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Comment by jff | Hacker News Reader

My current daily work machine is a Thinkpad X61; according to the corporate property tracking system, it was acquired in October of 2007. It's never been upgraded, but with a dual-core 64-bit processor and 4 GB of RAM I can run most things I need and even start up a VM if necessary. I've been using it for several weeks now because I don't have a proper desk at my new location yet.

There's nothing magical about a Mac, you just have to pick something comparable instead of a $300 Best Buy HP.

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I have a distinct distaste for Mac. That being said, I think there is a little more here: when I started at my current gig we were using Toshibas - not cheap ones either, these were top-of-the-line. 1.5yr down the road they could no longer perform the exact same job that they started out with. The same can't be said of my Dell: it's a work horse more than 2yr later.

With Mac you can't loose. PC (especially laptops) can be hit and miss.

I sort of agree with this, except ... there is something magical about unibody metal construction. By anyone.

I don't understand why nobody else can make this leap ... it's a tremendous step forward in look, feel and function.

I don't have any particular affinity for apple, but there is no way I am ever buying a plastic computer again.

For those saying it's not unique to Mac. The Unibody pricing is one key factor that makes a portable device that doesn't fall apart at the seams and internal connections.

I've been building my own computers for years. I upgrade my PC on the super cheap every few years (couple of hundred dollars). After a decade, I spent less money on a constantly upgraded PC than a single macbook.

I now have a quad core i7, 16gb ram, geforce 650ti, and an ssd I salvaged. I think in the decade of this computer existing I spent a total of 2 grand on it.

You can't compare a desktop with a laptop. They are completely different use cases, of course a desktop is fine years later.

Why? What makes a laptop not fine after a few years that a desktop doesn't have to deal with?

Being hauled around everywhere and put through all sorts of physical stress.

I think plenty of people take enough care of their laptops that the impact of physical stress is reduced. As others have stated, build quality probably has a lot to do with it. I think it's less Macs vs others than high build quality vs lower build quality. The fact that macs are just one of many builders (although possibly the one with the highest build quality) can skew this.

Regardless of whether some people can tiptoe around it and mitigate the consequences, a physical durability and portability is the main difference between laptops and desktops.

Sure, it's high-vs-low build quality, but MacBooks really do have something here that nobody else is doing: unibody aluminum frames, a big feature for durability, weight, and portability.

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