[omaha] Sturdy Laptop hardware

[Matthew Nuzum]

On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 8:10 AM, Steve Young <wereapwhatwesow at gmail.com>wrote:

> Jeff's question reminded me of a situation I have recently come across and
> don't have enough experience with.  An architecture firm has recently
> started buying Macbooks because they think the hardware is better than
> other laptops they have used - mostly HP.  But most of their software is
> Windows only, so they boot into Windows most of the time.
>
> With having to maintain 2 OS's, purchasing the additional licence for
> windows, and the premium one pays for Apple hardware and accessories, it
> seems like it is a money pit to do this?  Or are the Macbooks that much
> more reliable?  And can you upgrade Macbooks with memory or harddrive?
>
> I should mention they are pretty rough with the laptops... going to
> construction jobs, carrying around in backpacks...
>
>
I've owned 2 Thinkpads, 3 Latitudes and 2 Macbook Pros. I've also had
several consumer laptops such as a Toshiba Satelite and Dell Inspiron.

The Thinkpads and Latitudes are about the same cost as the Macbook Pros and
the hardware between them is all very comparable. The MBPs look stronger
because they're solid aluminum but the Latitudes and Thinkpads are a
magnesium alloy which is also a metal frame and exhibits the same rigidity
and strength. (and I suspect the screens are more durable) The Thinkpad's
alloy frame is coated in a rubberized texture that makes it very easy to
grip.

I bought my last two MBPs because I'm doing mobile development and sadly,
you need a Mac to develop for the iOS platform. It is a great computer but
for the same money I could have customized a Latitude to get a computer
that met my needs better and had a better warranty.

If someone wanted a workstation class laptop to run Windows I would not
recommend the MBP. I think there are better choices. That said, it does
work great running Windows so it's not a bad choice.

-- 
Matthew Nuzum
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