Need Help purchasing new laptop

[chemtw]

Hello everyone I am new to the forum and relatively new to macs. I am comparing both Dell's 6000 15" widescreen laptop to Apple's Powerbook Laptop. The dell would come with a 1.6GHZ pentium M processor with 512MB of memory and a 128mb ATI graphics card for under a $1000. The powerbook after my educational discount and a $100 off that an apple sales rep said they would give me a 15" powerbook at 1.5GHZ, 64mb nvidia graphics card, and 512Mb of ram would cost over $1700. now to me the dell seems like it will be more powerfull for less money. Can you please explain to me the difference in measuring proccessor speed between the dell and the mac, and what other differences I should consider. THanks in advance.

[wdlove]

If you have an opportunity you should try the two laptops out. The two essentially run at about the same speed. If you are into pictures, movies, and graphics then the Mac is best. For gaming the Dell would be better.

The Mac doesn't have viruses or spyware. You will find that the Mac is easier to use.

[chemtw]

Can you burn your movie and dvd projects using an external dvd burner if you have i'life 2005? Thanks again.

[mkrishnan]

Originally Posted by chemtw

Can you burn your movie and dvd projects using an external dvd burner if you have i'life 2005? Thanks again.

For the most part, no. But there is a workaround which might change the answer to yes for you.

With regards to your broader questions, what made you consider the PB in the first place? The same argument could be made when comparing the Dell to a Thinkpad or VAIO. There are things you pay for in all three of those companies (Apple, IBM, Sony) that you do not get from Dell. But you are unlikely to find a computer from another manufacturer that produces more speed per $ when you ignore "soft" considerations than one that Dell makes. That's what Dell is good at.

[chemtw]

Originally Posted by mkrishnan

For the most part, no. But there is a workaround which might change the answer to yes for you.

With regards to your broader questions, what made you consider the PB in the first place? The same argument could be made when comparing the Dell to a Thinkpad or VAIO. There are things you pay for in all three of those companies (Apple, IBM, Sony) that you do not get from Dell. But you are unlikely to find a computer from another manufacturer that produces more speed per $ when you ignore "soft" considerations than one that Dell makes. That's what Dell is good at.

I am interested with working with pictures and creating home movies. I also like the some of the features that I played with when I went to an apple store. My sister is going to be going to college for graphics and film and we were both told that mac is better for these kind of things, but as a college student myself, money has to be one of the factors that I take into consideration. the apple specialist that i spoke to said that a powerbook would be better for my needs as opposed to an ibook.

[wordmunger]

If you're balking on price, why not get the 14-inch iBook? It's about $400 less, and compares favorably with the powerbook. The main difference is a slightly slower CPU and video card. You'll still get everything that's great about a Mac, all the great software, for a price comparable to a Dell, in a package that's still lighter, more portable, and more usable.

[mkrishnan]

Originally Posted by chemtw

I am interested with working with pictures and creating home movies. I also like the some of the features that I played with when I went to an apple store. My sister is going to be going to college for graphics and film and we were both told that mac is better for these kind of things, but as a college student myself, money has to be one of the factors that I take into consideration. the apple specialist that i spoke to said that a powerbook would be better for my needs as opposed to an ibook.

Well, assuming that this particular Dell has firewire, there's nothing really stopping you from getting Adobe Premiere (or somesuch, in place of iMovie or FCP) and Photoshop CS2 or PSE3 (which I'd assume you'd get anyway) and perhaps Picasa (in place of iPhoto) and doing what you want to do on a Windows computer. Will the Mac be "better" for this kind of work? Maybe. You'll find a lot of other people doing this kind of stuff will have Macs too. And it's a friendlier community. So you'll probably be able to get more help.

The Mac will probably have more stability and will behave itself better outside of the context of the graphics apps. And your kit (cameras, scanners, etc) are likely to be a lot less trouble on the Mac. And the Mac is certainly better built than the Dell.

OTOH, you can get more speed and features per $ for the most part in a Dell (or HP / Compaq) laptop. And there is certainly no reason why you cannot do this kind of work on one.

EDIT: just an add about the iBook comment made above...if you're serious about doing video, and you want the larger format of a 14-15" notebook, I'd say that the low screen res on the iBook is reason enough to stay away. Of course, people create art on 12" notebooks with XGA screens -- I'd like to consider myself one of them -- but this is a *big* difference between that iBook and the other two computers you're considering.

[chemtw]

Originally Posted by mkrishnan

Well, assuming that this particular Dell has firewire, there's nothing really stopping you from getting Adobe Premiere (or somesuch, in place of iMovie or FCP) and Photoshop CS2 or PSE3 (which I'd assume you'd get anyway) and perhaps Picasa (in place of iPhoto) and doing what you want to do on a Windows computer. Will the Mac be "better" for this kind of work? Maybe. You'll find a lot of other people doing this kind of stuff will have Macs too. And it's a friendlier community. So you'll probably be able to get more help.

The Mac will probably have more stability and will behave itself better outside of the context of the graphics apps. And your kit (cameras, scanners, etc) are likely to be a lot less trouble on the Mac. And the Mac is certainly better built than the Dell.

OTOH, you can get more speed and features per $ for the most part in a Dell (or HP / Compaq) laptop. And there is certainly no reason why you cannot do this kind of work on one.

EDIT: just an add about the iBook comment made above...if you're serious about doing video, and you want the larger format of a 14-15" notebook, I'd say that the low screen res on the iBook is reason enough to stay away. Of course, people create art on 12" notebooks with XGA screens -- I'd like to consider myself one of them -- but this is a *big* difference between that iBook and the other two computers you're considering.

Thanks for your help guys I will give this all some thought and keep you updated, may even ask more questions.

[katie ta achoo]

Originally Posted by chemtw

Can you burn your movie and dvd projects using an external dvd burner if you have i'life 2005? Thanks again.

Actually, I've burned using an external burner using iLife 05.
it worked perfectly; it automatically saw my drive and started to burn.

Man, I love that external DVD burner... <3 <3

[JzzTrump22]

Macs are clocked differently than pc's. If a Mac is 1.5ghz thats like a 2.3 ghz pc (ballparking). With Macs you pay for what you get, you will end up with a high end powerbook that can run just about every application out there. Plus Macs last several more years then pc's. Macs will never crash, you don't need virus protection, you don't get pop-ups on the internet, your system will never have to be "cleaned up" like a windows machine needs on a daily basis. If you like headaches and lots of time closing pup up windows, get the pc. If you want a flawless operating system that doesn't require much work to run, maintain and not have problems, get the Mac.
Just my 2 cents...

[aussie_geek]

One thing to consider when buying from Dell they only include Windows - well that's all they include down here in .AU. If it is the same where you are, when you buy the Dell and start it up, you will have Windows and nothing to run with it.

If you buy a Mac, you take it out of the box, start it up, be on the Web in less than 5 minutes and working in iMovie HD in 10!! Apple's software is included in the price so when you buy a Mac, you can start using it productively, straight away.


aussie_geek