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Techguy172

macrumors 68000
Feb 2, 2007
1,782
0
Ontario Canada
From what we can tell, no one makes them.



No, dell does not use a special display. You were just fooled into paying $3000 for a machine that neither looks nice nor outperforms similarly specced machines.

Dell uses the same Samsung, LG, Sharp, and Toshiba LCDs that everyone else does. The "brightness enhancer" you're referring to is probably XBrite or UltraSharp or whatever Dell is calling their anti-reflective covering. It's the same as Apple's "glossy" screen.

And Apple is far from cheap, hah. $2000 in my book isn't cheap.

Maybe you should actually see the computer it's far more powerful Maybe not as "pretty" but it could seriously out perform it in any and everything and it's way cooler so don't judge me if you have never used one.
 

whateverandever

macrumors 6502a
Nov 8, 2006
778
8
Baltimore
Maybe you should actually see the computer it's far more powerful Maybe not as "pretty" but it could seriously out perform it in any and everything and it's way cooler so don't judge me if you have never used one.

Did I EVER compare the XPS system to a MBP?
I don't believe I did.

I've looked into the XPS and other gaming notebooks. I'm aware they're aimed at an entirely different audience than Macs. Doesn't change the fact that it's ugly, bulky, and overpriced.

Oh, and my desktop outperforms the XPS. I have that for games.
 

Techguy172

macrumors 68000
Feb 2, 2007
1,782
0
Ontario Canada
Did I EVER compare the XPS system to a MBP?
I don't believe I did.

I've looked into the XPS and other gaming notebooks. I'm aware they're aimed at an entirely different audience than Macs. Doesn't change the fact that it's ugly, bulky, and overpriced.

Oh, and my desktop outperforms the XPS. I have that for games.


What does you desktop have then. I doubt it could, and if it could beat the laptop the new desktop could smoke your desktop. Also it's not ugly, or bulky or overpriced.
 

whateverandever

macrumors 6502a
Nov 8, 2006
778
8
Baltimore
What does you desktop have then. I doubt it could, and if it could beat the laptop the new desktop could smoke your desktop. Also it's not ugly, or bulky or overpriced.

Those are all your opinion. Except overpriced. Which is entirely true.

I mean, they charge $225 to upgrade from 1GB of RAM to 2GB.
With recent deals on DDR2 RAM you can buy 2GB yourself for ~$150.

Want a 160GB hard drive? That'll be $115 more. Strangely, it's only $50 more for a 100GB 7200rpm drive which costs pretty much the same price as the 160GB 5400rpm drive.

They charge an extra $275 for a Core 2 Duo 7600G chip which is exactly the same as the Core 2 Duo 7600 chip except for having the clocks unlocked for overclocking.


If it were possible to just slap in video cards, adding in a Geforce 7950 into a cheap laptop and upgrading the rest of the components yourself would cut an easy $1000 off the price.
 

Techguy172

macrumors 68000
Feb 2, 2007
1,782
0
Ontario Canada
Those are all your opinion. Except overpriced. Which is entirely true.

I mean, they charge $225 to upgrade from 1GB of RAM to 2GB.
With recent deals on DDR2 RAM you can buy 2GB yourself for ~$150.

Want a 160GB hard drive? That'll be $115 more. Strangely, it's only $50 more for a 100GB 7200rpm drive which costs pretty much the same price as the 160GB 5400rpm drive.



They charge an extra $275 for a Core 2 Duo 7600G chip which is exactly the same as the Core 2 Duo 7600 chip except for having the clocks unlocked for overclocking.


If it were possible to just slap in video cards, adding in a Geforce 7950 into a cheap laptop and upgrading the rest of the components yourself would cut an easy $1000 off the price.

Do you really want to compare let's see the dell actually works, You don't have to take it in every 2 weeks because it burned you desk or god knows what. it doesn't overheat it has the worlds most advanced laptop graphics card it's backed with xps support which is very good. It has A screen that is a million times better then a mbp it has a better dvd burner (discs don't get stuck) it runs like a champ. it has a bigger better battery it has multimedia features, you get a free case.as for you prices for ram and processor there wrong I just checked.
It has a higher ram capacity. it has a better processor it has a better motherboard.

Dell has better prices and quality.
 

aristobrat

macrumors G5
Oct 14, 2005
12,292
1,403
OK, I'm bored while waiting for some paint to try.

I see the same upgrade prices that whateverandever saw:

$425 to bring the processor up to 2.33GHz
$225 to bring the memory up to 2GB
$115 to bring the drive up to 160GB

.. for a total system price of $3,244

And for what it's worth, the reviews of the Dell's "bigger battery" have it glast for a "respectable" (are you kidding?) 2 hours and 5 minutes when surfing the web.

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2887&review=Dell+XPS+M1710

And if you go to configure it with 4GB of RAM, it puts a little note up telling you that not all 4GB will be accessible. Why not?
 

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xappeal

macrumors regular
Dec 9, 2005
106
0
Brisbane - Australia
Do you really want to compare let's see the dell actually works, You don't have to take it in every 2 weeks because it burned you desk or god knows what. it doesn't overheat it has the worlds most advanced laptop graphics card it's backed with xps support which is very good. It has A screen that is a million times better then a mbp it has a better dvd burner (discs don't get stuck) it runs like a champ. it has a bigger better battery it has multimedia features, you get a free case.as for you prices for ram and processor there wrong I just checked.
It has a higher ram capacity. it has a better processor it has a better motherboard.

Dell has better prices and quality.

Go troll dellrumors.com then......

Dells are ugly POS and I don't particularly like reading fanboys go on about them on a site about Macs
 

Techguy172

macrumors 68000
Feb 2, 2007
1,782
0
Ontario Canada
Go troll dellrumors.com then......

Dells are ugly POS and I don't particularly like reading fanboys go on about them on a site about Macs

The reason I came here is to find all the wonderful things about macs but all I see are problems and bad quality.

Maybe I will just stick with my dell that actually works and looks rather nice.
 

aristobrat

macrumors G5
Oct 14, 2005
12,292
1,403
The reason I came here is to find all the wonderful things about macs but all I see are problems and bad quality.

Maybe I will just stick with my dell that actually works and looks rather nice.
Give me five minutes on a Dell forum and I'll find you threads complaining about problems and Dell quality.

It's the nature of forums. :rolleyes:

If all you see on MacRumors is threads about problems and bad quality, then that must be only what you're eyes are picking up on. There are way more people enjoying Macs and OS X on here than not.

I'm still curious about you telling the guy a few post ago that his prices were all wrong. What were you looking at? I saw (and put screenshots up) the same thing he did. :?
 

aneks

macrumors regular
Aug 29, 2006
132
0
Really high end monitors like the Lacie has 16 bit LUTs, and even mid range Eizos easily sport 12 bit LUTs, all of which helps with giving you greater grain of accuracy when you need to actually calibrate it. Do ACDs even have contrast controls? Wow, think simple. I have to trust Apple's factory calibration?! Anyway I really cannot imagine the MBP's display being banded together with a "high end" panel, it is just not close. One is a bottom of the barrel TN panel, is Apple telling us that for close to A$4000 they can't even afford a A$200 MVA screen at least? That'd spare us some of the pains with the viewing angles.

Actually the new Eizo has a 14bit colour processing chip. Which means what ? It still an 8 bit panel. I use Shake for Film work we regularly do our colour porcessing in 32bit perChannel (floating point) I have never seen or heard of an LCD monitor that can DISPLAY more than 8bits per-channel. Dell are now promoting their 27" displays as having 92% percent colour gammut. Eizo claim they can display 16.77million colours. ASS this is all hype !

The colour grading system which we use to finish feature film has 'the best' LCD display on the market; eCinema. Compared to the true image it looks like TURD ! If you are a graphics professional using High bit depth images, not someone who does flash or TV broadcast or web graphics, you will know that the monitor LIES, there is an industry in calibration and Lookup tools ! You can only get accurate colour from running the thing out to film or other full colour mediums. The Reason I have a $2k decklink card and $10k monitor next to my mac is that it is 10bit and that LCD is no good for colour.
 

iW00t

macrumors 68040
Nov 7, 2006
3,286
0
Defenders of Apple Guild
Higher resolution, better support, higher performance due to better GPU / CPU and moreover the cooling performance to make that usable. The XPS M1710 excels in every area the MBP falls flat on it's face. I actually use it as one of my main business luggables despite it's gaming moniker. It certainly gets more carry time than the MBP despite the higher weight, because it's more useful to me.

That screen also exhibits better colour rendering than my glossy MBP. It's not perfect and I think I might not have the best available of this breed - I think I might have seen better on an HP nw9440 - but it is better than the MBP. I do fully acknowledge that on Dells it may not be a consistent screen from example to example - but the same seems to be the case on the MBP's.

The MBP is of course as handsome as the XPS is ugly - but to me the premium of my 7600G M1710 (running at the stock 2.5Ghz) is worth it over the MBP because it is about as fast as a transportable can get, yet is fully usable. Run the Macbook Pro CPU and GPU in the same way and you will be able to cook sausages on it, while still not measuring up to the M1710 - and that to a large extent defeats the object of a 'desktop replacement'.

The Macbook Pro looks the best and is the thinnest in its class. It also has Firewire 800, optical IO and the innovative Magsafe. It runs OS X which is a debatable point of superiority. But this is where the superiority ends.

Never mind the comparison between the XPS and the glossy MBP, it's the comparison between my lowest-end D520 and the matte MBP that is irritating to say the least. The screen of both the matte and glossy MBP's is median at best, and perhaps the myth about everyone else getting Apple's rejects is no longer true - who knows, it may even now be working in reverse. At least, that's how it looks to me.

Does your Dell have a 8 bit screen?
 

bousozoku

Moderator emeritus
Jun 25, 2002
15,718
1,893
Lard
The reason I came here is to find all the wonderful things about macs but all I see are problems and bad quality.

Maybe I will just stick with my dell that actually works and looks rather nice.

People don't shout from the mountain top that everything is working well. Why tempt fate and fall down the mountain?

I've had much more success with Macs and Mac OS X over the past 13 years and I'm pretty pleased, even with the bumps and scrapes my machines have seen. Apple isn't perfect and as prices have gone down, so it seems has quality.

I'd be hard pressed to find a substitute for Apple equipment and I've had to care for a lot of other brands. Dell isn't the worst, but it's also not great, either. One place where I worked (50,000+ employees), we had to return 3 of 5 Dell machines within 2 weeks of their deployment. To think that there are worse, bothers me, but Apple isn't one of those. They really, really need to keep better notice on the quality.
 

PDE

macrumors 68020
Nov 16, 2005
2,482
13
Doesn't anybody know why gradients show well in windows on the mBP and poorly under OSX? I mean, it indicates that it has to do with software rather than hardware - and a solution would improve the display significantly. Not that uneven backlight and blotchiness would get better, but at least gradients wouldn't show banding everywhere...
 

TraceyS/FL

macrumors 601
Jan 11, 2007
4,173
313
North Central Florida
Doesn't anybody know why gradients show well in windows on the mBP and poorly under OSX? I mean, it indicates that it has to do with software rather than hardware - and a solution would improve the display significantly. Not that uneven backlight and blotchiness would get better, but at least gradients wouldn't show banding everywhere...

That does indicate a bad driver. I'm guessing it's like the Suburban my Dad had that wouldn't stop - GM (in Detroit) called and told him that they knew it was a transmission-engine mismatch on the computer, but the vehicle was being updated with new engines so they didn't want to fix it, but they authorized a buyback. The moral - don't buy a 3/4 Ton 454 1999 Suburban, or risk putting it thru the garage wall like he did (and 1 accident in traffic).

My guess is that when Leopard arrives - things will be better.

Meanwhile, they um, suck. Which sucks.
 

Techguy172

macrumors 68000
Feb 2, 2007
1,782
0
Ontario Canada
Give me five minutes on a Dell forum and I'll find you threads complaining about problems and Dell quality.

It's the nature of forums. :rolleyes:

If all you see on MacRumors is threads about problems and bad quality, then that must be only what you're eyes are picking up on. There are way more people enjoying Macs and OS X on here than not.

I'm still curious about you telling the guy a few post ago that his prices were all wrong. What were you looking at? I saw (and put screenshots up) the same thing he did. :?

I don't live in the states. I live in Canada and here the prices are lower for whatever reason. Maybe you could find bad things on dells too. but I'm basing my opinion on my experience with all the dells I have used.

But honestly I all see is bad things like, CD stuck, Hinge Squeaky, Mbp Overheating, Grainy screen, Slow Mac etc.

See what I mean.
 

Sesshi

macrumors G3
Jun 3, 2006
8,113
1
One Nation Under Gordon
Those are all your opinion. Except overpriced. Which is entirely true.

I mean, they charge $225 to upgrade from 1GB of RAM to 2GB.
With recent deals on DDR2 RAM you can buy 2GB yourself for ~$150.

Want a 160GB hard drive? That'll be $115 more. Strangely, it's only $50 more for a 100GB 7200rpm drive which costs pretty much the same price as the 160GB 5400rpm drive.

They charge an extra $275 for a Core 2 Duo 7600G chip which is exactly the same as the Core 2 Duo 7600 chip except for having the clocks unlocked for overclocking.


If it were possible to just slap in video cards, adding in a Geforce 7950 into a cheap laptop and upgrading the rest of the components yourself would cut an easy $1000 off the price.

There are a few things you don't know about the M1710 that you should before you start typing. See, I have 17" and 15" MBP's. I have an M1710. It means I don't have to talk about it like a &%$£-kicking tyre-kicker fanboy.

If you choose the 7600G, Dell engineers will support you with an overclocked system. that includes Completecare and next-day onsite warranty. I believe the support ends at 2.5Ghz. However the M1710 will overclock up to 3Ghz and beyond with good stability. That, married with the 7950 makes for a powerful desktop replacement. Battery endurance is a problem, but really if you are prepared to carry around something of the bulk of the MBP 17" upwards, you'll have space in your bag for another battery if you need extended endurance with the power.

You can get cheaper systems which are almost as effective. The rebranded Clevos for example are very popular and excellent alternatives. But it's about the package - the support and the product. The M1710 may be fugly but it is a very solid machine / package. I can certainly find fewer issues with the package than with the Apples.

While I'm not saying it is a faultless system, you guys are arguing this on entirely the wrong points - because you haven't even seen the systems you're disparaging. Now that is truly sad and nerdy.

@Techguy - as other people have said, you'll see a lot more people posting about problems than being happy users. But I think it is a fact that the Apples need better build quality than they have access to right now in order to produce the Macbook Pros properly. Apple and Dell's build quality is now pretty much the same (While Dell is come up, Apple has come down) - but while the Dell is engineered to be able to be constructed with lower build quality and end up robust / reliable / fault-less, Apple needs very high build quality in order to achieve the same because of the way the laptops are designed. Many here will dispute otherwise but unless you want to be Dell Boy #2 ;) , I'd say just be happy with your M1710 and keep your opinions about the MBP to yourself until you get one - I am very happy with the M1710, and to me it's better / gets more use than my MBPs.
 

whateverandever

macrumors 6502a
Nov 8, 2006
778
8
Baltimore
but I'm basing my opinion on my experience with all the dells I have used.

But honestly I all see is bad things like, CD stuck, Hinge Squeaky, Mbp Overheating, Grainy screen, Slow Mac etc.

See what I mean.

I base my opinion on the Dells I've used as well.

And don't get me wrong, there is plenty wrong with Apples. My MBP was overheating (which I had to fix), shutting down randomly (which I had to fix), the case was peeling apart (I had to buy a new one), and has CPU whine (they won't fix) and occasional screen inverter whine. Oh, and it's a huge pain in the butt trying to get a 1920x1200 LCD working in Mac OS X.

But in the end I like the MBP for its design, plain and simple.

Your whole argument in this thread that is supposed to be about screen quality is that because you spent $3000 on your system then it MUST have an 8-bit super-quality screen.

I'll lay it out for you one more time: It doesn't.
 

aneks

macrumors regular
Aug 29, 2006
132
0
Does your Dell have a 8 bit screen?

My Dell 2405 LCD is 8bit. I am led to beleive that my MBP has a 6bit screen. :mad:
Make no mistakes I just bought a MBP over a dell laptop. But the fact that I could get a laptop for less than the price difference between Shake on osx and Shake on linux had a lot to do with it !
 

tarjan

macrumors 6502
Aug 11, 2006
259
12
NO laptops today have semi to high resolution 8 bit screens. They are *all* 6+2 or plain 6, including that vaunted dell "8 bit". It is just another 6+2.

Sorry guys, we went over this before. I am sure apple wanted to put something better on their laptops, but in the end they are just an OEM like dell or any other number of producers and can only produce what they can get their hands on. At the time they selected screens, Chi Mei was making the best unit available. They have a few brands now but they all do the same thing with the same bit depth and the same resolution. Heck, they might even be exactly the same screens from the same factories but finished by different producers.

The only laptop compatible low power 8 bit solutons are 1024x768 14" screens. Do you want to go back to that?
 

djinn

macrumors 68000
Oct 4, 2003
1,762
234
DROP THE THREAD!!! ITS OLD ALREADY! If you aren't happy with your purchase just sell the dang thing and get on with life!
 

commander.data

macrumors 65816
Nov 10, 2006
1,058
186
I remembered an article on the Dell XPS M1210 I read a while back that mentioned something about 6-bit LCD screens.

http://www.techreport.com/reviews/2007q1/dell-xps-m1210/index.x?pg=3

The simple explanation for what's going on here is that Dell probably used an LCD panel with 6-bit color precision in the M1210. 6-bit displays tend to have quicker refresh times, which can allow for watching video or gaming without any visible ghosting. But I've never noticed ghosting problems on the Sharp, and its color reproduction is markedly superior.

It may be a little unfair to compare this Dell to a Sharp, since Sharp makes some of the best LCDs in the world, but I'm sure Sharp would be willing to sell some of those displays to Dell for use in its laptops. The XPS M1210 is a premium product, and it delivers on almost every other front, but the display leaves something to be desired.
It seems Dell uses 6-bit screens too, which is to be expected, but what I found interesting is that Sharp supposedly uses better screens in their own designs, in this case a 13.3" Sharp M4000 WideNote.
 
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