Quote:
Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse
Fanin80 did a decent post on this back at post 62. However, I realize now he never used the sale price of the Dell! Full price is for suckas....at least in the PC world. 
Using your requirements, here's where Dell (one of the more pricey vendors) can get you to:
and the specs on the cheapest MacBook
Difference = $320 = 41%. ($430/55% if you equalize the RAM)
I won't even get into the world of other vendors - no time right now but I'm pretty sure there's a better deal to be had than the Dell. Although this Asus is nice if you're into the pretty MacBook Air look...
I'll be honest though, at the 13.3" screen size, playing EA sports games or doing heavy duty Photoshop is kind of crazy, and neither the Mac or Dell above will be great for that. This screen size doesn't lend itself nicely to these activities, hence why a decent vid card adapter is tough (or impossible for Mac) to find at this screen size. Step up to 15" if you're going to do that primarily. |
Aren't 9-cell ion batteries going to give you around 3-4 hours of battery life? With the new Mac lithium polymer battery design you can typically get upwards of 6 (the specs on mine say 8, but I find I usually get around 6:30), though I'm typically running some heavy graphics apps. Granted, $320 is a lot to pay for a couple extra hours of battery life (and you could easily buy yourself a spare battery), but if battery life is an important consideration, it's definitely a big plus for the Macs until similar battery technology comes to the PC.