Oh my goodness @Rasheed187 I was wondering when you were going to post on this thread about Mac's. I was getting a little worried not hearing your input on a computer I believe you never owned.
Oh gosh, did I hurt your feelings again by saying he made the right decision? Also, I never owned a Mac but I have worked on it, and it's those annoying little things that get on my nerves, so that's why I knew I will probably never switch to macOS. So I understand Osaban's dilemma, it depends a bit on how good you are at adapting to new stuff.
My old machine, a 10 years old top of the line Samsung, is still very beautiful in terms of design (better looking than the Mac and the new Dell). The materials, construction and hardware are hard to beat, Samsung is a hardware behemoth, even now the laptop looks brand new after so many years… I did not even consider a new Samsung (with the same amount of money I could have got more power) because of the feud that existed (I don’t know whether it has been resolved) between Microsoft and Samsung in terms of software. The machine had dedicated software to run Windows 8, it was absolutely perfect, but when MS introduced the free upgrade to Windows 8.1 things started to go south in a disastrous way. It took a year (!) for Samsung to create new drivers for Window 8.1. When I complained to the local representative about the delay, I was told not to update or upgrade Windows! Fast forward to Windows 10 and the machine was totally managed by Windows Updates, its basic functionality was okay, but I lost the operability of many dedicated keys, the graphic card would not engage in operations when using programs like Photoshop. Worst scenario, the latest editions of Photoshop would notify that they had to work without the graphic card slowing down the computer dramatically or crash with an unrecoverable error: a real mess. There are updates from Samsung for its dedicated software, but they just don’t work or freeze the machine… I’m not a gamer, but I need a fully functional machine that will update everything without a hitch. If you buy a Samsung, use it only for office work, and it will last forever. Things might have changed in 10 years, but I won’t risk it again.
OK thanks for the info, I didn't even know that Samsung was already making laptops for such long? Because I believe in Europe they have only started a couple of years ago. But I have to say that the prices of all of these ''high end'' laptops are kinda ridiculous though. Lenovo has just released the Yoga Pro 9i series, very cool laptops but I'm not willing to spend €1500. https://www.engadget.com/lenovos-ne...-display-and-rtx-4070-graphics-130025162.html
Like all things in Korea (and generally in Asia) Samsung are not trailblazers, they want to play it safe although they have top engineering skills, but no design creativity, high end laptops are expensive because they often have the same hardware power as desktops, with the obvious advantage of mobility. Most expensive laptops are categorized as ‘for gamers’ or ‘desktop replacement’ having an average weight of around 2 Kg! Miniaturization is expensive if one wants power, and as I learned with my last purchase a good display can drive the price up considerably. At the moment the real bargain is the MacBook Pro 16’’ with the M1 CPU here in Korea as they put the price down to promote the M2 version… Still, I couldn’t get myself to switch to Mac, I’m an creature of habit unfortunately.
And what do you call a bargain? I have to say that I would be willing to buy a high end Windows laptop, or perhaps even a MacBook if prices were around €1200, but then I expect a Core or Ryzen 5/7 with 16GB RAM, a 512GB SSD and a fingerprint scanner. An OLED screen would be a nice bonus. Not to forgot about a webcam shutter LOL. Also, Apple needs to get rid of the ugly webcam notch, it's so ugly!
BTW, I forget to mention that the Dell and MacBook would be no option for me because I also want my 15 or 16 inch laptop to have a numeric keypad since I'm a stocktrader. I hate it when bigger laptops don't offer this. BTW, I have to say that I'm surprised that laptops seem to be way cheaper in the US at the moment, look at what you get for only $650, that's a hell of a deal. In Europe you will pay at least €800 for this stuff. https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/pdp/hp-pavilion-laptop-15t-eg200-6m7m8av-1
Yes it is infuriating that computers in the US are cheaper than anywhere else in the world, even Samsung computers can cost 30% less than in Korea. It’s related to the US dollar unfortunately, and I won’t comment any further as to why.
BTW, I saw this deal from Chuwi, a Chinese company, never heard from them before. You get 16GB and a 512GB for €500 which is pretty nice, but the Intel Core i3 is probably not good enough. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005305720984.html
