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Macbook or Dell XPS convince me!

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G8AMB

G8AMB

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 17, 2008
43
0
Lincolnshire, UK
Hello

After many years of using Microsoft o/s's I have recently bought a mac mini to test the water on the osx side. I have to say I have been impressed. A few annoyances but generally happy with it.

Anyway I am in the market for a new laptop, I would love a macbook pro, but just can't justify the extra cash. Although the LED screen and graphics card are attractive.

Anyway, after some research I have shortlisted a couple of specs one from either side of the o/s fence.

Macbook - 2.2Ghz, 1GB, 120GB - £829
250GB Hard drive upgrade - £150
APP - £199
Total - £1,028
plus an after market memory upgrade to 4GB - £72.84 (Crucial)
Grand total £1,100.84

Dell XPS 1530 - £729
2.2 GHz processor - £70
2 yr warranty - £109.65
4GB memory - £70
Total - £978.67

The Dell has a larger 15.4" screen be it at the same resolution as the Macbook.
The Dell also has a graphics card of the same spec as the high end macbook pro.

I know the APP is for 3 years, but I only really need 2 and the Dell warranty can be up'd for about £40 anyway.

I am not really a gamer - but do occasionally play COD on my XP desktop - so I might be tempted to use the gaming ability of the XPS - but that is not really what I want a laptop for.

I will use it mainly for email, surfing, photo editing and some video editing. I have a couple of small apps which are windows only so I will end up putting Vista on the macbook anyway (adding another £70, plus more is I go for vmware fusion).

As you can probably tell my brain is leaning towards the Dell, but my heart the Mac. Convince me otherwise!

Also is their likely to be a new macbook in the next couple of months - I can wait a couple of months?
 
M

mbrydone

macrumors regular
Jan 14, 2008
107
0
although you will pay more a MacBook, it will last longer and not become obsolete as quickly

applecare is awesome whereas dell's customer service (in india) is horrible

With a dell you will also be getting vista which not only is a pain to use, but is much more suceptible to viruses...

although the graphics may be better it really isnt all that noticable...

Once you go Mac you never go back!
 
A

apple90

macrumors member
Jan 30, 2008
49
0
Torrance, CA
wait couple weeks not months and you might find a new macbook pro with a completely new redesign (my speculation) with other goodies
 
tjcampbell

tjcampbell

macrumors 6502a
Aug 14, 2006
826
0
Vancouver
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A93 Safari/419.3)

Simply put, its your loss if you go with a Dell. I actually feel sorry you people. You don't know what your missing.
 
P

phjo

macrumors regular
Jan 8, 2008
149
1
The macbook is a great computer (I have the first generation core duo, and it is my first mac...) and I wouldn't hesitate a second. (Be it only for the keyboard, I would choose a macbook over a macbook pro any day...)

Now to put the prices closer to the dell, you should know that with the macbook (not the macbook pro), changing the harddrive is the easiest thing, so I would rather stick to the stock 120Gb drive and buy a second 250Gb if you really need it... You'll save probably 75£ and have a second harddrive to put in an external case for some backups. (An empty case for SATA 2,5" drive should be something like 20£)

You already know that you shouldn't buy the ram from apple, which is a good thing...

Applecare can be bought cheaper on ebay and you don't have to buy it at the same time you'll be buying your macbook... You can save another 100£ there... (I saved even more for my mac pro...) Just check the feedback for the seller to make sure it is legitimate.
Just make sure to buy applecare during the first year of warranty (so you don't have to spend too much money right now...)

Now it is a no brainer, isn't it ?

phjo
 
A

ashjamben

macrumors 6502a
Oct 28, 2007
608
1
Shanghai, China
the only problem i can see is if you're really serious about your video editing.

if it's simple chop up and replace editing then the macbook will be fine, any more intense and i don't think the integrated graphics card will be much fun
 
B

bigbadnewill

macrumors 6502
Jun 6, 2007
353
0
Let me buy the macbook for you with my HE discount! :D Then it's definately a no brainer as you can get applecare for free!! (Well, it is 3 year parts warranty for free) and if you want the phone support for 3 years that costs £40!

I'd get the macbook, i just bought one, they're great!!
 
Zmmyt

Zmmyt

macrumors 68000
Jan 6, 2005
1,726
803
The times are over where people "need" to convince others to buy Mac. If people are happy with Windows why not stick to it?

You had your experience with OS X and Windows.

I personally would never hop on the Windows train again, as long as I don't have to.

Go with the MacBook!
 
P

Plutor

macrumors newbie
Dec 30, 2007
11
0
mbrydone said:
although you will pay more a MacBook, it will last longer and not become obsolete as quickly

applecare is awesome whereas dell's customer service (in india) is horrible

With a dell you will also be getting vista which not only is a pain to use, but is much more suceptible to viruses...

although the graphics may be better it really isnt all that noticable...

Once you go Mac you never go back!
Click to expand...

I've used Dell desktops for the past 10 years, and the service has been outstanding.
 
Umbongo

Umbongo

macrumors 601
Sep 14, 2006
4,934
55
England
G8AMB said:
The Dell has a larger 15.4" screen be it at the same resolution as the Macbook.
The Dell also has a graphics card of the same spec as the high end macbook pro.
Click to expand...

The graphics card isn't quite the same as the MBP as it uses slower GDDR 2 memory, however that is alot less noticable than the graphics performance between the macbook and the dell. If you want to play games or want the larger screen then get the Dell, if you want OSX then get the macbook.

Even if a new macbook came in a few months, the issues would still be the same.
 
M

Macjames

macrumors 6502a
Dec 12, 2007
727
0
Yorkshire, England
I would say Macbook anyday, it's the most amazing computer i have ever owned and i'm so glad i switched last november. I know its not really ment for games but i have age of empires 3 and unreal tornament 2004 demo and it stands up very well. The preinstalled iLife suite is a joy to use, I also bought iwork and i have produced some amazing pages documents that have gone down a storm a work. I will never choose a windows computer ever again.

But like others have said, its up to you, dont feel pushed into buying a mac do your research first.
 
dimme

dimme

macrumors 68040
Feb 14, 2007
3,054
28,149
SF, CA
mr.light said:
Mac OS X vs. Visa? Mac OS X thank you very much. Not much convincing needed really.
Click to expand...

Mac OS X vs. Visa? that is the question From a hardware view they are both good machines. Both company make great products. IMO it comes down to the software you want to use. If you are buying the mac and are going to use bootcamp most of the time then get the Dell.
 
A

akadmon

Suspended
Aug 30, 2006
2,006
2
New England
gazfocus said:
When you buy a computer from the HE Store, you get a 3 year warranty as standard, (The AppleCare extends a 1yr warranty to 3 years plus 1 year phone support). Therefore, you don't need the AppleCare
Click to expand...

What's "HE"? Is that the same as the Education Store in the US? If so, does anyone know if the same deal is offered in the US?
 
Hankster

Hankster

macrumors 68020
Jan 30, 2008
2,475
440
Washington DC
Hee, you're not going to get unbiased feedback here...this is an Apple message board :p This is like going to a Republican message board and convincing them to vote for Clinton or Obama.

But, since I use both PC and Mac...with what you're comparing both PCs will work for you. It really depends on your OS preference. If you're not going to game with the laptop I'd go with the MacBook as it doesn't have as many issues (crashes, blue screen, bugs, viruses, etc) than the XPS would. But, if you were to use the laptop for major processing I'd go with the XPS.
 
gazfocus

gazfocus

macrumors 68000
Jan 3, 2008
1,650
0
Liverpool, UK
akadmon said:
What's "HE"? Is that the same as the Education Store in the US? If so, does anyone know if the same deal is offered in the US?
Click to expand...

'HE' means 'Higher Education' (i.e. University). Not sure if the same offer applies to US. Try having a web chat with the Apple team.
 
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