Thread: Mac Pro or Dell XPS 16?

BEFORE I BEGIN:

PLEASE, APPLE AND/OR WINDOWS FOLLOWERS, DO *NOT* FLAME THIS THREAD.

Okay, now that that's out of the way, here's my dilemma:

I need to pick between a Macbook Pro 13" w/ a Core 2 Duo processor vs. a Dell XPS 16 laptop with an i5.

Harddisk space is the same, the XPS as 2 GB more RAM, and that's about all I care about.

I'm using a borrowed Macbook, and it's pretty speedy and MUCH faster than Windows 7 (NO FLAMING, REMEMBER THIS.) I also enjoy the fact that I could install both Windows AND MacOS on a macbook... Not to mention the build quality is excellent, compared to Dell (I have an inspiron... Which I hate... With a passion.).

SO. YOU INPUT IS GREATLY APPRECIATED! =]

i5 has soo much more power than the C2D
Also the dell is better value for money
if you like mac OSX, put hackinstosh on your dell.

I tried that with my inspiron; the driver problems I had were the worst >___<. Also, I believe that the GHz is equivalent with the number of cycles per second, right?

I don't understand the advantage of having one CPU that is milliseconds faster than another. Also, I've heard the XPS16 has heat issues, but I'll have to look at that a bit more, I guess.

This piece of **** inspiron might've just left a bad taste in my mouth? I dunno.

Well, depends on what exactly u r planning to use your new toy.

Generally, I would go for the new macpro.. it's battery duration is excellent.

The new mobile processors of intel wouldn't make such a difference

To expand on what derailed said, If you want our suggestions on which to choose, please provide info about what you will be using it for.

Will it be for
-general usage(browsing)
-gaming
-3d rendering
-drawing/designing
-learning
-watching videos
-coding/programming
-anything else you can think of.

If you are interested in
-general usage
-learning
-drawing/designing
-coding/programming
-anything educational or related to design

Get the Mac Pro

If you are interested in
-general usage
-gaming
-3D rendering
-watching videos
-anything that will put a lot of strain on the processor
-everything else

Get the XPS 16

I'd say both the Macbook Pro and Dell XPS series are both good ranges,
(Although the new macbook pro 17" running core i7 has major heat problems with output above boiling point of water...)
It depends what your main usages are like Engineer said. However if you go with Dell make sure you use one of the many online coupons floating around the web, you can generally get 10-15% off and sometimes you can get 25% coupons which really make dell computers good value for money.
check out sites like retailmenot.com or just put "dell online coupons" into google

Has nothing to do with flaming -- its a simple fact that Macs are very overpriced vs. "PCs" when it comes to hardware. The OS is also not worth paying literally 100s of dollars more, for the vast majority of people. This is made obvious by the fact that most people who say that they "like Macs better" couldnt really name more than 1 or 2 minor reasons.... if that.


And when it comes to hardware, all you have to do is look at the specs and benchmark comparisions... a 3500 G5 mac desktop is going to have the same hardware value as a 1200-1400 dollars dell, hp, etc., or a 1000-1200 dollar custom built. So in this case, you're really paying an extra $2000 for the Mac OS, which is pretty ridiculous.

Just a warning - if you get the Dell, it will be slow as dirt out of the box. You need to do major housecleaning on it. My Dell XPS 1730 ran quite a bit faster after I ran Welcome | The PC Decrapifier on it.

I prefer windows, but then again, I'm a gamer, so I have a slight bias to it. In all the heads up articals I read about MBP and XPS, the MBP wins out due to battery life and the fact it runs faster out of the box, but the XPS is faster when you clean it up.

Originally Posted by DJCyph3r

Just a warning - if you get the Dell, it will be slow as dirt out of the box. You need to do major housecleaning on it. My Dell XPS 1730 ran quite a bit faster after I ran Welcome | The PC Decrapifier on it.

I prefer windows, but then again, I'm a gamer, so I have a slight bias to it. In all the heads up articals I read about MBP and XPS, the MBP wins out due to battery life and the fact it runs faster out of the box, but the XPS is faster when you clean it up.

If the articles don't show hardware benchmarks, but instead focus on subjective, and trivial points, then its not worth much.

The fact is that your going to pay 500% -- and thats an accurate figure -- more for the same level of CPU when its inside of a mac.