I am no Mac fanboy, but this is an awful comparison. Far different screen size, far different storage capacity and far different intended uses. You would spend just as much to get a 17" PC with the build quality of the MBP. That isn’t fanboy talk, that’s real talk.
Now if you wanted to argue that too much of the price of Apples products are dependent on the “wow” factor of the build quality, then you would have a talking point.
I didn’t say this was a head to head comparison. That’s not what the post was asking- read the other post again “So perhaps you can tell me what $600-$800 laptop has an all aluminum body?” My comparison was based on value.
@gak0090, that post didn’t specify any of the other specs either, but since it was made in reference to this Woot, it was implied they were not talking about a 13.3 inch form factor or a tablet or a…
I happen to use Windows machines but if you’ve actually lived with a Mac (I have) the build quality (didn’t say reliability) is clearly more solid and with a nicer design vs the comparable mostly aluminum Windows machine.
Some people appreciate those Mac attributes and are willing to pay the premium. Just like some people pay a premium for a car brand (insert your favorite comparison here).
(However this does not excuse the Mac snobs who simply want to be seen with Macs @ Starbucks.)
NewEggs is 3rd party refurbished which cannot be combined with AppleCare and only has a 90-day warranty. Woot’s is Apple Factory Refurbished which CAN be upgraded with AppleCare and has a 1yr warranty. Not sure why Woot is advertising a SquareTrade 1YR warranty for an item that already has a 1yr warranty. Apple Factory Refurbished items are nice. It’s I I’ve bought for the past 5+ years. Wifey’s MacBook Air, 2 kids MacBook Pro 13’s, and my MacBook Pro 15 and 17’s were all Apple Factory Refurbished units and haven’t had any issues with any of them
mine. i’m using a inspiron 15z. i7. solid state drive touch screen, metal finish, and no douchieness that you get from owning an apple or preis.
Per the SquareTrade FAQ: When does my coverage begin:
If your item is refurbished and has a warranty of at least 90 days (“MSP”), your coverage begins upon expiration of the warranty and lasts for the number of years of coverage you specify at purchase time.
So a SqTr warranty would extend your coverage past the 1 year Apple warranty. 
If you are going to make a broad statement “So perhaps you can tell me what $600-$800 laptop has an all aluminum body?” with all that cockiness you should state your criteria for comparison. The example I gave met the criteria of the question and in certain regards exceeded the specifications of today’s woot. People need to understand that there is nothing magical about wrapping a laptop in aluminum - who cares? This laptop today doesn’t even have USB 3.0. It’s old tech with a nice 1920x1200 panel- that’s the only decent thing here.
You want a sweet laptop for a good price
I7-4700mq, 1920x1080, 15.6 inch (starts at $829 but configures up): https://www.system76.com/laptops/model/gazp9
If you don’t like (or can’t use it) Ubuntu, you can load Windows on it.
@craigleslie, I’ve used a Dell 15z. Its a nice machine and great that you’re happy with it. But it’s no Mac with respect to solidity and design.
If I had the discretionary cash, I would be using Macs. And I’d simply ignore the folks who were somehow offended by it.
@gak0090, 'not sure what a geeky Ubuntu Linux operating system optimized laptop has to do with mainstream Macs. Good luck taking that in to your local equivalent Apple Genius Bar for support.
I could machine a hunk of solid aircraft grade aluminum into a laptop case and put a top of the line Windows laptop motherboard & screen in it. But that wouldn’t make it an Apple.
Point is people buy Macs for more reasons than what the case material is. If you don’t like Macs, don’t buy them.
Luke warm review for a System76:
seriously, they All have the exact same components. look up the price of alm. it’s not that high. those of us who actually know what in computers, and how to take care of them, know better then to fall for apple’s false elitism. it’s a waste of $$$. simple as that. are they ok, sure, as i said they don’t sell low end. but only a fool would pay for a name that consists of the exact same components.
Linux has come a long way, and don’t be surprised if/when it surpasses both windows and Mac. Like I clearly stated above, If you don’t like Ubuntu, you can load windows on it. The review you linked is not similar in any way to the laptop that I linked- it’s a year old, an I5 and a different sized display- not pertinent with any regards to the product I mentioned.
So Apple makes their own motherboards now? I knew that Foxconn use to make them (possibly still does), maybe Intel makes them- either way they aren’t anything magical or special or even that different than the motherboards that go into Windows laptops.
Hardware is hardware. Generally the adoption of newer innovation happens on the windows side first because you have many different manufacturers competing with each other to make a better product.
If you like Apple because you need their OS to function, and the programs you specifically use function better in that environment- I can totally buy that reasoning. If you are trying to argue that for 99% of general computing tasks Apple has some sort of cosmic hardware and software advantage- I laugh and say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. And I’ll be the first to admit, Apple has pretty covers.
Worth $100 more for 9 more months of Apple warranty.
If going for SqTrade Google for a coupon code. I usually get 20% off.
Or I could take my budget of $1,629.15 (estimated total w/shipping +tax on this woot) and go over to Sager and buy one of these. But you keep feeling good about paying through the nose for that aluminum. A Trusted Brand for Gaming Laptops | Sager Notebooks
Please compare the specs and let me know which one you would recommend.
For the love of St. Wootsis, can we please have a discussion about a Mac without someone complaining about the cost of Macs and someone else rising to the troll bait?
To add something productive, I’ve had good experiences with Applecare and Apple customer service in general. One difference between the 1-year SquareTrade warranty and AppleCare is that Applecare extends your warranty by two years instead of one. Of course, it’s more expensive too.
A “sweet laptop” would not have a MISALIGNED VGA PORT ON THE MAIN IMAGE OF THEIR FLAGSHIP MACHINE FEATURED ON THE FRONT PAGE.
This “sweet laptop” is to a Mac what a 1978 Chevy Citation is to, well, anything made decently EVER.
It may not be a definitive reason to reject this item, but it tells me it’s most ardent fans probably have pretty low standards generally.
In every Mac vs PC argument, there are always the spec whores just as there are in every Android vs iOS argument. Raw specs are nice if you’re just looking at how quickly your home movies will compress down to mkv, I agree. But there’s a lot more to using a computer than how fast it runs.
Personally, I choose to spend more money because I find the experience of using a Mac to be far more pleasant. I don’t for a moment make it sound like I’m superior because of it; I just personally find the experience of using Microsoft products to be as pleasant as repeatedly beating my head against a wall. Full of nails. Rusty nails. Pointy-edge sticking out.
Furthermore (and I have posted this here before), I (until recently) was on a team of 24 application engineers. 23 of them were using company-provided equipment (HP and Dell). My Dell was immediately wiped clean with a fresh copy of CentOS installed. I then purchased my own Mac Mini to use in the office. Of the 24 of us, 23 had multiple instances (that is to say this happened to each of them multiple times over the life of their hardware) of downtime due to system corruption and other issues that forced re-imaging. One of us (me) had not a single moment of unplanned downtime.
So, what’s more expensive then? A few hundred more in hardware costs, or thousands and thousands in lost productivity?
I’m now in a role where I use Windows (7) more often and so I run it in a VM on my Mac. It blue screens about once a month and applications (within the VM) crash from time-to-time. The host OS and its applications keep on going while the guest OS restarts, so I’m able to continue working. And I continue to roll my eyes in wonderment when I get the emails from my new teammates saying they’ll be offline while IT re-images their laptops…
I love computer geek fights. It’s like this:
As a dev myself I also value extremely long compile times. With an Apple I can spend half the day flying my quadcopter on the roof, and when asked I just say “Compiling” and go back to making zoom! swoosh! noises. Wait, what was that you were saying about productivity?
Not real sure if the alignment is off or it is the perspective of the view and the angle of the case. But let’s say you are accurate… how about the alignment of the USB 3.0, the HDMI out, the esata, and the VGA on the Mac Book pro…oh wait, it doesn’t have any of these features on this model.
So my 1978 Citation may not look as pretty, but it will haul butt, has state of the art sound system, navigation and electronics- while your pretty Mercedes has manual windows, AM radio and the engine of a smart car.