Quote:
Originally Posted by Phaneuf3
Well, I figured I'd have an honest look at this to see what truth there was these days to that... We could pull up a mammoth list of every last detail but the most important ones are probably going to be processor, RAM and hard drive.
Futureshop.ca has a Macbook 13" for $1099.99:
Core 2 Duo
2GB RAM
250 GB Hard drive
Dell.ca has an Inspiron 15 for $469:
Intel Celeron
2GB RAM
160GB HD
This should be enough computer for just about everyone but its not really the challenge you laid out. So lets customize it!
That same Inspiron can be upgraded to:
Core 2 Duo
2GB RAM
250 GB Hard drive
For a grand total of $629.
Sure, its not $400 but its still about half the cost of the mac. This just happened to be the first two computers I grabbed, I wouldn't be surprised to see that someone could find a steeper increase. Still, that's too much markup for my taste for a shiny apple sticker.
edit: I'm not trying to sway anyone - just put the actual facts out there. When it comes to computers: to each their own.
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When it comes to laptops, every single spec is important. Does it have a 7 hour battery? N wireless? 2.1 Bluetooth or just 2.0? Also comparing a "Celeron" processor to a 2.53 GHz Core 2 Duo isn't even close to being the same thing. Also, that $1099 MacBook has an LED backlit, high-res display panel which the other one doesn't.
Sure, we're talking about a difference of $400, but you get a lot of things that are very important for that price. Some people are quite happy with a slow processor, unreliable Bluetooth, a low quality display and only 2 hours of battery life... While other people are more than happy with paying a little bit more for better than that.
Again, I didn't say that PCs aren't cheaper. I said that this myth that you can get a $400 PC with the same specs as a $1200 Mac is a lie. I also challenged people to build me a PC with exactly the same specs as the $1700 iMac (including the screen size and quality) for less.
Like I said earlier, you can tell me that you don't want to spend more than $400 for a computer. That's a valid thing to say and I'll accept that, but you have to stop telling yourself that your $400 PC is just as good (or exactly the same) as a $1200 Mac, because it just isn't true.
I think it's important to note that Macs have come down in price (while going up in specs) quite a lot lately. This isn't 2 years ago anymore.