Is anyone considering Windows after this lastest MacBook release?

[Deanster]

That is ABSOLUTELY a work-around. My god you are ignorant.

The iPhone comes with a lightning to USB cable. And yet none of Apple's new Macbooks have a USB slot.

In order to connect the two devices, you have to purchase a third item just to do so.

It's not optimal, but once you've bought your $5 adapter, the problem is gone forever. If that's unacceptable as part of moving to the highest I/O laptop on the planet (maybe desktops also?), then buy last year's model, and you'll be very happy.

It's a transition. Stop whining, order an adapter or a different laptop, move on with your life.
[doublepost=1478755279][/doublepost]Back to the original question, I was unhappy enough about the price of the new 15" MBP's to take a pretty serious look at the Windows side of the house.

Several things became clear - there are NO 32GB RAM machines that aren't monstrously huge. People are all worked up about this, but I think that's mostly folks who haven't actually attempted to buy a laptop with that RAM configuration.

Same story on video cards - there certainly are high-spec video cards out there, but the laptops running them are large, insanely loud, have a minuscule battery life, or all three.

While there are cheaper Win laptops, and more-powerful Win laptops, and ones that can match one or another feature, I didn't find anything in the 15" range with similar or better specs at a meaningfully cheaper price. Same story in the 13" space, but I think there are better chances of coming up with price/performance mix that would work for many people there.

Last but not least, I'll just note that I have a Surface Pro 4 with 8gb RAM and the i5 CPU, which should be a fairly fast and efficient machine, but... it has frequent random slowdowns, and often lags on accepting input, such that it FEELS slower than my wife's 2015 12" MacBook, which is a legitimately low-spec machine.

For the record, I'm running the SP4 stock, just what came on it, Office 365, and a couple undemanding word-processor type apps. The slowdowns come just cruising along, with nothing but Word open, while the MacBook feels fast even with Mail/Calendar/Messages/Safari/Word/Photos, etc, all open.

The SP4 is Soooooooooo close to being great. But the craptastic trackpad and weird lags leave it on the charging rack on my desk most days. For the price I paid, it should be a vastly better computer.

Long story short, I've got a 15" MBP on order, and all it needs to be cost-effective is to be twice as good as the SP4, which seems well within reach.

I've always been both a Win and Mac user, but Win laptops haven't made anything like a convincing argument to get me to spend my money there this time around.

Desktops... that's a different story - if Apple doesn't get their desktop game together, I may take a look at moving to Win for a high-powered desktop.

 

[azpekt]

I used windows before - and it sucks. All of them sucked - 3.11, 98, ME, 2000, XP, 7, Vista. Never touched 10 - but I have no intent to.

Once you Mac - you cant go back

PS - I used plethora flavors of Linux (KDE and Gnome based, ratpoison and awesomeVM) and Solaris (with CDE) on my desktop. They are nice for stationary PC, but on laptop you just cant get anything better than macOS.

 

[Woodcrest64]

Not me. I don't want to leave the Mac ecosystem. Hopefully when I need to buy another Macbook in the next 2 years or so, USB-C is widely more adopted. I'd like to see some more advances with wireless technology by then too so we can rely a little less on be tethered to cables. The future is bright but there will be some growing pains.

 

[David58117]

While there are cheaper Win laptops, and more-powerful Win laptops, and ones that can match one or another feature, I didn't find anything in the 15" range with similar or better specs at a meaningfully cheaper price. Same story in the 13" space, but I think there are better chances of coming up with price/performance mix that would work for many people there.

I own a 15" rMBP (2015) and had an XPS15. I felt the quality was similar, but the XPS15 was about $2000 for 16GB ram/1TB SSD/dGPU. My 256gb SSD/16GB rMBP cost that alone..

The XPS was also user upgradable in terms of ram/ssd/battery/etc, and actually more compact than the rMBP. Both were very nice.

 

[Ma2k5]

It's not optimal, but once you've bought your $5 adapter, the problem is gone forever. If that's unacceptable as part of moving to the highest I/O laptop on the planet (maybe desktops also?), then buy last year's model, and you'll be very happy.

It's a transition. Stop whining, order an adapter or a different laptop, move on with your life.
[doublepost=1478755279][/doublepost]Back to the original question, I was unhappy enough about the price of the new 15" MBP's to take a pretty serious look at the Windows side of the house.

Several things became clear - there are NO 32GB RAM machines that aren't monstrously huge. People are all worked up about this, but I think that's mostly folks who haven't actually attempted to buy a laptop with that RAM configuration.

Same story on video cards - there certainly are high-spec video cards out there, but the laptops running them are large, insanely loud, have a minuscule battery life, or all three.

While there are cheaper Win laptops, and more-powerful Win laptops, and ones that can match one or another feature, I didn't find anything in the 15" range with similar or better specs at a meaningfully cheaper price. Same story in the 13" space, but I think there are better chances of coming up with price/performance mix that would work for many people there.

Last but not least, I'll just note that I have a Surface Pro 4 with 8gb RAM and the i5 CPU, which should be a fairly fast and efficient machine, but... it has frequent random slowdowns, and often lags on accepting input, such that it FEELS slower than my wife's 2015 12" MacBook, which is a legitimately low-spec machine.

For the record, I'm running the SP4 stock, just what came on it, Office 365, and a couple undemanding word-processor type apps. The slowdowns come just cruising along, with nothing but Word open, while the MacBook feels fast even with Mail/Calendar/Messages/Safari/Word/Photos, etc, all open.

The SP4 is Soooooooooo close to being great. But the craptastic trackpad and weird lags leave it on the charging rack on my desk most days. For the price I paid, it should be a vastly better computer.

Long story short, I've got a 15" MBP on order, and all it needs to be cost-effective is to be twice as good as the SP4, which seems well within reach.

I've always been both a Win and Mac user, but Win laptops haven't made anything like a convincing argument to get me to spend my money there this time around.

Desktops... that's a different story - if Apple doesn't get their desktop game together, I may take a look at moving to Win for a high-powered desktop.

Before taking a swipe at windows slow downs, macs also do this quite often these days (my quad core rMBP, even basic UI lag) - heck for performance, a lot of people actually use windows boot camp as software just runs better in windows in a lot of scenarios.

What's truly annoys me about Windows is not the performance, but the constant updates.

 

[MarcBou]

For me it's the oposite, I've allways been a Windows user, and I'm changing to Mac just now (ordered the a new 15" MBP last week). This is gonna be my first Mac, but I've used at university, work, and my girlfriend's one.
[doublepost=1478768341][/doublepost]

Several things became clear - there are NO 32GB RAM machines that aren't monstrously huge. People are all worked up about this, but I think that's mostly folks who haven't actually attempted to buy a laptop with that RAM configuration.

That's not true, Dell XPS 15 has 32Gb RAM and it's almost as thin and light as the new MBP (and even lighter than the 2015 MBP) and has minimalistic design. So, Dell XPS has better specs in almost everything, very similar design, size and weigh as the new 15" MBP, but it costs 1000€ less. The only downside I see is it has half battery life.

I was almost going to get the Dell XPS for these reasons (I really need RAM for video editing), but finally ended up getting the new MBP because people arround in my job has Mac so it's easier for me because of compatibility reasons.

 

[MacBH928]

If I was a professional who used his computer for work (computer intensive) I would definitely jump on the wintel hardware especially if I needed a desktop machine. Apple's hardware is so outdated, so low spec, and so expensive.

Windows is horrible, but not as horrible as it used to be.

 

[Tanax]

Go to the store.

Purchase an iPhone 7 and a Macbook Pro 2016.

Out of the box, you can't connect the two except wirelessly.

Apple is pushing USB-C, but not on the iPhone 7. Should be going with USB-C on the iPhone at the same time.

You can reply and say "Oh well you can use wireless, or you can buy an adapter." That's what Linux and Windows users say!!! That's not sounding like Apple at all. The whole point of Apple is things work, and you don't have to do a bunch of work-arounds & quick fixes.

So it is in fact possible to connect them then? What's the problem?
[doublepost=1478779599][/doublepost]

That's not true, Dell XPS 15 has 32Gb RAM and it's almost as thin and light as the new MBP (and even lighter than the 2015 MBP) and has minimalistic design. So, Dell XPS has better specs in almost everything, very similar design, size and weigh as the new 15" MBP, but it costs 1000€ less. The only downside I see is it has half battery life.

I was almost going to get the Dell XPS for these reasons (I really need RAM for video editing), but finally ended up getting the new MBP because people arround in my job has Mac so it's easier for me because of compatibility reasons.

That's just the point, isn't it? The battery life takes a big hit then which is a humongous downside.
Not only that, it only has 1 TB3 port which is also the only USB-C port - huge downside.

Also I can't find what the SSD speed of the XPS is, do you know? As far as I know, the MBP has the fastest SSD in any laptop currently but I may be wrong.

 

[David58117]

That's just the point, isn't it? The battery life takes a big hit then which is a humongous downside.
Not only that, it only has 1 TB3 port which is also the only USB-C port - huge downside.

Battery life on the xps was about two hours less than my rMBP.

With either one, you're going to have to bring your charger either way. If you need battery life and don't want to plug it in, then the quad core processor with dGPU isn't the best choice.

The xps also has an hdmi and two USB ports on top of the usbc port, plus an sdcard reader...so not really a huge downside.

 

[marc55]

All I can say to you guys who want to jump ship is "Get er Done!"

As for me, I came over to Mac last year after too many decades on Windows, including Win 10, and I have never been happier with a computer and OS; I would not even consider going back to a Win PC.

Yeah, the new MBP's may not be everything you may have been hoping for, but they are still MacBooks, and you simply can't deny the quality.

As for the OP "being gutted", I'm sorry you were let down, but "gutted", wow!

So please, go ahead and get your Win PC; I guarantee many of you will be back!

 

[SurferMan]

I'd recommend waiting until Q1 2017 (ie 2 or 3 months) if you're considering taking the leap: the new cycle of Nvidia and Intel, combined, really are a massive leap forward.

The problem isn't how mediocre the new MacBook Pro line up looks today - by this time next year, the difference is going to be absurd. The $700-$900 category of 2017 Christmas laptops for Windows will have more grunt than Apple's $3500 offering.

Yup, this is gonna be sad, Apple was always behind, but come next year even low end offerings will be punching harder then Apples top offering, ughh lol. For the first time in years I'm considering going back to a Windows laptop. Windows isn't bad (still prefer Osx), I run it in a virtual system when I have to and its fine, Windows today isn't like the utter junk Vista etc was lol.

 

[dollystereo]

Battery life on the xps was about two hours less than my rMBP.

With either one, you're going to have to bring your charger either way. If you need battery life and don't want to plug it in, then the quad core processor with dGPU isn't the best choice.

The xps also has an hdmi and two USB ports on top of the usbc port, plus an sdcard reader...so not really a huge downside.

I am also considering this machine, it's €1000 cheaper for better spec. Maybe dual boot Win/Linux, or even try to hackintosh it.

 

[PhoneI]

I am also considering this machine, it's €1000 cheaper for better spec. Maybe dual boot Win/Linux, or even try to hackintosh it.

the specs mean nothing. I spend a lot of time with Dell machines and my (under powered) Macbook always feels that it outperforms the Dells.

 

[David58117]

the specs mean nothing. I spend a lot of time with Dell machines and my (under powered) Macbook always feels that it outperforms the Dells.

Dell has a range of laptops, from budget plastic ones to aluminum ones. The newer XPS line is pretty good.

 

[Antairez]

Can't work with Windows so sorry windows is not a choice for me. I can game in Windows, but work in Windows? I'll pass that ...

So yeah Apple pretty much can r*pe me all they want because I don't have a choice.

 

[Tanax]

Battery life on the xps was about two hours less than my rMBP.

With either one, you're going to have to bring your charger either way. If you need battery life and don't want to plug it in, then the quad core processor with dGPU isn't the best choice.

The xps also has an hdmi and two USB ports on top of the usbc port, plus an sdcard reader...so not really a huge downside.

Don't need HDMI, USB-A nor an SD-card reader so those ports only takes up space for me to keep what.. legacy support? No thanks!

But sure, I buy the charger argument.
2 hours (out of 10) is quite a lot though, that's a 20% drop in battery performance.

 

[SimeoneSergio]

Surface book has decent horsepower under the bonnet (especially a big fat nVIDIA that alot of people here ask for).
I'm really considering it.

 

[StayPuft]

I'm certainly considering it. Been with Apple for a very long time. This is honestly the first time I'm considering alternatives. I'll just keep using my Mac laptop 'til it dies or is made obsolete and see what the options are at that point, but the current offerings are pretty sad, especially in the GPU department.

 

[esk]

I just wish steve could get out of his grave and fix this ****

 

[Wildkraut]

No, because as an mobile game dev, there is no way to earn money with windows alone.
I would also miss the shell flexibility and unix base.
I'm not buying it just for fun.

 

[ddraper]

Even if you want to run Windows...you will enjoy it more on a MBP. I have to run Windows with many applications due to supporting an IT infrastructure. I used to own Windows on Dell's most expensive, high-end laptops but suffered with horrible track-pads and low-resolution GPUs and screens and gigantic power-supplies. (called bricks)

Because my Windows environment is complex, it can take me weeks to get everything installed and configured so I ended up using VMWare Workstation and running my work Windows as a VM with almost nothing in the host VM. So it was Windows running in Windows. This was great because if my laptop was stolen or Windows crapped out due to bad Microsoft patch...I could just go back to a previous snap-shop or backed-up VM and run it on another machine...Windows or MAC...did not matter and never miss a beat! Then a friend was doing the same thing but running Windows as a VM on a MPB using the less expensive VMWare Fusion product. Wow! IT WAS SO MUCH BETTER!!!!

He had the high-resolution options afforded by the Retina display. He had 16GB of RAM and a fast i7 chip and the track pad and keyboard were so smooth and easy to use. So I made the switch and have not looked back. Could not even image using a non-MAC laptop. If I have to travel, I just move the latest VM to very light-weight Macbook Air and then back to faster MBP when I return. Have the MBP plugged into dual Dell 27-inch monitors and works so well. And this is all pretty much living in a Windows OS world. Does anyone else do this and have you had the same positive experience as me?

 

[inhalexhale1]

On a personal note, I feel like Apple has been super greedy and not innovative enough to justify their price hikes.

With the recent MacBook Pro Late 2016 release I was gutted with disappointment on this refresh.

Stupid and simple things like not being able to plug in your iPhone without an adapter...

There's been a declining trend with Apple product innovation lately and it's disappointing. I'm considering heading over to Windows and spending my money on more reasonable products.

Staying with Apple scares me and makes me feel trapped, the future outlook is overpriced product updates and lack of innovation that attracted me to Apple.

It's like a marriage gone bad, Apple used to be charming but now they're greedy and I want to leave them.

This is why Steve made Apple great, and this is why Apple is now losing:

I agree with the bolded. Although, I'm spending more time in Bootcamp to see how day to day Windows 10 is. There are things I'm liking, and things I am not liking. Overall, I don't like it as much as Mac OS.

Also, I haven't used a computer I like as much as a MBP. With that said, I have not tried the new MBP or SB, which would be my main consideration if not a MBP.

 

[zedsdeadbaby]

I am considering the move for sure. That's a huge step for me as I work in Logic, regardless I don't see any benefit being tied to macOS anymore as long as I find a suitable platform on Windows. I also don't see computers being part of Apple's long term plan anymore... I think the sooner I get out the better as if we face a day where working on a tablet is the best Apple option I'm f#@&3d

 

[PhoneI]

Dell has a range of laptops, from budget plastic ones to aluminum ones. The newer XPS line is pretty good.

yes, I have an XPS 13 inch. Meh.

Surface book has decent horsepower under the bonnet (especially a big fat nVIDIA that alot of people here ask for).
I'm really considering it.

Windows is horrible, but not as horrible as it used to be.

Maybe that can be the new Windows slogan?

 

[dallas112678]

I'd recommend waiting until Q1 2017 (ie 2 or 3 months) if you're considering taking the leap: the new cycle of Nvidia and Intel, combined, really are a massive leap forward.

The problem isn't how mediocre the new MacBook Pro line up looks today - by this time next year, the difference is going to be absurd. The $700-$900 category of 2017 Christmas laptops for Windows will have more grunt than Apple's $3500 offering.

This x1000.