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Powerbook vs. Dellnotebooks and some other inquiries

S

Sidm

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 14, 2004
6
0
I've been browsing the forum and I still haven't reached a decision!
The Dell's seem to have more power and still go for less $$$. The powerbook 15inch I'm looking at is 1.5ghz, 80gb 5200rpm, superdrive, and 128mb V.ram.

I'm not a huge gamer but I always like that option to be explorable and it seems the PB 1.5 EVEN w/ 128 V.Ram can't handle the more demanding games out there (for example: UT2004 runs at 24 fps on max. settings).

I'm about to goto college and would like something reliable (this is where I hear Mac's are superior). I'm a PC user and have never REALLY used Macs (In elementary we were all using Mac's..but that hardly counts). So I'm looking for feedback from people who have made the switch.

Tell me..how is the reselling value of the powerbook I'm looking at. I've been told I can sell it a year after for about 300-400 dollars less than I bought (of course, assuming condition is mint) it for - is this true? If so, where can I sell it besides ebay?

How about the superdrive...just how 'super' is it? Burning data and music cds is something I plan on doing very very often - How long does it take to burn a full 80min CDR? and how is the software? How about the DvdR/RW compatibility...does the drive support all media (ie: "+" and "-")? How about the dual-layer dvds? Can they be read..burnt?

Now, regarding the applecare. It's good that my college's computer store (oberlin college in ohio in case anyones interested :)) is an authorized apple store so it would repair it with the minimum amount of time. How many years does it last and how good is the service? IBM actually offers a deal thats a lot very appealing - where they actually come to your residence and fix it on the spot. Problem is - IBMs notebooks are very expensive in comparison to dell. I just want to know the details of the applecare package (it's 249$ w/ the educational discount)?

Thanks for all the help.

Cheers,
Sid
 
Looking at the CPU speeds can be misleading... And I think the new Dell XPS without any addons is $2599, before any rebates or edu discounts. The 15" 1.5 PPC powerbook w/128 MB of video memory, is $2549 w/o edu discounts.

If you are looking for a gaming pc, then a wintari is a better fit for the main reason that there is more titles available, and most gaming companies port to OSX as an afterthought. Also I believe the graphics card on the Dell XPS is much better for games.

Personally I would never buy another dell, after owning two. It will loose about half its value as soon as you click "checkout". :eek: Also I cannot stand that silly add... "dude, get yourself a dell". Bottom line try them both out, if you know someone who has the dell.

Also checkout this thread...
 
Thanks - I'll try to find out if anyone I know has the dell or mac. And yes I'm sure the XPS is much better for gaming, but like I said..gaming isn't much of a priority, but it's still a consideration.

There are still many questions that are unanswered please have a look at my original post - thanks people!

Cheers,
Sid
 
I am currently making the switch so maybe somone with more experiance could answer these questions better but ill give it a go and see what i can do. Firstly the system your looking at is near perfect, by that i mean it has been refined over and over and is a very capable system. Admitadly a bit over priced but thats the price we pay for computers of such quality.. unlike the assembly line built Dell's.

Applecare is not going to be cheep, but then you're going to be walking around with one of the most desirable laptops of our time! But then all insurance will clost you a lot when it comes to laptops, let alone this one.

The for SuperDrive, as i dont think it handles dual layer on DVDs but i may be wrong. You can find everything you need to know about the SuperDrive on this model at http://www.apple.com/powerbook/superdrive.html.

basically just check out http://www.apple.com/powerbook/index15.html and you should be able to find the answers to all of your questions and more! Apple are very proud of there products and it shows, but then they should be!

If i can make a sugestion as one guy who's just done what your doing, go with the Mac, you really dont want to be in college trying desperatly to start up your crappy Windows machine, lovingly put together by the happy workers at dell, not! And having it crash in your face, or worse! And theres no substitute for the level of design that goes into Apple computers. You want to make frineds dont you ;).

The main reason i'm making the switch is because Windows is a piece of ****, though i fully recognice that Apple hardware is much better aswell as OS X which to be fair, and not even most Windows fans could argue which one rules in this respect. I just see it as the time to make the switch, before Longhorn gets too out of controle ;).

Check it out on www.apple.com, thats probably the best place to look for a lot of this info :).

Anyway good look with college!

Mark.
 
My brother had 3 dells. Two notebooks and 1 desktop. He had 4 problems with each dell under warrenty. The service people were rude, selfish, and self centered. When my brother had the problems he called dell the receptionists were friendly, they sent 2 people over. Without even looking at the problem they just gave him a new computer. So we are talking about 12 problems each time was fixable but, they just gave him a new computer. Dells service is crap. So far I had no problems with my 12" powerbook. As people said before the clockspeed can be misleading. My rev b powerbook 1 Ghz can beat the ass up of a 2.8 Ghz P4. If you look closely the powerbooks come with more stuff standard then any pc. By the time you add all the stuff to the competing pc which comes standard to the powerbook you are looking at the powerbook will be cheaper.
 
I have a PB 17" 1.33 that I bring with me from home to work every day. It sits alongside a Dual G4 1.25. For many projects I use my PB over the Dual G4 so I can go sit in conference rooms, the park across the street, etc.

My IT department are DELL users - servers, desktops, laptops and having to work with IT on several projects I can attest to this - DELL laptops really, really, REALLY suck.

I can't even tell you how many times these IT "gurus" have to wipe our salespeople's laptops clean and start over from scratch. I have asked if it's the users - the IT folks say no, it's the build quality of the machines. They have extended care on all their machines because the components used in Dells are crap. Desktops are worse than the laptops but the laptops are pretty bad as well.

Oh yeah, the IT guys are also jealous of how easily my PB negotiates our servers. All I have to do is plug in an ethernet cable, browse servers and I'm set up. Same with printers - no driver installs, etc. Best part was VPN access from home - because I had logged onto a server at work my PB remembered the location and I was able to log in without having to jump through all the hoops the PC people do - man were the IT guys impressed/jealous.

Dollar for Dollar Apple PBs and OS X are a much better deal - granted, you won't get the sheer power of a PC laptop but you also won't get the headaches of living a Dell/MS lifestyle.

Apple's control over the build quality and OS equals a solid, stable computer that will last for years.

That said, I'd always suggest getting AppleCare for a portable - I view it more like "piece of mind" insurance. I had a problem with a DVD not ejecting from my superdrive - took it into the apple store and 3 days later had my PB back with a brand new SuperDrive - great service.

You may want to look into the other options though like www.safeware.com
.This company covers you if you so something really dumb - like drop, kick or throw your laptop.
 
Hahah i think that says it all. And, come to think of it, arn't Dell the bigest PC company right now. i think they are :D. Just goes to show, the biggest is not always the best, more words of wisdom form my gf, ahhhh.

Mark.
 
If you're worried about games, get the mac, save up a little extra money, and get a playstation. Or an xbox. Or a gamecube. They're cheap, the games tend to work better, and you'll be using something that is built for gaming, more so even than a Dell.
 
If you get a pc notebook, at least get a reputable brand-- Toshiba or IBM are about it, IMO. Also consider the 12" PB or ibook; last time I bought I got hung up on screen size (and depressed by the (then) 15" PB 1st generation problems) and I got a monster Toshiba laptop that's not portable at all. You can get plenty of gaming goodness from MAME and older titles.
 
Good luck with your decision.Get a mid range pc and get an ibook. you can have a clean pc for games and a super clean mac.think about what you really want to do with the notebook.Do want to abuse the heck out the poor thing buy playing heavy games on it .Or do more productive tasks on it.Pretty soon the pc will be one suped up xbox with 3k video cards
 
If you want to succed in college you need to stay away from two things:
- virus
- unexplained problems

I lost my master thesys two times because of HD faillure (I had backups of the day before but it crashed at the end of the day, right before backuping).

Even if people keep saying that IBM laptop are better than Dell (which is very true),they are still far inferior to Apples. I know about it because I work in a university where each of the 1500+ students has one.

One thing you have to understand when you buy a laptop is that you are paying for portability. To be portable, you need your computer to be light, solid, good battery, never crash and very importantly: able to connect to any network configuration. The PB excel at each of these points and do so at a very good price point. Dont let yourself be fooled, mac laptop arent expensive for what you get! Everything is made out of metal, not plastic!

As for the super drive, its usefulness depends mostly of what you are planing to do. If you plan to get a mini DVD camcorder to record all the party with drunk chick (à la girls gone wild), which I strongly encourage you to do, for god sake get a superdrive!

Dont forget, the computer is supposed to support you in what ever you do in life / college, not take time away from you so you wont be able to enjoy all its possibilities.

For all these points, I strongly recommand a PB12" or 15". And for extra performance, get an external FW800 drive. It really makes a difference.
 
Something you asked that turned on the lightbulb in my head was about the software for burning. Its built into the OS. In fact, most of the extra software you buy for Windows is built into OS X. You don't have to spend the extra money for good burning software, good photo and video editing software, good Office software (Appleworks works great for everything that me and my wife do), and a firewall that is already built in as well. Anything that isn't built in can be downloaded (usually) using a program called Fink. Since OS X is built on Unix, it can run any X11 application. As for gaming, the Radeon 9700 is no slouch, it was the fastest card around not that long ago, it still holds it own very well.

As for the DVD question, most retail DVD's are dual layer and they play fine on any compter with a DVD drive. You can't burn one with the Superdrive, only single sided 4.7gig drives.

Your going to love the powerbook :)
 
I used to have a dell laptop. I must say that it is very compatible because it is windows but macs always have an alternative (sometimes, it can be a very long search) but I get by.

I feel that the design also greatly matters. The dell laptops have power but they create a lot of heat and are sometimes noisy. My 15" pb is very quite and I still am suprised sometimes at how good the laptop looks. (this is a pyschological thing and i don't know too much of the techno stuff) Because of this, I am quite satisfied with it even now (I was quickly bored of my dell). For such as cool looking laptop, I think it compensates for its tech handicap. The CD drive and illuminating keyboard is esp. cool.

As new dells come out, you will be less and less satisfied much quicker than the powerbook as well. ALso, macs don't have problems with virus (at the time I am writing this.) which is a big plus for me. I don't like managing problems. I actuallly like using my computer now.

As for dvd - you can only burn normal dvds (4.7 gb).
 
NOOOO!!!

Mantat said:
As for the super drive, its usefulness depends mostly of what you are planing to do. If you plan to get a mini DVD camcorder to record all the party with drunk chick (à la girls gone wild), which I strongly encourage you to do, for god sake get a superdrive!
Click to expand...

DO NOT, EVER, put a mini-disc in a mac, especially a slot loading one (the laptops). The mini-disc easily gets stuck, and mac does not support them. However, if this guy was talking about a DV camcorder (uses digital tape and downloads via firewire, go for it.)

NEVER, EVER INSERT A MINIDISC INTO A MAC.
 
appleretailguy said:
DO NOT, EVER, put a mini-disc in a mac, especially a slot loading one (the laptops). The mini-disc easily gets stuck, and mac does not support them. However, if this guy was talking about a DV camcorder (uses digital tape and downloads via firewire, go for it.)

NEVER, EVER INSERT A MINIDISC INTO A MAC.
Click to expand...

Oups, I meant MiniDV... you are totaly right!
 
There's one big difference when it comes to the XPS and the PB - the PB is 1" thin and the XPS is 2" :eek: :eek: :eek:! For me at least, that would be the selling point.

Aside from that, I just have to say that I loathe Dell more than Microsoft. I've never liked them, and their poor computer performance ensures me that I won't change my mind soon. My friend bought his Dell notebook and not even a year later it was dead. That's right DEAD! It hardly turns on anymore.

Please don't go with Dell. Try out a PB at a local Apple or CompUSA store.

Best wishes,
JOD8FY
 
I'm about to start my senior year at college, so perhaps my experience can help.

One, get the mac. After 15 minutes with the thing you'll be thinking "This is great". After a month, you'll be thinking "Why didn't I switch sooner". And after you use a pc for the first time in months, you'll say to yourself "I can't f*****g believe I almost bought one of these things!"

I was in the same dilemma as you, and a friend recommended the mac. I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER WINTEL BOX/NOTEBOOK!!! It's not that peecee's are totally crappy, but relatively speaking they don't match the mac for usability.

My eMac has NEVER CRASHED. I've had it for 18 months, hardly restart, and download too much crap. I have NEVER had a popup, virus, lockup, or heard a "grinding" noise from inside the thing.

Bottom line: Mac's actually do what peecee's are supposed to... work for you, not the other way around. Get the powerbook and MS Office, you'll need it.
 
If you really want to compare PCs and Macs, take a look at these:

Voodoo Envy Notebooks

Hypersonic-PC Notebooks

Hypersonic is cheaper than Voodoo, nearly the same as the Powerbooks with a 1.8 or 2.0 GHz Dothan. Hypersonic also has the ATI 9700 in more of their notebooks. Voodoo has a couple perks, but 100's more expensive. I'm choosing between Hypersonic and Apple.
 
Hi, Sid,

You're looking at a nice PowerBook.

For games, the Mac isn't a total loss, but gaming is not its strength as you've seen. If you want to game on a notebook, the PowerBook isn't the best choice. Gaming is better on a desktop or console than on any notebook, but you can probably find PC notebooks that out-game a PowerBook.

In my experience, Macs are more reliable than PCs, but I've only had three Macs (plus my friend has three) whereas I support about 90 PCs at work. My G4 at home doesn't crash at all.

Macs also tend to hold their value better, although I'm not sure I'd be so bold as to expect it to depreciate only $400 the first year. Maybe that's realistic; I've never looked. Personally, I'd pay the extra $400 to get the latest hardware and a factory warranty, but not everyone thinks that way.

The SuperDrive is great, if you want to burn DVDs. If not, I've read the Combo drive burns CDs faster. I've never read solid numbers. The SuperDrive burns only DVD-R, not DVD+R. They say the ones in the towers actually can burn DVD+R, it's just the software hasn't been updated to support that yet; I don't know if that's true for PowerBooks.

I bought AppleCare with my dual-G4 tower two years ago. I've never used it. I'm still glad I bought it. It's a pretty thorough warranty, but it isn't really "insurance" as people in this thread have called it. Still, I've managed PC laptops and I've seen what hell they can go through. I'd never buy a notebook without beefing up the warranty. My former employer had about 10 Dell Latitudes a few years ago, and two of them had some serious issues. We had repairmen out repeatedly until they worked.

IBM notebooks are more expensive than Dells because they are built better, from all I've heard.

There are no perfect notebooks. Dell, Apple, IBM, and Toshiba make really complex products; there is a lot that can go wrong, and sometimes it does. You pay extra for portability, you pay extra for build quality, and you pay extra for good support.

Withall, if my current lust object were a notebook rather than a piano, I'd buy the PowerBook you're looking at.

Good luck!


Crikey
 
Toreador93 said:
I'm choosing between Hypersonic and Apple.
Click to expand...

When you say choosing, how are you doing this, cause most people aren't brand vs brand they are windows vs os x. After switching to os x about 2 years ago I have never been happier, I now feel I was actually programmed by microsoft to believe that I liked troubleshooting my computer daily, that I got some joy out of reformating once a month just for my pc to run half as smooth as my two macs (powermac g4 dual 867 and 12" powerbook 800) After getting my macs I got a job at compusa and working there I have had the joy of "converting" people and they all come back just to thank me for showing them how macs are actually worth owning and how great they are to use. Go with a mac.

As far as applecare is concerned I think it is great, with a dell for example you get a warrenty then you call them with a problem you will get the "run-around". You call in about a problem and they say "ohh, no, sorry, that's windows, you can call microsoft to get that fixed. With applecare, apple makes the hardware and software so your help is in one call and that is really cool. I sent my powerbook in to get looked at cause I thought I was getting a good signal on my airport and apple had a box to me the next day to ship to them, then the day after that I had my powerbook back in my hands. Powerbook fixed in less than a day, really worth it to me.
 
Sidm said:
I've been browsing the forum and I still haven't reached a decision!
The Dell's seem to have more power and still go for less $$$. The powerbook 15inch I'm looking at is 1.5ghz, 80gb 5200rpm, superdrive, and 128mb V.ram.
Click to expand...

It depends on exactly what you mean by "power." The Pentium 4 based laptops are going to have nearly zero battery life. That might not be a problem if you have classrooms where you can plug them in, and never get far from an outlet, but it will seriously kill your ability to be mobile with your laptop. By comparison, I frequently spend three hours on my iBook without needing to plug in, and that includes running both the optical drive and my 802.11 connection the entire time. This is also on an older battery that likely doesn't charge as efficiently as it used to (I eBayed the system when my last iBook died it's violent death).

What a lot of people try to point out to people who have these "power" concerns about notebooks is that the only part that is usually a clear winner on PC laptops is the processor, and even that isn't always so amazing. When you get into portable components, the prices rise across the board and the PC OEMs start getting into price ranges that are around what Apple's are if they include the same features. Add on the software you need to approximate OS X and you start to see just how expensive the other side can be.

I'm not a huge gamer but I always like that option to be explorable and it seems the PB 1.5 EVEN w/ 128 V.Ram can't handle the more demanding games out there (for example: UT2004 runs at 24 fps on max. settings).
Click to expand...

This is a problem you're going to have with macs in general, I'm afraid. Microsoft has sold most of the gaming industry on using their proprietary standards as the primary code to handle 3D acceleration. DirectX doesn't exist for the mac, so the fact that we get any performance is a testament to the hardware itself, because OpenGL ports are usually far less efficient.

Some companies, notably Blizzard and id, make good OpenGL games on both platforms, but they're exceptions and not the rule.

I'm about to goto college and would like something reliable (this is where I hear Mac's are superior). I'm a PC user and have never REALLY used Macs (In elementary we were all using Mac's..but that hardly counts). So I'm looking for feedback from people who have made the switch.
Click to expand...

Macs, all the way, especially if you're going to be doing anything with wireless networking. It took all of five minutes, if that, to set up a wireless network with my iBook.

On the other hand, I just spent two hours on a Dell Inspiron trying to make it play nice with the wireless router at my mom's house. It's her boyfriend's machine, and I had to find out - buried in the manual - that the reason it wasn't working was that the card didn't have default support for WPA despite being an 802.11 card by a major manufacturer. So I had to download a patch from the vendor, a patch from Microsoft, and then go through first one patch, then start the next. Ooops. Now I need SP 1 to have some dependency that the path needs, so that's downloaded and installed next, after which the patch can be applied, and then the configuration made so that the encryption key will be properly presented to the router. Time involved? Over three hours of fiddling, downloading, redownloading corrupted archives, installing, configuring, testing, and general idiocy.

In a more general sense, I've been using Apple computers since 1982, and macs since 1985. In that time, I have either owned or been partial owner and/or entitled user of some 30 macintosh computers. In that 22 year span, I've had to put a machine in a service shop twice, and fixed one hardware failure myself. Since OS X showed up, my family has some 9 active machines running it. We've had a total of 3 kernel panics in four years across all the machines I take care of for them, and that includes the ones that my mom won't let me maintain for her because she doesn't like telling people her password.

Other people have horror stories, but macs have always been good to me.

Tell me..how is the reselling value of the powerbook I'm looking at. I've been told I can sell it a year after for about 300-400 dollars less than I bought (of course, assuming condition is mint) it for - is this true? If so, where can I sell it besides ebay?
Click to expand...

Ebay isn't a bad place to get rid of a machine you no longer want, but there are other possibilities. Some mac resellers have buyback programs that will let you trade up against a newer model, and I think some even buy outright for their refurbished mac business.

Check out Small Dog for an example.

How about the superdrive...just how 'super' is it? Burning data and music cds is something I plan on doing very very often - How long does it take to burn a full 80min CDR? and how is the software? How about the DvdR/RW compatibility...does the drive support all media (ie: "+" and "-")? How about the dual-layer dvds? Can they be read..burnt?
Click to expand...

As of the current version, the PowerBook, accordinng to Apple:

What’s that? You think the SuperDrive burns only DVDs. Au contraire, we call it a SuperDrive for a very good reason. Not just an ordinary optical drive, the SuperDrive burns both CDs (both CD-R and CD-RW media) and DVDs (DVD-R media). And quickly. While sitting in your cozy seat at 20,000 feet, you can burn an audio CD at up to 24x-speed, in other words, at hardly any time at all. And if you’re backing up data or saving a massive project to CD for colleagues, you can burn a CD-RW at up to 16x-speed. Nothing like speed for the busy pro.

...

Better still, the SuperDrive-equipped PowerBook G4 is compatible across the board, supporting DVD-Video, DVD-ROM and DVD-R, as well as CD-ROM, CD-Audio, CD-R, CD-RW, CD Bridge, CD Extended, CD Mixed Mode and Photo CD media.​

The SuperDrive in the PowerBook is 4x DVD-RW, but I believe it can read DVD+RW.
 
I purchased a 12' iBook in June 2002. I love everything about it EXCEPT it's reliability. The battery had to be replaced within weeks of purchase, followed by the optical drive, the screen and the cpu. And the cpu is starting to go out again, I think. Thank goodness for Applecare. I've never owned anything other than a Mac but I certainly couldn't recommend an iBook for it's reliability. If you buy one, Applecare is an absolute must.
 
Thoughts from an Apple Semi-Convert

I call myself a semi-convert because I've used Macs since the early '90s, but I went through a period of PC-only use. Since Christmas, I have been a born-again Mac convert. I use a 12" iBook G4 800 MHz, 640 MB RAM... it's maxed out in every respect. Now, I differ from many users here in that I don't hate Windows. In fact, I like Windows. XP is a good OS, and it has many advantages. For instance, it has a massive amount of software available for it, programs open faster (hold on OS X fanatics, I'll address this), and desktop systems are highly upgradeable. I know upgradeability is a non-factor because you're looking to buy a notebook.

Having owned a few Windows notebooks, I can tell you a few things about them. First, they are likely to be big, thick, hot, heavy, and flimsy. I'm talking about a Compaq notebook and a Toshiba notebook. The Toshiba worked pretty well, but it was big, hot and flimsy; I worried about breaking the screen when carrying it around. The battery life on both laptops was sub par. My Dad's IBM (Windows 2000, Pentium III) he uses for work is light and well-constructed, but it is slow. As for Dell in general, I have no complaints with the company. We have two Dells in our house, one a few years old now, and they both work pretty well. I've spoken with their tech support a few times, and they were relatively effective. With my iBook, I have had a few problems. Chief among these was the fact that it would lock up completely and crash. This happened a number of times. Tech support was somewhat helpful, but my biggest complaint is that Apple had possession of the computer for nearly a month waiting on a backordered part. When I got the computer back, the problem was not fixed. However, I later determined the problem to be a peripheral/driver problem. This concludes my apologia for Windows.

Having made all of these statements for Windows and against Apple, I come to the main portion of my advice. Apple is simply better. OS X is better. It's easier to learn and use than Windows, it configures itself with networks more reliably, and the programs for it are superior to those for Windows. If you want to get work done, you want a Mac. Because you seem to be less than a hardcore gamer, I think you'll find the Mac to be just fine for gaming; by that I mean you will find popular games like Unreal Tournament 2004 and Halo for the Mac. If you go with the PowerBook, you will be able to play these games without problem. As for the Mac OS in general, when you use it, you will find it to be more aesthetically pleasing, more intuitive, and more reliable. You don't have to worry about viruses or malware. Overall, it is better than Windows. Returning to my earlier point that programs load up slowly on the Mac, this is actually a positive facet: OS X programs use more virtual memory (hard drive-based, not RAM-based, application information) than Windows programs do. Thus, loading this information onto the hard drive takes a small amount of time. It is noticable; but it ensures that programs run more quickly and reliably.

As for the Apple hardware, it is of superior quality. The screen is crisp, dense, and pixels are difficult to discern. The unit feels very stable; I don't worry about breaking anything when I carry or throw it around. It's also very light, yet it includes an internal DVD/CD-RW drive. Wireless is integrated. Ports are intuitively placed on the side, and there is FireWire access. A microphone is built-in, great for audio-chatting. The battery life is excellent with the iBook. I usually get three to four hours of power with the screen set on full brightness. As for processing power, I recommend you buy an Apple with at least a 1 GHz G4 processor. My college (Amherst College) makes this recommendation, and I will soon have to sell my 800 MHz iBook. To this point, however, 800 MHz has been a good amount of power, especially for a notebook. I also recommend that you buy additional RAM, close to the maximum, but not from Apple (they grossly overcharge for RAM). This will ensure that your system runs quickly and flawlessly.

I've presented a pretty balanced argument. I like Windows, I like Dell, I like PC laptops and desktops. However, I like Apple more. It's simply better, in nearly every respect. Bear this last fact in mind: you'll be working on and storing many important papers and projects on your computer. I have seen many Windows computers ruined by viruses and malware. Apple holds a small market share, and as a result, Macs are neither targets of nor vulnerable to attacks. In summary, your documents are safe, and your computer is safe.

Buy a Mac. You can play games... you can write documents... you can connect to networks... you can compute... better.

Mike LaRiviere
 
upperblue79 said:
When you say choosing, how are you doing this, cause most people aren't brand vs brand they are windows vs os x. After switching to os x about 2 years ago I have never been happier, I now feel I was actually programmed by microsoft to believe that I liked troubleshooting my computer daily, that I got some joy out of reformating once a month just for my pc to run half as smooth as my two macs (powermac g4 dual 867 and 12" powerbook 800).
Click to expand...

Well yes, it's mostly choosing between Windows and OSX. But for hardware comparable to Apple, a Dell computer should not be used. People keep saying "Buy Apple because Dell sucks". Just because Dell sucks (even though my Inspiron 8100 has been decent) shouldn't mean your only other choice is a Mac.

thatwendigo: Pentium 4 isn't the only processor for laptops. The Pentium M is an awesome chip. It might get .5-1hr less battery life, it does really good in benchmarks compared to the G4.

Not to say benchmarks are the only factor, but for things like gaming (as Sidm and others are interested in) it can make a huge difference.
 
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