By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - PC - Need Advice! Macbook or Dell Insprion?

famousringo on 03 July 2008
Garcian Smith said:
Get a Macbook. They're amazing machines with top-quality hardware, tons of preloaded apps, top-notch customer support, and an OS so elegant and intuitive that you'll never want to go back to Windows after you get used to it. You'll also never need to scan for viruses or spyware, mess around with the registry, or deal with Microsoft's horrendous patches/service packs ever again.

Dell, on the other hand, sells overpriced crummy hardware, has awful support, and preloads their PCs with all sorts of annoying crap. Oh, and Vista sucks.

 

I just want to point out that Macs aren't bulletproof when it comes to malware. Although I have yet to encounter a serious system infection on Mac OS X, there are proof of concept viruses and even a couple malicious programs in the wild. All that I've seen require some level of user interaction, but some don't require an administrator password to attack your system.

Best practices for a secure computer are the same no matter what system you're using. Macs are rarely targeted, but that doesn't mean you should go around clicking suspicious links or opening attachements from strange emails.



"The worst part about these reviews is they are [subjective]--and their scores often depend on how drunk you got the media at a Street Fighter event."  — Mona Hamilton, Capcom Senior VP of Marketing
*Image indefinitely borrowed from BrainBoxLtd without his consent.

Around the Network
Valkyria00 on 03 July 2008

If its just for that than save yourself $100. And since your uncle is a fanboy he wont tell you to get the Dell.

Vistas been out for a while its not fucked up like it was when it launched. If you havent used a Mac already jut get Vista its gonna be easier to use and more online apps work with Windows than Mac.

Dude....just get the Dell.



Rath on 03 July 2008
Garcian Smith said:


Let me tell you a story: My girlfriend recently got it into her head to buy a Dell laptop. They promised to have it shipped sometime last week. So, when Friday came and they didn't send her notification that it shipped, she called them up.

Turns out that they're not going to ship it until July 24 or something like that.

Now she has to jump through all of these hoops to cancel her order, because four weeks is a LONG time to wait for a bloody laptop. And she's a business customer, so she gets treated better than normal customers. I can only imagine what she'd have to go through if she wasn't buying it through her work. And now she's buying a Mac instead. :)

Anyway, point is, Dell customer service sucks royally.

 


Maybe Dell Australia (who service NZ as well) are different. When I ordered my Dell (which is fantastic, it even looks good which is amazing for a Dell when most of them are fugly) they sent it on time and with a shitload of freebies I wasn't expecting (including two pairs of noise cancelling headphones which are amazing =D). I know of four people who got exactly the same Dell as me and none of them have had any problems either - apart from one guy who got the BSoD but thats Microsofts problem, not Dells.



wfz on 03 July 2008

Dear god you guys are completely split. I hear praise about the Dell and praise for the Mac. If only all of you agreed on one. =P

So I just got back from checking the macbook, and I must say..it looks rather...cheap. Particularly the keyboard. Also I'm not used to the OS so it was a little weird for me to get around in while I was demoing it.

As for portability issues, my sister has a Dell (almost the exact same one) and she's had no troubles carrying it around school.

At this point I'm debating between getting the Inspiron 1520 and the black Macbook.

These are the specs of the Macbook:

2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB memory
250GB hard drive
Double-layer SuperDrive

And these are the specs of the Inspiron 1520:
Inspiron 1525, Intel Core 2 Duo T5750, 2.0GHz, 667Mhz, 2M L2 Cache
3GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 Dimm
250G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive

Anything missing?

Also, battery life could pose a problem. I'm not sure how easy it will be to access a plug to charge my laptop in the classrooms.

I'm really stuck on this...I wish there was an easy, obvious choice.



Rath on 03 July 2008

You won't have any real problems with Vista if you have 3GB of RAM though, Vista uses up about 1 gig at worst. If you are ordering from the Dell site I'm fairly sure you can get a longer lasting battery and/or a spare battery for a bit more cash which would help you avoid the battery issues.



Around the Network
wfz on 03 July 2008

Yeah I was thinking of getting the 9-cell battery if I got the Dell. How much more space will that battery stick out? Will it be an ugly site and a pain to have?

I'm talking to some of my friends on aim right now and they're going on and on about how much better the macbooks are and Apple's OS is so far superior in every way.



ion-storm on 03 July 2008
Garcian Smith said:
Sam Yikin said:

But then I find OSX to have the most awful GUI i've ever used in a computer.

 

I don't know how it's even possible to even say that...

 

Eh; he's probably one of those people who hates puppies and Christmas, too.

I'm a cat person

 



Yes

Rath on 03 July 2008

Don't think it will stick out any more but I bought the 6 cell battery.

To be honest I have never had a problem with battery life, mine has generally ran about 3-4 hours on normal performance and 2 hours on high performance (basically turning the backlight up) which is plenty for me. I imagine that the 9 cell will do 1.5* that so 4-6 hours on normal and 3 hours on high.



Timmah! on 03 July 2008
Garcian Smith said:
Rath said:
Depends on the power of the laptop I guess. My main problems with Vista have been that it has compatibility issues with older programs and that it hogs system resources.

If the Inspiron you're getting has 2GB or more RAM you should be sweet though, in which case I'd recommend that.

All the DELL bashers are pretty much wrong in my opinion. I don't know why DELL has such a bad rep, their laptops are probably the cheapest on the market for what you get in them and they don't load them up with anywhere near as much crapware as Sony does with their Vaios.

 


Let me tell you a story: My girlfriend recently got it into her head to buy a Dell laptop. They promised to have it shipped sometime last week. So, when Friday came and they didn't send her notification that it shipped, she called them up.

Turns out that they're not going to ship it until July 24 or something like that.

Now she has to jump through all of these hoops to cancel her order, because four weeks is a LONG time to wait for a bloody laptop. And she's a business customer, so she gets treated better than normal customers. I can only imagine what she'd have to go through if she wasn't buying it through her work. And now she's buying a Mac instead. :)

Anyway, point is, Dell customer service sucks royally.

Really?? That's strange, at the company I work for, we order only Dell's for our customers (we are an IT support company). They are the cheapest, use name-brand parts, have GREAT customer service (on the business side), great warranty, etc. The estimated ship date is almost always a week or two later than it actually ships. They ususally tell us a few weeks out for delivery and it comes in less than a week. Dell builds all of their PCs custom, so it can sometimes be somewhat slower than HP, for example, but that's the price you pay for custom.

 



epsilon72 on 03 July 2008
salaminizer said:

I'd get the Dell and put Ubuntu along with Vista.

^^^

Don't waste your money on the Mac brand-name price premium when you can have both linux and windows installed on a Dell.