Posted on 04/27/2006 6:42:38 PM PDT by Swordmaker
I agree on that.
They only manage to get the Dell anywhere near the price of the MacBook by loading it up with all sorts of useless and expensive stuff (Wordperfect? MusicMatch?).
Looking at the list of stuff, you could get something that would nearly match the performance of the MacBook for about half the price. You could get a near-perfect hardware match for $600ish less.
Indeed, looking at the site, for $2800 I put together a 17" Core Duo Notebook at 2.16 GhZ with two Gigs of RAM, an 80 Gig SATA 7200 RPM Hard Drive (you'd be surprised at the difference it makes), and the like.
No, it is not silly. The software is there to attempt to match the software and functionality that comes with the MacBook Pro... included in the base price.
+ CoreDuo upgrade: $40 --- The MacBook Pro is a CoreDuo.
+ 2.16GHz CoreDuo upgrade: $480 --- The MacBook Pro is a 2.16GHz CoreDuo.
+ XP Media Center Ed. Reinstall CD: $8 --- The MacBook Pro comes with an OS X install disk.
+ Remote Control for Media Center: $23 --- The MacBook Pro comes with a remote control
+ WUXGA+ display upgrade: $119 --- The MacBook Pro has a high Definition screen.
+ 1.0 GB 667 MHz RAM upgrade: $140 --- The MacBook Pro has this memory.
+ 120 GB 5400 RPM hard drive: $116 --- The MacBook Pro comes standard with this spec drive.
+ DVD±RW upgrade: $48 --- The MacBook Pro comes with a DVD burner.
+ Intel PRO/3945 802.11a/g upgrade: $23 --- The MacBook Pro comes with 802.11a/g built in.
+ Dell Wireless 350 Bluetooth 2.0 upgrade: $39 --- The MacBook Pro comes with blue tooth built in.
+ NVIDIA GeForce Go 7800 upgrade: $183 --- The MacBook Pro comes with a high end graphics card.
+ 80 WHr Battery upgrade: $79 --- The MacBook Pro equivalent.
+ PC-cillin Internet Security upgrade: $95 --- The MacBook Pro is OS X and is inherrently more secure than Windows.
+ Sonic DigitalMedia/MyDVD+ upgrade: $63 --- The MacBook Pro comes with the iLife suite of Digital media and DVD authoring software.
+ Corel WordPerfect Office 12: $79 --- The MacBook Pro comes with iWorks productivity suite.
+ Adobe® Acrobat® Elements upgrade: $31 --- The MacBook Pro and OS X use Display PDF throughout and can create PDF files from any application.
+ Corel Photo Album Premium: $31 --- The MacBook Pro comes with iPhoto.
+ Creative Labs WebCam Live! Ultra: $90 --- The MacBook Pro has web cam built in.
+ QuickBooks Simple Start Ed 2006: $90 --- The MacBook Pro ships with Quicken installed.
+ MusicMatch Plus upgrade: $16 --- The MacBook Pro comes with iTunes and Garageband included.
That is not "Padding". In fact, it still doesn't match everything that comes standard on the MacBook Pro.
Of course it's "padding" - the battery and the display are upgraded to way beyond the Apple's specs, for one thing, and iWorks is significantly inferior to the Corel suite.
No, it is dishonest to compare items that are not equivalent.
The starting Dell Dimension M90 (1.67GHz, $2064) does not come close to the specs of the MacBook Pro (2.16Ghz, $2799). In fact, even the Enhanced M90 model (still 1.6GHz, $2222) does not match the specs on the Mac.
Dell lets you customize so we can come close. Matching the specs brings the price of the Dell Dimension M90 price to $3098.... and that is not even adding ANY software at all. of course that extra $299 probably pays for that "free" 19" Monitor.
The MacBook Pro is still just $2799... and comes with all that software... and will also boot into Windows.
No, Senator. Apple claims a 5.5 hours usage for its battery... and Dell claims that the upgraded battery is necessary to achieve a similar usage on its laptops. Whether EITHER system acheives 5.5 hours is speculation.
The display is the only one available that comes close to APple's but it does exceed the Apple's display specs... and that is noted. But the standard Dell display is far below the Mac's specs. Even the upgraded display does not match the Apple's in brightness. The best display is still awarded to the Dell.
As to the iWorks suite... have you used it? Or the Wordperfect suite? They offer similar functionality but the iWorks works seamlessly with other Mac apps. Give some examples how "Keynote 3" is "inferior" to Corel "Presentations". Of course, the iWorks suggested retail price is $79 while the Corel MSRP is $299. It was included here because the OEM price from Dell was $79. Also, the chart does give the nod to the Dell in this area... even though it doesn't even mention the availability of Keynote3 which is far more sophisticated that either the Corel or Microsoft offerings.
What isn't speculation is the output of the battery, where you're upgrading the Dell to far beyond the output of the Apple battery.
But the standard Dell display is far below the Mac's specs.
Considering the difference between the added Dell display is about the same as the difference between the Apple and the standard display, I assume you'd agree that the Apple's display is "far below" that of the Inspiron. Bonus points to Dell, I guess.
As to the iWorks suite... have you used it? Or the Wordperfect suite?
Yes, I have - both of them. iWorks is definitely not comparable to WP.
You've used Corel Presentation and iWorks Keynote 3? Tell me why Keynote is eclipsed by Presentation.
I was talking about the M90 with the 2.16 GHz processor.
And, no, it doesn't come close to $3098. I priced it out, and it was still a little under the Mac Book Pro price, even with the free monitor.
Dells aren't cheap. But Macs are somewhat less cheap.
Sorry, but I just priced it out just before I responded to you and it came to $3098. The Dell requires several upgrades to make it near equivalent. You obviously omitted something necessary to match the MacBook Pro.
This is not my comparison... it is from a site that does this regularly, systemshootouts.org. It has also been done before by several computer pundits, including PC magazine editors, who also know what they are talking about. The pricing for equivalent equipment is, er, well, equivalent.
Fine, add the extra... a difference of $80 is not too important. However, a friend just bought one of the smaller Powerbook Pros and although not listed, iWork was included and it was not a trial version.
1.6" VS 1.0 is a BIG deal.
</i>Where's the equivalent of Quattro Pro in iWork?</i>
iWork does not include a spreadsheet but Appleworks does... the point here is not exact matching but getting as close as possible given what is available.
Not one up to the Mac's specs. With the exception of the question of graphics (the M90 is a workstation replacement so comes with a Quadro, so is really in a different class of notebooks), just getting the processor, memory and optical drive up to the Mac's specs takes you to over $100 more than the Mac, and you get your memory with two DIMMs (the Mac uses one standard). That also includes Dell's current sale, which knocked almost $200 off the Dell's price.
I agree... compactness has a price. 1603 inches versus 2803 inches. The 1.1 Lb difference is also important when you have to lug it around.
Tell me about it.
My company issued me a Dell Latitude X300 -- slimline and small.
Then when I needed a replacement battery, they added 2 INCHES to back of the doggone thing. Now my PC is as big as those others that I used to make fun of.
Now if I want a good SMALL battery, I have to pay for it out of my pocket :(
Appleworks doesn't come with the Macbook either, so I'm really a bit skeptical that we're really trying to get "as close as possible". Padding. Sorry.
The M90 gets more expensive than the Mac just by getting equivalent hard drive, processor and optical drive.
Indeed, looking at the site, for $2800 I put together a 17" Core Duo Notebook at 2.16 GhZ with two Gigs of RAM, an 80 Gig SATA 7200 RPM Hard Drive (you'd be surprised at the difference it makes), and the like.
The Mac comes with a 100 GB 7200 rpm drive or a 120 GB 5400 rpm drive. Did you get the bigger battery? Did you upgrade the video and optical drive? How big and heavy is what you priced?
Take it up with the guy who made the lists. But, Appleworks also came on my friends MacBook Pro ... fully functional. It may be a promotion but it is there.
Regardless, I'll go so far as to concede that the Macbook is a decent machine on the high end, pricewise. Now let's look at the low end - I can spec out an E1505 dual-core laptop to match the 15.4" Macbook, for almost $600 less than the Apple. Realistically, Apple's problem has never been at the high end, it's the low end, for those folks who aren't prepared to drop $3k on a top of the line machine.
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