M1530 is compared with apple in May PC magazine

This months PC magazine compared four best mainstream notebooks with the m1530 being of them. The Apple MacBook Pro bare beat it out for the editors pick. Actually, the Apple was better in only one of the 7 tests they ran. So I don't really understand why they picked Apple? Maybe Apple paid the big bucks?

Additional info added:
I saw yesterday in this months, May LAPTOP magazine issue, they had a feature similar to PCmags instead, using the XPS m1330. The m1330 won hands down here.

 

That's for sure

 

wow , funny they are totally different PCs IMO.

 

Lulz.

filler

 

Isnt this the same magazine that awarded Vista with the worst Product ever?

Anyway, when will people realize that Apple Computers are PCs with Mac OSX on top. They still want to pay whatever steve jobs will ask for.

700$+ is the diffrence i usually find between the price of a m1530 and a macbook Pro. imho, Mac OSX and apple 1 year warrenty is not worth that amount.

 

Good point.

 

if you want to be fair,make another thread in apple forum too!

 

Oh... so you own a Apple do you?

Anytime a notebook only gets one out of 8 tests, they don't deserve to be a editors pick. Apple slipped them some money for that. Post that over there!

 

Yeah. I looked at Apple before I bought my Dell XPS M1530. The difference was about $600 in price and two years in warranty service.

Apple of all companies should stand behind their products and include a standard three year warranty for the money they want.

Sheesh!

 

Is there an article online or is it the printed copy only?

 

Lets see. Straight from the apple.com site

MacBook Pro, 15-inch, 2.4GHz

4 gigs of ram
200 gig 7200 rpm drive
Apple Remote [Add $19] Not included in the price
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 256MB
(I don't even think this comes with an LED screen)

Est. Tax*:
$219.91

Est. Total:
$2,718.91

Here is what I got for $1,860 (inc tax) from the Dell site. (including the $599 off and 12% EPP discount).

2.5 gig T9300
250 gig 7200 RPM HD
4 gigs of ram
LED Screen
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 256MB


Now what would you rather have?
Thats $856 more for the Mac brand

Apple charges an extra 400 dollars for 4 gigs of ram. They default at 1 gig

 

Actually I think all the new MacBook Pros have LED backlit panels. But you're right, there's a HUGE price premium for the MBP. Not only do they change $400 for 4GB ram, but they also charge $300 to get a 500GB WD MyBook (which I bought last month for $100).

And something that's kind of off topic: I flinch everytime I see that someone can get 12% EPP discount because I know I can't get it because DAMN U of Toronto doesn't have it!!

 

These prices / tax are in American funds.

 

All MBPs come with LED screens. The review is here.

The reason they gave the nod to the MBP as EC is because it is lighter, comes with the LED screen, looks sexier, comes standard with the great iLife suite, and has OS X and not Vista. How people can come to a forum filled with complaints about grainy screens, nasty CSRs, creaking fit and finish, and laggy webcams that are useless and claim that Apple paid bribes to get an EC award is insane.

The M1530 is an awesome computer that was corner-cut into gimped status. While Apple charges a frakking arm and a leg for their snob status symbols, no one can say they're shortchanging and screwing over their customers anywhere near as badly as Dell does.

 

Yep.. When apple messes up, they usually do a product recall and repair it... even if its out of warranty.
We see plenty of stories here of people with complete care having to jump through hoops to get a product defect fixed.

That said, id rather deal with all that BS, then pay an extra $800+ for the equivalent system in a slimmer, shiny case.

 

Besides the old Mac Vs PC flame war. I've never experienced problems with the Dell customer service. Yes apple makes a sexy looking solid laptop but I would not pay the premium for that. I am sure there are a lot of happy dell users out there. I also don't think it's right for Dell to screw the customer with bad quality control.

 

If you add Vista Ult along with Office 2008. The diffrence in price will still be more than $400.

 

the m1530 is a WAY better deal. Savng 800$ is worth a few bugs, such as the gainy screen, because you can just keep getting replacements until you get a perfect one.

If you REALLY want to talk about apple over pricing, look at their desktops, its sickening.

 

Yup. Happy Dell user right here.

 

I couldn't find the article online when I looked here:
http://www.pcmag.com/

I did find the PC mag XPS m1530 review .
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2254452,00.asp

and they favor the macbook here also even thought the m1530 blew the Apple away in those test!
http://www.pcmag.com/image_popup/0,1871,iid=195936,00.asp

 

That's lame.

 

I saw yesterday that this months, May LAPTOP magazine had a feature similar to PCmags instead, using the XPS m1330. The m1330 won hands down here.

 

I compared the Dell M1530 to the Apple Macbook Pro just last month!
here's the full article:

http://skattertech.com/2008/03/dell-xps-m1530-vs-apple-macbook-pro/

 

Nice review! Have you seen my review in my sig?
You might want to add in there that the M1530 now has the LED option.

 

I ate a banana yesterday. Today I had a grapefruit. And, man, do they ever taste similar!

 

I don't know how many times this comparison has turned up. It's crazy. It's like they're natural competitors or something! My friend and I were both thinking about buying laptops and the MBP caught his eyes and the XPS caught mine. And then we started to talk about the difference and compare them and it got pretty tense, like, we literally had fierce arguments about it. My main argument was that you can get all the same hardware for hundreds of dollars ($500? $800?) cheaper. His main argument was macs are "sexy", they are clean, light, and the OSX is awesome. All our other arguments kind of cancelled each other out, like MBP has firewire 800 - XPS doesn't...well XPS has HDMI and MBP doesn't....Personally I prefer XP, even Vista over OSX, and YES I've used ALL of them extensively, don't say I've never used a mac before. So the operating system is more of a personal choice, and I think OBJECTIVELY speaking, the XPS wins hands down, but if you're willing to pay $500-$800 more for the "better" OSX, cleaner look, "sexiness", then MBP wins in your case.

Anyway we decided to not talk about MBP vs. XPS anymore. lol. Due to change of plans, I won't be buying a laptop anytime in the next year anymore so things will be VERY different by the time I buy a laptop.

 

had a chance to compare the 2 this weekend (I had ordered a M1530, cancelled the order, purchased a MBP instead, and it turns out my parents who I went to visit had recently ordered a M1530)

i'm definitely happy i opted for the MBP over the M1530

but to each his/her own

I can definitely attest to at least a $500 price difference between the two similarly configured units (both clocked in at around $2K but my parents' M1530 does have a BluRay drive and I believe 4GB of RAM. Otherwise, the specs are fairly similar)

While there are a flurry of rumors about Dell's having grainy/cheap screens, it should be noted that if you jump to any one of Apple's fan/forum sites, there are plenty of screen issues out there that involve the MBP as well

 

You forgot to eat an Apple, ...then you know what happens a few hours later in the bathroom.

 

If the Macbook Pro is the apple, what is the XPS M1530?
Is it the grapefruit or the banana?

 

There isn't 1 laptop manufacturer out there that makes perfect laptops, even Apple. Every laptop brand has problems and people with these problems come to NBR. That's why when you look at any of the forums, you see mostly problems. One of the reasons why the Dell section has so many more problems posted is because...well...how many more laptops does Dell sell in a year compared to Apple? I'm not sure but I'm assuming A LOT more.

Anyway, congrats on your purchase. I think if you make a purchase and you're happy with it, then don't think about it any further. If you try to look back, consider your other possible options, the only thing you'll get is buyer's remorse.

 

IMO banana > grapefruit, what about you guys? lol.

 

That's exactly why I don't eat them!

 

Try peeling them first.

 

XPS M1530 is the best fruit of them all, the main course!

 

It's a amazing how a thread comparing the XPS to the MBP can easily evolve to a thread about which fruit is best.

Me like fruits too.

 

Yeah... we got a little sidetracked! That will happen when you get a MAC guy in here...