Buying Advice Please - Plastic Macbook or Dell

[toto8462]

I was holding out to see what the new MB's would bring, but i was only ever looking at the £699 MB's and since there is no new MB in this range - i'm happy to consider the now £719 base model.

As a student I can get it for £618 with a free iPod Nano.

Whilst I am happy to visit Crucial.com to upgrade the ram, I was wondering whether the integrated graphics would become an issue...


To complicate matters, I have on order a Dell Studio 15 with the following specs. This comes in at £615

Intel C2D P8400 2.26Ghz
4GB Ram
320GB HD
ATi 3450 HD 256mb dedicated graphics
WLED Screen etc...

Obviously considerably more bang for the buck... I am a native windows user considering the switch, and was wondering whether Vista is SO BAD that I should really be considering cancelling the Dell for the Mac.

Please advise. Thanks.

[11800506]

Vista isn't really that bad, it's more that it isn't where it should be in user friendliness and bugginess after all of its development. The integrated graphics really aren't that bad unless you do anything graphics intensive such as gaming. Also factor into your decision the fact that if anything on your Dell breaks you'll have to deal with their support which is quite bad to put it bluntly. However if anything goes wrong with your Macbook, Apple support will be able to help you. If you get the Macbook you won't be disappointed, it's just a tough decision to make as to whether or not you should get it or the PC with it's better specs. Remember to take into consideration OS X versus Vista (which may be hard for you) and the iLife suite which comes with every new Mac which could sway your decision. Hope that helps.

[gnasher729]

I'd recommend the white MacBook over a Dell laptop anytime. And yes, Vista is bad. Where MacOS X uses fancy graphics to make the software more usable, Vista uses fancy graphics to show they can do fancy graphics. Where MacOS X software is designed to help you use it, Windows software is designed to put the blame on the user when things don't work instead of the software.

In the next days, you might check out the refurbished store (www.apple.com/ukstore, then look for "refurbished Macs" at the bottom right of the book) for good offers. All the old-style Macs that haven't been sold yet will appear there at good prices. As I am typing, 2.4GHz, 2GB, 160GB MacBook white for £659.

[toto8462]

Thanks thats useful. With the student discount, do you think the Mac still represents good value for money? Do you think the benefits in the Dell spec are that significant?

I spent an hour in the apple store playing on a mac - and it was a lot of fun (and the customer service was second to none). In fact, maybe that is the benefit - everything seems enjoyable. To be honest, other than the core uses (internet/office) my only key requirement is that I can happily run Photoshop CS3 quickly and efficiently as i am an big DSLR user.

I know there may be a mac bias here, but would anyone go for the Dell?

[toto8462]

£659 is great value - if only i could get student discount on that!

How old would refurbished stock be? Could someone have used it for a year?

[idonotliketostu]

vista isn't bad, its just the mac noobs that dunno how to use a vista properly

but ill recommend a 2.4 white macbook from ebay, it would def. cost you less than 600 lb

and

because it will retain its value so much better than a dell, then you'll be able to upgrade to the new macbook when you have the chance