The Official MacBook Pro 2012 Thread

[masterchef341]

As far as the build qualities, I went through 2 MBP's 17 and 3 Envy 17. They both are made from underpaid/overworked overseas factories and I had issues with all of them which is why I decided to wait for IB before purchasing a new system. Most laptops have issues.

I don't see how Ivy Bridge is going to resolve this issue for you. I think it's pretty likely that you will continue to take issue with every laptop that crosses your hands for as long as laptops are made, if this was your experience thus far.

[SpartanJet]

Perhaps, but the real point was that all laptops suffer from build quality issues, not my undying need for perfection and the inevitable letdown when the laptop I buy isn't. Waiting for IB was more of a technical advance issue, not quality control.

[jackpfree]

Right now I am deciding between these two laptops:

Sager NP9130

15.6" 1900 x 1080 95% NTSC Color Gamut Display
i7-3610QM
GTX 570M
500 GB 7200 RPM

$1250 (With the student discount from the reseller)

Retina MBP

15.4" Retina Display (IPS, 2880 x 1800)
i7-3610QM
GT 650M
256 GB SSD

$1999 (with student discount)

The Sager NP9130 gets about 4+ hours of battery life and weighs 6.83 pounds, I am used to carrying around my 8 pound vostro 1700 around my high school but it would be nice for college if I could really have something light weight with great battery life. I was planning on getting an aftermarket SSD and replacing whatever drive I got in the Sager, but looks like I won't have to do that if I go apple

I am willing to take the gaming performance hit and price premium to have more battery life, an IPS screen, a lighter computer, and a metal chassis. I am a sucker for metal...

Shame I can't get a matte screen I am not too bothered by the reflections when I use my friend's macs though.

[corpses3]

Impressive the display. Higher res than my 30" monitor, in half the size.

Gratz to apple for offering the option.

[Bill Nye]

The 650M isn't $470 better than the 640M. And you could also point out that the S15 has an optical drive yet still weighs a bit less.

No, the 650m is NOT $500 better than the 640m. But I'd easily argue that a 650m, a MUCH crisper screen, and an all around superior build IS. Not to mention with student pricing we're talking about a $250 different, not even factoring in the $100 giftcard.

Fact of the matter is, there is no alternative to the retina MBP. Are the old MBP competitively priced? Probably not. But they're in their own league with their size/performance.

However recently more laptops (Envy, Series 7, etc) come with a similar package. However with this new screen, Apple is once again in a league by itself.

[GadgetsNut]

I'm not clear if it's using the 2880x1800 native (for an enormous desktop), or if it's 1440x900 doing the 2x DPI thing? If its the latter I'd rather have a pedestrian 1200 or even 1080 resolution.

And if it's the former, I can't imagine how tiny things will be. The Sony 13" Z with 1080 is already too small for comfortable viewing.

[masterchef341]

Hey, you're the one that brought up the Envy 15 versus MBP 15 comparison; all I did was run the numbers!

If you don't like HP, take the Vaio S15 Performance. Quad-core Ivy Bridge i7, 640M GPU, 4.4 lbs, 1920x1080 15.5" screen. With a 256 gb SSD and 8 GB RAM (just like the $2200 MBP), it comes to $1,729.

If 17xx is the figure, then I'd have to pick the Apple option between these two as well.

$2000 + $100 sellable giftcard = $1900 + tax vs $1700 + tax, and the apple machine seems much better.

Of course, if we're making this a fair comparison, you'd have to factor in the $2xx sellable incentive sony has going on with the free ps3. So maybe it's more like $1500 vs $1900 after incentives.

[Mitlov]

No, the 650m is NOT $500 better than the 640m. But I'd easily argue that a 650m, a MUCH crisper screen, and an all around superior build IS. Not to mention with student pricing we're talking about a $250 different, not even factoring in the $100 giftcard.

Fact of the matter is, there is no alternative to the retina MBP. Are the old MBP competitively priced? Probably not. But they're in their own league with their size/performance.

However recently more laptops (Envy, Series 7, etc) come with a similar package. However with this new screen, Apple is once again in a league by itself.

You can't presume that you can find discounts for Apple but can't find similar discounts for HP or Sony. For every discount you can track down for an Apple machine, you can probably track down two or three discounts for a Windows machine (especially HP).

Is 1800p that much better than 1080p? Depends on the person. Eventually, increasing resolution becomes a matter of diminishing returns. In a 15" screen, many people may not be able to really see pixels very well with 1920x1080. For those people, the jump to 1800p may not be a huge advantage.

Like I said, it's like comparing the 911 to the M3 coupe. For some people, the 911's superior fuel economy, shifter feel, and steering feel may justify the extra price. For others, the extra trunk and back seat space of the M3, plus the lower price, make the BMW the better choice. For some people, spending an extra 30% to get certain intangibles is justifiable; for others it isn't. Just because they're not identical doesn't mean they're not cross-shopped. The MBP offers an even crisper screen than admittedly-already-crisp 1080p 15" screens; it offers a great trackpad, etc. But that doesn't mean it's automatically better than a PC competitor that costs 30% less and offers an optical drive and similar performance hardware.

tl;dr version: the MBP 15 does have direct competition, just not identical-in-all-respects competition. It is more expensive than said competition. For some people, the increase in price is worth it; for others, it isn't.

[masterchef341]

there's no doubt that if you do a serious look across the market, apple's retina MBP is definitely expensive

[Mitlov]

there's no doubt that if you do a serious look across the market, apple's retina MBP is definitely expensive

Exactly. Expensive? YES. Worth it? For some, YES. For all, NO.