Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

DoGG940

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 19, 2008
2
0
In this post prices which are quoted are at the UK British pound

The current Macbook Alu prices have cause alot of complaints among buyers but are the new prices really that high

Compared to Old Macbooks ????

The new Macbooks are significantly more expensive than their predecessors but to be honest the low price of the old macbooks could be caused by the fact that it was approaching the end of its life cycle....... and it seemed at some point to be one of the cheapest premium 13.3 inch laptops around but it was also one of the worst spec'd with the lack of a decent graphics card compared to its PC counter parts such as Sony SZ, Asus U6........

Compared to other products in the market ????

New products come with increased prices as always the replacement for the sony 13.3 SZ which came in a normal stainless steal and plastic and carbon fibre form now has been divided into 2 sub categories the magnesium sony SR and the carbon fibre Z......

I will only compare the SR and not the Z as i appreciate the high price carbon fibre alone commands


low end spec comparison

Macbook - 2.0ghz, 160HDD, 2GB DDR3 ram, 9400m- 949

SR - 2.26ghz, 160HDD, 3GB DDR2 ram, Intel X4500 - 999

M1330 - 2.0ghz, 250HDD, 3GB DDR2 ram, 8400m 128MB dedicated - 649


High end Spec

Macbook - 2.4ghz, 250HDD, 2GB DDR3 ram, 9400m- 1145

SR - 2.4ghz, 320 HDD, 4GB DDR2 ram, ATI radeon HD 3470 with dedicated 256MB - 1169

M1330- 2.1ghz, 320 HDD, 3GB DDR2 ram, 8400m 128MB dedicated - 799




The price difference between the Macbook and SR is not that difference and all depends on personal preference on things such as OS and the need of mobile broadband.

The dell as expected is the cheapest due to its age and probably gonna be replaced soon.

Keeping in mind the ram used on the other models is DDR3 with the lesser speed of 667mhz instead of 1066mhz DDR3 offers and also the fact vista and probably windows 7 are really ram intensive.

That's my 2 pence......... if u disagree then u may post ur alternative keeping in mind it is a premium 13.3 inch laptop. These are UK prices and might not reflect the current market in your country
 

phobic99

macrumors 6502a
Mar 3, 2008
707
37
Dell's update to the XPS1330 is rumored to be out next month and it's supposedly have a glass screen, backlit keyboard as options and other stuff like blu-ray slot loading drives.

I'm pretty close to getting a new macbook (almost bought one today actually) but I'm curious to see what Dell has planned and the cost. I'm more of a person that likes to get the most bang for my buck so whichever company offers more of what I want for the price, they get my money.
 

Davidkoh

macrumors 65816
Aug 2, 2008
1,060
19
Dell's update to the XPS1330 is rumored to be out next month and it's supposedly have a glass screen, backlit keyboard as options and other stuff like blu-ray slot loading drives.

I'm pretty close to getting a new macbook (almost bought one today actually) but I'm curious to see what Dell has planned and the cost. I'm more of a person that likes to get the most bang for my buck so whichever company offers more of what I want for the price, they get my money.

Dell usualy compromises when it comes to build quality and battery life, wouldn't get one ever...
 

rittchard

macrumors 6502
Aug 12, 2007
351
46
I've been browsing through all sorts of laptops the past month or so, and I would have to say the pricing on the new MBs is sort of close to the rest of the market - right now. Or more accurately it's kind of difficult to compare. The reason?

The new nVidia chipset, if truly as good as described, is a game changer for the time being. The rest of the market will have to play catch up on this, but once they do, the game should change again.

If you check through the available options at this size/weight, there's pretty much very little that compares. For the most part you are stuck with Intel graphics X3100 or maybe 4500, which really isn't a comparison now.

The most up to date competitor I found was from HP, the dv3500t. Low end on this model is around $1000 US (with $100 sale), where Apple low end is $1300. The HP uses a 9300M GS with 512MB RAM, so graphics performance should be on par, and the deal now comes with 3GB of RAM. So all in all, this looks like the strongest contender against the MB at the moment. Pricing if you exclude the sale is relatively close (within about 20%).
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.