I love unibody MacBook Pros, my take on $40 dollars MacBook Pro

[Aoligei]

TLDR; I got a 2009 13" MacBook Pro for about $40 dollars. I upgraded to 8GB DDR3 RAM, 128GB SSD, added 1TB HDD by replacing the SuperDrive. Installed Catalina via Catalina patcher. This machine runs macOS Catalina fine, abit little bit buggy. 2009 MacBook features outdated Intel Core 2 Duo processor, with outdated I/O Port i.e. USB 2.0, SATA 2.0. If you are able to handle slow data transfer speed and don't mind do some software patching, you can get a surprising usable laptop for $40 dollars.

I have always wondered what is absolutely lowest price for a decent usable laptops in 2022.

I have also tried $100 dollars Windows laptop, but experience is very subpar. Not only the screen looks pretty terrible, but most importantly, those machine all comes with painfully slow Intel Celeron Processor and awful 32GB eMMc storage. Windows 10 installation alone count half of available storage, which leaves less than 16GB for files and program. This isn't even counting constant Windows update. To put bluntly, those laptop is pretty much just brand new e-waste.

Then I came across a 13" inch 2009 MacBook Pro for merely $40, so I felt that I have to give it a try, even though the seller is 1 hour of driving away. So the actual cost of this machine is close to $60 dollars, if we count gas.

The Unibody MacBook Pro is the last generation of MacBook Pro that are fully upgradable. Retina MacBook Pro has upgradeable SSD, but they require special adopters and some SSD will not functioning correctly. The unibody MacBook Pros aren't have these problem. Standard DDR memory, standard SATA connectors and we can even get dual drive if we replace the SuperDrive. It is truly wonderful and it is in direct contrast of current generation of MacBook Pro where everything is soldered on.

This particular MacBook Pro is 13" mid-2009 MacBook Pro, where it comes with upgraded Intel Core 2 Duo Processor P8700 clocked at 2.53Ghz, 4GB DDR3 RAM, 250GB hard drive. Since this MacBook Pro is easily upgradable, so I have installed 8GB DDR3 RAM and 128GB SSD, which made the MacBook much faster.

Why Do I love this so much?

I mean for $40 dollars worth of laptop, this laptop is holding up very well. Surprisingly, the battery is about 94% of original capacity, so it last for about 2-3 hours before it goes. Unlike the new MacBook Pro where everything is soldered on motherboard and locked down to component level, this MacBook Pro is fully upgradable and repairable. If SSD goes, i just toss a new SSD. If the RAM goes, I will just pick up used DDR3 RAM.

Intel Core 2 Duo is decade old CPU now, even Windows 11 isn't support this CPU anymore. So I am not expecting doing any heavy tasks with this laptop. But it doesn't mean it cannot do video editing or coding, it will just be slow. However, that being said, this machine is fully capable to do modern day tasks, such as web browsing, video streaming, even 4K playback is smooth. You can still run Microsoft Office 2019 and many other applications.

For what this MacBook Pro worth, it is certainly better than any new Celeron based Windows laptop. There is no questions about it, so the question is would you rather shelling out more money for not so great experience, but new laptop; or would you rather spend lesser money for better experience, but a decade old MacBook Pro. I would choose latter without hesitation.


What Do I NOT love?

Love or hate it, this is a 13 years old laptop. Even though this laptop offers more port selection than current MacBook Pro, but newer Macs offers lots better experience.

This laptop only have two USB 2.0 port, an ancient FireWire port (this maybe bonus if you need to connect FireWire devices) and Mini-Display port. USB 2.0 is slow in today's standard, file transfer will definitely take longer. The SATA 2 interface will limit SSD's performance, so please don't spend lots of money for high end SSD, it will be limited by SATA 2's 3Gbps speed anyway. DDR3 RAM can be hard to find these day for decent price.

Black Magic speed test shows SSD write speed close to 170-190MB/s and read speed around 250MB/s.

And the screen. It is 1280x800 resolution, so it is not Retina Display. You will definitely see pixels. Viewing angle is also low, colour shifting is noticeable and colour accuracy is not great either. It is not even remotely close to some cheap Windows laptop that features FHD screen. So be prepared be disappointed by this screen.

And software. The 2009 MacBook Pro can officially upgraded to Mac OS X El Captain. It is almost 7 years old OS now. So security updates has been discontinued. If you care about running up to date macOS, then you must use Catalina patcher to install macOS Catalina. Although support for this OS will be dropped when macOS Ventura comes out this September. I have not try Big Sur on this machine and I am not intended to run. Catalina is somewhat buggy on this machine. WiFi will not automatically reconnect when wake up from sleep and it can take a while to boot even on SSD.

Intel Macs all have very ironic ending. Where as Intel Mac will be better Windows machine than being a Mac, simply because you can run Windows on pretty much any Intel Mac and run well. Where as you need hack macOS installer to get semi-recent macOS installed on this laptop.

I do not know what I will do when Apple end support for Catalina. I probably will install some Linux Distribution or Windows on this, but for now, it is macOS Catalina and I love it.

In Conclusion:

For this little $40 dollar laptop, I am very satisfied. It is can do every modern task relatively well if you don't stress it. It is still very capable to be everyday computer. Certainly better than some cheap Chromebook (or you can install ChromeOS on this machine). For $40 dollars, this is money well spent.

Here is my collection of MacBook Pros

2009 MacBook Pro 13" for $40 dollars, 2009 MacBook Pro 15" for FREE (given by a co-worker who can't get macOS installed), 2010 MacBook Pro 13" (one with cracked trackpad, replacement ordered from Aliexpres) for $80 and 2012 MacBook Pro 13" for $200.

 

[theMarble]

It can run Monterey very well, also upgrade the RAM to 8GB. That would make a big difference.

 

[izzy0242mr]

For this little $40 dollar laptop, I am very satisfied. It is can do every modern task relatively well if you don't stress it. It is still very capable to be everyday computer. Certainly better than some cheap Chromebook (or you can install ChromeOS on this machine). For $40 dollars, this is money well spent.

I had a 2011 MacBook Pro for a while. It was good but like you said, ran pretty well. Could even do some basic gaming on it. It ran both macOS and Windows very well. I upgraded it to 16 GB of RAM and that did make a big difference. I also had an SSD installed which was nice.

 

[Aoligei]

It can run Monterey very well, also upgrade the RAM to 8GB. That would make a big difference.

I guess i will give it try, since I already upgraded the RAM to 8GB. Catalina is kind buggy on this machine, since Wi-Fi will not connect if I leave the machine idle for sometime, requires me restart to fix Wi-Fi problem. I guess, I can always connect to USB Wi-Fi.

I also have 2010 MacBook Pro 13", Monterey does not run well. I ended up sticking with macOS High Serria.

 

[izzy0242mr]

I guess i will give it try, since I already upgraded the RAM to 8GB. Catalina is kind buggy on this machine, since Wi-Fi will not connect if I leave the machine idle for sometime, requires me restart to fix Wi-Fi problem. I guess, I can always connect to USB Wi-Fi.

I also have 2010 MacBook Pro 13", Monterey does not run well. I ended up sticking with macOS High Serria.

Yeah, I think High Sierra was the last one I had on mine. If you can get Mojave on yours that's the best balance between old and new without losing quality of performance as much. But idk how easy or well it runs on that computer.

If you are on an older OS you can still get by fine with using an updated browser, like Chrome or Firefox.

 

[Aoligei]

Yeah, I think High Sierra was the last one I had on mine. If you can get Mojave on yours that's the best balance between old and new without losing quality of performance as much. But idk how easy or well it runs on that computer.

If you are on an older OS you can still get by fine with using an updated browser, like Chrome or Firefox.

Yes.. I am thinking downgrade to Majave, since Catalina is not running best on this 09 MacBook Pro, but I am way to lazy...

The whole reason I went to Catalina in first place is browser support on El Captain is not great. Both Firefox and Chrome doesn't support anymore. I have tried Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Brave, they all give me "Your connection is not secured" message and won't load most pages that I tried to browse, I think it might have something with SSL support. This was deal break for me.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

They all give me "Your connection is not secured" message and won't load most pages that I tried to browse, I think it might have something with SSL support. This was deal break for me.

This was in El Capitan? You're just missing the ISRG Root X1 certificate. Extremely easy to fix. Run in the Terminal:

curl 'http://x1.i.lencr.org' > /tmp/ISRGRootX1.pem && sudo security -v add-trusted-cert -d -r trustRoot -k /Library/Keychains/System.keychain /tmp/ISRGRootX1.pem

Please run this command over a trusted private internet connection (home internet good, public wifi at coffee shop bad). Enter your password when prompted.

FYI, El Capitan is fine but Mavericks will fly by comparison.

 

[Aoligei]

This was in El Capitan? You're just missing the ISRG Root X1 Certificate. Extremely easy to fix. Run in the Terminal:

curl 'http://x1.i.lencr.org' > /tmp/ISRGRootX1.pem && sudo security -v add-trusted-cert -d -r trustRoot -k /Library/Keychains/System.keychain /tmp/ISRGRootX1.pem

Please run this command over a trusted private internet connection (home internet good, public wifi at coffee shop bad). Enter your password when prompted.

FYI, El Capitan is fine but Mavericks will fly by comparison.

Thank you for your suggestion, I will definitely give it a try.

 

[Amethyst1]

FYI, El Capitan is fine but Mavericks will fly by comparison.

FYI, Mavericks is fine but Snow Leopard will fly by comparison.

 

[Amethyst1]

This laptop only have two USB 2.0 port, an ancient FireWire port (this maybe bonus if you need to connect FireWire devices) and Mini-Display port. USB 2.0 is slow in today's standard, file transfer will definitely take longer.

“Ancient” FireWire 800 is substantially faster than USB 2.0.

And the screen. It is 1280x800 resolution, so it is not Retina Display. You will definitely see pixels. Viewing angle is also low, colour shifting is noticeable and colour accuracy is not great either.

The screen is, to put it bluntly, crap. But at the time, (basically) every laptop had a crappy low-res TN panel so the MBP can’t be blamed for that.

 

[Aoligei]

“Ancient” FireWire 800 is substantially faster than USB 2.0.


The screen is, to put it bluntly, crap. But at the time, (basically) every laptop had a crappy low-res TN panel so the MBP can’t be blamed for that.

Yea, but I have hard time to find any FireWire devices now days.

Beside low resolution, it is still kind better than cheap Windows netbooks (those Windows laptop with 32GB eMMc and Celeron). Although 1366x768 is noticeably better than 1280x800 found on MacBooks.

 

[Amethyst1]

Although 1366x768 is noticeably better than 1280x800 found on MacBooks.

I don’t see how that makes a big difference since the modes are pretty similar, with 1280×800 crucially offering more height.

 

[theMarble]

I guess i will give it try, since I already upgraded the RAM to 8GB. Catalina is kind buggy on this machine, since Wi-Fi will not connect if I leave the machine idle for sometime, requires me restart to fix Wi-Fi problem. I guess, I can always connect to USB Wi-Fi.

I also have 2010 MacBook Pro 13", Monterey does not run well. I ended up sticking with macOS High Serria.

That's interesting, I'm running Big Sur 11.6.6 (very similar performance margin to Catalina) on a 2010 MacBook with 4GB of RAM and it flies. (It's not as good as my rMBP but in my daily apps; Firefox, VS Code, Pages, Affinity Suite it runs fast enough, plus the fans don't ramp up like it.)

 

[m1maverick]

I have always wondered what is absolutely lowest price for a decent usable laptops in 2022.

I have also tried $100 dollars Windows laptop, but experience is very subpar. Not only the screen looks pretty terrible, but most importantly, those machine all comes with painfully slow Intel Celeron Processor and awful 32GB eMMc storage. Windows 10 installation alone count half of available storage, which leaves less than 16GB for files and program. This isn't even counting constant Windows update. To put bluntly, those laptop is pretty much just brand new e-waste.

I am not sure where you're looking but I am typing this on an $100 Dell Latitude E7470 system that I purchased a couple of months ago. It is configured with a Core i5-6300U CPU @2.4 GHz, 8GB DDR4 RAM, 256GB SSD, and a 1920 x 1080 display. It's currently running Ubuntu 22.04. At this price I purchased several so another is running Windows 10 (and I have run Windows 11 on it, no special installer required).

Low cost PC systems are not e-waste, there are plenty of capable systems out there for good prices which run very well.

 

[theMarble]

I am not sure where you're looking but I am typing this on an $100 Dell Latitude E7470 system that I purchased a couple of months ago. It is configured with a Core i5-6300U CPU @2.4 GHz, 8GB DDR4 RAM, 256GB SSD, and a 1920 x 1080 display. It's currently running Ubuntu 22.04. At this price I purchased several so another is running Windows 10 (and I have run Windows 11 on it, no special installer required).

Low cost PC systems are not e-waste, there are plenty of capable systems out there for good prices which run very well.

I agree that low-cost computers shouldn't be recycled, but there is a point towards getting a MacBook (or a good ThinkPad), build-quality. Lots of cheaper (and a few expensive) Windows laptops are built with many thin plastic pieces which suffer from things like deck flex (flimsy keyboard plastics), screen flex (twisting on the display housing) and overall a not great feel to use in my opinion. An older MacBook doesn't creak on it, nor is it because of it being metal. As I mentioned in a previous comment and around this forum many times, I have a white plastic MacBook which doesn't creak or flex when I use it.

ThinkPads are usually my pick for budget old Windows laptops, upgradable (CPU, RAM, HDD, Keyboard, Screen...), reliable and seem to last as long as Mac's. My second-hand X270 has similar specs to your Dell (6300U, 8GB DDR4, 256GB NVMe) running Monterey with OpenCore and still feels new. It certainly wasn't 40 dollars but it was good value (IIRC around $450).

 

[Aoligei]

I am not sure where you're looking but I am typing this on an $100 Dell Latitude E7470 system that I purchased a couple of months ago. It is configured with a Core i5-6300U CPU @2.4 GHz, 8GB DDR4 RAM, 256GB SSD, and a 1920 x 1080 display. It's currently running Ubuntu 22.04. At this price I purchased several so another is running Windows 10 (and I have run Windows 11 on it, no special installer required).

Low cost PC systems are not e-waste, there are plenty of capable systems out there for good prices which run very well.

I wasn't specifically looking for laptops. I was shopping for tablet for my mother, then I saw this MacBook Pro on the Facebook Market Place.

I do have few Windows laptops at home: 1) Acer Aspire 3 with Intel Core i5 7300u, 8GB DDR 4 RAM, 500GB SSD and Full HD 2) HP laptop with AMD Ryzen 3 3300U, 16GB DDR4 and 500GB SSD, with 1366x768 screen. Therefore, i wasn't really looking for Windows laptop.

I was comparing with one $100 dollar Acer laptop that was left in my basement with 32GB eMmc, Intel Celeron. I got essentially for temporary use while my old laptop stop functioning. I only used it for couple month before I purchased the Acer Aspire 3.

I also wasn't try to say low cost PC system are e-waste. That was not my intention at all. However, you can't find PC laptops under $100 dollars has same quality with MacBook Pros.

 

[m1maverick]

I agree that low-cost computers shouldn't be recycled, but there is a point towards getting a MacBook (or a good ThinkPad), build-quality. Lots of cheaper (and a few expensive) Windows laptops are built with many thin plastic pieces which suffer from things like deck flex (flimsy keyboard plastics), screen flex (twisting on the display housing) and overall a not great feel to use in my opinion. An older MacBook doesn't creak on it, nor is it because of it being metal. As I mentioned in a previous comment and around this forum many times, I have a white plastic MacBook which doesn't creak or flex when I use it.

ThinkPads are usually my pick for budget old Windows laptops, upgradable (CPU, RAM, HDD, Keyboard, Screen...), reliable and seem to last as long as Mac's. My second-hand X270 has similar specs to your Dell (6300U, 8GB DDR4, 256GB NVMe) running Monterey with OpenCore and still feels new. It certainly wasn't 40 dollars but it was good value (IIRC around $450).

This Latitude E7470 is very good build quality. It's not an aluminum unibody chassis but it's build quality is quite nice. It's also seven years newer than the OPs 2009 MBP. It has better technology all around for not much more.

Don't get me wrong, I love the 13" Unibody MBP's (I have a 2012 model myself). But good quality PCs can be had for little money too.

 

[m1maverick]

I wasn't specifically looking for laptops. I was shopping for tablet for my mother, then I saw this MacBook Pro on the Facebook Market Place.

I do have few Windows laptops at home: 1) Acer Aspire 3 with Intel Core i5 7300u, 8GB DDR 4 RAM, 500GB SSD and Full HD 2) HP laptop with AMD Ryzen 3 3300U, 16GB DDR4 and 500GB SSD, with 1366x768 screen. Therefore, i wasn't really looking for Windows laptop.

I was comparing with one $100 dollar Acer laptop that was left in my basement with 32GB eMmc, Intel Celeron. I got essentially for temporary use while my old laptop stop functioning. I only used it for couple month before I purchased the Acer Aspire 3.

So you made a comparison with a low spec PC laptop laying around in your basement and concluded no PC laptop could be had for low cost that was anything other than that?

I also wasn't try to say low cost PC system are e-waste. That was not my intention at all. However, you can't find PC laptops under $100 dollars has same quality with MacBook Pros.

This Latitude E7470 is a very nice system with nice build quality. It's in an attractive case, doesn't dent looking at it the wrong way like the MBPs do, it's thin, lightweight, and an all around solid system. Being seven years newer it also has later technology than the 2009 MBP.

The unibody MBPs are great systems. They are not exclusive in that area. There are many nice, older PC systems which can be had to similar money with better specifications. IMO this E7470 was a much better value, specification wise, than the 2009 MBP you purchased. Plus it can run the latest version of Windows without having to use special installers. That's more than I can say about Macs which is ironic because Apple makes both the system and the OS.

 

[Aoligei]

So you made a comparison with a low spec PC laptop laying around in your basement and concluded no PC laptop could be had for low cost that was anything other than that?

I don't want turn this into PC vs Mac thing at all. I was just going to say this MacBook is better than the low spec PC laptop that I have. Frankly, some of these low spec PC is e-waste, especially these laptop with 32GB eMmc, Celeron processors. I never said anything that low cost Windows PC are all e-waste.

The HP AMD based Ryzen laptop that I have, i brought brand new for $299CAD, which I think it is a great value. The HP Pavillion Aero 13 with Ryzen 5, 2K screen, 16GB RAM and 500GB SSD, for $699CAD would be better deal than some Retina MacBook Pro.

This Latitude E7470 is a very nice system with nice build quality. It's in an attractive case, doesn't dent looking at it the wrong way like the MBPs do, it's thin, lightweight, and an all around solid system. Being seven years newer it also has later technology than the 2009 MBP.

The unibody MBPs are great systems. They are not exclusive in that area. There are many nice, older PC systems which can be had to similar money with better specifications. IMO this E7470 was a much better value, specification wise, than the 2009 MBP you purchased. Plus it can run the latest version of Windows without having to use special installers. That's more than I can say about Macs which is ironic because Apple makes both the system and the OS.

Frankly, it is pointless to bring E7470 over and over again. It it certainly way powerful than this $40 dollar MacBook Pro, simply it has better specification. I don't have experience with this laptop, nor I desire to have one. I don't need used Windows laptop as I already have two Windows laptops.

Secondly, different people think value differently. I don't care about Windows laptop in this point, so E7470 or any other Windows laptop doesn't matter to me. If you think your $100 dollars E7470 is better value or better buy then my $40 dollar MacBook Pro, that's fine. For me, I rather spend $100 dollars on very old MacBook than spend money on Windows laptop. But that's just me.

 

[Amethyst1]

Frankly, some of these low spec PC is e-waste, especially these laptop with 32GB eMmc, Celeron processors.

Well, what should you expect when buying a brand-new laptop for as little as $100? Very cheap and very low-end components, such as those you mention. You can kinda obviously get a better deal by buying an older but more powerful second-hand laptop for the same kind of money.

I was just going to say this MacBook is better than the low spec PC laptop that I have.

Just out of interest, what Celeron processor does the laptop have? It's probably an Atom-architecture-derived CPU which explains its abysmal performance, but I'd be interested in comparing its performance to a Core 2 Duo.

 

[Aoligei]

Well, what should you expect when buying a brand-new laptop for as little as $100? Very cheap and very low-end components, such as those you mention. You can kinda obviously get a better deal by buying an older but more powerful second-hand laptop for the same kind of money.


Just out of interest, what Celeron processor does the laptop have? It's probably an Atom-architecture-derived CPU which explains its abysmal performance, but I'd be interested in comparing its performance to a Core 2 Duo.

LOL... I can do a benchmark when I got home from work... It is Celreon N3350 which is quite common on low end laptops, all in ones... The one I got was out new, it was refurbished..I only needed for few months as my old laptop stopped working.

It is based on Apllo Lake, which is based on Atom. Frankly, PC laptop shouldn't even produce thoes type of ewast in my opinion.

Again, there is no argument that PC is better value in terms of price, regardless new or used. The $40 dollar MacBook Pro I got was purely luck. Some of these 2009 MacBook Pro are selling more than 200 Canadian dollars on Kijiji or Facebook marketplace. Same 200 dollars could get you decdnt Windows laptop with much higher specifications.

I don't disagree with you, but I simply or some people simply don't care about used Windows laptop. There are people only pruchase Macs because it runs macOS...

 

[m1maverick]

I don't want turn this into PC vs Mac thing at all. I was just going to say this MacBook is better than the low spec PC laptop that I have. Frankly, some of these low spec PC is e-waste, especially these laptop with 32GB eMmc, Celeron processors. I never said anything that low cost Windows PC are all e-waste.

The HP AMD based Ryzen laptop that I have, i brought brand new for $299CAD, which I think it is a great value. The HP Pavillion Aero 13 with Ryzen 5, 2K screen, 16GB RAM and 500GB SSD, for $699CAD would be better deal than some Retina MacBook Pro.

You turned this into a PC versus a Mac "thing" right at the beginning of your first message. It's right there in the second paragraph after the first one (which was only a single sentence).

Frankly, it is pointless to bring E7470 over and over again. It it certainly way powerful than this $40 dollar MacBook Pro, simply it has better specification. I don't have experience with this laptop, nor I desire to have one. I don't need used Windows laptop as I already have two Windows laptops.

Secondly, different people think value differently. I don't care about Windows laptop in this point, so E7470 or any other Windows laptop doesn't matter to me. If you think your $100 dollars E7470 is better value or better buy then my $40 dollar MacBook Pro, that's fine. For me, I rather spend $100 dollars on very old MacBook than spend money on Windows laptop. But that's just me.

Bringing up a $100 (when new) PoS PC is pointless when comparing it to a $2000 (when new) MBP. I see absolutely no point in comparing a $40 14 year old MBP to some ultra cheap PC merely because the PC was $100 (new). It's a ridiculous comparison. A more appropriate comparison is what can you get in the same price range as the used MBP you just picked up. Thus my offering up the E7470 of a very nice, capable, quality system that is priced similarly to the MBP.

In the end I think you should have just left out the second paragraph of the original post. It was a great post and the second paragraph added nothing but to turn this into a PC versus Mac comparison because that's exactly what the second paragraph was.

 

[m1maverick]

I don't disagree with you, but I simply or some people simply don't care about used Windows laptop. There are people only pruchase Macs because it runs macOS...

Then why did you feel the need to compare the Mac with a cheap PC?

 

[Aoligei]

You turned this into a PC versus a Mac "thing" right at the beginning of your first message. It's right there in the second paragraph after the first one (which was only a single sentence).


Bringing up a $100 (when new) PoS PC is pointless when comparing it to a $2000 (when new) MBP. I see absolutely no point in comparing a $40 14 year old MBP to some ultra cheap PC merely because the PC was $100 (new). It's a ridiculous comparison. A more appropriate comparison is what can you get in the same price range as the used MBP you just picked up. Thus my offering up the E7470 of a very nice, capable, quality system that is priced similarly to the MBP.

In the end I think you should have just left out the second paragraph of the original post. It was a great post and the second paragraph added nothing but to turn this into a PC versus Mac comparison because that's exactly what the second paragraph was.

Seriously? Help me find any used PC that is $40 dollars and have same build quality?

Secondly, I am merely compare with the PC that I have and I am able to get for close to $100 dollars, why is such big issue for you? If you like your E7470 so much, then good for you. And I don't give a damn.

You have to remember, my $40 dollars is Canadian dollar, your $100 dollar is probably US dollars. This is not comparable. Your $100 dollar E7470 cost almost 3x more ($40 dollar is roughly $31 USD).

Finally, you might able to get $100 dollar for your E7470 and I might able to get $40 dollar MacBook Pro. This is not common occurrence. Frankly, from Facebook market to Kijiji, with search range from $50 to $150, all I can find is old Windows laptop with cheap build quality that I don't care of.

 

[Aoligei]

Then why did you feel the need to compare the Mac with a cheap PC?

I am not compare with cheap PC. I am compare with cheap, Celeron-based, 32GB laptop. I didn't make genetic statement that cheap PC are crap. You turned into general Mac vs PC crap.