I’m getting a laptop

I don’t think they’re behind, but they have no upgrade plans for the Air or MacMini. The 12” Macbook is the replacement, but the Air keeps selling so they just keep it around. They will never be like the PC makers that release new models every time Intel drops a new chip, no matter the value. Intel has said that they may not be shipping Cannonlake in quantity until next year so I would not expect new MBPs until then and don’t hold your breath for a new Air.

 

The biggest selling point for a laptop is its portability and mobility. Unfortunately, portability always means compromise in terms of memory, disk capacity, etc ...

 

Exactly. That's why I supplemented my custom BYO desktop with a $200 Chromebook, which has all the portability features I need for those rare times I need mobility. I paid more than that for my sound card, and I get the best of both worlds.

 

In my experience, the real issue (or one of them, rather) is that any new OS will make you realise you need a new, more powerful, one.
I find Windows being much more forgiving about that,

 

Not really these days, RAM and hard disks are so small as not to matter. The major compromise is in CPU power, because the really powerful CPUs are huge and require a large cooling fan for which there is no space in a laptop. The CPUs designed for laptop therefore compromise computation power. Another downside is that with laptops everything is proprietary. The components of desktop PCs can be changed, and they are standardised across brands, so swapping things is easy. With laptops that is mostly not true (RAM and hard drives excepted). So upgrading a piece of hardware, or changing it in case of a defect, is either expensive or impossible.

 

Lenovo, to me, isn't established enough. But I"m pretty conservative when it comes to these types of purchases. Additionally, haven't laptops become more reliable and powerful over the years? Regarding the question of laptops vs. desktops? Also, I think I might remember reading that, for recording and mixing music, the desktop fan suddenly turning on is a downside for desktops, due to the sudden unwelcome noise introduced to the recording.

 

I'm an advertising art director in NYC (or at least was). All advertising agencies bought Macs for their creative departments so thats what I learned on back in the early '80's. Dabbled with Windows machines a couple of times but never could get my head around the interface, seemed convoluted compared to the Mac OS. People keep telling me there's not that much difference these days but I can't be bothered to learn a new OS. My 2010 Mac Pro tower and and MacBook Pro keep chugging along. The tower was very easy to upgrade. Apple's current machines are difficult to upgrade and expensive to repair. Unfortunately Apple is more interested in selling iPhones these days. These guys sell refurbished older models: Search Results for MacBook at MacSales.com

 

BTW- does it have surround sound?

 

I didn't (daughter needed a new laptop so I ended up getting her a MBA). Wasn't thrilled at the older tech spend but she was used to MacOS already and again I know that support will be very good for the next ten months. Luckily I got a bit of a price break between a BB sale + their student discount else I would not have bought it.

I'm not thrilled with their new MBP's either given the lack of ports / needing a dongle and harder maintenance. Not that the MBA is fantastic in this area but at least the user can upgrade the storage if they wanted to. And replace the battery.

 

My 2012 MBP is a nice piece of tech and still chugging along.

I have done some upgrades on it though, and taken it apart for maintenance. But at least i could actually do that with a minimum of fuss. When MacOS is finally unsupported (probably after this last version upgrade coming) I haven't decided what to do with it....either sell it or possibly just run Windows 10 and/or Linux on it. Regardless, it's had a very good run.

 

I just recently replaced my 17” MBP Mid-2010 for a maxed out 15” MBP 2017. Have to say, I miss the bigger screen, the touchbar is a gimmick, and i’m hating the USB-C dongle mess. But damn! It’s one hell of a machine for Logic Pro X and Final Cut Pro.

 

Just got my laptop!

 

What did you end up with ?

 

Lenovo Ideapad

 

I'm sure in the long run they want to do just that. Though by that point, iOS may have evolved into something more like MacOS! For now, there remains a large swath of websites and content that simply will not run on devices, they need a "real" computer. There's still a ton of Flash and Java stuff, and many websites stupidly don't check how then render on phones/tablets, even though they far outnumber computers.

 

Steve Jobs banned Adobe Flash from running on Apple iPhone and maybe Mac as well. Not sure if that has changed ...

 

Never on iOS, but MacOS yes for Flash and Java (you have to add and update them, it's not built in to MacOS).

 

So how is your new laptop working out for you?

 

All that anti-virus and anti-malware junk is one reason why I switched to Mac computers 15 years ago. It’s ridiculous that anyone should have to run those third party programs.

However I can’t recommend a current generation MacBook Pro, too many issues with the keyboard.

 

Wow! Considering that Lenovo bought their way into the laptop business by buying IBM’s laptop division, pretty much makes them kind of the old dog in the laptop fight. I’ve used Thinkpads from the IBM days and after the Lenovo transition and though I had a Zseries ages ago, today’s Thinkpads are as good as they’ve ever been. The Yogas and Ideapads are also solid in their segments. I also have their M series Mini’s as my standard node on my office network (about 20 of them) and they have been flawless. They did get their hand caught in the privacy cookie jar some years back, but have responded with probably the highest security implementation intel can provide.

The dongles never bothered me much. I’ve been all in on thunderbolt for years, and I usually would use a USB extension with a lot on sticks and interfaces anyway. The touchbar would be fine if I did not spend so much time in Windows and in Cad type programs that make a lot of use of F keys. My biggest issue was that after using a 13” for years I tried a 15”since the weigh5 was close, but I could not deal with th3 extra bulk. I work in the field a lot and size and weight matter a lot.

 

Yes, it is just a rumor. Not gonna happen but they will continue to merge capability.

 

I wonder if a Chromebook would be a useful addition.

 

The world changed in the last 15 years. Windows computers are much more secure than they were back then. Also, Macs are vulnerable to malware too.

The reason Windows ism the most targeted is because Windows is the most popular in the world. If it were the other way around, it would me Macs. Any operating system can be hacked and exploited.

You should also know that you do not need to run third-party programs on Windows 10. Many users are simply used to it now. That is all. I only run Windows defender and my machine is nice and clean.

 

Apple products are still largely style over substance, and you pay a hefty price for that style. Back in the day Apple used to be geared towards creatives and it had different graphics/video applications to contemporary windows pcs, but that changed a long time ago when the apps were made available cross platform.

As Grant just said, you dont need any 3rd party apps, but if you wanted there are some very very good, free, apps you can use in a belt and braces approach. Just google 'best free antivirus' and/or 'best free anti-malware'. The money you save not buying the Apple brand will more than pay for a much better spec non-Apple equivalent.