Finding a comparable 12" PC notebook.

jaw04005 · Jun 13, 2004

A friend of mine has been looking for a 12" notebook that includes the following features:

Bluetooth
DVI
DVD-R Drive
60GB Hard Drive
802.11G
FW400

Obviously, I told him to look at the Powerbook, which totaled around $1599.00. His Dad told him that he was wasting his money on Apple, and that he should check around because he should be able to get all of those features for less than Apple's Educational Price.

I told him goodluck, and have speant about 1 hour & 1/2 looking around at PC notebooks.... I haven't found any that include all of those features. The closest I came was Sony and Fujitsu, but they didn't have Bluetooth. Its amazing that people think Apple's products are expensive. Can anyone find a comparable 12" PC notebook for under $1599, that includes those specs?

BrianKonarsMac · Jun 13, 2004

quite doubtful they can match the features as well as beat the price, not to mention form factor.

Soc7777777 · Jun 14, 2004

YES...

joshuawaire said:
A friend of mine has been looking for a 12" notebook that includes the following features:

Bluetooth
DVI
DVD-R Drive
60GB Hard Drive
802.11G
FW400

Obviously, I told him to look at the Powerbook, which totaled around $1599.00. His Dad told him that he was wasting his money on Apple, and that he should check around because he should be able to get all of those features for less than Apple's Educational Price. I told him goodluck, and have speant about 1 hour & 1/2 looking around at PC notebooks.... I haven't found any that include all of those features. The closest I came was Sony and Fujitsu, but they didn't have Bluetooth. Its amazing that people think Apple's products are expensive. Can anyone find a comparable 12" PC notebook for under $1599, that includes those specs?

the dell 600m has all those features (cept not sure about dvi... but it probibly does) and its 1380 (catching a good rebate would make it lower...) whether that comp is as good as a powerbook is a different issue

Les Kern · Jun 14, 2004

I just bought the 12" Sony Vaio (model PCG-691L) a few days ago. With the edu discount it was just over 1400. But no DVD-R and no Bluetooth. It's the best I could find with all the features I really needed. I didn't price the add-ons or even if they were available.
I like it. But that said, it ain't even CLOSE to the value of a Powerbook. The battery is pretty lousy, the wireless range is weak even with a plastic body. I DO like its form, the screen is exceptional, and it's pretty snappy.
Tell dad to let you him decide for himself. If he ever saw a Mac in REAL action he'd have to admit they are quite a machine.

Studawg7 · Jun 14, 2004

I had this exact same issue before I bought my apple. However, even when looking at Dell's machines (which are usually the best price/quality for pc's) the cost would rise greatly when adding these features. One thing that makes the machine cost more is the operating system. Most likely you'll want XP pro, that costs more. Then which office you purchase (if you do) could easily bump up the cost. I think if you look at the total package and the features you want, you'll figure out that apple's machines hit the target price/feature wise. Remember, get the computer with the features you want, that makes for a happy purchase.

jxyama · Jun 14, 2004

joshuawaire said:
FW400

just curious... if your friend needs FW for iPod, then it's much better to get a Mac because most PCs will only include 4-pin FW built-in and those will not charge the iPod.

otherwise, i think it'd be cheaper to buy a PC without built-in FW and just get a FW card.

kelvinz · Jun 14, 2004

possibly Avertech?

dopefiend · Jun 14, 2004

kelvinz said:
possibly Avertech?

http://www.averatec.com if anyone is wondering. They lack a dvd writer though.

LaMerVipere · Jun 14, 2004

You kind of have a hard order to fill, whenever you specify specific specs at a specific price. you might end up spending more to get all that in a PC notebook, but you could just as easily take the specs of some PC notebook and say "give me a comparable apple notebook" and you probably wouldn't be able to find one that fits the price and specs exactly, but that doesn't mean the apple isn't a better value.

tell your friend to stop worrying so much about price, and to get a mac!

noel4r · Jun 14, 2004

you can just add a USB Bluetooth adapter for 30 to 40 dollars.

jxyama · Jun 14, 2004

LaMerVipere said:
You kind of have a hard order to fill, whenever you specify specific specs at a specific price. you might end up spending more to get all that in a PC notebook, but you could just as easily take the specs of some PC notebook and say "give me a comparable apple notebook" and you probably wouldn't be able to find one that fits the price and specs exactly, but that doesn't mean the apple isn't a better value.

tell your friend to stop worrying so much about price, and to get a mac!

yeah, i agree with you. the reason PCs are generally considered "better value" is because of its customizability. so if you don't need features offered on Macs, you can lower the price of a PC by dropping those features. but i tend to find that as soon as you start looking for comparably equipped models, the price difference starts to diminish. this, of course, doesn't take into account CPU and OS differences and included software, but in general, Macs are just as well priced as any PCs.

if your friend is open to the idea of going to OS X, tell him to get a Mac. i think included media authoring programs (specifically, iMovie and iDVD) are well worth it over slightly cheaper PCs with similar specs.

Gaz · Jun 14, 2004

Personally I have my eye on the new Sony Vaio S1VP. 13" wide-screen, good resolution, very fast processor, good graphics card etc...could well include DVI on it's dock. This looks like it has the specs a 13" Powerbook should have.

Hmmm...doesn't look like it appears on the US site yet but check out the UK one at http://www.sonystyle.co.uk very cool!

G

dopefiend · Jun 14, 2004

Ahhh...I went to that link of yours Gaz and saw the X505....Much droolage, lol.

I'd love to own one of those right now!

Mav451 · Jun 14, 2004

joshuawaire said:
A friend of mine has been looking for a 12" notebook that includes the following features:

Bluetooth
DVI
DVD-R Drive
60GB Hard Drive
802.11G
FW400

Obviously, I told him to look at the Powerbook, which totaled around $1599.00. His Dad told him that he was wasting his money on Apple, and that he should check around because he should be able to get all of those features for less than Apple's Educational Price. I told him goodluck, and have speant about 1 hour & 1/2 looking around at PC notebooks.... I haven't found any that include all of those features. The closest I came was Sony and Fujitsu, but they didn't have Bluetooth. Its amazing that people think Apple's products are expensive. Can anyone find a comparable 12" PC notebook for under $1599, that includes those specs?

You should be clear that the $1599 model gets you only the combo drive, NOT the SuperDrive. You need to pay $200 more to get the DVD burner.

I'm not sure what you meant by "DVD-R", but unless you go to the $1799 model, you are limited to a combo drive (which is DVD-ROM with CDRW abilities, not DVD+/-RW with CDRW).

quagmire · Jun 14, 2004

Soc7777777 said:
the dell 600m has all those features (cept not sure about dvi... but it probibly does) and its 1380 (catching a good rebate would make it lower...) whether that comp is as good as a powerbook is a different issue

No it doesn't come standard. It comes with a 30 GB standard. No dvi or bluetooth. Apple is still on top. Get his dad to register with macrumors and we will show him the light.

iShater · Jun 14, 2004

dopefiend said:
Ahhh...I went to that link of yours Gaz and saw the X505....Much droolage, lol.

I'd love to own one of those right now!

I'm working to convince a buddy of mine NOT to shell out $3k to get this thing. It is an awesome portable business machine, if the company is buying it or you got tons of cash to umm... waste. But if you look at the specs, it is really underpowered.

iShater · Jun 14, 2004

quagmire said:
No it doesn't come standard. It comes with a 30 GB standard. No dvi or bluetooth. Apple is still on top. Get his dad to register with macrumors and we will show him the light.

I went ahead and customized a 600m to match the specs, and the price does come up to around $1700 or so. The catch is thought that the screen is 14", so we need to determine if the screen size is big factor in the purchase decision or not.

bellychris · Jun 14, 2004

Mav451 said:
You should be clear that the $1599 model gets you only the combo drive, NOT the SuperDrive. You need to pay $200 more to get the DVD burner.

I'm not sure what you meant by "DVD-R", but unless you go to the $1799 model, you are limited to a combo drive (which is DVD-ROM with CDRW abilities, not DVD+/-RW with CDRW).

I think he ment it is 1599 with the educational discount

upperblue79 · Jun 14, 2004

Mav451 said:
You should be clear that the $1599 model gets you only the combo drive, NOT the SuperDrive. You need to pay $200 more to get the DVD burner.

I'm not sure what you meant by "DVD-R", but unless you go to the $1799 model, you are limited to a combo drive (which is DVD-ROM with CDRW abilities, not DVD+/-RW with CDRW).

The price he is looking at is with the student discount apple gives which makes the 12" superdrive $1599.

Soc7777777 · Jun 14, 2004

quagmire said:
No it doesn't come standard. It comes with a 30 GB standard. No dvi or bluetooth. Apple is still on top. Get his dad to register with macrumors and we will show him the light.

you dont get the point, whats standard doesnt matter because you choose your options... customize it witht he 1 year warrenty... thats the advantage of pcs... you get what you want...

Soc7777777 · Jun 14, 2004

iShater said:
I went ahead and customized a 600m to match the specs, and the price does come up to around $1700 or so. The catch is thought that the screen is 14", so we need to determine if the screen size is big factor in the purchase decision or not.

your forgetting the 200 mail in rebate... and the fact that on the phone tey will usually go down and average of 200 dollars... (and you were getting a 3 year at home warrentee)

Soc7777777 · Jun 14, 2004

trust me people.. the dell 600m customized with the options you guys have stated can be had for 1200... but whether its as good a computer in general is a different story...

for an example... look at a 300m on dells website and check out how much that is with ext cdrw/dvdrom 30 gig 1.2 ghz b/g wireless card 640mb ram... 4 year at home next bis day warrenty... i have that computer... online right now it is showing for around 2000-2200... but i got it for 1380... dell is unlike apple in that they will have HUGE discounts at certian times... so you cant compare apples price to dells RIGHT NOW.... because if he were bying a dell he should wait till there is a great deal going on

jaw04005 · Jun 14, 2004

upperblue79 said:
The price he is looking at is with the student discount apple gives which makes the 12" superdrive $1599.

You are correct, I was using Apple's Education Price. He wants a 12" for portability purposes, not a 14" or 15". Also, he needs firewire 400 for his Canon MiniDV Camera, not that the purpose really matters. Why don't PC companies use the larger firewire port (6-pin?) instead of the smaller port (4-pin)? I don't see the purpose, you would have to go out and purchase a 4 to 4 instead of using a standard 6 to 4. And in my town, Staples rarely carries the 4 to 4

I helped him look today also, and I still can't find those features for that price. I told him to just get the Mac, but im really sort of surprised that is THAT hard to find those features on a PC notebook.

solvs · Jun 14, 2004

Don't suppose there are any Apple Stores or CompUSA's around where you are?

Go look at the 'books in person with him. You mentioned a camcorder. If he wants to do video editing on the go, a Mac is the way to go. Play with iMovie for awhile. I've been trying to edit video with my PC, and it's painful to say the least. Gah, my G3 was better for this stuff.

If he has to buy a PC, same thing. Go to a store, play with some HPs and Sonys. They're ok, but not great for the features it sounds like he wants.

quagmire · Jun 14, 2004

Soc7777777 said:
you dont get the point, whats standard doesnt matter because you choose your options... customize it witht he 1 year warrenty... thats the advantage of pcs... you get what you want...

So you are saying you have to pay for the warrenty on a dell.

. The powerbook has free 1 year warrenty. The reason why apple doesn't have all those stuff as bto is because it already comes with the machine. You get alot more stuff with macs then you get with a pc standard.

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