Apple 15.4" MBP or Dell 15" XPS??

Student Lounge College Life
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<p>Hey, my college is going to open soon, and I'm an international student debating the above two. I want to try and keep the same laptop for all four yrs so I'm thinking of going with the i7 processor. The weight seems about the same...Idk if a 750 memory is better than a 500 MB...as you can see I really really am clueless when it comes to laptops, so I would really appreciate some help.
Probably going to take some math classes and a computer class or two, along with the reg language and humanities/econ classes (NO engineering). Not into gaming. Budget--under 2000 with a bit of a stretch putting it broadly.
Dell latitude is also sold through my campus store with quite a hefty discount (like 800$ or sth) so that is also an option. The campus store is where I'm planning on getting my laptop..do you think it's better to get it from somewhere else like best buy?? The campus store gives ~150$ off on the apple I'm looking at.</p>

<p>Thanks so much.</p>

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<p>The MBP 15 is top when it comes to blending portability and power. It will get like 6-8 hrs on battery.
The XPS 15 is obviously a budget machine for the power user. It’ll get the same specs as the MBP but for hundreds of dollars less. But battery life on the 6-cell battery is like 3-4 hrs. And it’s a thick beast.</p>

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<p>try xps 15z . light weight nice appearance and powerful
i wud suggest dell either xps(15z 17z 15 17) u can customize the latter models and get a pretty sweet deal talking economically .
mo mbp- expensive and not for students if computer classes but since u have written “no engineering” i am a bit confused it is pretty awesome and cool but not for techy students
rest is up to you</p>

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<p>thank you for ur opinions aStyle and eldiablo1. :)</p>

<p>Any more opinions so that I can make an informed decision? I want to be sure of the appliance I buy. I really need a very durable model, which won’t be needing an upgrade/won;t go out of use for 4 yrs.
What about the Dell latitude, any opinions on that? </p>

<p>PS: By comp classes, I meant basic programming classes that are required/highly recommended for math majors; I think it’s okay to have a mac for them…but since I’m really a novice here, I might be wrong…</p>

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<p>I’ve never owned a Mac (though I plan on getting one on tax free weekend), but I’ve owned two Dell laptops and they were both crap. Dell, even though they have great prices and really good customer support, just make cheap products. All I ever did on both of my Dells was surf the web, play music, and watch DVDs. The first one, which was an Inspiron randomly died one day. The second, a Studio 15, had to have the motherboard replaced two times and then the hard drive died on that one. I would stay away from Dell.</p>

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<p>Lenovo is probably the most reliable laptop brand</p>

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<p>I have a 13" MacBook Pro and love it. I say go for the Mac.</p>

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<p>IMO you have no need for the 15 inch macbook pro. Statistically it is better, but of course that means nothing if you are not going to utilize the advantages.</p>

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<p>Thanks everyone for your replies! :)</p>

<p>I have decided on the apple 15" for many reasons including better build and battery life and its idiot proof nature (not too tech savvy:)). Now I just have to decide which one is a better one to buy seeing that I want it to last four yrs (hopefully!):</p>

<p>Should I go for the 2.2 GHz one and pay a couple more 100$$$ (and also get 750MB memory) or just go with the 2.0 Ghz processor and get 500MB memory?
Both are i7 processor.
Do you think the first one is worth the extra $$$?</p>

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<p>Which of the two disks is faster? if one is 7200rpm and the other is 5400 rpm get the 7200. You won’t fill the disk either way :-)</p>

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<p>Turbo, Both are 5400 rpm :frowning:
Is that bad?
(thanks for your reply btw!)</p>

<p>It seems the 2.2 Ghz also has a better graphics memory, whatever that means.
Here is the full description for both:</p>

<p>2.0 Ghz MBP 15"
*2.0GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with 6MB shared L3 cache
4GB (two 2GB SO-DIMMs) of 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; supports up to 8GB
500GB Serial ATA hard drive; 5400 rpm
8x SuperDrive (DVD¦R DL/DVD¦RW/CD-RW)
Intel HD Graphics 3000 and AMD Radeon HD 6490M with automatic graphics switching with 256MB GDDR5 graphics memory
FaceTime HD camera; Thunderbolt port with support for DVI, VGA, dual-link DVI, and HDMI (requires adapters, sold separately)
15.4-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen display, 1440-by-900 resolution
One Thunderbolt port (up to 10Gbps), one FireWire 800 port (up to 800 Mbps), two USB 2.0 ports (up to 480 Mbps), MagSafe power port and SDXC card slot
Stereo speakers with subwoofers, omnidirectional microphone, audio line in minijack (digital/analog), audio line out/headphone minijack (digital/analog)
Wi-Fi (based on IEEE 802.11n specification); Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) wireless technology; Gigabit Ethernet
Meets Energy Star Version 5.2 requirements, rated EPEAT Gold; highly recyclable aluminum and glass enclosure, mercury-free LED-backlit display, arsenic-free display glass, BFR-free, PVC-free, Energy Efficient Ethernet and reduced packaging volume
Built-in 77.5-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery (up to 7 hours wireless web), 85W MagSafe Power Adapter, AC wall plug, power cord
Mac OS X Snow Leopard and iLife
Weight 5.6 lbs.
One-year warranty
*
2.2 Ghz MBP 15"
2.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with 6MB shared L3 cache
4GB (two 2GB SO-DIMMs) of 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; supports up to 8GB
750GB Serial ATA hard drive; 5400 rpm
8x SuperDrive (DVD¦R DL/DVD¦RW/CD-RW)
Intel HD Graphics 3000 and AMD Radeon HD 6490M with automatic graphics switching with 1GB GDDR5 graphics memory
FaceTime HD camera; Thunderbolt port with support for DVI, VGA, dual-link DVI, and HDMI (requires adapters, sold separately)
15.4-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen display, 1440-by-900 resolution
One Thunderbolt port (up to 10Gbps), one FireWire 800 port (up to 800 Mbps), two USB 2.0 ports (up to 480 Mbps), MagSafe power port and SDXC card slot
Stereo speakers with subwoofers, omnidirectional microphone, audio line in minijack (digital/analog), audio line out/headphone minijack (digital/analog)
Wi-Fi (based on IEEE 802.11n specification); Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) wireless technology; Gigabit Ethernet
Meets Energy Star Version 5.2 requirements, rated EPEAT Gold; highly recyclable aluminum and glass enclosure, mercury-free LED-backlit display, arsenic-free display glass, BFR-free, PVC-free, Energy Efficient Ethernet and reduced packaging volume
Built-in 77.5-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery (up to 7 hours wireless web), 85W MagSafe Power Adapter, AC wall plug, power cord
Mac OS X Snow Leopard, iLife
Weight 5.6 lbs.
One-year warranty</p>

<p>Also, I am thinking of upgrading to OS X Lion (correct?) and am also debating whether I should get Apple Care or not. I’m a pretty careful user, but idk?</p>

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<p>The second one is better, not that you’ll ever use the extra graphics memory :-).</p>

<p>Would a MacBook Air 13" work? smaller, with an SSD, etc and an i7? If you’ll take it along to class most of the time, the Air would be supreme. </p>

<p>I have a Latitude at work that I hate. The new ones are nice, but not Apple class and they cost quite a bit. I usually hate Apple products (developing iPhone compatible software and hardware for a living does it to you :-)) but the Air is in its own league.</p>

<p>Figure out the price for an Air 13", external monitor, keyboard, and mouse, and a decent external hard drive. Should handily be under $2k and Air Away :-)</p>

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<p>Thanks again for your opinion!
better in general, but is it worth the extra cost for me? :slight_smile:
Well, I need a 15", a 13" would be too small for me since I’ll be using only that (no desktop or anything along with and I don’t want to strain my eyes too much [very important since eyes are weak]). Also I’m used to a 17" at home and I think moving to a 13" straightaway would be too big a change.
Idk about how much I’ll use a laptop in class- I’m the kind of person who wholeheartedly prefers pen+notebook over typing out notes.</p>

<p>Thanks for the advice on the latitude, we do get almost 800$ off on that from the college store, but I think I shall go with an apple. Saved up a bit here and there to make up for the cost. :)</p>

<p>So, I guess I want to go for the 2.0 ghz one because of it’s lower cost (~260$ less) haha, but I still want to make sure I’m getting the one best for me.</p>

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<p>If you have an eye issue get the 13" and an external LCD…</p>

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<p>As I said earlier, you don’t actually need any aspect of the 15" mac according to your uses. Especially when paying so much more than other models, you have to be able to justify the costs. You have to ask yourself why you need a quad-core, why you need the gpu, etc.</p>

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<p>^As I said the macbook is more idiot proof, it is designed for those who just need a PC to work with but don’t know much about computers (isn’t it meant for the common man?), it has a better build, it’s not plasticky (my current laptop is a dell, and all its paint and everything is peeling off after ~3 yrs) it has better battery life, nice weight, it is more durable…quadcore (faster…so by the end of the four yrs, I won’t be stuck with a reallllly slow thing). I like the display and the backlit keyboard too. I think I have enough reasons. :slight_smile: </p>

<p>PS: I also plan to learn a lot more about computers in the next few yrs. America is a lot more aware about their computers than we are.</p>

<p>Anyway, I’m currently deciding b/w the 2.0 and 2.2 and I think I shall go with the former. My friends who recently bought theirs were actually discouraged to buy the 2.2 at the extra cost… BUT I’m still thinking!
There’s a tax free weekend this weekend and I plan to buy then.</p>

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<p>That’s a $300 difference for an increase in speed you probably won’t notice. It’s pretty ridiculous because with the desktop version processors, you could get a quadcore 3.3ghz i5 processor for $200 and guess how much more money it would be to upgrade that to 5ghz? $0.</p>

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<p>Rather than putting money into a slightly faster processor, I would invest in a 7200rpm hard drive - or even maybe an SSD. Either one would give you a significantly greater real-world performance boost than 200 MHz CPU clock speed.</p>

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<p>^Thanks for the suggestion!
How do I do that??
Is there some way to upgrade when I’m buying my mac?</p>

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<p>The 7200 rpm 500 GB drive is actually only $100 more - definitely a worthwhile investment.</p>

<p>Personally, I’d get the faster hard drive and the $150 upgrade to the high-resolution matte anti-glare display. My current MacBook Pro (a December 2008 model, one of the first unibody machines off the line) has a glossy screen, because that was all that was available - and you really notice the increased glare when using the machine in a sunny or brightly-lit environment.</p>

<p>Those upgrades are build-to-order options - once you click “Select” on the basic model in the Apple Store, there are a number of feature options you can choose from.</p>