MacBook Pro Vs. Surface Pro

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After years and years of having a crappy computer, I’m finally given the option of choosing a computer of my choice just for me, since I’m headed off to high school this year as a freshman ^.^ Ive narrowed my search down to 2 computers, the MacBook Pro, and the Surface Pro. I’m leaning toward the Surface Pro, but I need someone’s opinion, because I’m using the computers to upload my vids(Im getting a GoPro too :)) and I wanna know which is best/more convenient for editing, and the reason I have doubts on the MacBook Pro is because I dont like iMovie, I have it on my iPod, and I have tried it on an iMac at school, and they are totally different! I know it depends more on the program on the computer but I don’t know if the MacBook Pro is compatible with Adobe Flash Premiere, and on the Surface Pro, I don’t even know if I can hook up the GoPro to it and insert my video files.

Keep in mind, price does not matter, I’m getting them as small as possible because I’m taking it to school, so its the 13" MacBook Pro or the Surface Pro, the one that costs $999, plus a $105 touch cover. Thanks in advance :slight_smile:

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Doesn’t it really come down to a choice between a laptop and a tablet? My own choice would be a laptop. Note that I don’t have experience w/either one. That’s just my preference.

And why are you not considering an windows laptop, given that the Surface Pro is an option? They are compatible w/Adobe Flash, which you seem to be locked into.

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Surface Pro can go from a tablet to a laptop, and it has all I need for typing, surfing the net, and I can also play games on it. Plus it has PhotoShop, which I can use for drawing/making my art on the go. I can also record on it which ima try out meanwhile I get my GoPro for my B-Day. But I still don’t know if I can edit my vids on either, but either way there main purpose is for school not my yoyoing career(that’s just a bonus)

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Here’s something to consider:

At least, in my situation right now, I have a 17" MacBook Pro, Early 2008 Edition. Upgraded screen, upgraded CPU. I did the RAM upgrade myself(Maxed out at 4 Gigs), upgraded the drive from the 5400rpm, 250gig drive to a 7200rpm 500gig drive(again, another upgrade I’ve done) and I’m ordering a replacement SuperDrive this week and going to install it since the existing one seems to be acting up. So, for me, these are serviceable machines. However, I hear Apple is being a PITA about that now and making their newer stuff completely “user-service un-friendly”.

Now, onto another thing to consider:
Right now, I’m running this laptop with Windows 7 Ultimate, 64-bit, NATIVELY. Of course, this will cost you the price of a license for the Windows OS of your choice. I use to run XP Pro 32-bit on it. You can choose to default boot to Windows or Mac OS(Mine is set to boot to Windows by default), but you can easily change with OS you boot to by holding the Option key down, and you can change which is your boot OS at any time s well very easily. Basically, you get the best of both worlds in one package should you choose to take advantage of it.

Do you need any special software to make this happen? Yes you do. BootCamp. You get it with your Mac OS. It’s an optional install item but you will need it for native mode Windows.

While you can use Parallels, it isn’t perfect. For me, with software I need to run on the Windows side, Parallels won’t work. For many people, Parallels is actually a better solution, but for me, it’s just not cutting it for the work I need to do since my lighting software packages won’t work with it, nor will my video sync/slave software.

Just consider your options. Money may not be an object, which is good. This gives you the freedom to choose. Also, the tablet/laptop market is really maturing nicely, so it may be an option work pursuing. I personally don’t care for them, but that’s just my situation.

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Adobe Premiere and Photoshop both come for the Mac OS. You don’t have to use iMovie any more than you have to use Windows Movie Maker.

For general computing (typing/homework things, Internet things, listening to music, image editing, etc), all major platforms today are mature enough to have software for the job.

I’d get the Macbook Pro, simply because I have never found a laptop from any other brand that didn’t feel awkward and kludged together in some way, and the machine and the OS are well-designed, and designed to go together. And if you decide you don’t like the OS and want to use Windows or Linux, the option is there.

If you want a touch screen, get the Surface. That’s about the only advantage, and it’s only an advantage if using a touch screen for general computing makes sense to you.

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Get a normal a plain old laptop. I have an Asus Gaming laptop but that is way to heavy for most people, over 9 pounds plus a 2 pound charger. I would look at Windows ultra books. Then maybe you can “upgrade” to Linux.

This looks great: Amazon.com: ASUS UX31 13-Inch Laptop [2012 model] : Electronics

This is a tablet and a relatively powerful laptop: Amazon.com: ASUS Taichi 21-DH51 11-Inch Convertible 2in1 (OLD VERSION)

For posteritys sake my laptop: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+17.3%26%2334%3B+Laptop+-+8GB+Memory+-+1TB+Hard+Drive+-+Black/7674057.p?id=1218858193064&skuId=7674057

There is alot of free software for photo and video editing, the new version of GIMP is great and free.(If you haven’t tried the new version it is great) For audio there is Hydrogen(Beat maker) Audacity(Audio recording/editing) LMMS(Composer), Video I am not familiar with free video editors but Lightworks has a great free option. Also there is always WAX. Those are just the tip of the iceberg for free software.

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Wait, am I understanding this right? You’re getting a laptop for highschool? You basically need one in college, but I can’t think of a time where a laptop would have really been beneficial for me throughout highschool.

If you want to do video editing as well as some graphic design on photoshop, you’re going to need way more hard drive space than the surface pro could provide. I know someone who shoots and edits professionally, and they’ve used over 4tb of storage (they keep all their videos, but still)
Also, for what you’re getting with the macbook pro (which I don’t see a $999 option, cheapest I see is 1200) you could get a much much better windows pc. Considering you don’t like Mac’s native software, I see absolutely no reason to get one.

13" display Macbook pro, $1199
2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
4GB 1600MHz memory
500GB 5400-rpm hard drive
Intel HD Graphics 4000
Built-in battery (7 hours)

For cheaper ($1149), you can get an asus g74sx
17.3" display (much better for video editing and photoshop)
2ghz sandy bridge i7
8gb 1333 ddr3
2x 500gb 5400rpm hd (again, you want lots and lots of storage space)
And here’s the enormous advantage:
2gb Nvidia GTX 560M
4 hours w/ a non built in battery, meaning y’know… you can change it.
Not to mention that the heat sinks on this thing are beyond ridonculously awesome. Which overheating is kind of an issue for laptops.

Integrated graphics cards are pretty much the worst things to happen to computers for anyone that wants any kind of performance. Having a dedicated 2gb gtx 560 is 1000x better than having the integrated intel 4000hd. I’m not saying you have to go with a 17" laptop (although I’ve toted one around before, it’s not hard at all. It’ll just take up a little more room on your desk)

Edit: the three mctron listed above are great. The first one only having a 128gb ssd is kind of low in my opinion, but the other two are great, especially that last one. a gtx670 is a phenomenal gpu, and it has an ivy bridge i7. Plus it accepts up to 32gb of ram. If I didn’t have a beast of a desktop, I would probably get that.

1 Like
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Maybe you could upgrade the Surface for me :stuck_out_tongue:

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You seem to be favoring the Surface. Just go buy one.

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Yeah true, but I still have questions about it.

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I have Steam on my MB Pro. But if you want to play games, you shouldn’t have gotten a laptop.

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this.
A desktop will always beat out a laptop for gaming in every aspect buy portability. Price, performance, customization, etc.

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I have a MBP and love the heck out of it.

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Does anyone have a Surface pro?

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If I had to choose between any Mac product…

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Mac vs pc
Pc can be cheaply fix or upgrade and will
Last you for years
And a Mac cost a lot more to fix

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So I’m guessing no one on forums owns a Surface Pro,…

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My buddy has one. I played around on it. IMO, which, in all honesty is pretty good considering I am an IT and part of my job is dealing with portable computing, Its not worth it. There are much better, cheaper options. the ONLY reason to drop that kind of coin on what is basically a tablet when you can get portable laptops with more power, ram, storage, etc is…well no reason. Possibly size, but really, with all the ultrabooks floating around they are just as portable.

Now…onto macbook pro. It is an excellent computer, and as far as editing photos, videos etc, its probably your best bet. Back in the day(man I’m getting older) when I used to do Graphic design I LOVED my Mac. for me it was so much better for editing. Nowadays, the gap is much closer as far as what professionals prefer and can get on both platforms. Its portable, it can do anything and everything that you need as far as editing is concerned, it can have Windows loaded on it so basically all software is usable. The downsize is that its expensive. a comparable Windows laptop is going to be cheaper. You CAN play games on it, don’t let people tell you that you can’t, but also be realistic. you aren’t going to be running brand new games maxed out. Heck, you aren’t doing that on 95% of laptops. It will play older games well enough to work, but if you want gaming, you should be doing it on a desktop anyway.

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Just to comment on the gaming aspect, it’s definitely possible. My friend used to use an old macbook for WoW, HoN, tf2, and other pretty low requirement games. But if you want gaming, like many have said, just build a desktop. Not all games are compatible with Mac OS, and I don’t believe you can even order a Mac Pro with a good enough graphics card. Looking at apple’s site right now, the best you could get is an Hd 5780, or 2 5770s in crossfire, which is pretty far below current standards in gaming. I’m using an HD 7850, which has about 2.5x the benchmark score, and I still can’t play crysis 3 at max settings. Which is more due to my cpu bottlenecking the gpu, but even with a better processor, I would still be at a very low frame rate.

Point is, if you want computer for gaming, build it. Simple as that.

But back to the topic at hand, macbook pros are fine computers. They’re just way overpriced for what hardware they’re giving you. It doesn’t sound like you like Mac OS anyway, so I wouldn’t even think that would be an option.

As has been suggested, your best option would be getting a windows PC, like the asus laptops already linked. They’re much better performance and far cheaper than the surface pro. I used a surface pro today while I was at bestbuy, and I was severely unimpressed. I would think it a waste of money, but if you’re set on one, there’s nothing more we can say to persuade you otherwise.

Just to further my point though about macs being overpriced, a 12-core Mac Pro for $3800 gives you:
2x 6 core xenon processors (~$500 a piece)
12 gigs of ram (6 sticks of 2gb, which I honestly didn’t know they still made… you’re better off upgrading to 8 gig sticks. ~$15 a piece)
1tb 7200 rpm hd (~$80)
rw drive (~$20 to $40 if you want their identical one.)
HD 5770 (~$120)
They don’t specify the psu, but they’ve gotta have something good to support 2 xenons, I’d guess 1kw. ~$100
No mention of the mobo either, and I’m not sure of a mobo that supports 2 xenons, but I’ll just value this at $300.
The tower, there’s not much in the way of aesthetics or cooling that I can see, so I’d say $50.
So you could build a machine with identical components for ~$1700. The latest mac os can be had for roughly $20 I believe.

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Old thread I know but I’m back with a new question. Would this be a step up from the Surface Pro?

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/productID.258686300