Now that I own a newer MacBook Pro I am always interested in how various online magazines compare the various laptops on the market and, in particular, the MacBook Pro. Although interested in the reviews, I am smart enough to take them with a grain of salt, because we all have personal preferences when it comes to laptops:
- Do you want a larger high definition screen?
- Do you want fast processor speeds?
- Do you need a faster or larger hard drive?
- Does it need to be lightweight for travel?
- How expandable?
- etc.
Your decision is largely dependant on what you want to do with the laptop and, more importantly, how much money you can afford. You also have your own personal views on what is aesthetically pleasing, etc.
I saw on the Apple HotNews that the editors of MaximumPC picked the Apple MacBook Pro over the Dell XP M1530, which of course got me reading about what features they thought were important and not so important. You can read the article here if you are interested. Read the comments at the bottom of the articles, too.
If like me you prefer a 17“ screen, however, you would have to step up to a Dell XPS M1730, because the XPS M1530 is strictly a 15“ screen. One of the cool things I noticed is that Dell is starting to ship front, slot-loading DVD drives. Nice! The MacBook Pro has a front, slot-loading DVD drive and I absolutely love it :)
Either of these laptops would be an excellent desktop replacement ( XPS M1730 ), but I have to say I really love my MacBook Pro. I have the Intel Core 2 Duo 2.6Ghz with 4GB RAM and it is fast. The 17“ high definition monitor is beautiful, the back-lit keyboard is awesome, the multi-touch trackpad is just plain cool, and the overall design is just sleak, clean, and beautiful to the touch. Firewire 800 blows USB 2.0 away and makes a notable speed difference in my backups and file transfers. I even love that goofy magnetic power connector :) The fact that the MacBook Pro is lighter and much easier to travel with than a comparable 17“ Dell is also a benefit. Oh, and yeah, the MacBook Pro does not come pre-loaded with all that “crap“ like the Dell.
More importantly, however, is that I am a Windows Developer so I need to be able to run Windows XP or Vista on my laptop. With the Intel Processors in the MacBook Pro, you have your choice of running Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Mac OS X Leopard. You can format the MacBook Pro to just run Vista or XP, which I see so many colleagues doing. You can use Apple Boot Camp and boot in either Mac OS X or Windows. Or, last, you can run something like VMware Fusion and runs Windows XP in a virtual environment. I have heard conflicting reports on running Vista in a virtual environment, so I don't think I would go there.
Anyway, for those of you in the market to buy a laptop, check out the review mentioned above concerning the MacBook Pro and Dell XPS M1530. It can never hurt to see what these reviewers have to say. Personally, I spent a fair amout of time at the Apple Store as well as consulting other developers before deciding on the MacBook Pro. I have always loved the higher-end Dells as well and have a reliable Dell XPS 17” laptop that I use for presentations and playing with new development tools.
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