I was a long-time ThinkPad user before switching to Macs. Macbook Pros were more reliable and developer-friendlier. Until recently.
FWIW, Dell, HP and other vendors use the term "workstation" to cover what you're talking about.
IIRC, Schiller did use "workstation" in the keynote when he talked about connecting the MBP to two external 5K monitors, but in general, the meaning of "Pro" is so diluted (esp compared to "workstation") that it means different things to different people.
Yes, indeed. And as with many other things, Apple being Apple, decided to name their workstation differently.
Except for the offset trackpad and keyboard to support the 10-key numpad. It's not just ugly, it's not comfortable or usable. I know I'm not alone on this.
I agree.
Accountants can happily use a random sub-500$ laptop and make money.
If your job is to poke people with a stick, is your stick a pro stick?
Pro is more likely to be defined as something particular/peculiar that you do not find on other usual/consumer/widespread brands and accomodates very particular use-cases.
Let me exemplify:
- you are a professional video editor. you do not only enjoy, you need fast storage, a lot of fast storage.
- you do CAD. you do need a fast video card and cpus.
- you are a researcher who needs computing power. not enough power to justify a fancy coud solution or stuff like that, but enough that a regular core i5 is not enough.
If your very rare use-case can be met by a laptop, then said laptop is a pro-level laptop. Otherwise, without any more fuss, it's not.
Sidenote: according to what i have said until now, ThinkPads have always been and currently are pro-level laptops (xeon cpus, multiple hard disks, removable bays, ports, docking stations, nvidia quadro cards, hi-res displays, intergated colorimeters, fingerprint readers, you name it).
Stop complaining and wasting your money, join the pro side.