Dell Latitude vs Mac book Pro

[Mindflux]

DOWNLOAD YOUR SERVICE PACK!

I lol'd. What do you call 10.4.11 or 10.5.1?

 

[mdparks]

After owning 19 Macs over 23 years and building a successful business on them, I have been asked this type of question by many people over the years.

In the past, I've gone into speeches about quality or hardware, superb OS, ease of use, lack of viruses, etc. I could go on and on.

but now my standard answer is:

if you could look at both of these alternatives and STILL consider a PC, get one! by all means get the PC. Please. Leave us alone here. We're tired of telling people how productive and happy and wonderful our "expensive" Macs are, only to be followed with more questions questions questions, and almost all of them are about MONEY by people who "claim" to be professionals.

Did you buy the BMW 5 series? Why not the Ford Focus?

GET A PC! RUN YOUR VIRUS WIZARD! DOWNLOAD YOUR SERVICE PACK! WATCH THE DOGGIE WITH THE FLASHLIGHT FIND THE FILE ON YOUR :C DRIVE! DO IT! You'll never notice the difference, my friend.

the best part of this question is that this guy is in the GRAPHICS business!

thanks everyone. Also, this response is exactly the type of defensive strange behavior I would expect from most of the people on these forums but most everyone else was very helpful. we will most likly go with the MBP.

PS..i am not the graphics guru...my wife is and was trained and has been learning on a PC for several years. We want to switch...and will...but hopefully once we do we not have to deal with people who are defensive and angry at the PC world.

"leave us alone here".......thats just weird man.

 

[amoda]

thanks everyone. Also, this response is exactly the type of defensive strange behavior I would expect from most of the people on these forums but most everyone else was very helpful. we will most likly go with the MBP.

PS..i am not the graphics guru...my wife is and was trained and has been learning on a PC for several years. We want to switch...and will...but hopefully once we do we not have to deal with people who are defensive and angry at the PC world.

"leave us alone here".......thats just weird man.

The are happy people on both sides I still deal with the "Man, your mac sucks! You can't even right click!" so you'll get it on which ever "side" you're on.

I understand you might not be a graphics guru but it's what you're paying for. If you don't care about the graphics card as much go for a base 15.4" MBP. It'll do all that you want and save $$$ on the stuff you don't need. But you get what you pay for. If Apple offered an option to downgrade the graphic card the laptop would've cost less the Dell. But if we try to get the specs of both laptops as close to each other as possible the price difference is negligible, if not supporting the purchase of the MBP.

However, if you really do want to purchase the dell go for it! I'm not trying to convince you to come to the Apple side (you know you want too...) but am trying to give you all the information you need. The ball is in your court and hey, I won't shun you because you purchased a dell (hiss hiss ).

Good luck with you purchase,
Amoda

P.S Don't forget which laptop won the "Fastest Windows Laptop" award as defined by PCworld (It was the macbook pro) Linky

Quote: "The fastest Windows Vista notebook we've tested this year is a Mac. Try that again: The fastest Windows Vista notebook we've tested this year--or for that matter, ever--is a Mac. Not a Dell, not a Toshiba, not even an Alienware. The $2419 (plus the price of a copy of Windows Vista, of course) MacBook Pro's PC WorldBench 6 Beta 2 score of 88 beats Gateway's E-265M by a single point, but the MacBook's score is far more impressive simply because Apple couldn't care less whether you run Windows."

 

[lasuther]

I wouldn’t spend $1000 more for an Apple, and I’m an Apple fanatic. But I wouldn’t buy the Dell. I would price out an Apple that is more inline with the price of the Dell.

A 15” MacBook Pro mid model with Apple Care runs $2848, which isn’t far from the $2600 Dell.

This MacBook Pro comes with some nice little touches like backlit keyboard, a LED Screen, slot loading drive, Magsafe power cord, Front Row Remote Control, FW800 (which could be important for you), built in iSight with iChat software, the amazing iLife software (which I couldn’t live without), and the ability to dual boot OSX and Windows. All in a metal package instead of the crap Dell plastic much more portable, weighs 64% lighter, and probably has better battery life than the Dell. Not to mention all the security issues Windows can bring.

The Dell gives you the practical 17” screen and 7200RPM hard drive. But if you have a 24” monitor and external HD (get one that has FW800 for the Apple), these are things I could live without to gain all the nice little extras the Apple comes with. Honestly, the Apple is just a better put together and well thought out laptop.

 

[saltyzoo]

The difference running photoshop on windows vs mac for me is worth $1000 easily. When working with large, complex files I struggled with my windows machine to get photoshop to finish a project. I just switched to mac last month and the smoothness that photoshop now runs with large files makes me an all around more pleasant person to deal with now.

Gone are the days of waiting 5 minutes for a large file to save or open. I can put more of a project in one file saving time and making organization easier.

I can't say enough about the difference of just that one app under mac. The rest of my experience switching has been largely the same.

 

[mdparks]

The difference running photoshop on windows vs mac for me is worth $1000 easily. When working with large, complex files I struggled with my windows machine to get photoshop to finish a project. I just switched to mac last month and the smoothness that photoshop now runs with large files makes me an all around more pleasant person to deal with now.

Gone are the days of waiting 5 minutes for a large file to save or open. I can put more of a project in one file saving time and making organization easier.

I can't say enough about the difference of just that one app under mac. The rest of my experience switching has been largely the same.

Thanks! Is it worth it in your opinion to get the 2.6 Ghx processor and upgarde to a High Def screen or stick with the regular screen (17") for photo editing purposes? Also, I guess I could ask the same question about the 5400 rpm vs the 7200 rpm HDD. All these things add up but since we are people who would like to not buy another computer for a while I am apt to go big now.

 

[japresl]

just from a pure personal opinion standpoint--I have had both Dell laptops and a Macbook that I currently use now. I will never go back to windows OR dell after experiencing the macbook.

 

[saltyzoo]

Is it worth it in your opinion to get the 2.6 Ghx processor

If it was in my budget I would just because upgrading just the cpu later isn't an option. If it put the machine out of my budget, I wouldn't let it concern me. I have yet to see my cpu's max out using photoshop - even with itunes, parallels, thunderbird, and firefox running alongside - and a time machine backup in progress.

and upgarde to a High Def screen or stick with the regular screen (17") for photo editing purposes?

The answer to that is personal preference. I got bit by a Compaq laptop with a huge resolution a few years ago. The screen was incredible but it was also nearly useless in reality. The pixels were so tiny as to be pointless. Unless the screen is also physically large, the extra pixels don't help all that much - in my experience. But really, that's going to be your call.

Also, I guess I could ask the same question about the 5400 rpm vs the 7200 rpm HDD.

The answer to this one is simple. How important is long battery life to you? If it's not critical, buy the faster drive. Battery life is the only real reason to go with the slower drive. The cost difference compared to performance is laughable. But it will kill your battery faster. I'm not talking boom it's dead, but it will be a noticeable difference.

 

[amoda]

One thing about the HD that I would like to add. I would recommend buying the 5400RPM drive for the laptop and buying a FireWire 800 7200RPM as your scratch disk.

You can store your finished products on your laptop HD (as well as a backup somewhere!!) and do some on the go editing but for the real work you should use an external. It's the generally accepted method of working. It conserves your battery and helps cut on heat/noise of the laptop.

I found this guideline a while ago and like it for it's simplicity:

The following guidelines can help you assign scratch disks:
• For best performance, scratch disks should be on a different drive than any large files you are editing.
• Scratch disks should be on a different drive than the one used for virtual memory.
• Scratch disks should be on a local drive. That is, they should not be accessed over a network.
• Scratch disks should be conventional (non-removable) media.
• Raid disks/disk arrays are good choices for dedicated scratch disk volumes.

 

[mdparks]

One thing about the HD that I would like to add. I would recommend buying the 5400RPM drive for the laptop and buying a FireWire 800 7200RPM as your scratch disk.

You can store your finished products on your laptop HD (as well as a backup somewhere!!) and do some on the go editing but for the real work you should use an external. It's the generally accepted method of working. It conserves your battery and helps cut on heat/noise of the laptop.

I found this guideline a while ago and like it for it's simplicity:

The following guidelines can help you assign scratch disks:
• For best performance, scratch disks should be on a different drive than any large files you are editing.
• Scratch disks should be on a different drive than the one used for virtual memory.
• Scratch disks should be on a local drive. That is, they should not be accessed over a network.
• Scratch disks should be conventional (non-removable) media.
• Raid disks/disk arrays are good choices for dedicated scratch disk volumes.

Sorry for ignorance.........FireWire 800 7200RPM as your scratch disk is just an apple external hard drive. Would this mean any additonal upgrades to the laptop?

 

[amoda]

No additional upgrades to your laptop are needed.

It's just when you go out to buy an external hard drive make sure it says FireWire 800 on it or at least FireWire 400 (which is faster than USB but slower than FW800). FW800 is a tad more expensive but it's worth the gain in performance.

Example

 

[nickweston]

thanks everyone. Also, this response is exactly the type of defensive strange behavior I would expect from most of the people on these forums but most everyone else was very helpful. we will most likly go with the MBP.

PS..i am not the graphics guru...my wife is and was trained and has been learning on a PC for several years. We want to switch...and will...but hopefully once we do we not have to deal with people who are defensive and angry at the PC world.

"leave us alone here".......thats just weird man.

Dude-

No, not angry, not defensive, but selfish: I'm just trying to shorten the lines at the Genius Bar.

I still think your post is a gag, thus the response.

 

[XxCH3AT3RxX]

Okay I do not know if you want my opinion or anything. But I have a dell laptop, hate it. Soon to be ordering a MBP. This is what I am getting and I think it would suit you fine as well.

# 2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
# 2GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 2x1GB
# 200GB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200 rpm
# SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
# MacBook Pro 15-inch Widescreen Display

Price $2949

Or you can use the teacher discount, I am sure anyone can use it. I know I am when I am ordering since my mom is a teacher and the price is:

# 2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
# 2GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 2x1GB
# 200GB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200 rpm
# SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
# MacBook Pro 15-inch Widescreen Display

Price $2704

Or order it on Black Friday and save some money as well.

Just a word of advice if you are planning on carying it around and traveling with your MBP, DO NOT GET 17". It is way too big trust me.

 

[ntrigue]

I try to encourage Windows users to purchase Toshiba if they are unwilling to switch. I've witnessed more Dell problems in their laptops than I can count on one hand. We are talking about serious failures here; screen, HDD failure.

I am a switcher and when I see a post like this it's difficult for me not to respond, "Apple and Oranges." The interface of OSX is so intuitive that I lament having to use XP/Vista at work.

My immediate suggestions include:
a) Wait one month for 2.6gHz to be the standard and not a pricey upgrade; we haven't even seen benchmark tests that justify the $250!
b) Purchase RAM and the 200Gb HDD from other sources.
c) Reevaluate the necessity for a HD screen seeing as you are using an external and MBP's have gorgeous resolution anyway.

I am thoroughly pleased with the capabilities of a 2.33gHz with 4Gb RAM. It is more capable than my Hyper-threading 3.2gHz with 3Gb RAM XP Desktop in all editing capabilities.

Embrace the Apple