Price Comparison: MacBook Pro vs Dell Notebook
15 October, 2008 by AndrewI bought my existing MacBook Pro almost 2 years ago and I love it. It’s a fast machine and I have no need to buy the latest version. But 2 years ago I did a price comparison between the middle/high spec MacBook Pro (that I bought) and a Dell Latitude notebook, on a like for like spec and found the Dell cost about £50 more…
Is that still the case?
On a like for like spec, is the MacBook Pro more expensive than a Windows based laptop?
Apple have made a big deal about the new 512MB NVidia 9600M GT in the MacBook Pro so I decided to base my comparison around that.
So I checked DELL’s website and I just couldn’t seem to find any notebooks with a 512MB NVidia card in them? And I mean *any* 512MB NVidia card.
In the end the only one I could track down was in their Alienware gaming laptops.
I was a bit wary or pricing that up as I know the Alienware stuff is high end and someone is bound to shout “fix!”, but then I figured, well, Apple stuff is high-end, that’s the whole point, and if Alienware is the only machine on DELL’s website to come with a 512MB gfx card and a 15″ screen then so be it…
I specced up the MacBook Pro I would buy today if I were upgrading, then priced up the Alienware Dell to match.
So, representing the Apple platform we have:
MacBook Pro 15″
2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 6MB cache
4GB DDR3 1,066MHz RAM
320GB 7,200rpm SATA HDD
1440 x 900 LED backlit screen
NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT with 512MB DDR3 RAM
iSight Camera
Backlit Keyboard
8x slot-loading SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Wireless N and 1Gbps Ethernet networking
Bluetooth 2.1
Billet aluminium casing
OS X Leopard
1 year warranty
£1,994 inc VAT and delivery
Representing Dell we have:
Alienware Area-51 m15x
2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo <- Slightly slower than MBPro
4GB DDR2 667MHz RAM <- Slower than MBPro
320GB 7,200rpm SATA HDD
1440 x 900 CFL backlit screen <- No LED option
NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTX with 512MB RAM <- lower number so slower?
Web Cam
Backlit Keyboard
8x Dual Layer Writer (DVD±RW, CD-RW)
Wireless N and Bluetooth 2.0
Windows Vista Home Ultimate
Plastic Case <- So not as well made imho
1 year warranty
£2,146.73 inc VAT and delivery
So the DELL costs £150 more than the MacBook Pro, and that’s ignoring the slower processor, slower RAM, possibly slower graphics card (?), plastic casing, old fashioned CFL lit screen and no firewire…
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, on a like for like basis Apple machines cost about the same as Windows machines, and that’s if you ignore all the (useful) extra bits they normally come with (iLife, magsafe power connectors and so on).
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4 Responses to “Price Comparison: MacBook Pro vs Dell Notebook”
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That 8800GTX M while a smaller number is a significantly faster card than the 9400M. The 9400 has 32 stream processors and the 8800GTX M has like 112. When it comes to gaming the 8800GTX M will blow the Apple system out of the water so so the Alienware is actually better.
Even so I seem to remember Alienwares are a bit bulky, and you won’t get anywhere near the same battery life as the Apple due to the more powerful graphics card.
@Jthon:
I’ve just done some checking and you’re right, that 8800GTX is a much faster card. In fact there seems to be some annoyance online that Apple didn’t at least use the 9650 as apparently it’s a fair bit quicker than the 9600M while not really using nay ore power…
I found a review of the Alienware system and apparentley when that gfx card is juicing battery life is well under 1 hour so I think I understand why Apple didn’t use a card of that calibre! If you want a gaming laptop to take to LAN parties and leave it plugged in to the mains it looks like the way forward, but I think most professionals (which is where the MacBook Pro is aime,d not gamers) would want the 4 hour battery life.
Still at least this explains why the DELL costs so much more and aside from the gfx card, gives you so much less…
putting both companies aside, a notebook having a dedicated graphics card will really crank up its price. i currently use a 8600M GT right now and the price difference of the same notebook, with the same specs, but different gfx (the other one with the intel x1300) is around $200. thats how expensive it is
if a simple 8600M will increase the price that high, what more if you put in a beast like the 8800M GTX