The hardware apple pumps out is without parallel. The specs on the new MacBook Pro makes it a dream machine.
I am a fan of the iPhone, I am a HUGE fan of the iPad, I am a ginormous fan of Apple hardware. What I know though is that for editing my blog quickly and for creating video clips with titles and credits and transitions and getting them published to the web I can do all of this faster on my windows 7 based PC for 1/4 of the price of the MacBook Pro.
I’ll challenge anyone, anywhere to a blog content creating competition- them using the new MacBook Pro and me using my 3 year old Gateway with an Intel i3 processor and Windows 7 with the free Windows Live Essentials suite of software which includes Live Writer and Live Movie Maker.
Keep in mind that I paid $550 for my gateway and the new MacBook Pro starts at $2200.
The "MacBook pro with Retina Display," the starship’s official name, starts at $2200 with a 2.3 GHz Ivy Bridge processor, 8 GB of RAM, and a 256 SSD. Ships today. If you want to max it out—2.7 GHz processor, 16 GB of RAM, and the 768 GB SSD, it’ll hit you $3750.
The pricetag is a whole lot of dough and you get what you pay for if you are only concerned about having the very best hardware available. But I believe when Microsoft introduced Windows 7 it introduced for my uses an operating system that allows me to do things way faster. Ask Kim Smith when she needs to render a movie on her iMac and it takes half a day what would take me 30minutes on my PC.
Hardware is only part of the equation. if you don’t have the software for what you want to do because they don’t make it for Apple it’s tough luck for you.
So if you have money to burn (and I mean if you have the kind of money where you light your cigars with $100 bills) and are already happy with Apple’s operating system and basically use your computer for surfing the web 99% of the time, knock yourself out and buy one of these gorgeous, powerful machines.
But if you want something to blog on and do a fair amount of power using, save your money and buy a slick windows based Ultrabook which might be spec’d out a little less but will cost you anywhere from 1/2 to 1/3 of the price and will allow you to create content much quicker.
I wish that MacBook Pro was introduced a little cheaper, not so I could buy one, but just so the Windows based Ultrabook which it competes with and will be the next family computer would come down in price as a competitor. At that outrageous price of $2200 I think the Ultrabooks won’t even budge down in price a little and actually might have a little better pricing power.
Good Morning Gloucester 
An odd comparison that cannot be done. Your machine has three things that Apple laptop does not have. Sometimes less is more. Yours has something called “pixels” on your screen, the Mac has a retina display. Your laptop has something called a “hard drive” which spins. That Mac has static SSD. There are no moving parts within that computer. Yours has a CD player and the Mac of course does not since you may as well have a floppy drive too. It is as if you are making a comparison between a rotary landline telephone and a iPhone 4 with Siri. Sure, you can dial operator faster on your rotary dial phone but do you want to? Is there still an operator there if you dial zero? If she did answer I doubt she would be able to tell you where to find a happy ending.
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You could get a Ultrabook with SSD. for half the price. and I know that apple would like to think they invented what SIRI does but you do realize that Google Voice was there years ahead of SIRI.
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A 128SSD in an Ultrabook but you’re going to pay a price for 256SSD. At least now you are comparing apples to apples but compare new shiny apples to new shiny apples. That MacBook Pro with a retina display and 256SSD (512 available $$$) is the new shiny apple.
If I wanted to edit movies I would not buy it. I would get a MacMini with 2.3Ghz dual core i5 for $599 bucks. I might up the memory and either get a cheap Dell screen and you’re are much cheaper than your 3 year old gateway technology. I would go MacMini because it has Thunderbolt so if I later wanted a fast pipe to a Thunderbolt screen and a thunderbolt stack of drives so I could push movies back and forth a 10GBS it would be just an add on.
Comparing a MacBook that of course will suffer rendering movies because that is not what it was built for is silly. Pretty much all comparisons to Apple stuff is goofy because it’s just too different.
And I didn’t know Google sold a phone that talks to me. Google sells phones? 😉
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The MacBook Pro is supposed to be a desktop replacement. When I tell you I can do the things I do more efficiently on a laptop that costs half as much as an Ultrabook or a quarter of teh price as a PC from three years ago, that’s what i’m talking about.
You pay a HUGE premium to get AWESOME Hardware from Apple that can’t perform the tasks I do daily nearly as quickly.
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This computer wasn’t invented for you! *Sorry!* It was invented for ME! (Finally!) So I can open my 3GB design files 30,000 miles up in the airplane on a business trip! Whoohee! Also, so I can edit my photos up to the very tiniest detail in better resolution than the printed page for print projects. No one just using the compy for basic things will get this guy, unless they really like overkill. They will get an iPad or an iPhone or one of the apple knockoff devices that pretend to be a tenth of the genius of Apple! Apple invents it and then others make cheap knockoffs pretending they were really that cool all along, BUT they aren’t. Nope.
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Oatmeal explains everything: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/apple
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Regardless of which of the two you have, Premier Imprints @ 48 main st. can make you a custom case to protect your iPad or Mac with a stylish cover!!
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Joey is correct–he renders and posts a video in a fraction of the time it takes me, although I have a new and improved speedier method, thanks to Craig Kimberly’s fabulously helpful technical advice!
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Silly to say, but I would like to know how much does it weight… I have a strong MacKook Pro, 17″ monitor for about 3 years and I love it, but it is so heavy that it is just not possible to carry around. Mac Air is too weak and can not work well with Adobe programs… I need something light and strong, would this new computer be my choice?
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Here you go!
Height: 0.71 inch (1.8 cm)
Width: 14.13 inches (35.89 cm)
Depth: 9.73 inches (24.71 cm)
Weight: 4.46 pounds (2.02 kg)2
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It’s almost as light as the 13inch air. Which makes it pretty darn spiffy for the unbelievable power!
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You seem to be all over the place on this one….
You love this particular piece of software on Windows 7, that’s great. That has nothing to do with the value of this machine, (actually you could run that software in a Virtual Machine on the mac if you wanted to.) I could have a critical piece of software that I love that only runs on the Commodore 64. Good for me but it doesn’t make all other platforms crap or overpriced.
The screen on this machine is amazing and you can’t get one on any other laptop right now for any price. For certain business uses a double resolution screen like this one is very useful. Yes, in a few years, all laptops will have a screen like this one but right now this is bleeding edge.
You pay more for Macs and you get a better build quality on the machine and a cleaner hardware-software interaction. The added cost may not worth it in all situations to all people but you can tell by Apple’s success that they are doing something right.
Stop talking smack about this machine. You know that it is pure sex and you know that you want one.
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Where did I talk smack?
I talked facts
No ONE makes hardware like Apple. they make teh best hands down- no argument.
If I had all the money in the world I’d be running windows 7 on a macbook pro.
But if I want the best machine for MY needs where speed and ability to crank out content is paramount then I can can do it more efficiently on a windows based ultrabook that costs significantly less and will get the task done faster.
if all I did was surf the web and I had all the money in the world i would own the new macbook air.
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Okay, Good. We must not speak ill of our Apple overlord. We can make allowances for your needs.
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LOL!
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Software is just software. I’m not familiar with video editing software (as I don’t use it) but I’m sure there has to be a comparable software suite for the Mac that will run at least as fast as your Windows 7.
Rob is right. If you want the sexy Apple hardware and the windows software, run windows in a VM. I’m a software engineer and develop all my software on Linux Mint 13 VM while having a Windows 7 laptop. VMs give me the flexibility that I want.
I love Apple hardware (fast, light and snappy) but I am not a fan of their software in particular iTunes. That being said if my company gave us the option of Windows or Apple laptop… I’d take the Apple.
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That’s why I’d like to challenge another blogger to a content creating contest. be using my $550 three year old machine and them using teh $22000 Macbook pro
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Talking smack: “So if you have money to burn (and I mean if you have the kind of money where you light your cigars with $100 bills)”
Mister Natural says, “Use the right tool for the job.” Your movie editing does not require a cutting edge retina display, a cutting edge 256GB SSD drive or a full powered laptop trimmed down with no CD drive to make it lightweight and thin. That is for someone else who wants that.
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That’s why I said if all i did was browse the interwebs I’d own an Air. Lightweight, portable, and sexy as hell.
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The iPad would be good for just surfing the web. I got one for my mom who is using it all fine and dandy as a first computer in her seventies. It’s great to Facetime with the wee ones and email photos. It’s too funny to get emails from my mom! I love it! 🙂
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