Why would I buy a Macbook Pro over...

[Svalbaard]

A similarly specced Windows 7 Pro laptop?

What benefit does the additional £750 wanted by Apple for their unit give me when using it primarily for general document creation + internet/email + my plan B photography work flow.

I don't want to start a fan-boy flame war, but I'm struggling to see the justification.

[DaveB]

A similarly specced Windows 7 Pro laptop?

What benefit does the additional £750 wanted by Apple for their unit give me when using it primarily for general document creation + internet/email + my plan B photography work flow.

I don't want to start a fan-boy flame war, but I'm struggling to see the justification.

Easy of use and reliability in the OS, build quality for the hardware.

You can still run Windows 7 on it if you want, with bootcamp or a VM. No (easy reliable) option to run OS X with a Wintel box.

I use Windows at work and OS X at home and I still think OS X is far less hassle even after 3 years.

[administrator]

Yup, I haven't managed to get my head around that one either... If you are used to PC workflow and know that what you want to do can be achieved on Windows then why waste spend the extra?

[Durbs]

What benefit does the additional £750 wanted by Apple for their unit give me when using it primarily for general document creation + internet/email + my plan B photography work flow.

For those uses, absolutely no benefits whatsoever rather than shinyness and build quality (and i'm sure any number of Windows lappies can rival that quality).

But, if you want or need to run OSX then doesn't matter what you spend on a Windows laptop, it simply cant do it. The Apple laptop though can run both.

So basically, if you have no interest or use for OSX then the only reason would be that it looks better on the coffee table.

In fact, i broke my normal Facebook silence to post a rant about this recently, i could do with a Macbook Pro to run XCode and not be stuck at my Mac Mini.

Looking on eBay, even the broken 'spares or repair' Mackbook Pro's a few years old were going in the end for up to £500-£600, **** that!

[Spacecadet]

A similarly specced Windows 7 Pro laptop?

What benefit does the additional £750 wanted by Apple for their unit give me when using it primarily for general document creation + internet/email + my plan B photography work flow.

I don't want to start a fan-boy flame war, but I'm struggling to see the justification.

Which windows machine are you comparing to which apple machine?
£750 is a big difference and when I'm looking at Laptops, Apple are only marginally more expensive.

[doodab]

If you are serious about the photography angle I would save the cash and spend it on a decent LCD monitor e.g. Eizo or Lacie, and a proper colour calibrator. Or at least get a calibrator.

[d000hg]

Which windows machine are you comparing to which apple machine?
£750 is a big difference and when I'm looking at Laptops, Apple are only marginally more expensive.

WHS, you need to make sure you're comparing a similar spec - and not just spec but a Windows laptop of similar slimness and 'polish' because nobody pretends for that price you're not buying style... but this applies to top-end Windows laptops too. You can easily spend more on a laptop than a Macbook Pro costs.