The Mac/Dell Comparison

As a result of my Dell Inspiron 9300 notebook going belly-up, I’m in the market for a mid-range laptop. Not that I’m buying right now — I need to save the money first — but I want to be very informed about my choices. I bought a Macbook for my wife last Christmas for her Master’s program, and other than a small problem with some plastic chipping off near the keyboard palm-rest, I’ve been very impressed with the quality of the computer. On the other hand, I have been a Dell devotee for years.

Determined to settle once and for all whether or not there is a real price difference between identically-configured Intel-based Macbooks and Dell laptops, I settled on the following specs:

1. Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2GHz processor. By the time I’m ready to buy, I’m sure 2.4GHz will probably be more mainstream.
2. 2GB RAM. This is a non-negotiable minimum. For either Mac OS X or Windows Vista, if you do a lot of multi-tasking and virtualization (running alternative operating systems as a user-level process) like I do, less RAM than this no longer cuts the mustard. In fact, 2GB of RAM is really not quite as much as I’d like to be running, since at work on my system with that amount of RAM, there is noticeable paging time when switching between two VMWare virtual machines.
3. 15″ screen, 1440×900 resolution, glossy. I do love the glossy. My Inspiron 9300 was a 17″ screen, and although I loved the real estate I hated the clunkiness and weight. It’s simply too big to be convenient. The cost-savings of a 15″ laptop is a secondary concern.
4. 128MB Nvidia 8400 or 8600 video card (I’d prefer 256MB, and probably will go that way when I’m ready to buy, but it was difficult to make a fair comparison right now with that amount of video RAM.)
5. 160GB 5400RPM hard drive. 7200RPM drives are, IMHO, over-rated for even the power-user, and suck down a lot more watts.
6. 3-year full coverage warranty required. Every computer I have owned has had at least one hardware failure within 3 years, and I’d rather everything be covered than deal with repairing it myself these days. For my Dimension desktop, it was the monitors going fuzzy. For my wife’s mac, it was the broken plastic near the palm-rest. For my Sony Vaio, it was the screen hinges snapping. For my Dell Latitude, it was a hard drive death. Ditto for the D620. Inspiron 9300: dead power jack and fried video card. My old G4 Mac desktop has a broken hard drive interface. On my IBM Intellistation workstation, the monitor turned into an expensive doorstop. There’s always something that breaks within 3 years, and although you pay more for the warranty than you do for the part, you’ve already spent the money and don’t have to cost-justify fixing an old computer to yourself 🙂

So I sat down with the Apple Store (http://store.apple.com/) and Dell (http://www.dell.com/) side-by-side on my desktop and configured systems which matched. I came up with the Dell Inspiron 1520 and the Macbook Pro. Trade-offs:

• Microsoft Windows Vista Home is hobbled by limited networking options, so I upgraded to Vista Business. There are no such artificial restrictions on Mac OS X.
• The Nvidia 8600 option was only available with 256MB of RAM from Dell, so I settled for the 8400 with 128MB for comparison. On the Mac I chose, it came with the 8600 with 128MB RAM.
• The Macbook Pro comes with an integrated 2.0MP camera. So does the Dell, if you choose it. I did.
• The Macbook Pro comes with a long-life Lithium, so I upgraded the Dell to match.
• The Macbook Pro comes with Bluetooth; I added that option to the Dell.
• Dell applied an automatic 10% discount to the cost of the system because I chose their 3-year warranty.

When all is said and done, and the systems are configured as close as I could come to identically, the final price was: Macbook Pro: $2,423 Dell Inspiron 1520: $2,226

Now, I realize that you can come up with all kinds of coupons for Dell gear. You can do the same for Macs. I wanted an apples-to-apples retail price. If I were to buy a Mac, I would probably pick from one of the available refurb deals. If I were to buy a Dell, I would certainly shop coupons or their refurbs as well. But the price of these two systems are within 10% of one another… and Dell’s current promotion for 10% off of the price of your computer if you buy the extended warranty is responsible for almost all of the price difference.

Myth: Apple computers are far more expensive than their Wintel counterparts. Myth busted. They are practically identical.

But including the little discount for the extended warranty, what exactly does $180 buy me if I buy a Macbook Pro rather than a Dell Inspiron 1520?

• Superior power-cord management. I have had two Dell laptops ruined due to power-cord issues and the various things which will yank on the plug. Apple’s magnetic power connection system avoids these types of problems because it easily pops off if yanked from any direction.
• A lighter laptop. The 1520 is 6.4 pounds. The Macbook is 5.4 pounds. Neither one is a lightweight, really, and I think it’s telling that neither manufacturer includes the weight in their specs in the purchasing area… you have to kind of dig for it.
• A metal case rather than plastic. Yeah, running over the laptop with your car will still munch the screen, but the Mac will bend rather than shatter.
• OS X. For a UNIX gearhead like me who normally installs Linux on everything anyway, OS X is a delightful union of UNIX sensibility with Apple interface intuition. The fact that I can create fully POSIX-compliant filenames on OS X without having to do strange, performance-robbing Cygwin mount hacks is a huge benefit versus Windows. I can also fully preserve permissions when file copies.
• Memory upgrades are a breeze on an Intel-based Mac. No screwdriver needed, and it has a very positive-lock feel when sliding the memory in, versus the fidgety and occasionally error-prone memory panel on the bottom of a Dell.
• The Mac is available in 2.4GHz, whereas the maximum speed of the 1520 is 2.2GHz as of this writing.

Now the downsides:

• The Dell is available in far more colors.
• The AppleCare protection program is not quite as comprehensive as Dell’s. I would have to send parts in, rather than get a tech on-site to fix it. Not a big deal in my eyes, but a big deal to some people.
• The Dell has more screen resolution options, if I wanted them.
• You get far more choices all around with Dell. If there are things like Bluetooth you don’t want or need, you can exclude them and save a little cash.
• Dell has an aggressive coupons program which can save you a bit more than the 10% I found. I once saved $800 on a $2400 laptop through dell. Difficult to match that with careful price-shopping and Apple Macbooks, other than eBay.

Regardless, I knew going into this comparison that, all else being equal, I’d prefer to get an Apple laptop this time around. My old Dell Dimension desktop — which I’ve owned since 2000 — has been a tank. My Dell D620 laptop for work just keeps plucking along despite a few hardware issues. My Dell Inspiron 9300 died a horrible death months ago, largely in part due to the power-cable issue mentioned above (and I only bought the 1-year warranty on it… silly me) and a graphics-card failure which would cost hundreds to replace. But my wife’s sexy little Macbook provides enough usability improvements to really put that kind of engineering over the top for me, particularly considering the modest price difference between a top-shelf Dell and a similarly-configured Macbook Pro.