So apple tech support finally decided to replace my laptop with a newer one. Sweet deal, right? No. See the model I have now was then selling for $1,999. It's a 2.2 core 2 duo with a dedicated graphics card with 128MB ram. Well, I thought I was getting a fair deal with their 2.53 core 2 duo with twice the video memory. Only one problem. The blasted graphics memory isn't discrete, but shared. There's a huge difference here, mostly with performance. This means that ALL of my games and some of my programs which require a dedicated card will NOT work the way they do now, or not at all.
I know what some of you are thinking. Yes, I knew my replacement was less expensive than the model I have now, I should've researched the product specs more closely, and I should've double checked before agreeing to ship it. However, what I don't understand is how the pricks at apple didn't bother to offer an equivalent laptop based on what I paid for, not to mention the dedicated graphics memory. That's a big deal to me. Again, it was dumb of me to assume that all of their MBPs had discrete graphics memory.
Many of you will not understand the difference between a laptop with discrete vs shared memory. Therefore, I'm not even going to explain. Let the fact that my current laptop will outperform the demanding programs of my replacement be sufficient enough. If you have shared memory, a faster processor and twice the video memory will not make a difference.
It ticks me off and insults me that Apple would make such an offer. When this thing crashes out of warranty, I'm going back to PC.
Here's the truth about Apple. They're just like every other company. Their products are just as unreliable as other brands out there. They just look nicer and have cooler features. They also know how to market their stuff. Granted, the hardware in their computers work more efficiently as a whole, but that only makes the product more stable, not more reliable. Don't believe me? Google their older NVIDIA 8600 GT chipset (which is what I have) and all the problems they've had with it on the MBP. Lucky for me, I've only had it fail once on me, and even though I can't run any anti-alias features without getting a solid grey screen, at least it still performs.
Since 2008, I've switched 7 people back to PC and sold over a dozen people on getting a PC for their first laptop.
Why do I do this? Because they can get a windows laptop with almost the same specs as my MBP, twice the video memory, and all at $750 plus a three year warranty with geek squad, which is basically the same as Apple's genius bar. At least when something fails there in a big way, you could get a replacement model much faster, and in-store. And since the closest apple store is 320 miles away, as opposed to the 30 miles to Best Buy...well, it's more convenient as well.
For the same price of the machine I have now (which values at $1,699), I can get a Studio XPS 16 by dell with the same processor. Not only that, I get a discrete GPU (which means the graphics card does almost all the work a CPU would normally do), but I also get 4X more memory, which is also discrete. The screen is a 1920x1080 full HD RBGLED backlit screen. In simple terms, the screen has very vivid color, and need I say quite accurate. I also have expansion available (such as an additional headphone jack), plus e-SATA,VGA and HDMI ports. Well, I did also get the three year warranty included in that price. How much does apple charge again? Yeah, I saved money. I bought this Dell refurbished and saved even more money as well.
What did I sacrifice? ok, it's bigger, the battery is short lived, I don't have OSX (FYI, you can run OSX on this Dell. However, I won't speculate exactly how I act upon that knowledge) and it's heavier. Worth it? Given the hardware is superior in performance to the MBP in most aspects, and ties in the rest....I'd say I got a great deal.
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