In my experience the computer techs are not fans of apple computers and many I know are totally unfamiliar with their operating system.
I reckon they don’t like them because the hardware is closely controlled by apple as is the the OS which is fairly robust and most users can quickly resolve most problems without outside support and hardware/software conflicts are not really an issue unlike microsoft OS computers.
Most techs bread and butter is in the Microsloth environment so they learn them well.
I’m a software developer and both myself and my business partner have had great reliability with HP Elitebooks prior to switching to MacBook Pro’s in 2012 and 2013. One of the HP’s is still being used for a specific function - that’s more than 6 years use.
I’ve had absolutely no issues at all with my MacBook Pro. My business partner cooked his mother board (at least that was our assumption) when we were on site during 40 degree weather in a shed - we accepted that the machine was being operated well outside its rated temperature range.
For those with a technical interest we also run Windows 10 on the MacBooks using Fusion - a bit like 2 machines in one.
I have had a quite a few Toshiba laptops since the mid 90s and have never had a problem with any of them. They usually just get replaced because they get superseded. I still have a lap top from the late 90s that still works fine. My current machine is a Toshiba Ultrabook. My daughter has had Apple notebooks, phones and tablets and has had many problems with them. Apple just seems to replace
any that are faulty. I’m not a fan of their quality but they are very user friendly.
99.9% of windows laptops have use changeable ram, hard drives
Apple has historically been difficult to do such things as they Actively discouraged self upgrades, they changed tack later.
I don’t know about ease of accessing PC hard drives except that friends who have PC laptops complain that it costs them a lot to have them serviced (including software and hardware updates). These friends are not technically savvy and neither am I but I have never had any difficulty attending to any issues with my Macs for more than 30 years. Apple regularly notifies the availability and issues software upgrades that are easy to download and are automatically installed. Hardware upgrades have always been readily available from third parties when not available from Apple. These factors are what gives Macs a higher rating in any performance surveys.
Apple for over 10 years all through the 90s and 00s used SCSI instead of the cheaper IDE (all other notebook brands) meaning hard disk upgrades, CD DVD drive upgrades cost no less than 3x
The pre early 00s a Power processor was still the CPU as result any external USB or Firewire devices had to be Mac Compatible adding minimum double or triple cost. (these days Intel CPUs make the devices cheaper but still slightly more expensive)
Apple OSX required a ‘Payment’ for all service pack upgrade windows did not
These days Apple offers service iterations to OSX for free
How is that different from Microsoft? Windows has always provided that for the OS. [quote=“d.ainswalk, post:46, topic:13041”]
PC laptops complain that it costs them a lot to have them serviced (including software and hardware updates)
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Other than a failed part that can be purchased as a commodity I am struggling to understand what costs are involved in hardware updates for a PC that are not equally applicable to Apple over time. For example, as applications get more complex they depend on faster hardware regardless of manufacturer.
As for software, those who buy the annual updates that are pushed are possibly naive that they need them at all, or at least every year. I have applications I bought in Windows XP days that have not been updated and continue to work just fine on Windows 10. Applications developers each have their own business models but the most common is to provide free updates to a minor release that are fixes while charging a fee for major releases with new features. [quote=“d.ainswalk, post:46, topic:13041”]
I have never had any difficulty attending to any issues with my Macs for more than 30 years.
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Actually I forgot to mention above that my Samsung’s battery is pretty useless now (only lasts 5-15 minutes depending on the activity) - possibly because it’s been plugged in 95% of the time I’ve had it. I haven’t actually looked into whether it’s replaceable or not because I keep using it plugged in and keep thinking something else will go wrong and I’ll want to replace the whole things one day anyway!
I also forgot to mention that my Apple screen came to me at a very low price, secondhand, via a contact in the industry. I doubt that I would ever have forked out for one at full price!
I also used a MacBook Pro before the Samsung, but didn’t like the weight and also running Windows it was a bit unresponsive sometimes.
It’s that time of the year , EOFY, when one starts to look around at upgrading office equipment . I’ve been looking at a new Gaming Laptop come work Laptop for some time and had decided to purchase an MSI unit . Good brand , good rep. blah , blah , blah . Would cost roughly $4999 . Of late I have been steered in the direction of a Resistance Fury 17.3 inch 1080 GTI 8 gig graph card for $3499 . That is a good $1500 less than the MSI with equiv graph card . I could buy a Resistance Fury running 2 x 1080 8 GIG cards in SLI for less than the MSI ./
Problem is apart from knowing that Resistance is an "Aussie Company " ??? I don’t know much else about them . I think they are tied up with Leader Computers , not sure . Please , oh please no comments about you should build a desk top for that money . I cart the laptop all over Melb to do high end Graphics etc etc . Any help would be surely welcomed .
Hi Mike, Are you familiar with Venom Blackbooks? Not quite as sharply priced. You might enjoy the specs of the “X” range if price is secondary. MLN sells them and the specs are easier to read on their site.
We have a 17" Blackbook from Feb 2013 in the family that has been very good with no worries. The user can still play most of his top end games at max or near max resolution. It was the first notebook I had seen that felt almost like a desktop. Battery life was barely 2 hours on a very good day and is somewhat less 4 years on, so might not suit your needs unless they have improved that.
I remember lugging my Compaq Portable (1 - I don’t think it was known as a 1 but people referred to it as a 1 when the plus, 2 and 3 etc came out). The Compaq Portable 3 was the first I used that was small enough for cabin luggage …
Colour me confused about how the ratings go. One example is
(redacted, member content)
is not even though it has better scores on most of the criteria.
Others rankings are equally quizzical as other not recommended models have higher scores than some recommended ones. Would you fill in the gap of ‘why’?
The reason is that only models that are still available for purchase are recommended, ie discontinued models have the Recommended flag removed. This is to avoid people searching in vain to buy a recommended product if they miss seeing the Discontinued flag.
Thanks for raising the question, as that criterion is obviously a bit confusing ! I even forgot it was so…
- oh, and get one of these maybe?
advice.
