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I personally think the 13 Pro is the one that’s truly competitive, the 16” is a very different story and not something I recommend specifically.

Someone looking that machine who wants strong GPU performance, I’d probably send over to a Zephyrus G16 or something like that, and give up the modularity.

SSD and RAM speed specs aren’t really something that impacts the user experience unless you’re doing local LLM work.

What does impact the user experience, for example, is having access to hundreds of thousands of PC games by not being platform locked. Or maybe your user experience is impacted by having upgradable storage.

This obviously depends on individual needs, and I’m certainly not saying either system is bad. But I am saying that the Apple “experience” is often assumed to be the best when it does have some downsides.

Even the fact that there’s no charge port on the right side of the MacBook Air/Neo is a user experience downside (of course, not every PC laptop has that feature, but you can find them in the same price category as the Air).

I sold my MacBook Pro because I needed 2TB and couldn’t afford it from Apple. Being stuck with 512GB when 2TB drives cost under $200 at the time was stifling.

by spockz4 hours ago|

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I’m mainly looking at the 16” mbp because of the beautiful screen and the refined hardware. For the work I use the laptop on my lap for (or in the evening at the kitchen table) to compare products, research holidays etc, I notice that 13” is too small to comfortably hold two browsers next to each other plus room for notes.

Then sometimes when I’m on the go I like to play a game or two, but nothing seriously requiring graphics power

SSD speed and RAM speed start mattering when memory pressure is high. And when doing stuff with video and photo editing.

The storage price is indeed steep and now the RAM price as well. I wish I hit the buy button when I had the chance before the price increase.

by Grombobulous4 hours ago|

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[dead]

by mmcnl6 hours ago|

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The battery life stinks, the build quality is subpar and the fan runs all the time. If you don't care about anything that makes the MacBook Pro a premium device, then sure you can be overpriced consumer-grade slop that has a slight edge in specs (except CPU). But it's a miserable trade-off.

by Grombobulous4 hours ago|

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I would recommend something like a Zephyrus G16 to someone who is interested in a 16” laptop with powerful graphics and a MacBook Pro-like footprint.

It’s easy to diss Apple alternatives and call them unrefined and all that, but to the right person, there are downsides to a Mac.

For example, the current MacBook Pro models with higher end chips prioritize quietness over heat and get very hot to the touch under heavy workloads.

Unless you are in music production, a little fan noise never hurt anyone, and the idea that windows laptops sound like hair dryers when doing basic tasks like browsing the web is very outdated.

Apple is revered for refinement and quality yet they get some basic ergonomics wrong like the sharp edges near your wrist and the notch blocking the menu bar.