[hi-revs]

Hi yall,

Im looking at buying a new laptop sometime in the new future and was wondering which one would be "better".
Im looking at the Dell XPS, maybe Inspiron, and the Macbook or Macbook Pro.

For both laptops im looking for a 13' display, which both Mac and Dell offers.
I'll mostly be using the laptop for school stuff: Microsoft Office, web browsing, music, downloading, mostly just basic things.
Battery life would be a huge aspect in helping me determine which laptop to buy.
Weight and overall size would matter as well. Obviously the thinner and lighter the better.
I dont do any gaming. So graphics and all that dont really mean a whole lot to me.

I need the one that doesnt lag, and offers smooth quick navigation whether it be on the internet or just offline computer work.
Fast start up time would be great.

Please let me know which laptop would suit me best.
I dotn know if thats enough info, but just ask.

Thanks.

[willystyle]

Inspiron makes 13"?

Anyway, I would go with the XPS, unless you want to pay extra for a Mac, in which a XPS can accomplish for LESS.

[Dragon-88]

Inspiron makes 13"?

Anyway, I would go with the XPS, unless you want to pay extra for a Mac, in which a XPS can accomplish for LESS.

With better warranty.... If you want a dell quote give me a pm and ill see whats the best price i can do for you... I have nothing against Mac, but warranty is warranty especially with new technology you might get a lemon and thats where dell has the best next day 9am parts or they can even send a technician...

[hi-revs]

With better warranty.... If you want a dell quote give me a pm and ill see whats the best price i can do for you... I have nothing against Mac, but warranty is warranty especially with new technology you might get a lemon and thats where dell has the best next day 9am parts or they can even send a technician...

Thanks Dragon, Ill pm you when i know what i want.



so...batter life and durability....which ones better?

[OriginalJC]

I JUST sold my Dell Studio XPS which I bought in feb, and picked up a new 13" Macbook pro. Hands down, the Macbook is superior and I'm absolutely blown away by everything this laptop offers.

LED screen on the Macbook vs the LED screen on the Dell, no comparison. Macbook screen looks incredible. Battery life on the new Macbook is better too, I can attest that I'm getting 6.5-7 hours of battery life. And I did install VMWare and vista runs just fine on it.

The 13" macbook pro is not much more than the 13" Dell Studio XPS, I think 100-200 more. But you would not regret getting the Macbook. I was in the same dilemma as you back in february, and it ended up costing me $$$ having to sell the dell and buy the Macbook.

Cheers~

[OriginalJC]

Oh as for durability? I can only compare to the Studio XPS, which had a glossy plastic finish and the body was made of plastic. Macbook is made of an aluminum shell, feels very solid with no flex when you grab it and lift it with one hand. The annoying thing with the dell, is it was a fingerprint magnet, and it creaked a little when picked up with one hand(while open).

My previous Dell's were solid though, could take a beating like the IBM thinkpads. But just the Studio XPS, was designed to be pretty.

hope that helps.

[kristianhay]

I JUST sold my Dell Studio XPS which I bought in feb, and picked up a new 13" Macbook pro. Hands down, the Macbook is superior and I'm absolutely blown away by everything this laptop offers.

LED screen on the Macbook vs the LED screen on the Dell, no comparison. Macbook screen looks incredible. Battery life on the new Macbook is better too, I can attest that I'm getting 6.5-7 hours of battery life. And I did install VMWare and vista runs just fine on it.

The 13" macbook pro is not much more than the 13" Dell Studio XPS, I think 100-200 more. But you would not regret getting the Macbook. I was in the same dilemma as you back in february, and it ended up costing me $$$ having to sell the dell and buy the Macbook.

Cheers~

Everything he said and more. The overall Mac OS makes it that much more worth the money and if you REALLY want to run Windows, you can use Bootcamp to do so. Win win situation really.

[hi-revs]

I JUST sold my Dell Studio XPS which I bought in feb, and picked up a new 13" Macbook pro. Hands down, the Macbook is superior and I'm absolutely blown away by everything this laptop offers.

LED screen on the Macbook vs the LED screen on the Dell, no comparison. Macbook screen looks incredible. Battery life on the new Macbook is better too, I can attest that I'm getting 6.5-7 hours of battery life. And I did install VMWare and vista runs just fine on it.

The 13" macbook pro is not much more than the 13" Dell Studio XPS, I think 100-200 more. But you would not regret getting the Macbook. I was in the same dilemma as you back in february, and it ended up costing me $$$ having to sell the dell and buy the Macbook.

Cheers~



Im sold!

[Graeme S]

Everything he said and more. The overall Mac OS makes it that much more worth the money and if you REALLY want to run Windows, you can use Bootcamp to do so. Win win situation really.
bootcamp = XP. IRC Vista and Win7 can run natively.

[hi-revs]

Do you guys think that Apple's gonna offer any student back to school discount or anything like that come late Aug??

[.Renn.Sport]

bootcamp = XP. IRC Vista and Win7 can run natively.

bootcamp = tool to install windows

[SkinnyPupp]

Apple Fanboy: Get a Mac
Idiot: Get a Mac
Everyone Else: Get a Dell

[Dragon-88]

Apple Fanboy: Get a Mac
Idiot: Get a Mac
Everyone Else: Get a Dell

Yup there a reason why most enterprise companies buy dells... Less hassle in every way!.

[kristianhay]

Do you guys think that Apple's gonna offer any student back to school discount or anything like that come late Aug??

Most likely, they always run some kind of deal where you get a free iPod with a discounted computer.

[kaitamasaki]

In OP's case, Mac. Thinner, better looking, more sophisticated, fast and simplistic, good for school as well. If you just want something that *works*, go with Mac.

However, I like Dell just as much... they have REALLY GOOD warranty service, I am one year out of warranty and they're willing to fix my video card (I also own a EEE, but had to pay $18 to ship it to them). So if you want to still download the occasional game or program and do more... then I'd have to go with Dell.

Just representing both sides, I guess it'll be the price issue in the end.

[hi-revs]

In OP's case, Mac. Thinner, better looking, more sophisticated, fast and simplistic, good for school as well. If you just want something that *works*, go with Mac.

However, I like Dell just as much... they have REALLY GOOD warranty service, I am one year out of warranty and they're willing to fix my video card (I also own a EEE, but had to pay $18 to ship it to them). So if you want to still download the occasional game or program and do more... then I'd have to go with Dell.

Just representing both sides, I guess it'll be the price issue in the end.


Thanks for the comparison!
Say if i was looking to spend about $2000, would i be happy with a Mac, considering ive never owned one before, or would i be happier with a Windows based platform?
All of you have been saying that Dell offers superb warranty, how bad is Apples then? It cant be THAT bad can it?

And in regards to both brands and warranties, those would have to be purchased seperately from the laptop itself right?
How "reliable" would the Mac and Dell be if i wernt to purchase the extended warranty?
Im currently using a HP laptop bought from Bestbuy a couple of years ago without the extended warranty, and its been fine so far.

I guess like i say in the original post, im looking for reliability, durability, size, weight, battery life, fast processing, decent set of speakers, and to do school stuff.
Im leaning more towards the Mac just because its like the "new" thing, but like all of you and ppl i know have said Dell has been good.
Most of the things ppl say comparing the 2 have been good feedback wise, but i cant narrow it down to which one ill want to get.

This is a stupid question, but Mac's can run Windows version of Microsoft Office 2007, right?

In my case, and the way im using it for, which one would you personally go with? Honest opinion please.

[kaitamasaki]

I'd say try out a Mac for yourself, if any of your friends have one. I don't know about how reliable the Mac is, but I would say that its probably more than Dells. At least you won't get blue screens. Macs have warranty too of course, its just that people are pleased with the lengths that Dell is willing to go to provide warranty. Also,
Macs are compatible with typical Office files of course. I think the Mac can also run a virtual Windows PC on it just in case. Its more of which OS you prefer for your portable lifestyle right now, as the rest of the things you're looking for are around the same. Mac should have a bit faster processing though, less crap to load than Windows.

If I were to get a laptop (for myself included), I'd get a Mac. I'm less bent on gaming these days, and reading that "Why you should switch to Mac" page on the official site sort of convinced me. I'm tired of all these problems with Windows sometimes. I have a very decent desktop computer at home, so I'll leave the gaming on that.

Funny thing is, I haven't used a Mac before, and I've always been looking down on them. Now that I use my laptop for more productive purposes, I kind of see why you want a more hassle-free, proven-to-work kind of machine instead. Perhaps its my urge to try something new + I have a Dell already thats making me lean towards a Mac more. You'll have to really have to try out both for a while and get the feel in the end.

[Farfetched]

I've owned both. I'm not going back to dell anytime soon. If you can get a refurbished one and the student discount, it'll cut down costs. Warranty is pretty good from what I've experienced (hard drive).

[JesseBlue]

you don't have to get the win office for both win and osx..you can use openoffice which is free...i use iwork on my mac...i have a mac pro at work it is sweet...if i could i'd take it home since everyone hates mac in my workplace especially the it guys..haha...if price is a concern...get a refurbished model which also carries a warranty..i bought my refurb imac a few years ago and its still working great...

[cowcowcafe]

mac
easy upgrade
runs smooth

[woob]

good for school as well.

wtf why does everyone say this. Mac software doesn't instantly make you learn more or retain information better :rolleyes:

[Mr.HappySilp]

Dell. Coz I aplay WoW AND WoW seems to run more smooth on my Acer Vs my co woker's Mac.

[!Aznboi128]

I can play Prototype on my macbook Pro 15.4

[Narayan]

Use to be a Windows guy like most people but last year I made the switch to the new iMac and i absolutely love it... and I couldn't see myself ever switching back to PC...

It takes a good few weeks to get use to the new OS but once you do it rocks!

Go with the Mac and if you end up NOT liking it they are very easy to sell for close to retail... unlike PC's


PS: I do recommend getting Micosoft Office especially if you use excel... The apple equivalent is terrible!

[ienhz]

Honestly, just try out OS X for yourself. Like someone else pointed out, for the love of God, don't listen to advice like "Macs are better for school", "Macs are better for browsing the web", "Macs don't crash/get blue screens" (yeah, they don't get blue screens, they get kernel panics LOL), "Macs load faster" and other assorted garbage.

For what it's worth, I'm a business student and I had a MacBook unibody for about 3 weeks before I returned it. Couldn't do any of my business statistics homework with Mac Office because some macro didn't work and solver in Excel apparently didn't work. Couldn't do any of my business management information systems homework either cause there's no Microsoft Visio or Access on the Mac. Couldn't sync my BlackBerry because there was no software from RIM. I could go on but yeah, if you take classes that even need any type of software, it probably won't work on the Mac. Sure, you can use boot camp but why the hell would you buy a Mac in the first place then?

I'll admit, OS X sure is pretty to look at though.

[!LittleDragon]

I use both and honestly, I haven't taken the Hackintosh out of the laptop bag in months. We have one Mac at work and for something that's supposed to be intuitive to use, the IT guys seem to have a hard time figuring it out. One guy told me it took him 20 mins to try and map a network drive before he gave up and just created a shortcut instead.

[woob]

If I were to get a laptop (for myself included), I'd get a Mac. I'm less bent on gaming these days, and reading that "Why you should switch to Mac" page on the official site sort of convinced me. I'm tired of all these problems with Windows sometimes. I have a very decent desktop computer at home, so I'll leave the gaming on that.

Not bashing Macs, but don't you think that the info on the official site might be a bit biased...?

[jnesss]

i've owned my dell laptop since summer of 2006. luckily it came with 3 years of warranty:

-battery warrantied (didn't hold a charge for longer than an hour after a few months)
-cdrom warrantied (stopped reading, was replaced with a refurb'd drive)
-videocard warrantied (got fried, so they replaced my motherboard too)

this laptop was acting up earlier too. the support rep diagnosed my videocard as being fried again and would have the motherboard replaced + they'd give me a monitor (even though my warranty just expired). however, for whatever fing reason, it's fine now, so i'll cancel the service request.

whatever you do, buy as much warranty coverage as you can. oh and dell.. ha ha.. oh never again.

[goo3]

Do you guys think that Apple's gonna offer any student back to school discount or anything like that come late Aug??

The discount's already out for students. Go to apple.ca.

If you want specs and a better deal, get a Dell.
If you don't care about specs (and not everyone does) but like Apple's intangibles, get a MacBook Pro. Try it out and decide for yourself.

They both do the job. They are both good laptops. It comes down to what you want more.

If you weren't a student, I'd tell you not to get a MacBook unless you had a purpose for it or you really like it. But with the student deal, the difference is not so bad.

[ddr]

have you played with OSX yet? it's not a premium that's worthwhile to you if you're just throwing windows on it. I enjoy having both

[goo3]

Also try looking at the 14v. It has no CD Drive but it's portable:

http://www1.ca.dell.com/ca/en/home/Laptops/laptop-studio-14z/pd.aspx?refid=laptop-studio-14z&s=dhs&cs=cadhs1&~ck=mn

[Moratorium]

If you're not a gamer then i'd suggest the macbook, lighter more reliable, can dual boot with bootcamp if you really want to. OSX is better for working for me with the toggle functions etc.

Yeah a lot of people say its better for school etc, theres really no official reasoning for that. Runs a little smoother and i like the workflow better for doing work thats about it. Then again I cant play any of my games on osx and the msn sucks for osx so I end up being more productive when im on my macbook.

If i was on a budget then I would gladly get a dell, its a solid laptop that works. But it feels somewhat plastic and toy-like to me. If you can afford it then I'd say get the mac, more aesthetically pleasing to look at (visually & OS), and more reliable.

[!LittleDragon]

For Dell, I wouldn't get one unless it was a Latitude. My boss went through 2 XPS's in 2 years, a M2010 and M1730... both felt cheap and constantly broke down. The Latitudes rarely ever have issues, usually it's because someone dropped theirs. Come to think of it, it doesn't just apply to Dell, I wouldn't buy a laptop unless it was a business class laptop like a Thinkpad or Latitude.

[Presto]

I use both and honestly, I haven't taken the Hackintosh out of the laptop bag in months. We have one Mac at work and for something that's supposed to be intuitive to use, the IT guys seem to have a hard time figuring it out. One guy told me it took him 20 mins to try and map a network drive before he gave up and just created a shortcut instead.

Macs are just too simple for us IT guys. In Windows, there's 3+ ways of getting anything done. On the Mac, it's basically 1 or 2 ways max. My embarrassing Mac story is when I brought home a G5 tower. It took me 15 min to figure out how to open the cd tray, which turned out to be an eject button on the top-right of the keyboard. :P

[Ronin]

Mac.

[Jmac]

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=macs_cant

[jnesss]

For Dell, I wouldn't get one unless it was a Latitude. My boss went through 2 XPS's in 2 years, a M2010 and M1730... both felt cheap and constantly broke down. The Latitudes rarely ever have issues, usually it's because someone dropped theirs. Come to think of it, it doesn't just apply to Dell, I wouldn't buy a laptop unless it was a business class laptop like a Thinkpad or Latitude.

my lattitude's got wicked probs!

[!LittleDragon]

my lattitude's got wicked probs!

Hey, everyone makes a lemon here and there. All I know is out of the 500+ Latitudes deployed in the company, maybe 5% actually have problems that I have to call Dell to fix. I dunno what kind of warranty you have with Dell but if I have to call them twice for the same laptop, they replace it with a new one the third time around.

[domesticdiva]

you don't have to get the win office for both win and osx..you can use openoffice which is free...i use iwork on my mac...i have a mac pro at work it is sweet...if i could i'd take it home since everyone hates mac in my workplace especially the it guys..haha...if price is a concern...get a refurbished model which also carries a warranty..i bought my refurb imac a few years ago and its still working great...

As far as I know, the IT people don't like Macs because they're difficult to troubleshoot.

[Mr.HappySilp]

As far as I know, the IT people don't like Macs because they're difficult to troubleshoot.

+1 and with MAC mail for some reason it takes up to 30mins or more for it to connect the mail servers O_O

[Ulic Qel-Droma]

ULIC USES DELL and also recommends that you get the complete care warranty.

[JesseBlue]

if you're 4 then you're a pc

[goo3]

I picked up a 13" macbook pro 2.0GHz c2duo, 2GB ram + ipod touch rebated for students yesterday! I just sold that ipod touch for $200 today.

(1399 -100) + 259 + tax = 1745
1745 - 259 - 200 = 1286 => 1148 before tax

The Dell M1330 XPS sells for 1099 with slightly better specs. But I already have a desktop, so I went for the Mac. Plus there's some stuff for school I can do with the Mac.

They also have $100 off a canon printer with a MacBook purchase, so you can sell that on CL too if ur hard core.

[hi-revs]

So i bought it.
13" macbook pro 4gb ram, 250gb hd + ipod touch


^^did you end up getting the 3 year extended warranty???

[hi-revs]

can anyone recommend anything that i can download and install? Things that i may need?

Do i need to install the cds that it came with? like the "applications install dvd"?

[goo3]

So i bought it.
13" macbook pro 4gb ram, 250gb hd + ipod touch


^^did you end up getting the 3 year extended warranty???

No.

And those CDs are for backup only.

[JesseBlue]

yah...every application that you somewhat need is already installed...i recomment iwork if you can get a copy for cheap...don't bother with win via bootcamp...i hardly ever use mine

[NeoRonin]

Hopefully someone can help me out with this, because Im in the same situation, just for getting a laptop for school. Id prefer a Mac because of just preference.

But is the IPod Touch the only student discount that you can get? What does Dell or HP offer in terms of University discounts?

[f00tzilla]

thinking about buying a macbook ... but i'm thinking they will come out with some better version next year like they always do... damn it!

[Dragon-88]

Hopefully someone can help me out with this, because Im in the same situation, just for getting a laptop for school. Id prefer a Mac because of just preference.

But is the IPod Touch the only student discount that you can get? What does Dell or HP offer in terms of University discounts?


Dell usually has contracts with schools for better discounts, check your local university...

[woob]

thinking about buying a macbook ... but i'm thinking they will come out with some better version next year like they always do... damn it!

waiting for the newest product is dumb cuz there will ALWAYS be something better coming out tomorrow, so you'll end up waiting forever. Just buy it.

[JesseBlue]

yah..just take the nestea plunge...

anyway grab one now and you can upgrade to the snow leopard later for only 29 bucks later on