Okay, so I'm on the look out for a laptop specifically for professional photo and video editing. I want to make an informed decision on this, so no fanboys please. I'm also getting opinions from other places as well.

I popped into PCWorld today and asked someone about this. He immediately said 'Mac'. I asked him why and he actually explained why rather than simply dissing Microsoft or saying 'It's better' like so many fanboys go on about. Apparently, many professionals use Apple and he himself had one that's almost ten years old and still outperforms many newer models.

Though, having said that, I've also heard some good things about sony's laptops.

Opinions please.

macbook pro's battery life and hardware build quality is excellent... not too pleased with Mac OSX Lion but it does the job... i've got a toshiba sat and
an older laptop from dell as well... they're alright... but Windows 7 eats up battery like a mofo on my laptops even with all the tips/tricks to turn off
services and so on

oh another thing... MBP doesn't come with any fucking rescue media!

Thats strange both my sisters MB and MBP both have installation media with them

The Mac love in the photo and video editing industry is nothing but a throwback to the days when the best software for these tasks was only available on Apple hardware.

Sure a new Macbook will do a good job with these, but you will be paying approximately double the price you could pay for a PC with the same hardware capabilities. All of the Adobe CS5.5 software is identical on Mac and PC, including identical price.

My advice: save your money and go with a PC.

what version of OSX did it come installed with?

See, that's what I thought, but what got me, was this guy mentioning the longevity of a macbook. All computers, laptops or otherwise, that I have known from new, have slowed down significantly within a few years, became buggy, and simply were not as good as they were when they were bought. Can you shed any light on this?

Yep. It has nothing to do with the hardware.

Microsoft Windows. Windows Updates.

Planned obsolescence due to continual "upgrades." Not only of the OS itself, but also every new version of software drinks up more and more resources to do the same things its predecessor did for less. I call it sloppy ass programming.

Don't think Apple isn't guilty of that as well. My IPhone4 used to scream, but thanks to recent IOS updates crawls worse than a 10 year old computer.

But Microsoft is notorious for this. The Mac OSX is arguably more stable as well. If you want the best of both worlds, just do some research and pick a PC model that is easy to Hackintosh. Unlike stand alone Windows software, which could run $120-$200, stand alone Mac OSX installation media will run about $30.

One of my projects if I ever get around to it is to hackintosh my Dell Mini 10v netbook with OSX Leopard. It is supposed to be one of the easiest PCs to hackintosh, though its hardware is way too weak for any kind of multi-media production.

they do last a long time ... but you can get a decent laptop at a 3rd of the price and upgrade every year and take advantage of Moore's law which you
can't with a Mac ... so unless you need access to the mac world (data formats, speciality apps) then you really don't need a Mac... if you're going to be
doing graphics work then you need colour calibration which means using a TN panel LCD isn't really going to cut it anyway... top of the range Mac
monitors are IPS and have a high resolution + calibrated...

simply all of this stuff is justified IF you're making the money in return investment... otherwise its not a great deal

I've had PCs for years and I love them. I like building them, tweaking them, etc.

But since I've got a Mac as well, I realise how reliable Macs, and how constantly good they are in their performance. I think Macs are better in terms of hardware and longevity.

I've had my Mac laptop for three years, and I've never had any problems with it at all. Every post of mine on LS.com has been from my Mac

I've used PCs all my life. First Windows and now Linux. I have used Mac hardware before and do own a (bricked) MacBook Pro. Funnily, I have very little experience using OS X itself (I ran Linux on my MacBook).

Based on that experience I gotta say that Apple hardware does tend to have much better build quality. As far as software goes, I'm under the impression that these kinds of systems just get crufty after a while. I've gotten into the habit of regular wipes and clean reinstalls. Even with Linux. That's not as scary as it sounds.

Being the huge linux advocate that I am, I have to admit that I have to do the same thing. I can't speak for other distros, but Ubuntu tends to get bogged down after awhile as well. Every six months when the new version is released, it is definitely time to wipe and install it. Too many system updates will slow down any OS, regardless of its development model.

Speaking of Ubuntu, I am not a fan of the new UI and even the stripped down "classic UI" leaves a lot to be desired. If they keep going down this path, I may have to find a new distro.

if you need it mostly (80% of the time or more) for those purposes, Mac products and OSX would do fine for you, I'm sure. If you need something a bit more versatile, though, I have to recommend you just go for PCs and Microsoft, if just for the software availability. Windows 7 is behaving okay so far, for me at least.

Leopard on the MB and Snow Leopard on the MPB, upgraded it to Lion for free as part of an offering from Apple .

Yeah I know what ya mean, I hate the way unity looks, unfortunately Windows 8 will have metro. Should check out Linux Mint.