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XPS M1330 vs BlackBook

daneoni

daneoni

macrumors G5
Original poster
Mar 24, 2006
12,040
1,959
So i was all set to buy a BlackBook but then my brother alerted me to a deal Dell was doing which is £130 off the XPS line until midnight and i can combine that with a 10% off voucher which is roughly £220 off in total (better than a student discount for me). Meaning for just £907, i can get LED screen, Fingerprint Reader (dont really care for this one), Vista ultimate, Nvidia Geforce 8400GS (128MB), 2GB RAM, 2.2GHz C2D, BT+Wi-Fi, HDMI, 160GB 7200RPM, DL DVD Burner, Webcam, 9-Cell Battery etc. Standard BlackBook costs (£816)

Im mostly tempted by the Nvidia card, LED screen and discount

Normally i wouldn't even dream of it but i have a Mac already and since this laptop is mostly for school having a dedicated windows laptop may not be such a bad thing (yes i know you can run windows on MacBook).

I dunno though, i'm wary of living with vista everyday especially with all the universal bad press. The vista systems i've used have been good for the most part.

For a bang for buck standpoint and pretend OS isn't a deciding factor for you, would you go for the XPS or stick with the BlackBook?

EDIT: This is what an XPS looks like for those who care and a Video can be found here
 

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Well, it's like this: one is a Mac, the other isn't.

The Dell is a decent machine, but it depends on the OS you want to use. Personally I have a 17" HP laptop and a 17" MBP. Guess which one I use most of the time? ;-)
 
i don't think you can say os aside, because most people here buy macs BECAUSE of the OS. if you want it to run windows and don't mind VISTA...., then i guess get the dell
 
I don't know how to answer these questions. It's like saying, you have an apple and an orange and you are hungry, lets forget they are different fruits, which would you choose?
 
What mac do you have now? if it can do everything media/gaming wise that you want it to do than you probably don't need the dedicated video card on the laptop. The benefits of the macbook over the dell are that you'll see better battery life and in the long run probably a longer useful life. The dell would be better if you want to play games on the road. Normal school activities don't require a dedicated video card; which, uses your battery faster.

Just a heads up, you're on a mac site. Most people are going to tell you to get the mac.
 
tersono said:
Well, it's like this: one is a Mac, the other isn't.

The Dell is a decent machine, but it depends on the OS you want to use. Personally I have a 17" HP laptop and a 17" MBP. Guess which one I use most of the time? ;-)
Click to expand...

Horses for courses.

I have three M1330's and I rate Vista higher than OSX at the moment for general stability and versatility - and indeed I use my M1330's a little more often than I use the MBP's (2 x 2.4 15" for work, 1 x 2.33 17" for personal - my 2.6 15/17 are still sitting in the US), although the M1730/M1710 gets more use as machines I really run heavyweight apps on, and the Sony TZ's and UX's get more use than the M1330's for mobile use obviously.

I like the M1330 in general and they did supplant my Sony SZ's, but I have noticed build differences that are if not as bad as Apple, then not what I would consider excellent. The quality of engineering and build is certainly better than a Macbook (and the Macbook Pro) though. The choice would depend therefore on your OS preferences / lock-ins.
 
If you are trying to get the most bang for your buck, I don't understand why you are even considering a Blackbook. It's 200 USD more for the black color and larger hard drive, which is a terrible deal. Go for the 2.2GHz white MacBook or the Dell.

People have gotten Leopard to run on the M1330, so maybe if you want to still want to run some Mac apps you could give it a try: http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/HCL_10.5.0/Portables#XPS_M1330

Of course that would be more for fun then productivity because it is a hack.
 
I think i am gonna get both and get a feel for them and then return the one i am less impressed with

Since the dell deal ends today
 
I would go with the Apple. Oranges are more effort to eat. You do not want to be faffing about trying to peel one when you are hungry. Besides, oranges are messy and the smell lingers if you get juice on your clothes.
 
I used to own a Dell laptop and though I loved it for the first couple of months I kept finding things that annoyed me, especially weight and sometimes the OS...plus it just wasn't something that I loved.

Now that I have my MBP I love it, I love how it feels, I love the OS, I love the size. I would say to go with the BlackBook because even though it may be more expensive, in the long run you will be far more happy with it than going with a Dell. I find that Macs just keep you happier longer and that's worth the money.
 
Depends what you use them for again. If you need graphics card, hands down the dell, if not and you really prefer to use mac os x, then the macbook would be better. The macbook could really improve if they would only offer a REAL graphics card!!! so, if you don't mind vista go for the dell cause its got much better specs and dell makes great laptops, especially their xps series. My friend has a m1330, and it works great!
 
I'd say get the Dell.

A blackbook won't give you the best bang for your buck if you're not doing things such as graphic/print designing.

I used to use a windows and adobe's cs2 and I just wasn't as productive as my blackbook + cs3. However it's important to note that the XPS M1330 has an LED screen while the Blackbook doesn't.
 
So i ordered the Dell but i'm having second thoughts as people seem to be having issues according to this 295 page forum and Engadget even reported an example story

Rampant issues include CPU whine (like the first en MBPs), build issues such as creaking, wobbling, bulging etc, grainy LED displays with dead pixels and of course good ol vista driver and general incompatibility issues

Now i know forums dont speak for the whole population and i was willing to give Dell a benefit of doubt but the forum also says Dell Customer Services is poor to say the least. Also this laptop would only come with 1 yr warranty which isn't too reassuring. What if i have problems....solving them would not be easy from the looks of it.

Whereas the MacBook comes with 3yrs and Apple's customer service is one of the best out there in my experience

I'm thinking maybe i should stick with the Devil i know and cancel my order. Sigh...dunno
 
daneoni said:
So i ordered the Dell but i'm having second thoughts as people seem to be having issues according to this 295 page forum and Engadget even reported an example story

Rampant issues include CPU whine (like the first en MBPs), build issues such as creaking, wobbling, bulging etc, grainy LED displays with dead pixels and of course good ol vista driver and general incompatibility issues

Now i know forums dont speak for the whole population and i was willing to give Dell a benefit of doubt but the forum also says Dell Customer Services is poor to say the least. Also this laptop would only come with 1 yr warranty which isn't too reassuring. What if i have problems....solving them would not be easy from the looks of it.

Whereas the MacBook comes with 3yrs and Apple's customer service is one of the best out there in my experience

I'm thinking maybe i should stick with the Devil i know and cancel my order. Sigh...dunno
Click to expand...

Dell has far better warrantee's than apple you can get a 4yr complete care coverage which even includes accidental problems like spills and drops. Their customer service is very good.
 
If money is an issue go with the Dell, if it's not then do what you already suggested and get both and try them out.

I can't give anymore than that because I use only Apple software that can't run on Windows. And I can't see me trying to fit my workflow in the tight box Windows will stick me in so I would have to get the MacBook or MacBook Pro. The M1330 is a wonderful machine that Apple has yet to compete against, but things may change at MWSF if you don't mind waiting.
 
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