Why is there no Windows laptop made of proper metal like the MacBooks.

[GadgetSN]

Why is it so hard to find a Windows laptop that has the metal build quality of a MacBook.

All I want is solid cold hard metal. I don’t even care about the specs except for battery life and a high def screen. All the windows laptops in the stores are plastic or made of very thin metal that feels like plastic.

The Samsung Book Pros/Pro 360 look like a joke. Cheap feeling and only a terrible 1080p screen yet they still want £1400. They feel and look like £400 laptops.

The closest rival I have seen is the Surface. However, these still feel cheap ish especially with the suede type keyboard.

Looks like I will just have to by a M2 or M1 MacBook Air and just leave the Windows OS.

 

[minimo3]

The Dell XPS13 we have is all metal and very solid (except for the keyboard deck that’s carbon fiber which I prefer since it’s not as cold to type on in winter)

 

[reasonrulaz]

All i want to say that;

"Huawei Matebook X Pro"

Maybe better build quality than MacBook Pro. I have both, only one thing is better on macbook pro, speakers.. and if you frequently use webcam, it's location is awkward on Matebook.. But 2022 model fixed webcam location.

 

[BorderingOn]

You can get the Surface Laptop with metal palm rest: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/d/s...stab#tab1b1edc040-1512-4b96-8e65-8164625f9ecf

 

[bobcomer]

Why is it so hard to find a Windows laptop that has the metal build quality of a MacBook.

All I want is solid cold hard metal. I don’t even care about the specs except for battery life and a high def screen. All the windows laptops in the stores are plastic or made of very thin metal that feels like plastic.

The Samsung Book Pros/Pro 360 look like a joke. Cheap feeling and only a terrible 1080p screen yet they still want £1400. They feel and look like £400 laptops.

The closest rival I have seen is the Surface. However, these still feel cheap ish especially with the suede type keyboard.

Looks like I will just have to by a M2 or M1 MacBook Air and just leave the Windows OS.

Metal is HEAVY for its size, and most people want lighter laptops.

Anyway, they are out there, I have one, a Dell XPS15, and it's heavy, but I never intended it to be mobile. There's also the Lenovo Thinkbook, and several others. (from a quick google.). None of them are class leaders.

 

[The Clark]

Even if you find one, good luck matching trackpad quality.

 

[Abazigal]

My guess is that aluminium is not an easy metal to work with, and adds a fair amount of cost to the product. Macs are more price insensitive and users are generally willing to pay more (or have no choice because they want macOS). I imagine the more price sensitive nature of the PC market means that vendors generally try to keep costs low. Which means using plastic over metal.

 

[ian87w]

Why is it so hard to find a Windows laptop that has the metal build quality of a MacBook.

All I want is solid cold hard metal. I don’t even care about the specs except for battery life and a high def screen. All the windows laptops in the stores are plastic or made of very thin metal that feels like plastic.

The Samsung Book Pros/Pro 360 look like a joke. Cheap feeling and only a terrible 1080p screen yet they still want £1400. They feel and look like £400 laptops.

The closest rival I have seen is the Surface. However, these still feel cheap ish especially with the suede type keyboard.

Looks like I will just have to by a M2 or M1 MacBook Air and just leave the Windows OS.

I believe there are aluminum unibody laptops on the market.
One thing to keep in mind, the margins these laptop OEMs make are miniscule compared to Apple. Thus they have to balance their cost in build materials, and since component pricings are on the rise, something else gotta give, or being reserved for the premium models only.

And then there's the weight thing. Windows laptops would need more components like fans and larger battery to keep up with the guzzler intel chip vs the power sipping Apple Silicon. So in order to keep the weight down, usually frame and body material get the cue (eg. more flimsy display frame, use of plastic, etc). It's a tradeoff.

 

[sracer]

Why is it so hard to find a Windows laptop that has the metal build quality of a MacBook.

All I want is solid cold hard metal. I don’t even care about the specs except for battery life and a high def screen. All the windows laptops in the stores are plastic or made of very thin metal that feels like plastic.

The Samsung Book Pros/Pro 360 look like a joke. Cheap feeling and only a terrible 1080p screen yet they still want £1400. They feel and look like £400 laptops.

The closest rival I have seen is the Surface. However, these still feel cheap ish especially with the suede type keyboard.

Looks like I will just have to by a M2 or M1 MacBook Air and just leave the Windows OS.

If what the laptop chassis is made of is more important than the operating system it runs, then I agree... you SHOULD get an M2 or M1 Macbook Air. It's your money. It's your priorities.

 

[Madhatter32]

Windows laptops exist in a competitive environment. MacOS laptops do not. People know they can buy a similar laptop without the aluminum chassis with the same specs and save money -- so most people opt for pay less for the similar machine. MacOS laptops do not have this competitive pressure so they can focus on design elements that people would not necessaily pay more for given comparable alternatives.

 

[dwig]

Windows laptops exist in a competitive environment. MacOS laptops do not. People know they can buy a similar laptop without the aluminum chassis with the same specs and save money -- so most people opt for pay less for the similar machine. MacOS laptops do not have this competitive pressure so they can focus on design elements that people would not necessaily pay more for given comparable alternatives.

This is the core of the issue. Windows laptops exist in a VASTLY wider prices and configurations, and are marketed to a massively wide range of users. Apple doesn't offer products to fit the needs of most of this range of users. If you look carefully at the upper range of Windows laptops offered by the major brands you'll find many examples of well made devices with metal housings that are on a par with Apple's offerings.

 

[TechRunner]

My XPS 15 is metal, and is well-built. But it’s heavy compared to the Air (I owned one).

 

[dwig]

My Dell Inspiron 16 Plus is also all metal and a bit heavy. It's a very very close match in both size and weight to the new MBP16/M1max.

 

[derekamoss]

Even if you find one, good luck matching trackpad quality.

That used to be the case but since Microsoft created Trackpad Precision Drivers, I no longer feel I'm using a cheap trackpad. I just last week used a Mac Laptop and really didn't even notice a difference.

 

[ScreenSavers]

The Lenovo Yoga 15 is all metal and the build quality is very comparable to my MacBook Pro.

 

[salamanderjuice]

Xiaomi makes some like the Mi Notebook Ultra. I had one of the earlier models and it had a very similar build to a MBA, also looked really cool as it had zero branding on the lid although they've seemed to have "fixed" that. At the time it was basically a MacBook for way less with an extra USB A port. Not the easiest to get outside Asia though and you might need to reinstall Windows to get English.

Asus Zenbooks are also made of all metal. You can also get one with a really high resolution 3:2 display.

Razer also makes all metal laptops. I think the HP spectre might be too. Really there's a lot...

 

[SteveJUAE]

Why is it so hard to find a Windows laptop that has the metal build quality of a MacBook.

All I want is solid cold hard metal. I don’t even care about the specs except for battery life and a high def screen. All the windows laptops in the stores are plastic or made of very thin metal that feels like plastic.

The Samsung Book Pros/Pro 360 look like a joke. Cheap feeling and only a terrible 1080p screen yet they still want £1400. They feel and look like £400 laptops.

The closest rival I have seen is the Surface. However, these still feel cheap ish especially with the suede type keyboard.

Looks like I will just have to by a M2 or M1 MacBook Air and just leave the Windows OS.

The MS Surface line mainly use more expensive magnesium alloy than Macbook , most Razor laptops are alloy and of equally or better build quality, most other OEM's top range laptops use Alloy shells of equal quality, seems your not looking too hard

The Samsung Book Pro 360 has been built for extreme lightness and remarkable weight for a 13 or 15" laptop with numeric KB plus great port selections including USB -A in such a thin chassis , something the svelte 12" Macbook could not achieve

Try a bit harder or just get a MacBook

 

[GadgetSN]

I have a 2020 Huawei Matebook X Pro so know how this laptop compares with the MacBook. However, I want to move away from Huawei and want to spend around £1k (the price of a M1 MBA and likely the new M2 MBA as well).

I really wanted a Samsung. I used to own the lovely Navy Blue all solid metal with chamfered edges laptop that Samsung used to make. Where is their updated version of this?

I have just sold my Galaxy Fold 2 and originally planned to get a fold 4 later in the year. A Samsung laptop for the ecosystem aspect would have been good.

Instead I have just bought an ipad mini and will buy an iPhone 14 and a M2 MBA/used M1 MBA instead.

To earn my very good salary I only need Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Google Chrome. I don’t need intensive video editing capability that everyone on here seems to require.

I am just not used to seeing how an Apple laptop (M1 MBA) is not only cheaper than comparable windows laptops but beats them in build quality, screen resolution/aspect ratio and also battery life.

 

[SteveJUAE]

I am just not used to seeing how an Apple laptop (M1 MBA) is not only cheaper than comparable windows laptops but beats them in build quality, screen resolution/aspect ratio and also battery life.

This may well be true for your limited requirements but many others get far more from their Windows laptops vs a MBA with greater connectivity, port selections, negating the requirement for secondary tablets , flexibility of format/footprint, more software choice and compatibility, superior amoled colours with equal build quality and stronger screens

MBA M1 is a 2020 build and is expected to be refreshed shortly so is cheap where 12th gen intel laptops are already appearing even with the Samsung Galaxy Book 2 pro/360 that is available now for pre-order

Enjoy your MBA

 

[Yebubbleman]

HP EliteBooks and ProBooks have you covered. As do many models of Dell Precision, XPS, and Latitude. Also the Microsoft Surface Books were aluminum for the most part as well. There are more PC options than what you'll find at Costco or Best Buy...

 

[pshufd]

Why is it so hard to find a Windows laptop that has the metal build quality of a MacBook.

All I want is solid cold hard metal. I don’t even care about the specs except for battery life and a high def screen. All the windows laptops in the stores are plastic or made of very thin metal that feels like plastic.

The Samsung Book Pros/Pro 360 look like a joke. Cheap feeling and only a terrible 1080p screen yet they still want £1400. They feel and look like £400 laptops.

The closest rival I have seen is the Surface. However, these still feel cheap ish especially with the suede type keyboard.

Looks like I will just have to by a M2 or M1 MacBook Air and just leave the Windows OS.

Store laptops cater more to the low-end. How about Razor?

 

[shardey]

I have a 17" Razer blade pro and also a 13" MBA M1. Razer's build quality definitely is a rival to Apple's build quality.

 

[mi7chy]

For some people, mil-spec/waterproof/etc. are more important than being made out of soda can material.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...l-apple-store-thanks-to-this-monster.2339384/

Soda can material leaves a permanent ding so I have to put a case around my Macbook Air M1 that tends to pop off but my Lenovo Yoga 6 is even better since it's prebuilt with durable fabric top.

 

[exoticSpice]

For some people, mil-spec/waterproof/etc. are more important than being made out of soda can material.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...l-apple-store-thanks-to-this-monster.2339384/

Soda can material leaves a permanent ding so I have to put a case around my Macbook Air M1 that tends to pop off but my Lenovo Yoga 6 is even better since it's prebuilt with durable fabric top.

I would rather have "soda can material" than having fabric on my laptop. If you spill liquids or food on the fabric it will be pain to remove the stains and laptop would look ugly.

I want apple to move to Titanium on all their products. Hopefully starting the iPhone 14 Pro that happens.

That's why I never liked the Surface Laptops with the fabric on them.

 

[SteveJUAE]

I would rather have "soda can material" than having fabric on my laptop. If you spill liquids or food on the fabric it will be pain to remove the stains and laptop would look ugly.

I want apple to move to Titanium on all their products. Hopefully starting the iPhone 14 Pro that happens.

That's why I never liked the Surface Laptops with the fabric on them.

But not as ugly and near impossible to remove scratches on an Ali clamshell let alone dents on the corners

The MS fabric is remarkable resilient to stains and can be cleaned

Titanium excels in tensile strength over Ali but you will need some clever 3D printing or CNC work to get back the cross sectional area, otherwise it will easily bend if you rely on using less material to match the Ali weight.