I've been checking out laptops for the past week, wanting a 15" IPS grade screen, max 2kg laptop for portability, 5+ hours medium load battery life, better than normal resale value, 256+GB SSD drive, quad-core ivy-bridge, good build quality, etc.
Then I realised I was describing the Macbook Pro Retina 15". This was not an immediate observation or spec list though, and it took me a long time to really figure out what it is that I want. I thought I don't care about the screen quality, I just want a big SSD and fast CPU, because I want to do remote sensing simulations.
After walking through Makro actually looking at laptops, I realized how unsatisfied I would be having to look at a dull washed out screen; I wouldn't even want to open the laptop. The 13" Macbook Air really drew my attention, even with the glare, the display looked so much better than the rest of the laptops.
And I'm not an Apple fanboy, I've never even owned Apple products, you can almost say I avoided them. However, after much online research I had to come back to the Macbook Retina time and time again. I want to look forward to opening my laptop and working on it, I don't want to avoid it. A washed out TN screen with bad viewing angles, and a spongy keyboard, and mediocre battery life, I realized, I could not live with.
There are a couple of laptops with similar color gamut and viewing angles as the Retina, like the Asus UX31 and UX32, the Sony Vaio S15, the HP Envy 15, the Samsung Series 9 13". However, 13" is too small for my purposes, and these 15 inchers either have half the battery life and are heavier than the Retina 15", and have poorer build quality and no SSD drives or 4GB Ram.
I tried to find a scenario where I could make these alternatives work, with manual SSD and Ram upgrades, but I keep coming to a minimum cost of about R13,000. Now the resale value on these alternatives cannot match that of a well-kept Apple product.
Locally one can get a new 2012 Retina 15" for R19,000, or up to R24,000 at DigiCape. On Ebay one can get away with R14,000 before customs for a pristine second-hand option with a half-year of AppleCare. So I just realized, this is so close to the alternative options, but this has better resale value, better battery life, an SSD, 8GB Ram, better build quality, and I think I will love working on it.
I'm very close to pulling the trigger on a second-hand Retina 15" from a reputable 100% Ebay seller, but I thought it best to put a final feeler out there and hear your opinions and advice. Maybe I am missing something.
Example:
Make sure you get a Samsung made display, and not LG, otherwise you might have problems with image retention.
Then I realised I was describing the Macbook Pro Retina 15". This was not an immediate observation or spec list though, and it took me a long time to really figure out what it is that I want. I thought I don't care about the screen quality, I just want a big SSD and fast CPU, because I want to do remote sensing simulations.
After walking through Makro actually looking at laptops, I realized how unsatisfied I would be having to look at a dull washed out screen; I wouldn't even want to open the laptop. The 13" Macbook Air really drew my attention, even with the glare, the display looked so much better than the rest of the laptops.
And I'm not an Apple fanboy, I've never even owned Apple products, you can almost say I avoided them. However, after much online research I had to come back to the Macbook Retina time and time again. I want to look forward to opening my laptop and working on it, I don't want to avoid it. A washed out TN screen with bad viewing angles, and a spongy keyboard, and mediocre battery life, I realized, I could not live with.
There are a couple of laptops with similar color gamut and viewing angles as the Retina, like the Asus UX31 and UX32, the Sony Vaio S15, the HP Envy 15, the Samsung Series 9 13". However, 13" is too small for my purposes, and these 15 inchers either have half the battery life and are heavier than the Retina 15", and have poorer build quality and no SSD drives or 4GB Ram.
I tried to find a scenario where I could make these alternatives work, with manual SSD and Ram upgrades, but I keep coming to a minimum cost of about R13,000. Now the resale value on these alternatives cannot match that of a well-kept Apple product.
Locally one can get a new 2012 Retina 15" for R19,000, or up to R24,000 at DigiCape. On Ebay one can get away with R14,000 before customs for a pristine second-hand option with a half-year of AppleCare. So I just realized, this is so close to the alternative options, but this has better resale value, better battery life, an SSD, 8GB Ram, better build quality, and I think I will love working on it.
I'm very close to pulling the trigger on a second-hand Retina 15" from a reputable 100% Ebay seller, but I thought it best to put a final feeler out there and hear your opinions and advice. Maybe I am missing something.
Example:
Make sure you get a Samsung made display, and not LG, otherwise you might have problems with image retention.
