Lenovo IdeaPad U410 vs. MacBook Pro w/ Retina Display

[daPolska25]

So my 5-year-old HP Pavilion's motherboard died recently, and I don't feel up to finding a replacement as that exact motherboard model is retired, and I was planning on buying a new computer anyway. So I've decided to go with a laptop this time (the Pavilion was a desktop), and I'm trying to decide between Mac or PC. If I choose Mac it will be a 13.3" MacBook Pro with retina Display. If I choose PC it will most likely be a Lenovo IdeaPad U410, and I would probably load Linux on it.

So here are the stats side by side:

[TABLE="class: grid, width: 500, align: center"]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]Lenovo IdeaPad U410[/TD]
[TD]MacBook Pro w/ Retina Display[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Processor[/TD]
[TD]Dual-Core i7 2.0GHz[/TD]
[TD]Dual-Core i5 2.5GHz[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]RAM[/TD]
[TD]8GB[/TD]
[TD]8GB[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Storage[/TD]
[TD]1TB HDD + 24GB SSD[/TD]
[TD]128GB SSD[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Graphics[/TD]
[TD]1GB Nvidia GeForce 610M[/TD]
[TD]Intel HD Graphics 4000[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]OS[/TD]
[TD]Windows 8[/TD]
[TD]OS X Mountain Lion[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Battery[/TD]
[TD]9 Hours[/TD]
[TD]7 Hours[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Display[/TD]
[TD]14" HD[/TD]
[TD]13.3" Retina[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Price[/TD]
[TD]$849.99[/TD]
[TD]$1,499.00[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

So which one would you guys buy? Let me know.

 

[FaceRAX]

I would buy the Lenovo PC thats for sure.
The processor that cames with it is quite good even knowing that the Macbook have a processor at an higher clock I would go for the I7.
The RAM is quite the same.
Now for the storage, I would go for the 1TB+24GB SSD because i prefer to have some pretty good storage space to have my stuff and certainly an SSD with only 128 GB would not do the job.
For the Graphics card i wouldnt even hesitate to get that Nvidia
For an OS i would prefer Windows 8 a lot more than OS X (this topic is just a matter of preference).
For the battery we all can see its better on Lenovo.
For the display there isnt much of a difference there, so i would choose either one.
For the price, the lenovo is a lot cheaper.
So in my opinion I were you I would go for the Lenovo PC here.

 

[InsaneNutter]

Tough choice, its hard to say without knowing a bit more about what you want.

• Will this be your main computer?
• Is the screen resolution important to you?
• What will it be used for?
• What OS do you want? Linux or OSX (i get the impression you dont want Windows)

FaceRAX has summed up the differences between the two pretty good here, to me the Mac Pro wins on the screen and the Lenovo on storage space and battery. So I would ask yourself which is more important.

I can tell you that i got a 13" MacBook Air around October last year and have been very impressed with it. I wasn't sure if to get a Windows based Ultrabook or the Air. In the end i chose the Air as i could still get around £300 student discount on it, which made it cheaper than the Windows equivalent. I was very impressed with the build quality, especially the trackpad. I would personally never want a laptop without a trackpad that supports gestures now.

I think the Mac Pro would be the better machine here, however its really down to you if you think its worth paying $600 more for it.

 

[daPolska25]

• Tough choice, its hard to say without knowing a bit more about what you want.
• Will this be your main computer?
• Is the screen resolution important to you?
• What will it be used for?
• What OS do you want? Linux or OSX (i get the impression you dont want Windows)
• I would personally never want a laptop without a trackpad that supports gestures now.

• Well I'm planning on buying CS6 Design & Web Premium for whatever computer I buy. Also, schoolwork, entertainment, music (creation and consumption), and general email, browsing, etc.
• Yes
• Pretty much
• (look at the first point)
• I will mainly use Ubuntu, and then have the hardware's OS as well through Parallels, because of Adobe's incompatibility with Linux
• Windows 8 ultrabooks all support gesture, right?

 

[InsaneNutter]

From what you have said I would go with the Macbook Pro, it seems a little pointless purchasing Adobe Design & Web Premium to then mess about running it in a Windows virtual machine.

Plus you have the far superior screen with the Macbook Pro too, which is important to you.

For desktop use I personally think OSX is years ahead of all the popular Linux distros out there, it's far more polished with better quality apps (my opinion of course, i know people will happily argue that to the end of time). Plus most of all you can run all the Adobe apps natively.

 

[daPolska25]

Well I ended up buying the Lenovo, because 1. I found it for $100 less at best buy, and for $750, those specs are a real deal. 2. I only need this computer for 4 years, for high school, and then I'm going to buy the best MacBook with Retina Display or whatever the fanciest new technology is at that point, for college.