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PC laptop that equals a MBP

crazycat

crazycat

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Dec 5, 2005
1,319
0
If i woudl like to buy a PC laptop that has everything the macbook pro has or better which modle make should i look for?

No i am not buying a pc laptop.
 
Non really. Dell, HP, and Gateway don't offer any 15" laptop that is better or even equal to a 15" MacBook Pro in terms of components, size, weight, and of course OS.
 
Acer Travelmate

The Acer TravelMate 8200 incorporates the high-end features business pros demand, including Intel Centrino Duo Mobile Technology. The display is a wide-screen 15.4” with 1680 x 1050 resolution. Stunning visuals are a given thanks to the ATI MOBILITY RADEON X1600 graphics processor with 256MB on-chip memory.

Specs: 6.6 lbs, Intel Core Duo (2 GHz) , 2 GB DDR II SDRAM , 15.4 in TFT active matrix , Microsoft Windows XP Professional
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Camera, DVI out, Firewire and so on ... however the review says:


Complaints

So-so build quality
Mediocre dim screen with major light leakage
Heat vent is facing right hand on the mouse
No external volume control
Poor sound quality
Unable to return
Overpriced (compare to their 5672)


Praises

Good looks (Well not to my eyes. What's with that giant yellow logo)
Comfortable keyboard
Fast performance
Best 15.4" notebook for gaming
Good feature-set
Battery life
 
dmw007 said:
Nice design, but slower processor and integrated graphics!

MacBook Pro triumphs again! :D ;)
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not really. the mac book is lacking in hard ware. the sony has 3 usb ports, svideo out, and the dial up. i would choose the vaio any day... if i didnt need it haha.

oh the screen is also way brighter, and is one of those sexy glossy displays. the macbook's poor design is one that trys to make the screen brighter by projecting huge amouths of light that leave the bottom of the screen brighter. sorry, the vaio triumphs.
 
JordanNZ said:
And it's basicly the same price as teh MBP.. Although it does have more ram.
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Yes, they are comparable in many respects. Although the review of the Acer indicates that it's inferior on build quality, audio and screen quality, size/weight and looks.
 
direzz said:
not really. the mac book is lacking in hard ware. the sony has 3 usb ports, svideo out, and the dial up. i would choose the vaio any day... if i didnt need it haha.

oh the screen is also way brighter, and is one of those sexy glossy displays. the macbook's poor design is one that trys to make the screen brighter by projecting huge amouths of light that leave the bottom of the screen brighter. sorry, the vaio triumphs.
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I'm sorry the Sony may be the product for you, but it's not in the same league as the MacBook Pro and the Acer feature-wise.
 
omg. the mac book pro is so ridiculously over priced. i dont care what anyone says.

if they wanted to chard almost 3000$ after taxes canadaian, they should have included way more hardware. a "pro" labtop has more than 2 usb ports, (look at HP, who have 4) and svideo out. and evryone may need to plug into a phone jack from time to time.

and dont give me that garbage about a sleek thin design because thats bull. its a "hair thinner" design that hasnt changed in 4 years... however it has lost alot of hardware. what a great buy!
 
direzz said:
omg. the mac book pro is so ridiculously over priced. i dont care what anyone says.
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Well, if you don't care go somewhere else.

You're comparing a budget notebook with integrated graphics with a pro laptop and moan about lacking home user features. You're not in the market for a pro laptop so stop fretting about the MacBook Pro, please, wait for the MacBook.
 
gekko513 said:
You're comparing a budget notebook with integrated graphics with a pro laptop and moan about lacking home user features. You're not in the market for a pro laptop so stop fretting about the MacBook Pro, please, wait for the MacBook.
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Well said gekko513!
 
direzz said:
not really. the mac book is lacking in hard ware. the sony has 3 usb ports, svideo out, and the dial up. i would choose the vaio any day... if i didnt need it haha.
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The MacBook Pro has 2 USB 2.0 ports, s-video, and a modem (latter two via attachments).
 
direzz said:
…one of those sexy glossy displays…
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Obviously, most people look better than that ghastly XP interface so seeing the reflection of yourself instead of the desktop must be considered an advantage.
 
I hate glossy displays. This PC laptop I'm on now has one. I have to keep my curtains closed just to be able to see the screen without reflections. It's beautiful at night but it'd be awful to use outside in the daytime. Now, I'd love to see how the MBP's bright screen works outside in our bright sunlight.
 
crazycat said:
If i woudl like to buy a PC laptop that has everything the macbook pro has or better which modle make should i look for?

No i am not buying a pc laptop.
Click to expand...


I think the T60 comes pretty close. I wil leave the feature by feature comparison to the experts, but I have been a long time user of IBM (now Lenovo) mobile systems, and have never (yes never) had an issue, so quality wise, they are pretty solid.

My two cents.
 
direzz said:
if they wanted to chard almost 3000$ after taxes canadaian, they should have included way more hardware. a "pro" labtop has more than 2 usb ports, (look at HP, who have 4) and svideo out. and evryone may need to plug into a phone jack from time to time.
Click to expand...

The Sony loses on specs alone.

And I don't usually need more than 2 USB ports, but 0.1% of the time I wish I had 3 on my PowerBook. Not a big issue, and definitely not enough to make the Sony better than the MBP in any aspect.

And you like the reflective screen? Do you use your computer in the dark all the time? What happens when you use your computer in any sort of light and see reflections? Those glossy screens are just made for nerds who sit in their pitch black room and surf the net all day, eating ramen noodles and coding in Java while downloading the newest episodes of Spongebob and Family Guy.

and dont give me that garbage about a sleek thin design because thats bull. its a "hair thinner" design that hasnt changed in 4 years... however it has lost alot of hardware. what a great buy!
Click to expand...

Nobody said anything about the thickness of the MBP. It just looks nicer, even after 4 years.
 
direzz said:
if they wanted to chard almost 3000$ after taxes canadaian, they should have included way more hardware. a "pro" labtop has more than 2 usb ports, (look at HP, who have 4) and svideo out. and evryone may need to plug into a phone jack from time to time.

and dont give me that garbage about a sleek thin design because thats bull. its a "hair thinner" design that hasnt changed in 4 years... however it has lost alot of hardware. what a great buy!
Click to expand...


How often do you need to have 4 USB devices plugged into your laptop? I use a bluetooth mouse, printer via Airport Express, digital camera card via card reader in ExpressCard34/PCMCIA, etc. The only thing I use the USB for is iPod, which is rarely plugged in for more than a few minutes at a time, and USB jump drive. S-Video can be had via the DVI port, and even as a pro video user, I rarely every use the S-Video port in the first place. As for the dialup modem...I don't know anybody who uses it anymore. I haven't used the phone jack in my Powerbook since my Titanium back in 2001, and even then I used it once. Need to get internet on the go? Use a cell phone paired over bluetooth.

Now some of you may say that I am a unique case or that not everybody is able to afford Airport Express, or bluetooth mice, or DUN over bluetooth through your phone...however, remember the market that the MBP is aimed at. I'm a pro user using Final Cut Pro on a daily basis. Pro users find ways to make their lives easier through methods like DUN, wireless printing, etc. Plus, if I need it for business, I make sure I can afford it (plus it's a tax writeoff!)

And name me another laptop that is less than an inch thick, weighs less than 6 lbs. has a DVD burner, 256MB dedicated GPU (X1600 no less!!!), a built in camera, dual-core 2.16 Ghz processors, 120GB HDD, and OSX to run Final Cut Pro, Aperture, Motion, and DVD Studio Pro (the OSXx86 doesn't work for that) for under $3k USD
 
dmw007 said:
Non really. Dell, HP, and Gateway don't offer any 15" laptop that is better or even equal to a 15" MacBook Pro in terms of components, size, weight, and of course OS.
Click to expand...

The Acer Travelmate 8200 has spec's that are almost identical to the MacBook Pro, right down to the built in camera.

While the Travel Mate is a little larger, it has advantages in hard drive size and RAM. The MBP has the Mag-Safe and Ambient Light Sensor advantages.
 
timswim78 said:
The Acer Travelmate 8200 has spec's that are almost identical to the MacBook Pro, right down to the built in camera.

While the Travel Mate is a little larger, it has advantages in hard drive size and RAM. The MBP has the Mag-Safe and Ambient Light Sensor advantages.
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That is pretty sweet, however, the only difference i see is battery life and the DVD burner (8x DL). HD is the same, GPU is the same (256MB dedicated memory) and processor tops out at 2.0, but if you're looking for an alternative, this is probably the closest I've seen, though there is no official price yet.
 
I'd also mention that the Acer weighs more and doesn't appear to have a remote. Also, the included software is minimal (I can't believe it lists Adobe Acrobat Reader). Other than that, I'd say it's a fairly comparable computer to a MBP.
 
How about one of those Alienware laptops?

I did hear they fell off in quality since their heyday, and now that they've been bought out, who know?

Still, might be worth bringing up their specs page for comparison.
 
MovieCutter said:
How often do you need to have 4 USB devices plugged into your laptop? <snip>
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If you're asking me, then the answer is "quite frequently". I have the following peripherals plugged into mine a lot: keyboard/mouse (if keyboard plugged in, mouse goes into that), printer, microphone, USB memory stick, scanner, digital camera. Many of those are plugged in concurrently, and I have to use a hub to get this functionality. Otherwise if I wanted to speak on Skype and send a friend a photo off my digital camera (something I do a lot), I'd have to unplug my mouse to be able to do this.

Having more USB sockets is never a bad thing.

w8ing4intelmacs said:
I'd also mention that the Acer weighs more and doesn't appear to have a remote. Also, the included software is minimal (I can't believe it lists Adobe Acrobat Reader). Other than that, I'd say it's a fairly comparable computer to a MBP.
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:) I agree, but that said, Apple lists Preview on its MBP store page.
 
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