal that I was able to use them to get.

Now you are gonna have me on the lookout for some savings like you were able to get.