Macbook Pro vs Dell Laptop

[Sesshi]

I'm not saying that Dell's don't work...I'm just saying that they don't work well. I overstated it above when I said it's the, "worst laptop you can buy." I've never used an Acer, for example, or a Toshiba or Sony.

A more accurate statement would be, "As a professional in an IT field who carries several laptops and uses many different types of machines throughout the course of the day, the Dell laptop is without doubt my least favorite." And this is my 2nd Dell, so it's not a lemon issue. These are just cheap notebooks that are poorly designed.

They're heavy, klunky, ugly, have poor battery life, and run *very* slow when not plugged into AC. I'm talking about the Latitude line here, so maybe the high end consumer model has better characteristics, but in my mind a "business laptop" should be sleek and clean, easy to carry, and perform efficiently. My Thinkpad was great, and my HP C6400 is also pretty decent.

I'm not sure what you mean by the Latitude line regarding the above 'experiences'. The D630 for example, the closest in spec to the 15" Macbook Pro is far more durable, better built, lighter, better supported, runs for about the same time and what's more you get runtime options in terms of power configurations. It's not quite a Thinkpad but it's a darned sight closer to one than an MBP.

 

[mgargan1]

Tomshardware always warns about GDDR2 cards in their VGA charts. (Updated today as well.)

The benchmark will take some digging for me.

You're right!

NOTE: beware of slower DDR2 versions of the 8600 GT! The GDDR3 versions are the recommended cards; DDR2 equipped 8600 GTs will be notably slower. -Tomshardware

 

[Eidorian]

You're right!

NOTE: beware of slower DDR2 versions of the 8600 GT! The GDDR3 versions are the recommended cards; DDR2 equipped 8600 GTs will be notably slower. -Tomshardware

I made a post about the clock speed differences too.

 

[Sesshi]

Interesting post. I'm resigned to ordering more MBP's next month so it will be interesting to see how much the Vostro / Inspiron is affected in real life.

 

[Eidorian]

Interesting post. I'm resigned to ordering more MBP's next month so it will be interesting to see how much the Vostro / Inspiron is affected in real life.

The Vostro is a good line from what I've seen of the configurations. It's offered with XP too!

 

[maestrokev]

If you're on a budget you'll find Dell coupons that make quite the difference. As another poster mentioned, not everyone is eligible for ADC student discount and I believe you only get the hardware discount once, not over and over like Dell coupons.

I own the MB, MBP and several Dell laptops since Dell started making laptops. Dell makes great machines but like any large company they get a bad rap ... sometimes rightly so for the poor overseas customer service. I've rarely ever had problems with my Dell machines. Best thing is you can get CompleteCare coverage that covers your machine for any accidental drops, damage etc which AppleCare (that I also own) doesn't cover.