Apple mac :I've never owned apple products. Is an apple mac worth it? Android phones and lap tops.

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We've had dodgy lap tops for years. Does anyone think 1 grand is worth it?
I don't know much about it all but I do love photos and videos and heard you can edit these on apple mac easily?
Dh is very much against apple products and we have never had apple phones etc.

I've had both - Mac for home and it's annoying because Windows software doesn't always work as well. But I liked it's connectivity with my iPhone. Either are fine though.

Yeah the type of phone you have is a consideration too. Obviously iphones play nicely with macs and you can airdrop etc. Im not aware of any specific integration between android phones and macs?. On windows 11 now you can have MS phoneli k with any old phone, i belive, though I've only seen it working with my android Samsung Galaxy. And i think the Apple 'find my' services only work for iphones. I get all the security 2FA things for the kids macbooks on my android phone fine.

Not that much of a consideration these days i dont find with cloud services for transferring stuff, i.e you can install onedrive or g drive or drop box on either and you can use third party find my things like life 360 or tile with either.

A £1200 laptop of either variety will be fine for photos etc as long as you make sure it has the right specs for video editing, separate GPU etc.

The operating system is highly unlikely to have any impact on the longevity of the machine. I have just had to replace the Dell XPS 15 I bought in 2012 because I accidentally smashed the screen. I used it every day, all day, at work and home.

I replaced it with an XPS 13. I did consider replacing it with a MacBook because I also have an iPad and iPhone but I need to run some applications that don’t have a Mac version. It has a very useful Apple integration tool that syncs with my iPhone and iPad allowing me to share files and notes etc.

And i think the Apple 'find my' services only work for iphones.

I can use Apple “Find my phone” on my windows laptop to find my iPhone and iPad but not vice versa.

You can always use the online one as well I think. I login to my icloud account on my win laptop and find all the iphones, airpods etc they've left on the train etc 😑

I've had a MacBook for more than 10 years and nothing ever goes wrong with it. I've also got an iPhone and iPad and everything synchronises. Never have had any problem with any device. The only would say is that I feel locked into Apple now so you need to think long term!

Not surprising really that all the Macbook fans have IPhones.

We are an Android household and all have Windows laptops. My work laptop is also Windows.

I still don't understand how a Windows laptop can be trashed after 18 months.

I'm very always had Mac's and love them. But have windows at work and really struggle to find things on it and use it.

Apple products since well to each other and if you already have an iPhone or iPad I'd buy a Mac.

Pop into an Apple Store and have a look at what they do. Staff are always very helpful.

Apple all day every day. Get the iPhone too whilst you’re at it- head and shoulders above any android.

Is there a make of windows laptop you would particularly recommend? I'm planning on buying a more expensive laptop in January and would really like to get the best possible - speed and battery length are both important to me.

Have a look at the latest Dell XPS 13 with the UHD screen.

I can recommend.

If you can do without the portability of a laptop then the Mac mini’s with apple silicon (m1,m2 etc) are absolutely brilliant. Ds has an m1 mini and it’s been rock solid. He also has a 2014 iPad that’s still fine albeit with a slightly knackered battery now. M1 mini Currently going for around £300 s/h, I’ll be buying one myself in a few weeks to update my aging 2008 Mac Pro (which incidentally still works brilliantly)

I love my MacBook. Had it about 7 years and it hasn’t caused me a day’s problem. It syncs with my iPad and iPhone so well.

Husband has had two windows in that time, so ultimately more expensive.

I really can't get on with Apple stuff.

If you are a high volume user then yes. Apple Macs have higher specs in terms of their processors compared to windows PCs. My 7 year old mac is just as fast as a brand new windows pc

I recently bought one of the new Microsoft Surface 7 laptops and it is stunning (slightly unusual ARM64 chip architecture so the odd program wont run yet so check if you use anything unusual). At work Ive had loads of mid range Dells whcih are ok, but noisy fans bugged me. The higher end ones like the XPS 13 would be fine I reckon. One of the kids has an ASUS one and that has been v good.

With win 11 laptops you get what you pay for really.

This

My Airbook is nearly 10 years old.

I paid for Windows for Mac, although the inbuilt Pages and Numbers software is very similar to Word and Excel.

I got a MacBook Air a couple of years ago. Never had any Apple products before that. It took a little bit of getting used to but now I wouldn't want to be without it. If I'm stuck on how to do anything, I just Google it and the answer is there. It is great for photos. So much so, I'm thinking of getting an iPhone when my Samsung Galaxy comes up for renewal shortly.

The laptop itself seems robust but is very lightweight, something that's important for me. It's still working well, no slowing down etc, and is ready to go in seconds. I love it!

Started out on windows, tried and liked Linux so started distro-hopping and running it exclusively on windows machines, then dipped a toe into the Apple ecosystem with an original iPad Air.

Quite impressed with the iPad, but some of Apple's quirks had me swearing a lot and I found it fell short of being able to replace a complete system/laptop as a stand-alone device, because that's what its incompatibility with both windows and linux made it in my setup.

Then got an iPhone 13 three years ago, followed by an Apple watch 7 and a Macbook Pro M1 slightly after that... and that was me well and truly in the Apple ecosystem.

Thing is, I forever seemed to be troubleshooting driver issues and doing clean reinstalls on windows, while Linux only really has the Raspberry Pi as a dedicated hardware platform and tends to port older app versions from Windows. Not a single update problem on any Apple device though - and I joined the developer beta program and run the very latest betas on my MBP, iPhone 16 Pro and watch 7. Nor have I ever needed to reinstall the OS on any of them.

So it's definitely Apple all the way for me. Sure it's all overpriced, and the overblown marketing and online fanboism can be frankly nauseating, but there's no denying the quality, consistency and reliability of Apple's products.

I am writing this on an 8 year old MacBook which I use heavily as a freelancer - about to upgrade though because I was unlucky enough to get the 2018 butterfly keyboard version which is pants. But great offers currently in John Lewis, there are almost never good deals on MacBooks so I am going to make the most of £150 off a 2024 model. The M3 processor seems lightning fast from trying it out in the Apple Store.

I think the probelm is that posters are comparing low spec windows laptops with high spec Macbooks.

I still don't believe that a poster trashed a laptop in 18 months unless it was a spectacularly shit laptop.

We buy decent spec windows laptops and have therefore I have only had three in the last 21 years.

Ok to get a decent non apple how much do I need to spend

I'll need to do a bit of research and get back to you because I can't remember the name of the shop but...

MY DS needed a "workstation laptop" for uni. A workstation laptop is very high spec.

We priced a brand new one at £2,000.

Then we took the specs of the brand new one and "built" one on an online shop that does refurbished laptops.

We paid £600 which included an extended warranty.

Laptop has been amazing and we've discovered it has extra things we never requested such as a touch screen and an NFC chip.

DS loves his laptop.

Once I remember the name of the shop I'll share it here.

Build your own and pick the highest specs they have to offer.