Since Apple is neglecting the Mac line and a Kijiji deal for a 2015-era MBP fell through, I went looking elsewhere for a laptop to freelance with now that I am out on my ass.
Like Apple it looks like MS and Dell both want +$1000 CAD for the same specs as what I settled for: a Huawei Matebook X Pro with i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD and Geforce MX510, same as desktop GT1030.
wow that looks great and thats a very good deal at ~$1200 base model. I am using a new Blade. its cool and all but the screen is a little too short.
It will be the $1778.81 CAD after 5% GST, 10% edu discount and $120 2 year warranty. +$10 rush shipping.
Which Razer Blade? How much was it if I may ask and what do you mean by a screen being “short?”
Sure! I got the 14" blade
As a replacement for my macbook pro
Its great (way more powerful than the mac) and with a sweet big SSD plus 16 gig of memory.
BUT the screen as you can see, is significantly smaller and behind some large black bevels. In particular the height of the screen is way too small for surfing or coding, it does play games great but for work I miss that bigger screen real estate. Your matebook looks like the best of both worlds!
Ah you got a real gaming GPU with the 1060. The 1030 is not for gaming, alas. I was considering a Razer but the 2018 model reviews said it ran way too hot.
I was also curious about the new QMax or whatever stupid pantyliner-sounding name they used for the full-sized GPUs in laptops this year but the Huawei was $1000 cheaper than everything else.
My shortlist was:
ASUS Zenbook
Lenovo Yoga
Dell XPS 13
Macbook Air
Macbook Pro 2015 era used
Macbook 12"
Macbook Pro modern
Razer Blade
Surface was entirely out of the question since I hate that fabric crap they use.
Good list. My Blade runs pretty cool, when it doesn’t the bottom of it is very well ventilated so if you are using a laptop stand it cools down pretty quick when the fans kick on.
I suspect I am going to be getting another laptop this year for coding so I am curious how yours works out for you!
Just curious, as I always am when people switch: You don’t use software unique to one platform or the other? I love macOS personally, but I couldn’t make a full switch if I wanted to unless I wanted to find all new software and then, most likely, I would give up on having that same software sync with my mobile devices. I am surprised most people aren’t entrenched in one side or the other.
The plan is to get a cheap/refurbished/used 2014-2015 MBA at some point or a 2012-era quad-core mini since I am also heavily invested in MacOS software.
I have two macbook pro’s which will last another few years so I can carry on using my OSX specific software (Pixelmator, Final Cut, Logic etc) as I transition to Windows friendly equivalents.
For me it was a pretty painful because I really did love working in Xcode. I dont want to get into a systems war thing but I felt Apple left me, not the other way around so I didnt feel I had a choice, I can elaborate if you want but its the usual Apple complaints.
Luckily Microsoft has started to get their act together just as I switched so I had a soft landing really but for sure its had friction. A big part of me hopes Apple will reverse course but my friends who work there assure me that is just not going to happen with the current exec team and why should they? Its clearly working moneywise so good for them, but gamers & game developers are really not a high priority for the Mac team so move I must.
But its not a “screw you Apple!” change, more a “thanks for the good times but its not working any more” kind of thing you know?
They never have been, have they? In 35+ has Apple ever done anything for gamers? What specifically was the nail in the coffin out of curiosity?
I have tons of complaints about Apple myself, just don’t think there is a better alternative out there, and I really like Mac software outside of Apple, there is a certain level of quality I don’t see often on the Windows side.
No they havent, that is true. As I say its me really. I also agree the quality of 3rd software on the mac is higher I attribute some of that to macOS which I also generally like.
No single thing, just a tipping point, my perceived lowering quality but higher prices, removing ports (a big deal for my music production), depreciating legacy software (again not new just an irritation) , lack of any quality of life improvements on Xcode with this drip drip of trying to force some apple proprietary thing vs the industry standard (openGL being the latest example) finally all those little annoyances like not being to easily access all the files on your computer and the sneaking suspicion that Apple really would like to make it a closed platform like iOS.
Again nothing I am angry about, it just it all adds up to the point I felt it wasn’t worth the hassle to stick around.
On the other hand I am typing this on my Blade and yeah I miss that I dunno, mac “feel” of ease of use you know?
The Verge refreshed their article today which validates my decision:
Hope things are okay in general, aside from new laptop, man. Take care up there in the frostbitten northerlands!
I’m on the hunt for a notebook for my son who’s starting post-secondary in September.
He wants something ultrabook-ish, that he can still do some gaming with. I’ve zeroed in on the Acer Nitro Spin 5, which is on sale this week for CAD$1199.
I understand it runs a little (a lot?) hot during extended gaming sessions, what with the onboard GTX1050. But, it’s relatively thin and light, which makes lugging it around campus easier.
GTX 1050 is really strong as of now, but mostly all laptops run hot irrespective of the brand. You might need an external laptop cooler though.
Shouldn’t the cooling issue with GPUs be solved now?
One nice thing about the Surface Book is that MS separated the CPU and GPU; the CPU is in the screen, the GPU is in the base. This allows them to run a 1060 and avoid the thermal issues of having the CPU and GPU side-by-side.
