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DELL compares its prices with Macs

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alskdj said:
mm, if you include the rebates, I guess so, esp with the 13" ones =0 My opinion is that the base model 13" is the most reasonably priced, as mentioned before, Apple gouges you on the upgrades i.e. +300 to gain .26Ghz and 70gb hard drive, and pretty much +200 to go up in screen size, which no other manufacturer seems to do :S. The Dell Studio XPS 13" I owned last year was priced similarly to the 16" model, the trade off being extra weight but more power. With Apple, you pay more to receive the same trade off
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5+ years ago I had owned several Dell's and recommended them to people. The manufacturing process was good with no problems encountered and the customer service phone lines were still in the U.S., not India or Pakistan.

Then, all of a sudden, I buy a top of the line Dell 5 years ago and it's garbage. I call customer service and I'm greeted by someone I can't understand. Buy an Inspiron as a back up and it too is garbage. Complete POS.

I thank Dell though, because without their cheap POS computers (which they now produce), I probably wouldn't own my Mac's. :D

Today, I wouldn't even take a Dell computer if it was given to me.
 
TZRaceR6 said:
5+ years ago I had owned several Dell's and recommended them to people. The manufacturing process was good with no problems encountered and the customer service phone lines were still in the U.S., not India or Pakistan.

Then, all of a sudden, I buy a top of the line Dell 5 years ago and it's garbage. I call customer service and I'm greeted by someone I can't understand. Buy an Inspiron as a back up and it too is garbage. Complete POS.

I thank Dell though, because without their cheap POS computers (which they now produce), I probably wouldn't own my Mac's. :D

Today, I wouldn't even take a Dell computer if it was given to me.
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heh, i fix the garbage daily,

im unfortunately a dell service center, there laptops are built out of subpar equipment.

adapters are made to make customers life hell, finding replacements are impossible unless you hand dell 140$, universals will not charge dell's due to there third info pin in the adapters.

there plastics are terrible, the wear and break very easily, cooling systems are absolute trash.

anyways....ill stop for now...
 
All I have to say is you get what you pay for...and in this category I never realized Dell was such trash.

The last company I worked for we purchased 40 - 50 (I forget the exact number) Dell XPS gaming machines for soldiers in Iraq to use at the MWR facilities. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM DIED!!!!!!

First the ram went in every single one, then the video card went in about 80% of them. I could not believe it. Working in IT for a long time hardware failures do not surprise me, but seriously??? ALL of them???? (And no, it wasn't related to dust or anything the machines were brand new). Then Dell gave a complete run around and wouldn't honor the warranty since the problem "didn't happen in the states". Um..yes it did if it happens on an APO address its considered happening in the states.

There was also all the Dell laptops we ordered that arrived with broken touch pads but thats another story.

ANYWAY, a coworker of mine also worked for Dell and he told me a horror story of how when he worked there they did not have a computer based ordering system and when you ordered all of your info like social security number, credit card number, etc was written down in a ledger, these ledgers had no security control and the temp workers who did this job would sometimes leave with the ledger at night and never return. Um..identity theft???


So ya, Dell does not impress me by a long shot.
 
TZRaceR6 said:
5+ years ago I had owned several Dell's and recommended them to people. The manufacturing process was good with no problems encountered and the customer service phone lines were still in the U.S., not India or Pakistan.

Then, all of a sudden, I buy a top of the line Dell 5 years ago and it's garbage. I call customer service and I'm greeted by someone I can't understand. Buy an Inspiron as a back up and it too is garbage. Complete POS.

I thank Dell though, because without their cheap POS computers (which they now produce), I probably wouldn't own my Mac's. :D

Today, I wouldn't even take a Dell computer if it was given to me.
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EXACTLY my experience. First Gateway got on my s**t list, then Compaq, now Dell. Next is HP... I LIKE some of their laptops and a have a few, but one I just got feels like it's made out of cardboard. The plastic feels SO cheep and it appears to buckle when I pick it up. It was 700 bucks. Listen folks, there is NO such thing as a good laptop that costs under about a grand. One deserves better.
 
teleromeo said:
The simple fact that Dell needs to compare their products to Apple prooves they admit their opponent has better products ...
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That must've been why Apple was comparing the iPhone 4 to the Droid and other phones, right?
Les Kern said:
EXACTLY my experience. First Gateway got on my s**t list, then Compaq, now Dell. Next is HP... I LIKE some of their laptops and a have a few, but one I just got feels like it's made out of cardboard. The plastic feels SO cheep and it appears to buckle when I pick it up. It was 700 bucks. Listen folks, there is NO such thing as a good laptop that costs under about a grand. One deserves better.
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If you need to buy a PC laptop, Lenovo Thinkpad. I've never owned one, but I've only heard good things about their build quality and support. That's where I'd go if I needed one.
 
While their specs are comparable and in some cases better....there are many half truths listed on the site.

First: Color it lists its plastic colors...great, but it calls the MBP line 'silver' but fails to mention the fact that it is made of aluminum.

Next, it is back to school and lists its discount, I assume for students and it lists no discount on macs, which is a flat out lie as students can get at least $100 off plus a free iPod Touch if they want.

Also it compares Windows Live Essentials with iLife as if they are equals which is laughable. It is definitely better than what Microsoft used to offer, which was nothing but there is nothing comparable to GarageBand, and iMovie is much easier to use than WMM. I haven't tried Photo Gallery but iPhoto is pretty stiff competition in the consumer photo organization category.


Their "True Life" display is only 720P resolution which is 1280x720 compared to the default 1440x900 display of the MBP. You can upgrade to 1080 for another $100. Bluetooth is also another $20. Backlit keyboard is another $25. No free printers, the cheapest is $50 after rebate. And to get the best version of W7 you pay an extra $150 (Granted, 90% of people won't need the extra features, but with OSX there is only one version that is not feature limited.)

But its just marketing so they are going to do whatever they need to put the odds in their favor.
 
costabunny said:
is it me or does not one of these 'xyz vs apple' price comparisons ever include things like resale value etc?

Can you get 60%+ back on a dell or Acer after 3-4yrs ?

and also they can never be a true and fair comparison in the same way as comparing a petrol vrs diesel car - they are not the same (yes they can do much of the same but at the core they are different).

I have a few recent converts locally having lost their hard disks and seeing my macs all syncing to mobile.me and time machine - when I show them the G3 still kicking and the prices of some of the 2-3yr old machines on ebay I get stunned looks (esp when I tell them their 18month old Acer laptop is good for doorstop duty only).
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Than I would say that you're pretty ignorant when it comes to using Windows. Everything you did with OS X, I can do with Windows, but without paying the absurd $70/year MobileMe subscription.

And show me where you can get 60%-70% back after 3-4 years on a mac... I was having trouble getting 25% back on my mac, before I finally gave up.
 
use the [ code ] to make use of the tabs

Well, Dell sort of blamed the user when they ran through all the bad capacitor problems.

While they may suck it up on the small things, the fan base sort of gets Apple to tow the line a bit more often than Dell. At least Apple didn't blame the user for the bad capacitors and cancel a bunch of warranties for abuse.

Like Dell did when they sold machines in large numbers to businesses, and failed to follow through when their machines were garbage and all doomed to failure. Or course it is abuse because the business used the machines.
 
thejadedmonkey said:
Than I would say that you're pretty ignorant when it comes to using Windows. Everything you did with OS X, I can do with Windows, but without paying the absurd $70/year MobileMe subscription.

And show me where you can get 60%-70% back after 3-4 years on a mac... I was having trouble getting 25% back on my mac, before I finally gave up.
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how can you do everything in windows that mobile me does?
 
Dells have many problems!

My dad recently purchased a dell latitude xt2 xfr. It was junk. The screen didnt work properly... the dvd drive made noise... the keyboard didnt work... and pieces of it where breaking off for example the door to cover the ports broke.
Dell is unreliable junk.
 
iLog.Genius said:
Yes. I'm tired of all the Mac vs. Windows BS. You pick an OS because it's better for you. I'm not saying Windows is better than Mac or vice versa but it's annoying when you walk into a Best Buy and the rep comes up to you selling Mac's saying it's better than Windows because of this and that.

It's like Patron. Is it overhyped? Definitely. It's not the best tequila like many believe it is but by no means is it a bad tequila, it's just a product of mass marketing that worked very well.
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What is Windows better at that people actually do??
 
When my Dell desktop finally bit the dust (a really old celeron that topped out at 1GB RAM), I looked at possibly replacing it with another cheap desktop, until I could feel a little more comfortable buying the macbook pro I wanted.

I still had my old 13" Macbook: I bought it about 3 years ago, second hand for around $800; I upgraded to 2GB RAM a year later, finally upgraded from Tiger to Snow Leopard a year after that. Then, after almost 3 years of use, the hard drive failed. Fortunately, I do semi-frequent back-ups using Time Machine (I've never had Mobile.me), and didn't lose anything. Restoring onto the new hard drive was a cinch.

When I spec'd out what I'd want in a new computer, they all ended up being around the same price (generally, within about $100-$200) as either a Macbook Pro, or the Mac Mini I'd been eyeing - and the Mac's still had more to offer.

For the money, I bit the bullet and bought my 15" Macbook Pro. I'm not a student, so "back to school pricing" is totally meaningless to me. I do have a small windows partition to run Microsoft Money Sunset Edition (too many years of financial data to try and export), but that's maybe 15 minutes/day, tops, to balance my checkbook. I'm thrilled with my Mac - and the fact that I'm one of the lucky ones: it just works :)
 
mcnicks said:
Also, looking at the Dell laptop configuration pages, they are offering the 1.6GHz and 1.86GHz Core i7 processors on the Studio 15 laptops, whereas Apples Core i7 offering is 2.66GHz.

Hardly "apples to apples" ...
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Those are quad core i7 CPUs, the i7 in MBP is only a dual core. While 2.66GHz is much faster in single threaded applications, the quad core makes up for it in multithreading operations. There are some issues of quad-core being too hot to use in laptops right now, so I don't know how well the cooling system is in those Dells but it may be much louder than MBP.

Dell didn't have to do the half-assed truth in the listing, they could've gone with full truth. Like the ability to upgrade to 1080P resolution in 15.4" screen, much better graphic card, quad core CPUs, cheaper full three years warranty and so on. Even a fully loaded Dell will be cheaper than Macbook Pro and they could've gone with that as well. More for less marketing does work for a lot of people.

There's no point of comparing PCs vs Macs, Macs will always lose in hardware specs and price. The question is does Macs justify the higher cost for lower hardware spec? Millions of people are choosing to say yes, especially when Macs can last several years despite the QA issues that Apple are having right now.
 
mcnicks said:
Also, looking at the Dell laptop configuration pages, they are offering the 1.6GHz and 1.86GHz Core i7 processors on the Studio 15 laptops, whereas Apples Core i7 offering is 2.66GHz.

Hardly "apples to apples" ...
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Youre right. Dell has the Quad Core and Apple has Dual. Hardly Apples to Apples :rolleyes:
 
The only thing Dell has going for them is their lower price points. That's enough to sway a lot of customers, nothing to do about that. You get what you pay for though...
 
I am not interested in any laptop that isn't capable of running both Windows and OS X without being hacked. That's why, when I replace my current MBP, it will be with another Apple laptop. There are other factors that make me prefer Macs, too, but they pale into insignificance when compared to a Mac's being able to run both Windows and OS X from the OS X desktop simultaneously with VMware Fusion or Parallels.
 
I have owned 5 Dell Laptops and 1 Alienware since 2003. I also work for a school system that uses nothing but dell laptops. I can say with no hesitation at all that I will never personally buy another Dell. They seem to now be the Wal-Mart of computers. Get it for cheap, get what you pay for.
 
yg17 said:
If you need to buy a PC laptop, Lenovo Thinkpad. I've never owned one, but I've only heard good things about their build quality and support. That's where I'd go if I needed one.
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I had a Thinkpad T series. It was great with excellent service. There are many videos out there of people spilling water on them, stepping on them, cars going over them, dropping them, and so forth with minimal damage. Though I prefer Apple, those are some great machines with fantastic keyboards.
 
they forgot to mention apple has educational pricing as well, + free ipod touch.

the dell laptops i've had are complete garbage but the way it's laid out, i can see how that would appeal to the general consumer who looks only at the numbers and not the actual quality.

good news is, the people who have macs because they know why it's better for them aren't fooled by something like this :D
 
lilo777 said:
Dell created special site (called - Back to School - Apples to Apples comparison) where they compare their prices vs Macs (laptops, desktops and software). No surprises there:

Full details - here.
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No surprise that an Apple-hating troll would take a competitor's advertising at face value.

For those of you who actually like to use your brains for a little bit of independent thought, read an article from an unbiased source about exactly how slanted Dell's latest desperation Hail Mary pass is...

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2010/08/09/dells-rotten-apples-to-apples-comparison.aspx
 
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