It's nice that there is only one model of Thinkpad and one model of MacBook Pro, so that we don't have to compare any specs.

Apple always have great screens, great sound and are super easy to use and update. You can’t upgrade your hardware yourself but you have plenty of very expensive options when you choose your system. You will remain in the Apple ecosystem.

Thinkpads are robust, upgradable and you will definitely get shit speakers. You will be able to get the same performance as a Mac and it will cost you less.

There is no difference in software options - what you need to use will be cross platform or a free alternative will exist - you just might need to relearn some workflow to get the hang of something that’s slightly different than you’re used to .

Apple products are always highly polished but I’d rather drop a thinkpad on the floor than a MacBook and have to use it straight after.

both, I have a t480s with arch and a m1, best of both worlds.

Although, I think a thinkpad would be better for backend.

I mean, they are very different machines. You genuinely don't have a preference?

You are asking that on a thinkpad sub, people are obviously going to recommend thinkpad. I don't know much about macbooks, but I've heard they are better for some things.

Although Thinkpads are good, x86 processors lose a lot to ARM, so I would recommend MacBook for now. To be honest, I myself would gladly sell my X1 Carbon G6 and buy a new MacBook, because even with a new battery it is not as autonomous as a MacBook, and when it comes to performance, the MacBook is again much better

I write as a hobby and I am looking for a laptop that will have some longevity and portability, with durability.

ThinkPad is for you, period. The keyboard is no comparison. Although, I'd still recommend typing on a external capacitive or mechanical keyboard when possible.

While the M series SoCs are great on laptops, the glossy monitor, the PWM flickering, the notch, the rounded corners of the screen panels, and the poor ergonomics (such as the sharp and cold aluminum edges that dig into your wrists when typing) are just not a great experience for writing.

Get a MacBook. Air maybe. Apple refurbished is excellent. The come with a full warranty and you can get AppleCare. Just get something with more than 8GB RAM if you want to future proof it. M2 (and M1) prices are dropping since the new M3 is out. I know I'm going to get downvoted because this is the Thinkpad group, but I use both and prefer the Macs. They are last for years if you take care of them.

I would recommend a X1 Carbon or X1 Yoga. These are very durable, well built and lightweight.

With that said, any of the M1 to M3 15" Macbook Pro is really good too. But the base model comes with 8GB of Ram and only 256GB of storage. And it is already much more expensive than the Thinkpad X1 Carbon

I have both, keyboard and touch mat screen are definitely what makes me prefer thinkpad.

define your understanding of better in terms of laptops

Depends on what you mean by better. They generally have worse speakers, better keyboards, worse battery life, are more easily serviceable, are cheaper, have more ports, are heavier etc. So it entirely depends on what one value.

u wont run low demand games on either really, do any of em have a dGPU?

Apple is planning on discontinuing their intel based Macs so just like what someone said highly highly recommend getting an M1 MacBook or you can try to see if you can maybe find a workstation laptop from 5 or so years ago, they have some powerful specs and bit more reliable. Old Dell Precisions(2020 to early 2024) before the 2024 or 2025 refresh (late 2024 or 2025 they started to solder ram in there) are pretty good plus they are very user friendly if you want to upgrade the ram or storage later on in the years.

https://a.co/d/740hLOX (here is a Dell Precison I found for $389 at the time of writing this)

https://a.co/d/4EFJnxU (another one for $459 at the time writing this)

Hope this helps :)

If you're on a tight budget, I'd go with a ThinkPad - spare parts can be found easily and are cheap.

I would try to pick non-S model (T480) 8th gen Intel - it can have bridge battery and is a sturdy beater laptop that should still perform decently for basic tasks and has official Win 11 support.

Probably wouldn’t be wise to buy an older laptop tho. Like battery performance may be limited tho as well as software

If you are looking for a Mac, try to find an M1 Air, it’s much more faster than most Mac with an Intel chip, and at least it’s still supported with software updates, while the 2016 hasn’t received major software updates since 2 or 3 years.

If you would decide to buy a ThinkPad, for your usecase find something with Nvidia MX150 - and see if it's gonna perform up to what you expect of the laptop under these circumstances, because it's pretty weak GPU anyway, and I'm not familiar with such usecase.

Bridge battery on T480 (basically two batteries - one internal, one external) can come in handy in terms of portability, because you can swap a battery without loosing your work.

Mac Book air M2 with 16gb is a bait. I would take the M2 8gb or the thinkpad if the ram is important

Personally I would pick the Thinkpad.

Take a look at the HP Elitebook 845 G11

Thankpad

Definitely dockers needs ram , so thinkpad . Even though mac has 16 and it can mitigate it with swap

Go with macbook if you want a thin and light laptop or if you want a bulky Ahh laptop then you can go with Loq Make sure you buy extended warranty with both laptops. Especially with loq due to its Motherboard issues

LOW you should be able to upgrade the memory and SSD later if you need to. Macbook air you can't. You should choose now itself if you need more memory and SSD. And also it depends on the tools you will be using on what platform they are available.

Didn't mean to write Lenovo I just saw an ad on TV and thought "Lenovo" and typed it lol. However, Lenovo is one of the possible candidates for the gaming laptop section.

mukang mas okay kung bibilin mo ung macbook.

Thinkpads are great honestly, pero I would never buy a brand new na thinkpad, kasi they last super long so I always buy second hand. Kaya super mura than the original price.

macbook air for battery life

you'd mostly want a thinkpad (used) like the T14 Gen 1, if you can't afford a macbook air.

the Thinkpad if you mostly value repairability of some components (like keyboard, battery) and upgradeable ram or storage.

durability, i think the macbook air is fairly durable. basta wag lang malalang tama.

mansan nasasagi ko sa table yung macbook air M1 ko...altho di malala...buhay pa naman.

Id get the macbook no questions asked, both laptops check all your boxee but imo the macbook is more suited for those kinds of work, maybe much more if youre going to get any M series macbooks

An air would probably work fine for web apps and sites. If you're doing a lot of virtualization or containerization I'd suggest a MacBook or setting your iMac up to run the load remotely.

I'm a Linux user myself, Mac is pretty unimpressive under the hood for the price imo but those thinkpads are the worst.