Which is better dell or apple?
Asked by
tyler1217 (
14
)
August 5th, 2008
from iPhone
I want to buy a laptop and I’m trying to decide who’s better if I go with the dell I’m getting a xps m1530 if I’m getting a apple I’m getting a black MacBook
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73 Answers
Oh seriously. You gotta ask?
Depends on what you do and what you care about. You will probably get higher end hardware from Dell for cheaper than Apple. Although the gap isn’t as large as it used to be. I’m talking about specs and not quality. But most of the hardware is the same now. I would rather Apple engineers work on the motherboard instead of the ones at Dell. But they use the same hard drives, RAM, and processors.
I pay my bills working on my computer. And two years on my iMac OS X hasn’t given me any major problems.
Macintosh:~ johnpowell$ uptime
20:31 up 31 days, 1:43, 2 users, load averages: 1.23 0.61 0.43
Macintosh:~ johnpowell$
That is pretty normal uptime for me. I’m not saying that Windows can’t run as well. It is just that it doesn’t from all of the Windows machines I am asked to try and fix. I don’t think the problem is the hardware Dell sells, It is just the OS and crap they install on the hardware.
I’m old now. I don’t like tinkering anymore. I just want to get some work done and enjoy a cold beer. I don’t want to run scans and defrag. OS X is worth paying a little more for hardware.
</rambling answer>
Apple for medie/edting media Dell for gaming and everything else
Dell if you don’t want to spend serious cash when something goes wrong with it, scour the depths of the internet, or want to play a game or run 3D modeling software.
Apple for its OS and “end-to-end” model works great for media apps. Out of the box software designed for home mmedia use (iLife 08). Pro Apps are well supported and very high quality and value. For instance, before the days of Final Cut Pro, entry-level pro video editing ran in the neighborhood of $65K. Now with wmgood out-of the box hardware an RAM you can have an equivalent system for less than $5K.
dude, apple….if you get a decent notebook, and include any decent anti-virus you’ll be probably a couple hundred shy off a macbook. If you get a dell desktop, include a monitor, and anti-virus, you’ll be just about 200 or less to the entry level imac…
OSX is sooo much more efficient than vista will ever be. I have had ZERO errors on my mac, and I have a vista machine hooked up to my Bravia, and I will on occasion get something like a blue screen with some virtual memory dump, or some crap like that.
Even if you don’t do all the things that a mac is better at, you have the versatility to run windows as a dual boot option, or emulate it in the background. Spend a little bit more and get the Mac.
I consider my Apple 11 of 12 recommended daily intakes of fruit.
Most people who don’t get errors on their mac don’t really use them for anything intensive. You find that Mac’s fall off the decent computer spectrum in specific fields. It honestly depends on what you want to do. Tell us what you want to do with your computer and it’ll be easier to answer your question.
Why would you compare a dell desktop to an apple laptop? Why not compare the dell XPS to the Apple Macbook pro, which makes more sense. I personally work on both Apple OS’s and Windows OS’s all day long as a designer and prefer the PC because at any given point in time, I can gut it and swap in parts and make it considerably more powerful than computers that Apple sells. It’s harder, and more expensive to do it with Apple computers and technology (it’s made to be that way too).
Think of it like modding a car. Apple is a high end Lexus, and the Dell is a Toyota Corolla. You can mod both but at the end of the day the Corolla might give you trouble, but it’ll be cheaper in the long wrong and last you longer while the Lexus looks shiny, runs great for a little while, then just tapers off unless you’ve got the cash money flow to keep it running smooth.
I compared a desktop dell to an imac, and a dell notebook to a macbook, you can compare the XPS notebooks to the macbook pro if you like.
Cars I think aren’t the best means of comparison…I personally have never found the need to ever gut out an entire computer, and if I did, I would probably replace it sooner than replacing all the older parts with, older, but brand new parts.
You can upgrade the RAM on a mac, which is normally the first thing anyone would do to a computer that seems to be getting a bit slow. Hard drive can be upgraded, but isn’t that practical on any of the macs, unless you’re looking at the Mac Pro…but you can say the same thing about a dell notebook. You can just get external if you really needed more hard drive.
Graphics cards I can see upgrading later, but if you plan ahead, I’m sure you could get the mac loaded with something that should last you 2–3 years, or until it starts to “taper off”
And if we must use cars, and we were going to drive around 2–3 years in it, and you planned on replacing it that soon, wouldn’t you want to do it in style =)
Dell.
My laptop has nearly the exact same specs as a macbook pro, aside from the harddrive (mines only 80). However, everything else is either identical or superior in my laptop. However, the Macbook pro (at the time I got my Dell) would have cost me $3000. Mine cost me $800, with the extra 100$ warranty. There is NO operating system in my mind that’s worth 3 to 4 times as much.
I somehow doubt you have comparable specs in every respect to the macbook pro. It’s difficult to find a PC notebook for under a grand with a dedicated graphics card, yet alone, bluetooth, wireless N networking, the same clock speed on the processor.
I sell these notebooks daily, and you take any notebook with similar specs to the macbook, and you’re about 200 from the mac.
If you compare notebooks to the Macbook Pro, you might save about 400–600 depending on the brand. But one thing you won’t find among any of the PC notebooks that the Macbook pro has is the ambient lit keyboard which I find to be awesome.
BINGO!!!! I believe you heard that!
I know its not perfect, but this is 30 seconds of looking.
I spent 6 months waiting to find mine before I got my current job.
And on that note,I build notebooks like these daily. You take any notebook with similar specs to the macbook, you’re looking at a several hundred percent markup. When you wait for the deals, you can get them for a single or double digit markup instead. Which makes a sizable difference, I’m sure you can imagine.
That particular sony vaio is a very rare deal, and is a great notebook. And I’m sure you can probably build a notebook for a fraction of the price, but we’re comparing dell to apple…I’d accept sony to apple, but custom to apple is another topic completely.
Comparing that particular Sony vaio…the processor is 1.66ghz rather 2.4ghz I found on this macbook pro http://store.apple.com/us/product/FA896LL/A The refurbished macs include the full original warranty too.
Also consider, that Vaio has Windows Vista on it, which for one requires more resources available to run even close to the efficiency that macbook will run at, so the 2GB of Ram will need a jump up, not to mention buggy, and the processor is quite a bit shy from the macbook pro’s 2.4ghz.
I didn’t see where it mentioned Bluetooth, however it does have Blu Ray, which is a rarity, and is really cool…The graphics card is a notch below the mac’s…8400 GT where the mac has the 8600 GT.
Also a few minor differences…the macbook has a higher resolution display 1440×900…and the Vaio has 1280×800. Ambient keyboard again, which I do like a lot.
All those differences aside, that Sony Vaio is a great deal…also, that coupon doesn’t work on Circuit’s website. however, it was marked down to 799.99. If you did end up going the route of a Mac, there are always good deals on apple’s website under the refurbished section http://store.apple.com/1–800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?sf=wHF2F2PHCCCX72KDY&nclm=CertifiedMac Or if you’re a student, you can get the discount and the free ipod touch right now too.
By time you do add a bit of RAM to the sony you would still be in the price difference that I estimated. I still would go the route of an apple though.
ya I love apples iLife 08 but i hate how apple has like no games for them and there extremly over priced and I dont have enough money for a Pro so its eathier xps m1530 or black or white MacBook
Install windows on the boot camp partition. Then you can play PC games.
and honestly, I’d go with a white macbook…I can’t justify spending that much more money for the color and 90 gb of more hard drive capacity
@RandomMrdan
It’s 90 GB, actually. You can get the same size drive in the white MacBook for an extra hundred, though, so in any case, you’d still be paying $100 for the color. So whether it’s worth it or not is certainly debatable. For a laptop—a device that I use everyday for several years—I would be tempted. I’m still using my Rev A MacBook Pro though, so it’s a non-issue for me (and probably will be for as long as MacBooks don’t have a matte screen option).
I bought a black MacBook. I love it. My roommate has a white and when compared, to me the black is just more kick ass. I love my mac and won’t ever return to sucky pc town.
You’ll always see: when you are on a PC you think Macs suck and they’re nagging because it’s too expensive, and when they have the money to buy one, they suddenly change personalities or something.
It’s like they say: “Once you go Mac, you’ll never go back”, but here, the ‘Once’ is the hardest part…
BTW: Go Apple! Woo!!
You asked an Apple…mhm…trying to find the right word, saturated? Infested sounds awful…‘a community with a higher percentage of Apple users’ seems better, you’re more likely to get a lot of ‘go for Apple’ on Fluther as more people seem to use Mac’s, as many of the posts here have proven. As for answering your question. I can’t hah. I don’t have a MacBook, or a Dell for that matter. I built my own PC and it’s absolutely fine.
I would try and leave my PC up for a long time but I sleep in the same room as it and I don’t sleep too well for the lights and the noise (it’s not noisey so to speak, just that dull hum in the background, continuously)
Every dell i’ve tried ends up being garbage in a year.
Dell.
What happens when you have a problem with your mac apple? You pay a few hundred dollars and don’t get to see it for a long time.
What happens when something happens to your dell? Buy the part online, ship it to you, and install it by yourself, saving you time, and a ton of money.
But that is unfair, in the end we HAVE to know what you “need” this laptop for.
BTW… Tom’s Hardware set to find out by customizing an exact system in as many aspects as possible to a baseline Apple Mac Pro, which costs a hefty $2799. They tried to cut costs in our PC wherever they could without sacrificing quality, and also tried to pick components that would closely match Apple’s offering.
The difference? $5.67. Those who claim that they can build “the same” PC for half the price are at this point baseless.
ahh another pc vs mac showdown. As i said it depends on what you need. Frankly macs dont make me feel like i am in control. But thats just me
@XCNuse You will pay a few hundred dollars to fix any notebooks (depending on the problem), and as far as finding parts, you could find parts for an apple just like a dell.
Hard drive is an easy fix, RAM is an easy fix, the only components you might have a hard time replacing would be something like the motherboard, or the screen…and that would be a similar scenario with a dell…and you’d still spend a pretty penny to fix the dell too. I helped a friend try and replace a motherboard in an “ibuypower” notebook about a year ago, and the motherboard was 285 dollars.
you are yet again another person to think everything about mac is outrageously more expensive than PC.
Motherboards are the most expensive part of notebooks (unless we’re talking about gaming laptops like mine).
The mobo for my laptop costs like $300, which is normal, it’s the freaking mobo, it controls everything.
Upgrades aren’t what I would call “fixes” either, those are upgrades, fixes are in reference to replacing your LCD screen, or any other internals that are not accessible from the direct exterior.
Macs are more expensive than any computer out there end of story…
Find me any laptop mac makes that sells for under $900 .. new.
Then look at all the choices for PC laptops under $900, hell you can get laptops with windows on them now for $300!
Try doing that with an apple product.
I would be using it for powerpoint and a little bit of gaming and web browsing
@XCNuse… you’re right on. Apple consciously sells at a higher price point. But it’s not fluff. You’re not just paying for a logo. You’re buying premium hardware, and it does command a premium price. The point is: that price is not out of line with the rest of the industry.
You want el-cheapo, go get it. Just know that there are teeth to the old bromide: you get what you pay for.
Your $300 laptop’s battery life, for example, ain’t gonna hold a candle to what comes in a MacBook, let alone a MBP.
@XCNuse also a 300 dollar laptop is more than likely going to have a celeron which = craptastic and worthless.
Like Robmandu said, you get what you pay for, and if it’s a slow computer you want, then a mac isn’t what you should buy.
@ skwerl88
I’m going to have to strongly disagree with you on that. Your $800 notebook doesn’t compare to my Macbook Pro, which I paid a little over $3,000 for.
2.6Ghz? Nope.
200Gb HD? Nope.
4Gb of ram? Nope.
512MB Nvidia 8600? Nope.
17” 1920×1200? Nope.
OS X? Nope.
Everything in a slim 1” profile? Absolutely not.
I am going to stop following this now but all I have to say is I don’t get why mac users get so defensive about their choice. It’s not always about superiority. Peace.
Gah, white flag eh
One things for sure, we know you like Photobooth.
2.6 Ghz? Yes, actually.
200Gb HD? Nope. 250.
4Gb of ram? Absolutely.
512 Nvidia 8600? Yup.
17” 1920×1280? Nope. 15”, which is perfect for me.
OSX? Nope. but vista business, with the XP optional downgrade. And i ended up dual booting with ubuntu.
It’s an inch and a half thick, i just measured. So you do have me beat on the thickness.
Also, It DOES have wireless N.
It DOES have bluetooh.
And I didn’t make these upgrades myself. I simply searched around for the deal for long enough. It’s probably not a good idea to tell me what my computer does and does not have.
Furthermore, @robmandu, Tom’s just went to newegg, of course the price difference won’t be that significant. Buying the most expensive power supply—great comparison. The 7.1 surround sound? Unneeded if they had found the right motherboard. The motherboard overall? Severely overpriced. I’m sure there were better deals, even on just newegg. The RAM? That cost is uncalled for. There is equal quality RAM that one can buy for substantially less. One could also argue Ubuntu over the Vista, however, that’s an argument for another day.
You said earlier you had 80Gb of storage, and the link you said was not perfect, but judging from the specs, it’d be more than $800.
What is the notebook you have?
inspiron 1520. and, i have 80 on the windows, but 160ish on the linux. i had forgotten i broke it up that way. I got it back in November and had been looking since January or February of that same year. It finally hit my price point, and I jumped on it when I could.
I don’t think you’re telling the truth, Dell’s gaming laptops just about compare to the Macbook Pro and they’re not cheap.
Dells gaming laptops are a completely different league from any Apple laptop, when was the last time you saw someone playing Far Cry on an apple?
Heck when was the last time you saw someone playing any FPS on any Apple?
I don’t have anything against Apple (honestly, unless they’re snotty and whatnot), but it isn’t fair to do that, Macbook Pros may have the 8600GT, Dell’s 1730 has an 8700GT, and the people that buy the Dells actually USE that graphics card, I’ve yet to see a mac use the potential they have inside of them.
No offense but that is a great thing to note about the average mac buyer, when was the last time they actually “used” their laptop to its potential?
I just get tired of people getting macs and shoving it in other people’s faces just because it was an expensive computer that they won’t even use a quarter of what it can do, while all of us Dell people buy these laptops and use the crap out of them and mod the crap out of them too.
When I someone with my own eyes on a Mac actually USE their graphics card I will shutup, but not until then.
this is getting to crazy let me change the question which is the better buy dell xps m1530 or apple black MacBook
Well, @Tyler, you already said you intend to play games. No idea what kind of games. But if you’re a serious gamer, then I agree with XCNuse in that you’ll find better graphics cards elsewhere than Mac. I’ve said before that, in my opinion, the only thing I’d consider spending my hard-earned cash on for a gaming platform would be a PC.
But you also said you intend to use some office productivity (Powerpoint) and surf the web. They’re not perfect (nothing is), but you’re gonna have a lot less virus/trojan/worm worries and protection going with anything besides Windows (Vista is better than XP in that regard… but I gotta wonder how serious Microsoft really is when they themselves sell you additional software to patch the holes in their own O.S.) If your gaming needs are moderate, you’ll do fine with the Mac (even if you must run Windows under Boot Camp).
Anyways, it depends. I’ve had enough of these conversations to know which way you’re gonna go… with the Dell. Saving money is a huge incentive and tough to beat.
So good luck with that!
@XCNuse, I play TF2 and CSS on my iMac and it runs great. A macbook pro would have no problem running it. I don’t think farcry would be a problem for my iMac either.
Isn’t 512MB videocard on a Macbook Pro enough?
XCNuse that is certainly an interesting way of putting it and I like that. Although I do know a guy who games (a bit, mainly Steam games (TF2 and Gmod)).
But all in all I’m with mirza.
I think I’m going to hook off too, because we Mac-users, will never win if you don’t give us any chance.
I think I’m going with the xps1530 or the 1730
@XCNuse
I certainly do too use my Macbook Pro’s graphics card, most of the time for video editing and sometimes games.
I play games on my imac as well…and my roommate owns a macbook pro and plays games too.
@mirza
Please tell me that article isn’t serious..
They’re comparing a 20” iMac to a plastic desktop with a 19” monitor. The ram? OS X handles processes much more efficiently than Windows, 1GB of ram could run better in OS X compared to 3Gb in Windows. Worst comes to worst you can purchase 4gb of ram form crucial for a mere $100.
I put corsair ram in my imac….4GB for about 80 dollars after rebate.
can somebody just tell me what to get
I hve a black MacBook and I love it. In my opinion, go for it dude. I’ve had mine since feb and I havnt been dissappointed yet.
@tj don’t ask here is my advice :) most people are biased towards either non-Mac-PCs or Mac-PCs. You won’t get a straight answer so just go with what you feel like, what you can afford, which one you think will suit your needs better, yeh read up a bit from what people have said but don’t adhear to what they say religiously.
As an apple salesman i’d say GET A F-IN’ MAC!
I personally own both, and I prefer Mac…I really do love my HP system, it’s hooked up to my Bravia…but it already has spam on it, and vista sucks and am going to put XP back on it tonight. People can say it isn’t worth spending more on mac, but if the hardware doesn’t speak loud enough for the difference, the operating system can, it’s so much better than Vista. XP is solid, but the features loaded in Leopard are just awesome.
I dicided to go with the mac I went to the store and fell in love with it
Congratulations :) Just ask if you need some help!
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@susan
That thread you linked to makes it look like a really painful process.
Just out of curiosity, is it possible to get the Blu-ray drive working in OS X?
In any case, I would be kind of nervous about using OS X on a Dell. It’s still Dell hardware, which in my experience is fairly flaky. But perhaps your experience has been different.
It will never work really good if you dont run it on apple hardware. you’ll always have trouble wit drivers and stuff, but it’s fun to try it.
It’s like trying to run Vista on a Dell.
Apple. By far. You have like 100 responses actually 71.
Apple. I find the GUI much easier to deal with and I love my dock.
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