Old thread but everything here is.
Macbooks were better a long time ago, when they got their reputation. They were not worth the tax IMO, but were solid, upgradeable machines you could actually do work on. I had used a pre 2011 model and was purchased a newer model by work (from after Apple's 'retina' thing when they started dropping features) for development years ago and it was *bad*. Technically those were ours to do whatever we wanted with. When I left the job, I left mine there after doing a clean install and told them to give it to somebody who'd use it. Thermal management was non-existent so the processor would drop to half speed within minutes of doing anything. Some of the keys on the keyboard got so hot that they were near the pain threshold.
The newer ones are doing the same thing. Top of the line 6 core model is faster than last year's quad core only if thrown in the freezer for 20 minutes first? Sign me the hell up for that, great job. Their lower end laptops don't even have the questionable advantage of multicore processors and tons of ram, and still cost too much, so why bother? A $400 acer will keep up with them.
If I was buying a laptop and able to spend that much anyway, and didn't care about the issues of not being able to upgrade, I'd get a Surface. Linux is fully functional with it aside from the webcams, Windows 10 is designed with it in mind, they're usable as tablets and with Wacom pens, and even though they only have dual core processors, their heat output is appropriate for the form factor and less likely to take a crap instantly. If you were looking at cheaper options and really want to run OS X for some reason, track down a PC laptop that's just as fast as the expensive MBP and can be Hackintosh'd
https://www.tonymacx86.com/forums/high-sierra-laptop-guides.193/.
Also keep in mind that apple moved to USB-C / Thunderbolt 3 ports for everything. That's not terrible on its own, newer standards are important, but their newer laptops have no standard USB ports, you need an adapter for that. Need an optical drive? They quit including those a while ago. Surely you can just plug an SD or MicroSD card into... no, they removed that too. Getting anything to/from the computer requires USB adapters or bluetooth. USB->USB-C adapters are only $10, but have fun not losing them.
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Topic: Should I buy a Macbook ? (Read 3723 times)