- 1. Dell vs Apple: The Neverending Story
- 2. Price and Specs
- 3. It's as Beautiful as any MacBook
- 4. Adamo Done Right
- 5. Thinner, Lighter, Faster
- 6. Better Battery Performance
1. Dell vs Apple: The Neverending Story
Apple's products are as much about form as function. At one time, the company once produced some of the ugliest computers on the planet, but in recent years, it has crafted its products into things of beauty.
By contrast, the PC vendors have turned out generations of products that are purely functional and utilitarian, with minimal emphasis on aesthetics. When it comes to design, PC vendors simply haven’t brought the fight to Apple. Visual appeal is what Apple has used to sell its "PC hardware" running Mac OS.
This is due to an unsung hero within Apple named Jonathan Ive, Apple's head of design who is even more publicity-averse than Jobs, which is saying something. As much as Steve Jobs gets well-earned praise for rescuing Apple from the brink of oblivion, he wouldn't have gotten half as far without Ive.
Jobs dreams up the gadgets, but Ive makes them real. And in that regard, he's done a spectacular job. Apple products are as aesthetically rarefied as they are functional. That's why Apple products are so associated with our image-obsessed see-and-be-seen culture. You don't use the product so much as ensure that you’re seen using it.
Once you look at a MacBook and PC side by side, the difference becomes clear. Internally, the MacBooks are just another mid- to high-end PC laptop: Intel processor, DDR3 memory, AMD or Nvidia GPU, hard drive, etc. It's what's outside that's different. For laptops targeted at professionals, that's fine. These things serve a function and are here to do a job, not put on a pedestal and admired.
However, if you are a power user or a prosumer with the money for a powerful laptop and want some frills, there are some PC options.
Dell has been one of the few PC vendors willing to take on Apple at its own design game. Its newest laptop, the XPS 15z, brings power and aesthetics to the table and meets or beats the top of the line MacBook in several areas.
- 1. Dell vs Apple: The Neverending Story
- 2. Price and Specs
- 3. It's as Beautiful as any MacBook
- 4. Adamo Done Right
- 5. Thinner, Lighter, Faster
- 6. Better Battery Performance
- 7. Excellent LED Screen
- 8. More Out of the Box
- 9. Open USB 3.0 versus Proprietary Thunderbolt
- 10. Optimus vs Megatron
- 11. Conclusion
At this point, I'm not really sure if dell's entry brings anything new to the table. It just seems like they borrowed a bunch of elements from the macbook pro's design. Not original. BUT for those who prefer the mac aesthetic and windows operating system, I can see this being a good choice
I find the HP Pavilion DM3 and HP Pavilion DV3 Metallic Argento as a viable alternative to the Macbook Pro.
I find the HP Pavilion DM3 and HP Pavilion DV3 Metallic Argento as a viable alternative to the Macbook Pro.
Agreed. HP has definitely stepped it up with their newer notebooks. I'm especially fond of the Envy line (I have an Envy 14).
-Devin Connors
the battery can be replaced on a MBP, I just replaced the battery on my MBP 13" and didn't break a sweat, all you had to do was to remove 10 screws on the back tray, then the lid pops off and you can access the battery, unscrew 3 more screws and you pop the battery off, its easy as that.
the battery can be replaced on a MBP, I just replaced the battery on my MBP 13" and didn't break a sweat, all you had to do was to remove 10 screws on the back tray, then the lid pops off and you can access the battery, unscrew 3 more screws and you pop the battery off, its easy as that.
A) That's way more work than it should be.
B) That voids the warranty, so replace at your own risk.
-Devin Connors
Opening the case and replacing the battery yourself does not void the warranty, though I agree it's more steps than it should be. On the other hand, my 2-year old unibody MBP, with the original battery on 200+ charge cycles still runs 7+ hours on a charge, so maybe Apple was on to something.
Why on earth compare the XPC 15z to the 17 and not 15'' MBP. Besides, the XPC 15z only comes with a dual Core i7-2620M while the 15 or 17 MBP come standard with Core i7-2635QM quad core processors that are considerably more powerful (PassMark specs 3900 vs 6400). That makes them real desktop substitutes.
But will a Dell get me laid???
Opening the case and replacing the battery yourself does not void the warranty, though I agree it's more steps than it should be. On the other hand, my 2-year old unibody MBP, with the original battery on 200+ charge cycles still runs 7+ hours on a charge, so maybe Apple was on to something.
Are you sure? I can't seem to find a straight answer online, but my guess is that replacing the battery yourself is an "unauthorized" repair/modification, which - according to Apple - voids the warranty.
-Devin Connors
The problem with aesthetics is it's based on opinions.
In my opinion the Envy line from HP has been radically superior to Apple since it's inception, top of the line hardware, beautiful design very stylish, but also different looking from the Apple laptops as opposed to being clones.
I'm definitely a windows user. However, I would choose the macbook pro over the dell in a second and have no reservations. Why? Screen resolution. The dell uses a 16:9 resolution and is made for entertainment. The apple offers a 16:10 option that enables one to do real productive work in addition to entertainment functions. Conclusions: buy the macbook pro and install windows.
Not much respect for the author.
Agreed. HP has definitely stepped it up with their newer notebooks. I'm especially fond of the Envy line (I have an Envy 14).-Devin Connors
yeah.. the Envy lineup slipped my mind... Man.. now i 'envy" you... cool choice.. HP envy really is sexy, its just too expensive for me to afford...
A) That's way more work than it should be.B) That voids the warranty, so replace at your own risk.-Devin Connors
Was he not being sarcastic?
how about dell creating something new and better instead of just another copycat?
how about dell creating something new and better instead of just another copycat?
There's only so much more to be done in the laptop design. This just struck me as one of the better ones.
-Andy
Opening the case and replacing the battery yourself does not void the warranty, though I agree it's more steps than it should be. On the other hand, my 2-year old unibody MBP, with the original battery on 200+ charge cycles still runs 7+ hours on a charge, so maybe Apple was on to something.
The other problem I have with non-removable batteries is that you're stuck if there's a problem. Remember the exploding batteries? Back when that problem hit, you just removed the battery, sent it in and put your replacement back in its slot.
I suspect the nature of these ultra-skinny products is forcing designers, both Apple and Dell, to make their batteries non-removable. They aren't doing it to be difficult. It's a more expensive situation for them. So it's likely necessity that's driving this.
-Andy
At this point, I'm not really sure if dell's entry brings anything new to the table. It just seems like they borrowed a bunch of elements from the macbook pro's design. Not original. BUT for those who prefer the mac aesthetic and windows operating system, I can see this being a good choice
Well besides being half the price.
I don't know many Mac owners, but all of them use Parallels to run Windows software that they don't have native. But they just don't want to hear it when I challenge them on this situation.
-Andy
If you look at the pictures and read the article, the author doesn't have a MacBook Pro to compare with. Better LED Display and Battery Life? Really? This author loves PC's and Dell and it shows, because when there is something that Apple is better at, he compares the new dell to his old Inspiron Laptop. He has no understanding of Thunderbolt, hence his complaint about Apple not putting in an HDMI port (Not needed!). Apples are more expensive because they last longer, so when you factor in the life span, the price is actually cheaper! Like the person commented, his Apple laptop is over 2 years old and there is no loss in battery life. As to the "Extra" software bundled with the Dell, who really wants that stuff anyway? The stuff you use is available free off their websites. Mac OSX has so much more usability than Winblows 7 and now Apple is coming out with Lion this month. Not to mention the fact that Apple has only 1 version of it's OS and not 7 like Microsoft....This article is all about the author trying to sell Dell Products. How can you start the article off with comparing a 15" Dell to a 17" Apple MacBook Pro? Not to mention the Apple has a Quad Core Processor and Radeon 6750M.
I've found this article quite biased towards favoring the Dell, but part 8 about the standard out of the box software is were the author really starts loosing it
It's pretty cleat the author did really _use_ Mac yet; something that I would recommend if you are comparing it with something else :-/
Le me comment on the "you get the basics from Apple..." statement.
Agreed, there is no office productivity software installed. Apple itself offers the pretty decent $60 iWork suite as an option.
But why is limited, crippled and trial software you'll find on the Dell XPS (and all Windows PC's these days) sooo much better in the eyes of the author?
What good is Photoshop Elements Trial when it stops working after 30 days of time?
The same goes for McAffee trial. Did will all suddenly forget how much money AV subscriptions will cost you recurrently?
It surely pays for my full Mac Office 2011 license since I don't need such AV protection so badly (I've been connected to the Net with OS X for 10 years now without a single infection!)
And what about Skype, Acrobat Reader X? Yes, they are not installed on any new Mac, but it's free software anyway for which you can download and install a free Mac version as well. You don't even need Acrobat Reader since OS X has very good PDF read and write support build in (can Windows do that too ootb?)
Most Mac users will tell you the iLife applications are cool, intuitive and very usable tools to organize your digital media and I haven't seen anything as integrated and intuitive on Windows yet.