For quite a while i've been looking for a replacement for my trusty old Asus M50 laptop. It has been, (and still is) a very capable machine, plenty of power, and with the very simple SSD upgrade its very speedy. However its getting a little long in the tooth, starting to overheat a bit, the battery no longer lasts longer than a few minutes - its just getting too old :(
A few days ago i was in PC world looking for a new laptop. All the Windows machines were a bit tacky - too much plastic, low resolution, washed out looking screens, and the "Ultra Books" all just seemed to be bad copies of Apple machines, so i though i'd take a look to see what Apple were selling.
They new 15 inch Macbook Pro with Retina screen is a great looking machine, but its just a bit too big - i wanted something a bit smaller to carry about with me so i started looking at the 13 inch Macbook Air. In fact i very nearly bought one, but it seems Apple have the retailers in a strangle hold, they are really not allowed to budge on price, and I was only able to negotiate a £30 discount... (booooo!)
With hindsight it was good that i didnt buy a Macbook Air. It has the same resolution as my current M50 and with only a 128GB SSD i wouldn't really have gained anything besides smaller size and longer battery life. Also i kind of see the Macbook Air as a kind of "Netbook", not a serious work machine... (maybe im wrong??)
Then yesterday Apple announced the release of the 13 inch Macbook Pro with Retina Display. The retina display has double the resolution of my current machine, and i was able to spec it out with a 256GB SSD and a new 2.9Ghz i7 Intel processor. So without even seeing one, i took the plunge and ordered one!
My reasoning being that i liked the size of the MB-Air, and the new MacBook Pro 13 inch would be a very similar size, but with the MB-Pro i would get a faster processor, more SSD storage, and the "Pro" physiologically makes me think its going to be better at its job!! (yes im crazy)
I've never really been a fan of Apple. I dont have an iPhone, i hate iTunes, and their hardware always seemed overpriced. But in comparrison to all the other Windows laptops on the market at the moment, and having played with the new 15 inch MacBooks, i realised that they really are a work of art. Kind of like the "German cars" of the computer industry - well put together, good looking, and Retina screen is truly amazing.
Anyway, its ordered now and the Apple website says it's been shipped, and should be on my doorstep on the 1st November... fingers crossed its as good as everyone says, and a worthy replacement for my Asus M50...
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