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ljmjag

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 1, 2005
71
29
https://www.pcworld.com/article/3542609/the-1799-macbook-pro-13-vs-the-650-acer-

Does a $650 Acer run circles around the $1,799 2020 MBP? It might.

I know it runs windows...but I remember when Apple built MBPs which could never ever be compared to any budget windows machine. The more I see, the more I’m convinced that I’m just paying top dollar for keyboard that doesn’t suck. I should be getting more for my money.
 

ljmjag

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 1, 2005
71
29
The article finishes with "you don't buy a car for the engine"

The Acer is a piece of garbage despite the Geekbench performance.
[automerge]1588993083[/automerge]

I’d agree about not buying a car for the engine. On the other hand, you don’t spend $1,800 for a keyboard either.
 
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ctjack

macrumors 68000
Mar 8, 2020
1,518
1,540
Does a $650 Acer run circles around the $1,799 2020 MBP? It might.
I think it is not about Acer in particularly but Ryzen 4000. Sooner we will see a lot of options on Ryzen, so that will give a fight to Macbooks.
Anyway the gap now is wider than before. If you want all in one laptop for less, Win laptops are win-win.
But Macbooks also have they thing. I am truly happy to see Macbook internals - they are precisely done with a piece of mind. Just like German cars under the hood when you see clean interior of the engine part.
Also Mac OS squeezes more power out of chips due to optimization. Just like Iphones never needed large batteries and 4-6gb of RAM to be on the top of benchmarks and usability smoothness.
 
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Sikh

macrumors 6502a
Mar 8, 2011
548
320
You could always find a "comparable" windows machine but it always lacked something be it build quality, keyboard, trackpad, etc. One thing with Acers is build quality and quality of parts. They always fail right after warranty. I've recommended cheap acers from walmart for a lot of people and followed up with "this computer will break and you will have to deal with it". So far, everyone has complained the computer has broke outside of warranty. Usually its the charging port. I had one that the motherboard died and it was in warranty, asus replaced it after 3 weeks and that motherboard died after 5 months I believe.

You get what you pay for. I know the 2016-2018 macbooks left a real bad taste in peoples mouths because of the keyboard but i have a buddy with a 2016 macbook who uses it as a personal machine and had his keyboard replaced after a year and a half and hasnt had problems since. He actually noticed its more responsive and can deal with the low travel. Ive had a 2018 machine as a work machine with the i9 and 2018 that gets beat on for 8 -10 hours a day and i havent had any issues. I prefer a lighter / faster keyboard so for me personally I have no issues with the keyboard regardless of reliability. I know some people hate the typing experience on it.

Either way, you get what you pay for.
 
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spacegreybook

macrumors newbie
Apr 11, 2020
11
24
Fun article!

Yes, the MacBook Pro beats the Swift 3 when it comes to the display, keyboard (recently), trackpad, and overall build quality. Still, performance wise, Intel and Apple should do better than this.

Also with the price of the Swift 3 being less than half of a 10th gen i5 model, you can just buy another Swift 3 and you'll still have spent less than you did on one MacBook Pro.
 

Alex W.

macrumors 6502
Apr 18, 2020
353
190
id rather use something I like, it isn't that simple that swift probably has tons of engineering defects - audio semi bleed, coil whine, typing experience, track pad, screen, battery life etc.
 
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edubfromktown

macrumors 6502a
Sep 14, 2010
837
711
East Coast, USA
Tom's Hardware took a closer look and as with anything, you get what you pay for... performance with mediocre or worse everything else.
  • Display is dark with poor contrast
  • Audio lacks bass
  • Webcam image is barely visible regardless of lighting
  • Build quality feels fragile
 
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MrGunnyPT

macrumors 65816
Mar 23, 2017
1,313
804
That display looks terrible even in doors, I always go with high end SKUs due to display quality.. So that would be a big no from me on that Acer model.
 

magbarn

macrumors 68030
Oct 25, 2008
2,995
2,365
Ewww. The internal build on that ACER is definitely budget/lowest bidder. The screen is crap, and even with Windows 10 latest trackpad drivers will still be worse than a 10 year old macbook's trackpad. You can't poopoo the performance though. This thing smacks down the 2020 MBP 13 with 10th gen i7 which is almost 3x as much. And you can upgrade the SSD....

Sadly you see the "classism" that PC manufacturers do to AMD, even when the AMD CPU/GPU will destroy anything that Intel makes in the mobile space in speed & power use, they still will put the the AMD in 2nd/3rd tier machines. Notice the latest XPS models with that nice 16:10 display, no AMD options at all.
 
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The_Joker13

macrumors regular
Apr 9, 2016
124
196
Florida
MY 16” MBP is hands down the best laptop I’ve ever owned. It’s a beautiful machine and a beast in power. Had an Acer laptop about 10 years ago when I was a poor college student. After about a year that thing could hardly run with all the bloatware and virus issues. Apple isn’t perfect, but to suggest an Acer at $650 can hang with the quality of a MBP is laughable at best. To each their own, but Apple knows what they’re doing. And their customer service is second to none. Any time i’ve had an issue they more than satisfy my needs. jmo.
 
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