One thing I see that comes up over and over again is how terrible Apple is when it comes to pricing, how they are charging an insane premium and that the MBP's should be sold for much cheaper than they should be.
Now that the Dell Inspiron 1520 is available, it is now possible to do a head to head between them. My expectation had been that the Inspiron 1520 would provide a much cheaper alternative than an MBP, given Dell's reputation generally for affordable computers, not to mention general differences (i.e. the weight and thickness, etc.).
So, I configured an Inspiron 1520 as close as possible to an MBP as I could - with a note that some things are better than what you get with the $1999 MBP (such as more VRAM, etc.). I ended up with the following config:
2.2GHz C2D
Vista Home Premium (ultimate wasn't an option)
1440x900 glossy widescreen (not LED backlit though)
256MB GeForce Go 8600M GT
2GB RAM
160GB HD (they don't offer anything smaller)
Wireless-N mini-card
Bluetooth
Integrated webcam
2 year warranty
As noted, this isn't identical (more VRAM, warranty is 2 years instead of 1 year base AppleCare warranty, HD is bigger), but it's as close as I could get.
Final price on this config was $2136.00, with savings of $292 that brought the total price down to $1844. With tax, my final cost for this system would be $1936.24, compared to $2098.95 for me to buy a base model MBP with tax.
So, essentially, the similarly spec'd Dell Inspiron 1520 is a total of $162.71 cheaper.
As noted above, there are pluses for the Inspiron - more VRAM, which plenty of people have complained about on the base model MBP - more HD space. And certainly, an argument can be made that the Inspiron gives you much more flexibility (since one could configure this system cheaper by going with a slower CPU, etc. for example, and one can also configure it with a higher res 1680x1050 screen, for example).
Also probably worth noting that for another $660 an Inspiron 1520 can be configured with a Blu-Ray drive.
But I'd also say that there are minuses too.
a) The Inspiron doesn't have LED backlighting.
b) The Inspiron 1520 weighs 6.4 pounds, compared to 5.4 for the MBP.
c) The Inspiron 1520 ranges from 1.47" thick at the front to 1.65" thick at the back, compared to 1" thick across the board for the MBP.
But ultimately, I'd say that there are pluses and minuses when comparing the two.
The big thing as I see it though is that I think this shows that Apple is actually offering a pretty darned nice deal with the MBP. The fact that a similarly spec'd Dell Inspiron 1520 (even including $292 in instant savings) is only about $160 cheaper than a base model MBP, indicates to me that Apple is offering pretty darned good value, all things being equal.
Not saying the Dell Inspiron 1520 doesn't serve its purpose; again, the vast array of configuration options are nice, and Apple just can't compete with Dell on that front.
I can understand the people who wish there was more flexibility in configuring the MBP, and I won't argue that point here (other than just to say Apple doesn't necessarily have the resources to make such a highly configurable MBP).
But what I'm hoping to point out here at least is that for the actual configs Apple is selling, they aren't really so abusrdly overpriced - I've seen so many people make claims about how they could get a machine "just as good as an MBP" for $1000 less, and I think this shows that isn't true. Again especially taking the weight and thickness difference into account, I think the pluses of the MBP over the minuses (less VRAM, etc.).
EDIT: Just wanted to address a few points that people have brought up in this thread.
1) Yes, I know I am comparing this to the $1999 MBP, and not the $2499. It has been argued that I should have done a comparison with the $2499 MBP because it has 256MB VRAM. This is a fair point, although part of the reason I didn't do that was because the Inspiron 1520 can't be configured with the 2.4GHz C2D in the $2499 MBP. But yes, it would make it more comparable because the VRAM and HD size would be the same.
But frankly, I'll still make the same point about the $2499 MBP compared to the above Inspiron 1520. Yes, it would be more expensive (taking out the $250-300 difference represented by the 2.4GHz C2D, it would still be about $360 cheaper to get the Inspiron 1520.
I will still argue then that even the $2499 MBP presents a fair value for what you get (difference in size, weight, etc.).
2) It's also been pointed out that I didn't mention some obvious things, such as Mac OS X itself, MagSafe, the backlit keyboard, etc. These are all fair points, but I just didn't want to get too into those details here.
-Zadillo
Now that the Dell Inspiron 1520 is available, it is now possible to do a head to head between them. My expectation had been that the Inspiron 1520 would provide a much cheaper alternative than an MBP, given Dell's reputation generally for affordable computers, not to mention general differences (i.e. the weight and thickness, etc.).
So, I configured an Inspiron 1520 as close as possible to an MBP as I could - with a note that some things are better than what you get with the $1999 MBP (such as more VRAM, etc.). I ended up with the following config:
2.2GHz C2D
Vista Home Premium (ultimate wasn't an option)
1440x900 glossy widescreen (not LED backlit though)
256MB GeForce Go 8600M GT
2GB RAM
160GB HD (they don't offer anything smaller)
Wireless-N mini-card
Bluetooth
Integrated webcam
2 year warranty
As noted, this isn't identical (more VRAM, warranty is 2 years instead of 1 year base AppleCare warranty, HD is bigger), but it's as close as I could get.
Final price on this config was $2136.00, with savings of $292 that brought the total price down to $1844. With tax, my final cost for this system would be $1936.24, compared to $2098.95 for me to buy a base model MBP with tax.
So, essentially, the similarly spec'd Dell Inspiron 1520 is a total of $162.71 cheaper.
As noted above, there are pluses for the Inspiron - more VRAM, which plenty of people have complained about on the base model MBP - more HD space. And certainly, an argument can be made that the Inspiron gives you much more flexibility (since one could configure this system cheaper by going with a slower CPU, etc. for example, and one can also configure it with a higher res 1680x1050 screen, for example).
Also probably worth noting that for another $660 an Inspiron 1520 can be configured with a Blu-Ray drive.
But I'd also say that there are minuses too.
a) The Inspiron doesn't have LED backlighting.
b) The Inspiron 1520 weighs 6.4 pounds, compared to 5.4 for the MBP.
c) The Inspiron 1520 ranges from 1.47" thick at the front to 1.65" thick at the back, compared to 1" thick across the board for the MBP.
But ultimately, I'd say that there are pluses and minuses when comparing the two.
The big thing as I see it though is that I think this shows that Apple is actually offering a pretty darned nice deal with the MBP. The fact that a similarly spec'd Dell Inspiron 1520 (even including $292 in instant savings) is only about $160 cheaper than a base model MBP, indicates to me that Apple is offering pretty darned good value, all things being equal.
Not saying the Dell Inspiron 1520 doesn't serve its purpose; again, the vast array of configuration options are nice, and Apple just can't compete with Dell on that front.
I can understand the people who wish there was more flexibility in configuring the MBP, and I won't argue that point here (other than just to say Apple doesn't necessarily have the resources to make such a highly configurable MBP).
But what I'm hoping to point out here at least is that for the actual configs Apple is selling, they aren't really so abusrdly overpriced - I've seen so many people make claims about how they could get a machine "just as good as an MBP" for $1000 less, and I think this shows that isn't true. Again especially taking the weight and thickness difference into account, I think the pluses of the MBP over the minuses (less VRAM, etc.).
EDIT: Just wanted to address a few points that people have brought up in this thread.
1) Yes, I know I am comparing this to the $1999 MBP, and not the $2499. It has been argued that I should have done a comparison with the $2499 MBP because it has 256MB VRAM. This is a fair point, although part of the reason I didn't do that was because the Inspiron 1520 can't be configured with the 2.4GHz C2D in the $2499 MBP. But yes, it would make it more comparable because the VRAM and HD size would be the same.
But frankly, I'll still make the same point about the $2499 MBP compared to the above Inspiron 1520. Yes, it would be more expensive (taking out the $250-300 difference represented by the 2.4GHz C2D, it would still be about $360 cheaper to get the Inspiron 1520.
I will still argue then that even the $2499 MBP presents a fair value for what you get (difference in size, weight, etc.).
2) It's also been pointed out that I didn't mention some obvious things, such as Mac OS X itself, MagSafe, the backlit keyboard, etc. These are all fair points, but I just didn't want to get too into those details here.
-Zadillo
without a second thought. You should too.
