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Dell Xps 13 or Mac M1
- Thread starter Serban55
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Apples and Oranges - more so now then ever before.
Given that Macs are now on a different chip set, it boils down to a users needs and preferences. Need windows, or want to play games or need access to a wider array of hardware then get a PC. if all of your apps are on macOS or your needs are such that macOS fits then get the Mac
I'm not taking anything away from the battery life and processor power of the Mac. At the end of the day, if it doesn't run the apps you need, a 12 hour battery won't help you.
Given that Macs are now on a different chip set, it boils down to a users needs and preferences. Need windows, or want to play games or need access to a wider array of hardware then get a PC. if all of your apps are on macOS or your needs are such that macOS fits then get the Mac
I'm not taking anything away from the battery life and processor power of the Mac. At the end of the day, if it doesn't run the apps you need, a 12 hour battery won't help you.
Indeed, Apple has the best performing CPU in the laptop market at the moment. I mean, M1 can even compete with i9, and at the same time, it uses way less power, it's silent, and doesn't heat up as much. What's not to like?
But CPU isn't everything. You can connect only one external display to M1 MBP/MAir. That right there is a dealbreaker for me. No external GPU is a miss as well. And to top it all of, they are still sticking with that gimmicky touchbar.
Now, CPU is objectively way better. All those other complaints are subjective.
But then again, buyers are subjective. Everyone looks to their own needs. I wouldn't purchase XPS ever, but I'm really not interested in M1 MBP as well. I'm sticking with Linux for foreseeable future. Works way better for what I need it for
But CPU isn't everything. You can connect only one external display to M1 MBP/MAir. That right there is a dealbreaker for me. No external GPU is a miss as well. And to top it all of, they are still sticking with that gimmicky touchbar.
Now, CPU is objectively way better. All those other complaints are subjective.
But then again, buyers are subjective. Everyone looks to their own needs. I wouldn't purchase XPS ever, but I'm really not interested in M1 MBP as well. I'm sticking with Linux for foreseeable future. Works way better for what I need it for
Yep, if you embrace the future , you go mac
If you care about legacy you go with windows oem
For me, my 2019 dell xps will be gone, after using and adapting my work for m1, to feel that there is no more heat or fan noise and its my second day that iam not taking my charger with me since i know i can easy do my things all day and charging the mac over night... its makibg my dell and other windows oem to feel ancient
Cant wait to see the imacs and the 14”/ 16” mbp
If you care about legacy you go with windows oem
For me, my 2019 dell xps will be gone, after using and adapting my work for m1, to feel that there is no more heat or fan noise and its my second day that iam not taking my charger with me since i know i can easy do my things all day and charging the mac over night... its makibg my dell and other windows oem to feel ancient
Cant wait to see the imacs and the 14”/ 16” mbp
If you're a Mac user, yes embrace the future, and embrace the ARM chipset. Macs are not the future for all, and I have little to no interest. My Razer is still a superior computer and runs apps that never will run on a Mac or run well. Plus the number of games I can play is pretty awesome. Plus I'm not really excited how Apple appears to be wanting to have all apps through the app store, or apps are phoning home, raising privacy concerns - just my $.04
I'm not down on on the ARM macs, just silly talk about how all other computers are now obsolete and windows is doomed sort of talk. I can do a lot more on PCs then Macs, so ARM Macs are not the future for everyone.
@maflynn
Indeed. What happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone. Unless it's web search, then it goes to Google, since Google pays handsomely to Apple. Also, if you use Siri, well, then 3rd party contractors have access to that as well. By that metrics, only thing that stays on your iPhone is almost nothing.
Same goes for Apple and MacOS phoning home. On a unencrypted way of course. So anyone can see it, and use it.
Apple is all about privacy. At least in their marketing
Indeed. What happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone. Unless it's web search, then it goes to Google, since Google pays handsomely to Apple. Also, if you use Siri, well, then 3rd party contractors have access to that as well. By that metrics, only thing that stays on your iPhone is almost nothing.
Same goes for Apple and MacOS phoning home. On a unencrypted way of course. So anyone can see it, and use it.
Apple is all about privacy. At least in their marketing
That and 5 new threads every day with people asking whether 8GB or 16GB of Ram is enough and everyone saying "Apple does Ram better now, 8GB is like 16GB now". I tried once to explain that an app needing 1GB yesterday on an intel MBP will still need 1GB of Ram tomorrow on an M1 (unless specifically optimized for M1) so when you are OOM you are OOM regardless of the swapping in the background. But the Armchair Ram experts chased me
Despite my well-documented issues with Apple, I am giving them a Pass of sorts on the M1 for a couple of reasons.
1. Performance is phenomenal.
2. Gaming is superb now.
3. Unified Ram does make a difference.
4. This Mac Mini is no longer a device you can cook your dinner on.
Now I caveat all 4 points above as a comparison to previous models of Mac devices, nothing else. We can argue, no, it's fact that previous devices should not have performed as badly as they did in comparison to the M1.
I have mentioned before and in previous threads that I can now play my only real current game of World of Warcraft at max settings of 10 with shadows turned off, 60fps all day long, the Mini stays very cool and the fans don't ramp up at all. Compare that to the 2018 MM with the settings at 3, several settings reduced further, and 40fps at best with the fans screaming and you can turn your heating off, the enclosure has you covered.
I tried a couple of other games for curiosity that had to run through Rosetta, Rust, 7 days to die, Cities Skylines. All titles that I know ran very badly or not playable at all on the Mini and suddenly they are perfectly playable with some tweaks.
My point? Well, I guess if Apple can do this well early on and it gets to comparable levels to reasonable mid-range GPU seen today then it will encourage more porting and a wider range of titles available on Mac than seen before.
As for everything else, it is way better than my previous devices in all I run.
So there are really many reasons for people to upgrade this early, even if just to get better battery and performance than anything they have at present. Again though, you are upgrading and having to pay again to get out of Apple's past issues of thermal throttling and so on.
Like I say, a pass of sorts, a massive leap over the previous generation, but I am not going to make a saint out of a sinner.
There is still more to understand, specifically, how more locked down they will try and go now they are in complete control.
For now, I am enjoying being back in a far more usable and interesting Apple experience. But, my PC with its i7-10700, 32GB ram, 2TB NVMe, RTX 2070S, and so on, it's still king.
Yes thumbs up for Apple producing a nice chipset with minimal power overhead but I cannot see why users get carried away with potential and reality
The vast majority of mega projects are being done on 3-5 year old systems and sudden leaps in raw power simply do not translate to productivity as it is still dependent on user input. Simply your word-processing will not be suddenly more productive
Sure there are niche industries that may seem some advantages but I am always amazed how the comparisons of rendering or exporting a 4k video is suppose to be typical of every user, it's just not the case, even by Apples on metrics this is a minority in a minority for even professionals
Most home systems are rarely stretched (other than gaming) and there was more evidence to support IPad taking over because of relative low demands of users, than users needing high performance
Don't get me wrong I like having a high ceiling on my personal devices, but that's because I can afford too and like the extra bells and whistles that come with high end devices
The hairs on my arms are raised as I am immediately suspicious of the stealth entrapment of opting for these new MAC's which have already alienated many. The very bragging rights Apple use to have with multiple monitors, external GPU and bootcamp seems a price to high for performance gains many simple wont require
The benchmarks etc we see compared to older chipsets flame the the belief your getting more for less
The latest Intel mobile chipsets are only 10-20% behind on raw CPU single/multicore with similar or better graphics and assured 12 hours endurance on light productivity work, without all the new restrictions from Apple
Samsung's little Book S has been pumping out 19 hours endurance with less restrictions than Apple for over a year in a sub 2lb/1kg unit with LTE, for those who do not need the grunt
Apple vision of the future is certainly not aligned with many IMO but some will enjoy
Coming from Dell XPS 13 here, great machine and my favorite....til I tried the MacBook... not going back 
Editing and rendering videos is just my hobby, which i am doing twice a year. But watching editing videos in YT reviews is useful for me, because i remember from old Sony Vegas/ After Effects times, that video editing stretched my computers far beyond what the games could do.
So i believe, if the particular laptop is good for editing, then it is good for other things.
I remember not waiting for Iphone 5, because i went with galaxy s3 at that moment, which was introduced 6 month earlier than Ip5. Iphone 4s wasn't that interesting to me.
I was stretching that smartphone far away: installed custom audio codecs(it could push any audio system or headphones), i was remotely navigating through my parents computers to fix them from other side of the globe on the go, i have downloaded word docs from mail and transferred them on usb sticks to print on the go. This was never possible with iphones at that moment.
From 2008, i have seen a lot of people around me with Apple products. The truth is, that 90%+ of my observations is just people who bought it because it is premium/high priced/comfortable/easy to use/best touch/camera and etc. All of them could be catered by cheaper phones, yet they prefer iphones.
Most of the Mac users are doing netflix, youtube, spotify and maybe one of them will also do Microsoft Word. Those people will be good with Chromebooks also.
So the Apple is just catering the most of its' customers - people with super basic use cases, because they tend to pay more even without knowing all of the features of their devices.
======================
You can test this theory by asking your surrounding about any Mac or Iphone, ipad features. I can guarantee you, that it will be problematic to find people who know about extra features of this devices.
That applies to everything tech across the majority of people regardless of brand. I know many that will know nothing about extra features offered by any Apple, Android, or any other and these are people that you might expect would know.
But as long as a device serves it's purpose for the person using it, they don't care, why should they? If there are features they don't know about they will find them if they have a need for them.
For the vast majority of people who get a device they end up liking, it requires a reason for them to change to something they don't know or at least know less about than their current device, otherwise, they will keep buying it.
Indeed, and you can think of it this way, Apple continually promotes its iPhone performance, saying its x times faster then the competitor or last years model. We all have largely fallen into the trap of wanting faster phones but 99.99% of us (by my estimation) have no real need for that processing power on their phones. We text, face time, even photography wise, we really don't need that horsepower
For the average consumer for computers, its largely the same thing, I think far too many hobbiests (and I include myself) got sucked into, oooh, this computer is faster then the prior year, I need it. I've learned about 5+ years ago, that I don't need that much horse power. Until a couple of years ago, I was content with a 2012 MBP. Some of my neds have changed and I am playing more AAA games, so having a better CPU and more importantly a powerful GPU is needed but for my work and hobbys, no its not needed.
Indeed, and the day will come when apple will not permit you install apps outside of the MAS. The perspective of that its their computer not yours and you cannot alter is quickly becoming reality. Even before the M1, Apple prevented you from installing Linux on the internal storage.
Apple does a lot of things right, and marketing is probably chief among them, and they're marketing department is firing on all cylinders. The new M1 machines are fantastic, but I prefer running with the freedom that Windows provides, and while the OP thinks that if you want the future you must go with Macs, I disagree Macs don't fit my needs and for me windows is a better fit. Personally I love the design, fit and finish of my Razer that machine is sharp, fast and does everything I throw at it. What's even better is I was able to upgrade the storage, the keyboard is light years ahead of the MBPs and I have more ports to allow me to work with less or no dongles.
Again, if you dont want to embrace the future that also Microsoft is working on it...its ok
From both plat as a dev im going full mac for now
Lack of ports it will be fine after the whole transition is over
If you are a prof gaming that makes money , the mac still and will not be there....windows is the way to go. I stopped playing games since i was 17 years old...i saw that i couldnt make any real money because i was very low at gaming and that ended my gaming life
lets see how arm goes in the next 6-7 years...and if everything goes well..even console im expecting to go arm
I love the ability not to be stuck into one system...i can change whetever the tech industry is leading...and for now , Apple is 2 or 3 years ahead..
Rumours says that Microsoft is working on something similar to improve windows 10 x or something , lets see, but i lost trust in Microsoft...they always try something new, and after some time, they left it behind
From both plat as a dev im going full mac for now
Lack of ports it will be fine after the whole transition is over
If you are a prof gaming that makes money , the mac still and will not be there....windows is the way to go. I stopped playing games since i was 17 years old...i saw that i couldnt make any real money because i was very low at gaming and that ended my gaming life
lets see how arm goes in the next 6-7 years...and if everything goes well..even console im expecting to go arm
I love the ability not to be stuck into one system...i can change whetever the tech industry is leading...and for now , Apple is 2 or 3 years ahead..
Rumours says that Microsoft is working on something similar to improve windows 10 x or something , lets see, but i lost trust in Microsoft...they always try something new, and after some time, they left it behind
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Backlight bleed is an issue for all brands. Plenty of threads on here in the past about it with MBA/MBP. There is a comparison for everything.
Agreed, people here will say Apple is better for XYZ reasons, and on PC centric forums, they will say Apple is inferior for XYZ reasons. Blacklight bleed is a thing regardless of what computer (or tv for that matter), you buy.
I think its splitting hairs to try to use that as justification as the superiority (or inferiority) of one platform over another.
Am i to assume that's an OLED panel on the right showing true blacks and Apples grey/black on the left LOL
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Actually, it's the Dell on the left and the Apple on the right.
But reviews say both machines have excellent screens. Backlight bleed is an issue for almost all laptops.
Think you missed the joke
Actually the screen grab was from Josh review and he remarked how good the XPS OLED was over the MBP
OLED don't have backlight bleed
Ah, gotcha. Didn't watch so didn't get his mistake. Yeah, if this guy thinks the XPS has an OLED screen, it'll be hard to trust his review on anything else.Think you missed the joke
Actually the screen grab was from Josh review and he remarked how good the XPS OLED was over the MBP
OLED don't have backlight bleed
No nothing wrong with Josh review I was poking fun at the comment on light bleed
sorry for the confusionEarlier this summer you said you’d re-consider the Mac once Apple released its own silicon. Now that they have you seem to have ruled it out. What changed? The M1 is a great chip. If Microsoft releases a retail version of Windows on ARM it will shine on the M1 MacBooks.
Great question and The M1 is indeed a fantastic chip, one that truly offers phenomenal performance but to mangle a quote, "Man does not live by performance alone".
My post you quoted has the answers you seek, however let me expound upon what I said and and provide a more well rounded response.
First the hardware, I absolutely love my Razer, its superior to the M1 Mac in a number of ways.
- Ports, I have more ports available, then the Mac.
- Keyboard is awesome, and while its nice to change the LED lighting more importantly I feel the actual lighting is superior to use in less then ideal lighting conditions.
- I can (and do) use a eGPU, something you cannot do on the new M1 Macs, and more so I can use an nVidia GPU, something that the intel Macs could not do.
- Internally I can replace the battery, ram and storage, as they are not soldered onto the logic board. I already upgraded the storage, and I may upgrade the ram some time next year.
As for software, I mentioned games, so we'll start off this those, because play is more fun then work, and the fact that I have access an exponential number of AAA games on Windows makes the Windows platform a no brainer. I absolutely enjoy some of the games that will never see the light of day on macOS.
Non-play wise, I have needs for other apps that simply are not available, such as various enterprise tools I use to access databases, applications and systems. I could get around that, as I had in the past when I used a Mac, by "remoting" into my work computer in the office, but for various reasons my company is moving away from GotomyPC and pushing harder for everyone to use VPN.
Then there are apps that simply don't run as well on the Mac, including the aforementioned VPN software, the previously used GotomyPc (the windows implementation is so much better), and MS' RDP.
Hobby wise, I use Lightroom, and PS which tend to run better on a windows machine, I've seen many complaints about how its a bit more pokey on the Mac compared to the PC, and Adobe seems to optimize their software on windows before they do that for MacOS.
I know my post is rather long, and I could have just said "just because" but life is complicated and as I sit using my Razer typing this in, its clear for my needs a PC and windows is a better choice. I didn't go into the whole Apple controlling everything and locking you down and preventing you from using your machine, but that certainly colored my opinion and helped with the decision
But that's one of the biggest selling points of PC.
You don't have to purchase Dell. There are tens of other OEMs out there